Page:Baylee's Method of Finding the Longitude.djvu/13

Rh shone in the walks of science, and who had themselves tenaciously adhered to that system, and to whose attainments mine are comparatively nothing, would not admit me to think of any other: it was not, therefore, until conviction, arising from a long series of experiments and observations, founded on a regular inductory procedure, had arrested my attention, that I ventured to think I could do any thing out of the usual course; and even then I was apprehensive, that the novelty of my method would operate against every prospect of success; an apprehension which has been, for the moment, painfully realised; though I have no doubt that a short but fair trial will establish the method which I have with much respect and diffidence ventured to present. Long and intense application to the phenomena of nature, and in particular to the solar system, led me to suppose, that the noble simplicity, which is observable in the laws which those phenomena obey, did not require much apparatus or abstruse calculus to develop them; and it struck me, that the reason why they were not generally understood and practically applied was, because the technical language through which they are presented was more difficult to know than the laws themselves. I ventured to investigate Nature in her own simple attire; and, thus investigating, I found I could do in a few months what would before require the labour of as many years. I feared I had deceived myself in the conclusion, because I had previously studied the subject in another way; and, in consequence, I selected two of my pupils, in whom I could confide, and who were new to the subject, and I was favoured with success beyond what I had hoped to meet. When I speak of much apparatus and abstruse calculus, I do not mean to decry either apparatus or calculus; I mean nothing more than to keep them in their proper place; that is, to keep them subordinate to Nature, and not (vain labour!), to substitute the complexity of Art for the simplicity of Nature! Since I visited this city, I have sighed during my solitary walks through her streets, when I have viewed the greatest artists in the world looking at their admirable productions, which lay comparatively neglected: and why? Because more is expected from them than human effort can