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 xviii
... origin of rivers --- objections to this theory --- rivers perhaps de- rived from subterraneous waters , by attraction , or by evaporation , forming with the ocean a perpetual cir- culation . LETTER XXV . Theories to explain the ascent ...
... origin of rivers --- objections to this theory --- rivers perhaps de- rived from subterraneous waters , by attraction , or by evaporation , forming with the ocean a perpetual cir- culation . LETTER XXV . Theories to explain the ascent ...
Page 26
... , ventures , within the narrow boundaries of his closet , to explain and account for the mighty fabric of the uni- verse , how it was drawn together , and even what what it was at its origin . Thus do philosophers 26 LETTER V.
... , ventures , within the narrow boundaries of his closet , to explain and account for the mighty fabric of the uni- verse , how it was drawn together , and even what what it was at its origin . Thus do philosophers 26 LETTER V.
Page 27
... origin . Thus do philosophers wander in the mazes of error . The compass traces out the geometrician's world ; salts fly to the chymist's aid ; and to the mineralogist , fire and its raging properties . Each , in a word , in- terprets ...
... origin . Thus do philosophers wander in the mazes of error . The compass traces out the geometrician's world ; salts fly to the chymist's aid ; and to the mineralogist , fire and its raging properties . Each , in a word , in- terprets ...
Page 70
... origin of our continents ; and to shew , that the present state of the earth's surface is not of a very ancient date . refutes Buffon and Miran's notion of a heat peculiar to the earth ; the one attributing it to the earth's being a ...
... origin of our continents ; and to shew , that the present state of the earth's surface is not of a very ancient date . refutes Buffon and Miran's notion of a heat peculiar to the earth ; the one attributing it to the earth's being a ...
Page 72
... origin ; or if they were created in the sea , must have had some other cause than that of successive depôts , and have preceded the ex- istence of marine animals . But in truth , " says he , " there is no occasion to have recourse to ...
... origin ; or if they were created in the sea , must have had some other cause than that of successive depôts , and have preceded the ex- istence of marine animals . But in truth , " says he , " there is no occasion to have recourse to ...
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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.