An examination of the Astronomical doctrine of the Moon's rotation. By
J. L.[17] Edinburgh, 1847, 8vo.
A systematic attack of the character afterwards made with less skill and
more notice by Mr. Jellinger Symons.
July 1866, J. L. appears as Mr. James Laurie, with a new pamphlet "The
Astronomical doctrines of the Moon's rotation ..." Edinburgh. Of all the
works I have seen on the question, this is the most confident, and the
sorest. {5} A writer on astronomy said of Mr. Jellinger Symons,[18] "Of
course he convinced no one who knew anything of the subject." This
"ungenerous slur" on the speculator's memory appears to have been keenly
felt; but its truth is admitted. Those who knew anything of the subject are
"the so-called men of science," whose three P's were assailed; prestige,
pride, and prejudice: this the author tries to effect for himself with
three Q's; quibble, quirk, and quiddity. He explains that the Scribes and
Pharisees would not hear Jesus, and that the lordly bishop of Rome will not
cast his tiara and keys at the feet of the "humble presbyter" who now plays
the part of pope in Scotland. I do not know whom he means: but perhaps the
friends of the presbyter-pope may consider this an ungenerous slur. The
best proof of the astronomer is just such "as might have been expected from
the merest of blockheads"; but as the giver is of course not a blockhead,
this circumstance shows how deeply blinded by prejudice he must be.
Of course the paradoxers do not persuade any persons who know their
subjects: and so these Scribes and Pharisees reject the Messiah. We must
suppose that the makers of this comparison are Christians: for if they
thought the Messiah an enthusiast or an impostor, they would be absurd in
comparing those who reject what they take for truth with others who once
rejected what they take for falsehood. And if Christians, they are both
irreverent and blind to all analogy. The Messiah, with His Divine mission
proved by miracles which all might see who chose to look, is degraded into
a prototype of James Laurie, ingeniously astronomizing upon ignorant
geometry and false logic, and comparing to blockheads those who expose his
nonsense. Their comparison is as foolish as--supposing {6} them
Christians--it is profane: but, like errors in general, its other end
points to truth. There were Pseudochrists and Antichrists; and a
Concordance would find the real forerunners of all the paradoxers. But they
are not so clever as the old false prophets: there are none of whom we
should be inclined to say that, if it were possible, they would deceive the
very educated. Not an Egyptian among them all can make uproar enough to
collect four thousand men that are murderers--of common sense--to lead out
into the wilderness. Nothing, says the motto of this work, is so difficult
to destroy as the errors and false facts propagated by illustrious men
whose words have authority. I deny it altogether. There are things much
more difficult to destroy: it is much more difficult to destroy the truths
and real facts supported by such men. And again, it is much more difficult
to prevent men of no authority from setting up false pretensions; and it is
much more difficult to destroy assertions of fancy speculation. Many an
error of thought and learning has fallen before a gradual growth of
thoughtful and learned opposition. But such things as the quadrature of the
circle, etc., are never put down. And why? Because thought can influence
thought, but thought cannot influence self-conceit: learning can annihilate
learning: but learning cannot annihilate ignorance. A sword may cut through
an iron bar; and the severed ends will not reunite: let it go through the
air, and the yielding substance is whole again in a moment.
Miracles _versus_ Nature: being an application of certain propositions
in the theory of chances to the Christian miracles. By
Protimalethes.[19] Cambridge, 1847, 8vo.
The theory, as may be supposed, is carried further than most students of
the subject would hold defensible.
{7}
An astronomical Lecture. By the Rev. R. Wilson.[20] Greenock, 1847,
12mo.
Against the moon's rotation on her axis.
[Handed about in the streets in 1847: I quote the whole:] Important
discovery in astronomy, communicated to the Astronomer Royal, December
21st, 1846. That the Sun revolve round the Planets in 25748-2/5 years,
in consequence of the combined attraction of the planets and their
satellites, and that the Earth revolve round the Moon in 18 years and
228 days. D. T. GLAZIER [altered with a pen into GLAZION.] Price one
penny.
1847. In the _United Service Magazine_ for September, 1847, Mrs.
Borron,[21] of Shrewsbury, published some remarks tending to impeach the
fact that Neptune, the planet found by Galle,[22] really was the planet
which Le Verrier and Adams[23] had a right to claim. This was followed
(September 14) by two pages, separately circulated, of "Further
Observations upon the Planets Neptune and Uranus, with a Theory of
Perturbations"; and (October 19, 1848) by three pages of "A Review of M.
Leverrier's Exposition." Several persons, when the remarkable discovery was
made, contended that the planet actually discovered was an intruder; and
the future histories of the discovery must contain some account of this
little afterpiece. Tim Linkinwater's theory that there is no place like
London for coincidences, would have been utterly overthrown in favor of
what they used to call the celestial spaces, if there had been a planet
which by chance was put {8} near the place assigned to Neptune at the time
when the discovery was made.