solar phenomena within the compass of a
rational system; to put together into a consistent whole the facts
ascertained; to fabricate, in short, a solar machine that would in some
fashion work. It is true that the materials were inadequate and the
design faulty. The resulting construction has not proved strong enough
to stand the wear and tear of time and discovery, but has had to be
taken to pieces and remodelled on a totally different plan. But the work
was not therefore done in vain. None of Bacon's aphorisms show a clearer
insight into the relations between the human mind and the external world
than that which declares "Truth to emerge sooner from error than from
confusion."[144] A definite theory (even if a false one) gives
holding-ground to thought. Facts acquire a meaning with reference to it.
It affords a motive for accumulating them and a means of co-ordinating
them; it provides a framework for their arrangement, and a receptacle
for their preservation, until they become too strong and numerous to be
any longer included within arbitrary limits, and shatter the vessel
originally framed to contain them.

Such was the purpose subserved by Herschel's theory of the sun. It
helped to _clarify_ ideas on the subject. The turbid sense of groping
and viewless ignorance gave place to the lucidity of a possible scheme.
The persuasion of knowledge is a keen incentive to its increase. Few men
care to investigate what they are obliged to admit themselves entirely
ignorant of; but once started on the road of knowledge, real or
supposed, they are eager to pursue it. By the promulgation of a
confident and consistent view regarding the nature of the sun,
accordingly, research was encouraged, because it was rendered hopeful,
and inquirers were shown a path leading indefinitely onwards where an
impassable thicket had before seemed to bar the way.

We have called the "terrestrial" theory of the sun's nature an
innovation, and so, as far as its general acceptance is concerned, it
may justly be termed; but, like all successful innovations, it was a
long time brewing. It is extremely curious to find that Herschel had a
predecessor in its advocacy who never looked through a telescope (nor,
indeed, imagined the possibility of such an instrument), who knew
nothing of sun-spots, was still (mistaken assertions to the contrary
notwithstanding) in the bondage of the geocentric system, and regarded
nature from the lofty standpoint of an ideal