Centrifugal force and gravitation : a lecture / by John Harris.

  • Harris, John, 1942 May 3-
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Centrifugal force and gravitation : a lecture / by John Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFACE. The ' inductive system' as taught by Francis Bacon bases science upon facts. The necessity of correctly observing and of verifying with the most scrupulous care those fun- damental fiicts upon which the various divisions of natural science are (have to be) constructed, is therein inculcated and insisted upon ; the slow and uncertain progress of science when ' undemonstrated theories' and ' suppositious facts' are substituted for ' truths and realities' is pointed out and dwelt upon ; the pernicious effect of accepting conclusions resulting from reasoning not based on truth or certainty as ' scientific' is plainly shown ; and the dan- gers (and the possibly disastrous consequences) of system- ising unsound knowledge and arraying falsehood \n the garb of truth are clearly indicated. The primary purpose of this book is to ascertain whether the rules of the inductive system as laid down and taught by Francis Bacon are still recognized; that is to say, whether the number of those who do recognise those rules is sufficient to compel their public and gene- ral recognition as constituting, collectively, that law of science which may not be set aside by any human author- .1-