Copy 1, Volume 1

History of the inductive sciences, from the earliest to the present times / By the Rev. William Whewell.

  • Whewell, William, 1794-1866.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the inductive sciences, from the earliest to the present times / By the Rev. William Whewell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tory of Science of which the present Work is the fruit... And the effect of these researches has been, a persuasion, that we need not despair of seeing, even in our own time, a renovation of sound philosophy, directed by the light which the History of Science sheds. Such a reform, when its Epoch shall arrive, will not be the work of any single writer, but the result of the intellectual tendencies of the age. He who is most forward in the work will wisely repeat the confession of his sagacious predecessor: Ipse certé (ut ingenue fatear) soleo estimare hoc opus magis pro partu Temporis quam Ingenii. To such a work, whensoever and by whomso- ever executed, I venture to hope that the present Volumes may be usefully subservient. But I trust, also, that in its independent character, as a History, this book may be found not altogether unworthy of the aim which its title implies. It is impossible not to see that the writer of such a history imposes upon himself a task of no ordinary difficulty and delicacy; since it is necessary for him to pronounce a judgment upon the characters and achievements of all the great physical philosophers of all ages, and in all sciences. But the assumption