CONTENTS.

THE COMPREHENSION OF NATURE BY THOUGHT AND IMAGINATION

The struggle commonly prevailing between the comprehension of nature by the understanding and by the imagination is the result of a defective education.
A perfect education requires that we should be just as well acquainted with nature as with the fabulous world.
How this contributes to self-knowledge is illustrated by an astronomical example.
There is something in the impression produced by the starry heavens which is common to all men, but it contains much besides, which gradually increases at every higher step of education.
The general impression of the starry heavens without the intervention of moonlight.
A moonlight night.
The impression of the stars on man in a primitive state.
The impression on men whose powers of perception are somewhat awakened.
The impression on men who have reached the first step in astronomical knowledge. We here meet with higher, though still somewhat limited, notions of the magnitude and order of the world.
Slight alteration in these views, from ancient times to the days of Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), who proposed the heliocentric model of the universe. The period commencing with him is taken as a whole.
In order that the results of scientific measurements of the universe may be comprehended by the imagination, they must be submitted to its influence.
The same applies to relations of time.
The impression of the starry firmament upon one who has cultivated his imagination by means of a clear comprehension of the system of the universe.
The result of our reflections is the belief that rational beings are distributed throughout the universe.
The still more sublime impression made on those who are thoroughly convinced that all existence is a dominion of reason.

SUPERSTITION AND INFIDELITY IN THEIR RELATION TO NATURAL SCIENCE

1. The nature of superstition and infidelity . . . . p. 56
An investigation of this subject is by no means superfluous even today.
A preliminary warning to those who attribute more than a casual connection between superstition and faith or poetry.