The disturbances which one planet
exercises upon the rest can only be fully ascertained by the aid of
long calculation, and for these calculations analytical methods are
required.
With an armament of mathematical methods which had been perfected
since the days of Newton by the labours of two or three generations
of consummate mathematical inventors, Laplace essayed in the
"Mecanique Celeste" to unravel the mysteries of the heavens. It will
hardly be disputed that the book which he has produced is one of the
most difficult books to understand that has ever been written. In
great part, of course, this difficulty arises from the very nature of
the subject, and is so far unavoidable. No one need attempt to read
the "Mecanique Celeste" who has not been naturally endowed with
considerable mathematical aptitude which he has cultivated by years
of assiduous study. The critic will also note that there are grave
defects in Laplace's method of treatment. The style is often
extremely obscure, and the author frequently leaves great gaps in his
argument, to the sad discomfiture of his reader. Nor does it mend
matters to say, as Laplace often does say, that it is "easy to see"
how one step follows from another. Such inferences often present
great difficulties even to excellent mathematicians.
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