"All Science is necessarily prophetic, so truly so, that the power of prophecy is the test, the infallible criterion, by which any presumed Science is ascertained to be actually & verily science. The Ptolemaic Astronomy was barely able to prognosticate a lunar eclipse; with Kepler and Newton came Science and Prophecy." (Samuel T Coleridge, "On the Constitution of the Church and State", 1830)
"Contemplated as one grand whole, astronomy is the most beautiful monument of the human mind; the noblest record of its intelligence." (Pierre-Simon Laplace," The Systems of the World", 1830)
"Of all the natural sciences, astronomy is that which presents the longest series of discoveries. The first appearance of the heavens is indeed far removed from that enlarged view, by which we comprehend at the present day, the past and future states of the system of the world." (Pierre-Simon Laplace," The Systems of the World" Vol. 1, 1830)
"The discovery of other systems in the boundless regions of space was the triumph of astronomy - to trace the same system through various transformations - to behold it at successive eras adorned with different hills and valleys, lakes and seas, and peopled with new inhabitants, was the delightful need of geological research." (Charles Lyell," Principles of Geology", 1830)
"The progress of astronomy depends on these three things: the measure of time, that of angles, and the perfection of optical instruments. The two first are nearly as perfect as we could wish; it is therefore to the improvement of the latter that our attention should be directed." (Pierre-Simon Laplace," The Systems of the World" Vol. 1, 1830)
"We may therefore define Astronomy as the science by which we discover the laws of the geometrical and mechanical phenomena presented by the heavenly bodies." (Auguste Comte, “The Positive Philosophy”, 1830)
"Astronomy is, not without reason, regarded, by mankind, as the sublimest of the natural sciences. Its objects, so frequently visible, and therefore familiar, being always remote and inaccessible, do not lose their dignity." (Benjamin Silliman Jr, "Elements of Chemistry", 1830-1831)
"The term ‘science’ should be kept for disciplines such as mathematics or astronomy, whose object is pure knowledge. That every theory of art may contain discrete sciences goes without saying, and need not worry us. But it is also to be noted that no science can exist without some element of art: in mathematics, for instance, the use of arithmetic and algebra is an art. But art may go still further. The reason is that, no matter how obvious and palpable the difference between knowledge and ability may be in the totality of human achievement, it is still extremely difficult to separate them entirely in the individual." (Carl von Clausewitz, "On War", 1832)
"The term ‘science’ should be kept for disciplines such as mathematics or astronomy, whose object is pure knowledge. That every theory of art may contain discrete sciences goes without saying, and need not worry us. But it is also to be noted that no science can exist without some element of art: in mathematics, for instance, the use of arithmetic and algebra is an art. But art may go still further. The reason is that, no matter how obvious and palpable the difference between knowledge and ability may be in the totality of human achievement, it is still extremely difficult to separate them entirely in the individual." (Carl von Clausewitz, "On War", 1832)
"Physical astronomy is the science which compares and identifies the laws of motion observed on earth with the motions that take place in the heavens; and which traces, by an uninterrupted chain of deduction from the great principle that governs the universe, the revolutions and rotations of the planets, and the oscillations of the fluids at their surfaces; and which estimates the changes the system has hitherto undergone, or may hereafter experience - changes which require millions of years for their accomplishment." (Mary Somerville, "The Connection of the Physical Sciences", 1834)
"That the study of mathematics and their application to astronomy are full of interest will be allowed by all who have devoted their time and attention to these pursuits; and they only can estimate the delight of arriving at truth, whether it be in the discovery of a world, or of a new property of numbers." (Mary Somerville, "Mechanism of the Heavens, Preliminary Dissertation", 1831)
"No science is more worthy of cultivation and encouragement than that which, calculating time by the aid of Astronomy, adjusts the results of observations thus obtained to the ordinary use and instruction of man." (Elias Hiam Lindo, "A Jewish Calendar for Sixty-Four Years", 1838)
"In the progressive growth of astronomy, physics or mechanical science was developed, and when this had been, to a certain degree, successfully cultivated, it gave birth to the science of chemistry." (Justus von Liebig, "Familiar Letters on Chemistry", 1844)
"The knowledge whose content makes up astronomy is the gain from more than 2,000 years' work on one of the most abundant objects of human knowledge, in which the foremost minds of all times have summoned up all the resources of genius and diligence." (Carl Friedrich Gauss, [letter to Heinrich C Schumacher] 1845)
"Geology and Astronomy are, in truth, sciences whose discoveries have realized the wildest imaginings of the poet, and whose realities infinitely surpass, in grandeur and sublimity, the most imposing fictions of romance." (Gideon Mantell, "Relics from the Wreck of a Former World", 1847)
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