A View of Nature, in Letters to a Traveller Among the Alps: With Reflections on Atheistical Philosophy, Now Exemplified in France, Volume 1T. Becket, 1794 - Eighteenth century |
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Page 2
... kind of good . " Nous avons plus de paresse dans l'esprit que dans le corps , " said a French philosopher - and he said justly . In the country , where you are now about to recommence your amusements and your studies , I need not inform ...
... kind of good . " Nous avons plus de paresse dans l'esprit que dans le corps , " said a French philosopher - and he said justly . In the country , where you are now about to recommence your amusements and your studies , I need not inform ...
Page 8
... kind of exordium . I mean it not as an imper- tinent obtrusion on your own good sense . It flows from me merely as a general point , prepa- ratory to the reasoning , which I shall endeavour to establish on broader grounds , in the subse ...
... kind of exordium . I mean it not as an imper- tinent obtrusion on your own good sense . It flows from me merely as a general point , prepa- ratory to the reasoning , which I shall endeavour to establish on broader grounds , in the subse ...
Page 46
... kind of mud . The surface of the earth , says he , was regular , without hills or vallies . The earth was a globe or regular spheroid . The sun and moon were afterwards created . The fluid , which covered the earth , became agitated by ...
... kind of mud . The surface of the earth , says he , was regular , without hills or vallies . The earth was a globe or regular spheroid . The sun and moon were afterwards created . The fluid , which covered the earth , became agitated by ...
Page 56
... kind . Every mate- rial of which this globe is composed , might in a word be in general reduced to its primitive state of glass , if a sufficient degree of heat were to be applied . " " The great inequalities of this globe , " con ...
... kind . Every mate- rial of which this globe is composed , might in a word be in general reduced to its primitive state of glass , if a sufficient degree of heat were to be applied . " " The great inequalities of this globe , " con ...
Page 105
... kind , seemingly placed by ac- cident . Yet all these apparent deformities are absolutely necessary to vegetation and animal existence . Were the earth's surface smooth and regular , we should not have those beautiful hills which ...
... kind , seemingly placed by ac- cident . Yet all these apparent deformities are absolutely necessary to vegetation and animal existence . Were the earth's surface smooth and regular , we should not have those beautiful hills which ...
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Common terms and phrases
aerial acid æther alkali Alps ancients animal appears aqua fortis argillaceous Aristotle atmosphere atoms attraction Bergman Buffon burning calcareous called cause chymists clouds cold colour combination combustion common air condensed consequently contain contrary crystal degree of heat dephlogisticated air dissolved doctrine earth effect elastic fluids electric element elevation Epicurus evaporation exhalations existence fixed air force globe granite gravity greater gypsum hence Imaüs inflammable inflammable air instance iron Kirwan less light likewise magnesia mass matter melted mephitic metals mineral moon motion mountains nature neral never Newton nitrous acid observed ocean particles phænomena philosophers phlogisticated phlogiston Priestley principle produced properties proportion pure air putrefaction quantity quartz rain rarefaction reason rivers salt Saussure says shells shew siliceous snow solar rays solid stones strata stratum substances subterraneous subtile supposed surface tain thing tides tion transparent vapour vegetable vital air vitriolic volcanos weight winds
Popular passages
Page 50 - And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood ; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Page 47 - Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
Page 108 - While the particles continue entire, they may compose bodies of one and the same nature and texture in all ages ; but should they wear away or break in pieces, the nature of things depending on them would be changed.
Page 107 - Space, as most conduced to the end for which he formed them ; and that these primitive Particles being Solids, are incomparably harder than any porous Bodies compounded of them ; even so very hard, as never to wear or break in pieces ; no ordinary Power being able to divide what God himself made one in the first Creation.
Page 108 - But should they wear away, or break in pieces, the Nature of Things depending on them, would be changed. Water and Earth, composed of old worn Particles and Fragments of Particles, would not be of the same Nature and Texture now, with Water and Earth composed of entire 817 Particles in the Beginning. And therefore, that Nature may be lasting, the Changes of corporeal Things are to be placed only in the various Separations and new Associations and Motions of these permanent Particles...
Page 107 - It seems probable to me that God in the beginning formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable moveable particles ; of such sizes and figures, and with such other properties, and in such proportions to space, as most conduced to the end for which He formed them; and that these primitive particles, being solids, are incomparably harder than any porous bodies compounded of them; even so very hard, as never to wear or break in pieces; no ordinary power being able to divide what God himself...
Page 114 - Have not the small Particles of Bodies certain Powers, Virtues, or Forces, by which they act at a distance, not only upon the Rays of Light for reflecting, refracting, and inflecting them, but also upon one another for producing a great Part of the Phenomena of Nature?
Page 108 - Particles, would not be of the same Nature and Texture now, with Water and Earth composed of entire Particles in the Beginning. And therefore, that Nature may be lasting, the Changes of corporeal Things are to be placed only in the various Separations and new Associations and Motions of these permanent Particles; compound Bodies being apt to break, not in the midst of solid Particles, but where those Particles are laid together, and only touch in a few Points.
Page 313 - But such a personification of "force" is a remnant of barbaric thought, in no wise sanctioned by physical science. When astronomy speaks of two planets as attracting each other with a " force " which varies directly as their masses and inversely as the squares of their distances...
Page 115 - Forms of Things, but as general Laws of Nature, by which the Things themselves are form'd; their Truth appearing to us by Phaenomena, though their Causes be not yet discover'd.