Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Between The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
made with respect to the number , the situation , and motions of the " celestial bodies , which the simple powers of man , unaided by this admirable instrument , could never have accomplished . To prove that the ancients were totally ignorant of even the first principles of optics , we need only observe that they were unacquainted with glass , which is generally allowed to be a subsequent invention , and which is indubitably the medium of all optical observation and experiment . The nature and properties of light , the laws of refraction and reflection , the structure of the eye , the theory of colours , and the _ method of vision , were reserved for the investigation and discovery of modern
philosophers . And here an observation occurs which is worthy of attention , that the great Newton , to whom astronomy is so highly indebted , has contributed more than any other individual to advance and improve the science of optics , and was the first who arranged it into a philosophical system . The slig ht observations already suggested will serve to establish a conviction of the superiority of the moderns to the ancients , in two
of the most important , most abstruse , and most sublime branches of physical knowledge . The same will be evinced also as to the other parts of natural philosophy , by considering in a cursory man ^ ner a few of the improvements lately made in electricity , pneumatics , and chemistry . The whole knowledge of the ancients in electricity was comprised in one simple fact , mentioned by Theophrastus , viz . that a particular
species of fossil called amber , and a few other substances , assumed a luminous appearance by friction . In what manner this was to be accounted for , to what cause it was to be referred , and of what further effects this phenomenon mig ht be productive , they were totally ignorant . After the lapse of many ages this subject began to attract the attention of philosophers , and all substances were divided into two classesagreeable to the difference of their electric properties ,
, Those bodies contained in the first class have been termed electrics ; from their containing a certain quantity of the electric fluid , which generally remains in a dormant state , but is capable of being excited by friction and other causes . Those comprehended in the second class do not in their natural state contain any of this fluid , but have the quality of ing it from one substance to anotherand hence have
convey , received the appellation of conductors . From bodies of these two classes , an electrical machine was first constructed by Otho Guerick ; a famous German philosopher , which has since received very considerable improvements , and which displays , in a very ingenious man .
ner , all the properties of tips subtile fluid , and all the variety of effects it is capable of producing . It would be needless to enter into a detail of the numerous experiments and principles wliich this interesting branch of physics presents to the view , in a paper of this general and confined nature . I shall specif 3 ' , however , one particular , which will indisputably prove the eminent progres of the moderns in experimental knowledge . The fadfc I allude to , is the identity of electricity with ' li g htning ; afatt VOL , x . o
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Between The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
made with respect to the number , the situation , and motions of the " celestial bodies , which the simple powers of man , unaided by this admirable instrument , could never have accomplished . To prove that the ancients were totally ignorant of even the first principles of optics , we need only observe that they were unacquainted with glass , which is generally allowed to be a subsequent invention , and which is indubitably the medium of all optical observation and experiment . The nature and properties of light , the laws of refraction and reflection , the structure of the eye , the theory of colours , and the _ method of vision , were reserved for the investigation and discovery of modern
philosophers . And here an observation occurs which is worthy of attention , that the great Newton , to whom astronomy is so highly indebted , has contributed more than any other individual to advance and improve the science of optics , and was the first who arranged it into a philosophical system . The slig ht observations already suggested will serve to establish a conviction of the superiority of the moderns to the ancients , in two
of the most important , most abstruse , and most sublime branches of physical knowledge . The same will be evinced also as to the other parts of natural philosophy , by considering in a cursory man ^ ner a few of the improvements lately made in electricity , pneumatics , and chemistry . The whole knowledge of the ancients in electricity was comprised in one simple fact , mentioned by Theophrastus , viz . that a particular
species of fossil called amber , and a few other substances , assumed a luminous appearance by friction . In what manner this was to be accounted for , to what cause it was to be referred , and of what further effects this phenomenon mig ht be productive , they were totally ignorant . After the lapse of many ages this subject began to attract the attention of philosophers , and all substances were divided into two classesagreeable to the difference of their electric properties ,
, Those bodies contained in the first class have been termed electrics ; from their containing a certain quantity of the electric fluid , which generally remains in a dormant state , but is capable of being excited by friction and other causes . Those comprehended in the second class do not in their natural state contain any of this fluid , but have the quality of ing it from one substance to anotherand hence have
convey , received the appellation of conductors . From bodies of these two classes , an electrical machine was first constructed by Otho Guerick ; a famous German philosopher , which has since received very considerable improvements , and which displays , in a very ingenious man .
ner , all the properties of tips subtile fluid , and all the variety of effects it is capable of producing . It would be needless to enter into a detail of the numerous experiments and principles wliich this interesting branch of physics presents to the view , in a paper of this general and confined nature . I shall specif 3 ' , however , one particular , which will indisputably prove the eminent progres of the moderns in experimental knowledge . The fadfc I allude to , is the identity of electricity with ' li g htning ; afatt VOL , x . o