Harvard College Library
Sept. 8, 1913

Bequest of
Jeremiah Curtin

Copyright, 1904, by HARPER & BROTHERS.

All rights reserved.

Published November, 1904.

CONTENTS

BOOK III

CHAPTER I

THE SUCCESSORS OF NEWTON IN ASTRONOMY

The work of Johannes Hevelius, p. 3-Halley and Hevelius, p.

4-Halley's observation of the transit of Mercury, and his meth-

od of determining the parallax of the planets, p. 5-Halley's ob-

servation of meteors, p. 7—His inability to explain these bodies,

p. 10-The important work of James Bradley, p. 11-Lacaille's

measurement of the arc of the meridian, p. 13-The determination

of the question as to the exact shape of the earth, p. 14-D'Alem-

bert and his influence upon science, p. 15-Delambre's History of

Astronomy, p. 16—The astronomical work of Euler, p. 17.

CHAPTER II

THE PROGRESS OF MODERN ASTRONOMY

The work of William Herschel, p. 19-His discovery of Uranus, p.

20-His discovery that the stars are suns, p. 21-His conception

of the universe, p. 24-His deduction that gravitation has caused

the grouping of the heavenly bodies, p. 25-The nebulæ hypothe-

sis, p. 25-Immanuel Kant's conception of the formation of the

world, p. 26-Defects in Kant's conception, p. 30-Laplace's final

solution of the problem, p. 31-His explanation in detail, p.

32-Change in the mental attitude of the world since Bruno, p.

39- Asteroids and satellites, p. 40-Discoveries of Olbers, p.

41 The mathematical calculations of Adams and Leverrier, p.

42-The discovery of the inner ring of Saturn, p. 44-Clerk-

Maxwell's paper on the stability of Saturn's rings, p. 45—Helm-

holtz's conception of the action of tidal friction, p. 49-Professor

-

G. H. Darwin's estimate of the consequences of tidal action, p. 49

-Comets and meteors, p. 51-Bredichin's cometary theory, p.

53-The final solution of the structure of comets, p. 55—New-

comb's estimate of the amount of cometary dust swept up daily by

the earth, p. 56-The fixed stars, p. 56-John Herschel's studies

of double stars, p. 58-Fraunhofer's perfection of the refracting

telescope, p. 60-Bessel's measurement of the parallax of a star,

p. 60-Henderson's measurements, p. 61-Kirchhoff and Bun-

sen's perfection of the spectroscope, p. 62-Wonderful revelations

of the spectroscope, p. 63-Lord Kelvin's estimate of the time that

will be required for the earth to become completely cooled, p. 65—

Alvan Clark's discovery of the companion star of Sirius, p. 66—

The advent of the photographic film in astronomy, p. 67-Dr.

Huggins's studies of nebulæ, p. 69-Sir Norman Lockyer's "cos-

mogonic guess," p. 70-Croll's pre-nebular theory, p. 72.

CHAPTER III

THE NEW SCIENCE Of paleonTOLOGY

William Smith and fossil shells., p. 74-His discovery that fossil

rocks are arranged in regular systems, p. 75-Smith's inquiries

taken up by Cuvier, p. 77-His Ossements Fossiles containing the

first description of hairy elephant, p. 78-His contention that fos-

sils represent extinct species only, p. 79-Dr. Buckland's studies

of English fossil-beds, p. 82-Charles Lyell combats catastrophism,

p. 84-Elaboration of his ideas with reference to the rotation of

species, p. 86-The establishment of the doctrine of uniformitarian-

ism, p. 92-Darwin's Origin of Species, p. 93-Fossil man, p. 98

-Dr. Falconer's visit to the fossil-beds in the valley of the Somme,

p. 99-Investigations of Prestwich and Sir John Evans, p. 101—

Discovery of the Neanderthal skull, p. 103—Cuvier's rejection of

human fossils, p. 104-The finding of prehistoric carving on ivory,

p. 104-The fossil-beds of America, p. 105-Professor Marsh's

paper on the fossil horses in America, p. 107-The Warren masto-

don, p. 113-The Java fossil, Pithecanthropus Erectus, p. 113.

CHAPTER IV

THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN GEOLOGY

James Hutton and the study of the rocks, p. 116-His theory of the
earth, p. 120-His belief in volcanic cataclysms in raising and form-
ing the continents, p. 121-His famous paper before the Royal So-