24

G24

The darkest mysteries of nature, instead of half a million false
conjectures, have not called for a score. My impression is that Whewell
mentions as an unparalleled instance that Keppler made tried eighteen
false hypotheses as to the orbit of Mars before he found it to be
an ellipse with the sun at the focus, the planet describing equal
areas in equal times. Each of these hypotheses, however, was
a complex of several; and three of them, at least, were true in part. Galileo
made but one erroneous guess as to the manner mode of acceleration of
a falling body. Nothing in physics was more mysterious than the

G24

The darkest mysteries of nature, instead of half a million false conjectures, have not called for a score. My impression is that Whewell mentions as an unparalleled instance that Keppler tried eighteen false hypotheses as to the orbit of Mars before he found it to be an ellipse with the sun at the focus, the planet describing equal areas in equal times. Each of these hypotheses, however, was a complex of several; and three of them, at least, were true in part. Galileo made but one erroneous guess as to the mode of acceleration of a falling body. Nothing in physics was more mysterious than the