The fact that the sun moves, cannot now be altered and cannot be any longer ignored; and if mathematicians and astronomers do notwithstanding assert, that the sun may with reference to its own planetary system be regarded as fixed, or in a condition of rest, in that the system moves as a whole without any change taking place in the relative position of the planets to each other, or in their relation to the sun; in fact without any alteration taking place in the configuration of the system—we reply, this is one of those meaningless phrases, which should find no place in a scientific discussion. A body which is in motion cannot be in any way regarded as being motionless, it would be just as reasonable to say that a locomotive, dragging a train of carriages full of passengers, could with reference to the latter be regarded as motionless.
The actual meaning of such an assertion is that the planets are attached to the sun in such a manner, that they can neither approach to, nor recede from it, but must follow it whithersoever it goes.
We may in thought pursue a train of hypotheses and suppositions, but they do not thereby acquire reality; still, in a normal condition of the human intellect, it is impossible to conceive that any thing can exist and not exist at the same time.
From this confusion of ideas, it might seem as if theoretical astronomy had got into an untenable position which is irreconcilable with science and ought therefore to endeavour to enter upon a better state, as soon as possible. Theory ought therefore, either to have accepted as a fact, the motion proper to the sun with all its inevitable consequences, or else, to have denied this motion altogether. But the astronomers ignore this alternative, they have decided, once for all and irrevocably that the sun moves and that at the same time it shall be motionless. In this manner science loses its reputation and all learnedly technical expressions and formulas are not sufficient to cover the weak part. The sun cannot be rendered motionless, and if astronomers and men of science of the present day continue to ignore this fact, they need not be surprised at the inevitable consequences of their own acts.
The system of Copernicus presupposes the fixity of the sun, as a "conditio sine qua non." The most abstruse investigations into the "celestial mechanism" could not be made without this axiom be granted. The mathematician must have a fixed point, a fixed central point of action for his coordinates, he wants fixed invariable plains and closed curves, a radius vector describing plains, he wants axes and poles for the orbits, in order that they may describe certain figures in the heaven, and that the plains of the orbits may move,—one of the other.
Naturally astronomers and men of science have never asked themselves the question, how a heavenly body could be fixed in space.
When an astronomer asserts that the Copernician system is the only possible, he believes that it is impossible for the sun to have any motion of its own; when he at the same time asserts that all astronomy stands or falls with this system, he believes that no astronomical knowledge existed before the discovery of the Copernician system, and with the fall of the system all astronomical knowledge will cease to exist; he believes moreover true astronomy to be that, which men of science have imagined to be the truth regarding the heaven and the causes of the phenomena we see.
If astronomers had merely presented their ideas and opinions to the world as such, and no more, no one could raise any objection; but they lay down their opinions in words and on paper as a positive science, they give their view as incontroversible truths, and this fact alters the situation, for we cannot admit that science is a mere barge to be taken in tow by the imagination.
The fundamental axiom of astronomical theory, such as the Copernician system, Kepler's and Newton's laws, are not derived from a knowledge of fact, they are the opinions, views, ideas and suppositions of individuals, which have been adapted to the heaven, and as they were generally accepted, the question was never raised whether the opinions of an organic creature—however intelligent it might be—are really and truly that which we term penetrating behind the veil of nature and compelling it to yield up its secrets. The fact of no other ideas being at hand which seemed to be better, sufficed to transform these opinions into rules and to cause them to be accepted as the only admissible and correct truths.
The opinions set forth by Copernicus, Kepler and Newton are designed by astronomers of the present day under the collective title of the Copernician system, and they believe that these three dogmas, systems and laws, distinct as they are from each other, proceed consequentially one from the other, that they mutually supplement each the other, and thus form a harmonious whole. That not one of these things rests upon actual observation or even probable and perceptible facts, and finally, that none of them can be observed or verified, but that they are all three creations of the imagination, must be clearly evident to any one who occupies himself at all with the study of nature and more especially with the study of the heavenly phenomena.