It would be a good piece
of psychology to explore the principles of this subtile mental power,
and might go far to give us a philosophy of Anticipation. The men of
facts, men of the understanding, observers,--as we might
suppose,--universally show a disposition to shun theorizing, as opposed
to the exactness of demonstrative science. And yet it is quite certain,
that, in proportion as one rises to a more liberal apprehension, the
immense provisional power of speculative ideas becomes apparent.
Laplace asserted that no great discovery was ever made without a great
guess; and long before, Plato had intimated of these "sacred suspicions
of truth," that descend dawn-like on the mind, sublime premonitions of
beautiful gates of laws. It is these launching tentatives which bring
phenomena to interior and metaphysical tests and bear the mind
swift-winged to Nature. Of course, there are various kinds of
conjecture, and its value will depend on the brain from which it
departs. But a powerful spirit will justify Hypothesis by the high
functions to which he puts it. His guesses are not for nothing. Many
and long processes go to them.--The inexhaustible fertility displayed
by Kepler is a psychologic marvel.
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