In
order to submit phenomena to calculation, recourse is had to a hypothetical
construction of matter by a combination of molecules and atoms, whose
number, form, position, and polarity determine, modify, or vary phenomena.
The mythical ideas long entertained of the imponderable substances and vital
forces peculiar to each mode of organization, have complicated our views
generally, and shed an uncertain light on the path we ought to pursue.
The most various forms of intuition have thus, age after age, aided in
augmenting the prodigious mass of empirical knowledge, which, in our own day
has been enlarged with ever-increasing rapidity. The investigating spirit
of man strives from time to time, with varying success, to break through
those ancient forms and symbols invented, to subject rebellious matter to
rules of mechanical construction.
We are still very far from the time when it will be possible for us to
reduce, by the operation of thought, all that we perceive by the senses, to
the unity of a rational principle. It may even be doubted if such a victory
could ever be achieved in the field of natural philosophy. The complication
of phenomena, and of the vast extent of the Cosmos, would seem to oppose
such a result; but even a partial solution of the problem -- the tendency
toward a comprehension of the phenomena of the universe -- will not the less
remain the eternal and sublime aim of every investigation of nature.
Pages:
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157