Review: Outlines of Astronomy (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Review: Outlines of Astronomy

The introduction is reprinted with but slight change from the former work. It is a beautiful chapter, clear and con cise, informing beginners in astronomy what they have a right to, expect from an elementary work on this science.

Its utmost pretension, says Herschel, is to place them on the threshold of this particular wing of the temple of Science, or rather on an eminence exterior to it, whence they may obtain something like a general notion of its structure or, at most, to give those, who may wish to enter, a ground-plan of its accesses, and put them in possession of the password. Admission to its sanctuary, and to the privileges and feelings of a votary, is only to be gained by one means, - sound and suflicient knowledge of mathematics, the great instrument of all exact inquiry, without which no man can ever make such advances in this or any other of the higher departments of science, as can entitle him to form an independent opinion on any subject of discussion within their range. It is not without an effort that those who possess this knowledge can communicate on such subjects with those who do not, and adapt their language and their illustrations to the necessities of such an intercourse. Propositions which to the one are almost identical are theorems of import and difficulty to the other; nor is their evidence presented in the same way to the mind of each.

The book is divided into four parts. The first comprises more than half the volume, and treats of spherical astronomy.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.