We are
sometimes apt to identify the idea of an astronomer with that of a
man who looks through a telescope at the stars; but the word
astronomer has really much wider significance. No man who ever lived
has been more entitled to be designated an astronomer than Le
Verrier, and yet it is certain that he never made a telescopic
discovery of any kind. Indeed, so far as his scientific achievements
have been concerned, he might never have looked through a telescope
at all.
For the full interpretation of the movements of the heavenly bodies,
mathematical knowledge of the most advanced character is demanded.
The mathematician at the outset calls upon the astronomer who uses
the instruments in the observatory, to ascertain for him at various
times the exact positions occupied by the sun, the moon, and the
planets. These observations, obtained with the greatest care, and
purified as far as possible from the errors by which they may be
affected form, as it were, the raw material on which the
mathematician exercises his skill. It is for him to elicit from the
observed places the true laws which govern the movements of the
heavenly bodies. Here is indeed a task in which the highest powers
of the human intellect may be worthily employed.
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