장음표시 사용
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universat trullis of creation. He had a right to thuso wido tracis, because he was Willing to use them for an adequato en d; such Willingness being the litte-deed os truth, according toWhicli, Divine Providence apportions it to man. They Were anunclaimed continent, and SKedenhorg, as the fir8t explorer, took possession of it, under Divine sanction, in the name of humanity. It was not particular but generat experience that herelied upon; not medicat lear in g, but universat lino Wledge, apprehended by common sense, as the out Ward Organ os a deesphilosophical insight. He had to discover a neW Order Os facis, RS Bacon Says, more subile and simple than the common; Such as do not appear Without the exercise of a regulated poWer of observation; such, in stiori, as are the miud 's experienee in the senses. As a good example Os these facis, We may Selectilio influence Whicli the respiratory motion eXeris upou thebodily system. SWede borg dotabiless saW at a glauce, that thedistinct Iisu os cach organ requires a distinet motion to convertit into actions, Or that each viscus eri Oys peculiar movementS.' Also, that as in every case some function Or motion is performed by the leasts of an organ, so the sum os least functions reali gesitself in a generat motion, or that of the entire Organ. Andussiere is the motion generated for the human machine, be reit is distributed to the various Orgatis 3 In the cheSt, of COUrSe, Where the continuat reciprocation of the lungs is far more manifest than the pulse of the heari; Whence We know that motion extendes to the remotest paris Of the frame. There is
not a more palpable faut in human knowledge: yet Wo owe it ton mechanio, and not to a physician. And why 8 Becauso it is a faut bulon ging to the mechanics of the body; the necessityos it being mechanical, and not obviolasty pathological; and
The Way in Whicli the mechanical ossices of the lungs are Overlooked, and theirchemicat ossices d est upon exclusively, is truly extraordinary. It is as though achemiSt, in the engine-room os a stem-boat, should regard the use of the engine asIimited to the various changes whicli the water undergoes in the boiler, taking no account of the moving machinery. Oh l that our physiologisis could bear in mindiliat Illa, function, Ossice, activity, are synonymous With motion, and that Where these predicates are distinci and peculiar, they mean distinci and peculiar motions ;Such, in Shori, RS are the exact expression of the functions. But this by the way ;Dr We are not noW appealing to the physiologisis, but to the educated public.
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there re the mechanisi is the sirst to conceive and seo it. SOWhen the human body is vioWed by the Workman, Dom therequirements of successsul human wOAmanship, it is seen in One respeci, as nearly as may be, Dom iis oWn potnt of vieW; aud it disclosos a series of iis trullis accordingly. ΑΠd every nrt, mystery, or calling, has facilities, Sui generis, for apprehendinga silare Os the endoWments of Our physical system. Iis anatomyis a conglomeration os schoois, in Whieli the advancement Oflearning may be carried On in many Ways, either directly or indirectiy. For the physici an it is a theatre of health and dis-ORSO, Or of generat Sen Sations, Recording to Whicli therapeutius proceeds. For the mechanio it is mechanicat; sor the geometrician, geometricat; sor the philosopher, philosophical: provided these classes are not averse to contemplate their Sciences as Wholly absorbed, realiged, and determined, or put to actualuse in the human body; and therelare as neWly limited Or en- larged therein by experieuce. For tho moralist again it is fullos moria rules and instructions. For the economist it is thehighest instance of economy. For the statesmati it is the truesteXample of poWer and gentieness, Winding Ways and direct forces, action and equilibration, sub ordination and coordination, goVernment anil constitution. In shori, for nil classes it is thebest analogical piece of physios that can be imagined, or indeed that cari exist. Yet no One class, as Such, Can unlocli niliis trullis; and no One man, utiless he cati regard it DOm alliis potnts of vieW. This, hoWevor, is the Work Whieli SKedent,Org commenced. The largeness of his education, and theiani Versality of his genius and sympathies, sited him alone, Os SO many philosophors, for applying the trullis of the bodyto the exigencies of the philosophia prima, to Whicli ali effecisbelong, be re they are made over to the particular ScienCOS. In the light of that philosophy We must en deavor to apprehendthe experience he cites, the axioms Whicli ho induces Dom it, and tho subitu and simple V observations that he talies Whenagain descending Dom those axioms into the field of expe
Τhe generat experience above alluded to, upon Whicli thephilosophicat sciences may be bulli, is of a tWOsold character,
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or at tuast admits of n tu osold consideration. It signifies, ontho one haud, the experience of ali ages in ali the sciences, asdistinguished Dom the experietice of individua is in ali or any of them : on the Other haud, in iis more active meaning, it implies those great, generat, and principat facts Whicli are the boginningsand ends of series; the representatives of nature to the humanmiud, and the compendious liniis belWeen the two; the facts and things that are nexi of kin to thoughis and truths; and Whicli are the most suggestive os, and the most obedient to, thespiritual poWer. They are those choice experiences Whicli Bacon destred to elect by his doctrine of prerogative instanees; be-enuse they shorten e quiry,V and cui Osr insinity.V Thogeneraliged eXperienee Whicli they constitute, does not groW in proportion to the accumulation os oblique and uni tolligibJudetatis, but is added to floWly, for the most part by experimentSproceeding on Some principle, and de vised to test, or to Workout, a preconceived idea. AS no age has been Without it, so nonge ever Was destitute Os a physical basis for universat trullis. It is uot remote Dom sight, but from observation; being generalty visible as the prime object When it is Once discerned; or sosoon as the attention seiges it. It is tess in quantity than might be thought, judging froin the apparatus of scientisio books. Each portion os it is os eminently representative and analogient poWer, and may prove VicarioHS of Other portions, and therelare serve as a proviSionat basis for many trullis not strictly iis oWia, and whicli are nWatting their proper experimental grOUndS. Henco it is the means by Whicli theory may someWhat outrian
In books, science is presented to the eye of the pupil, as it Were in a driedand preServed State; the time may come when the instructor Will take him by the hand, and lead him by the running strenuis, and teuch him ali the principies of
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eliciting such experieneo, as Weli iis in reading iis Scope and spirit, Whicli is the trullis of the natural Worid. His scientisc or philosophical Works are an endeavor to state over again the trullis of this generat experienee, in the langvage, and as Supported bV the facis, of particular experience; to bring doWn the views that result from an intellectual conVer-Sation With nature, into the region os ordinary thoughis and Common Observations; to demonstrato the highest trullis of
physius by proose that may be allowed by the scientisic man; to
submit himself to the tests, and receive the confirmation, of his OWn times. Hence these Works have tWo aspects Whicli are eastly separabie Dom ench other, and Whicli tacitly present them solves to every reniter. On the One hand We note a Stream os trullis, Whicli commend themselves by Sel evidence, and come home to Our faculties, and specificatly to Our morat orhumane judgments and assections, With controlling and irresisti ble force ; and corresponding to these, We have a rieli harvestos deductions, constituting a body of What Bacon denominates learn ed experienee ' on the Other hand, We Observe anappeal to partiat experiences, by Whicli the foregoing trullis areborne Out; or rather, in many cases, by Whicli they are tali enfrom their proper feet, and made to hobble considerately busido
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DIFFERENT ΚINDS OF EXPERIENCE. XXV
Thoro are theti tWo lighis in Which SWedent,org may be re-garded in these volumes; sirstly, as a philoSopher Who Domgenerat intuitions elicited universat trullis in physios, Whicli donot differ froin tho trullis of philosophy, excepi in degree : and
portant principies in partiat facis, and to conneet the sciences by a seW, 3 et a sussicient number of liniis, Willi rational and human philosophy. The lalter lask he perhaps accomptished fortiis oWn age, but it has 3 et to be done for Ours. For experienee is alWays shisting iis ground, and passing through itS OWn evolutions. Froni time to time the senses, like children, erave for ne vplay-things, and go in chase of Desii colors and neW forins. Eventhe mirid requires to change iis experieneo, or at least to submit
nicer vision; also to add to anil extend it by fresti accumulations. Moreover, industry and the economie aris are constantly Working up facts into neW realigations; and the greas est novel-ties of experience Osten proceed unexpected ly hom this fource. In a Word, disserent ages differ in their experience as u eli as in their genius and mentis: ages of generat faci come sirst; ages of particular faut succeed them; and ages of generali ging poWershould thon como on, to complete the circle, and enable themiiid to permeate iis universe, and to transmute iis objecis into thoughis, and ministers of thought. Nos in tho middie of the last century, When SWedonbOrgvrote the present Wortis, an epoch os generat eXperience Wasclosed, or an age of broad intuitions. Earth, air, sire, and Water then censed to be mental facis, and consequently the world of the scientisic mari buca me quite disserent Dom tho World of the vulgar.' The eountenance of nature Was seen for the last
' The ancients held that there were four elemenis, vig., earth, air, fire, and water. This has lately been brought sorward, sif we recollect aright, by the ΜeSSrS. Chambers,) as a proof that the ancients were ignorant of chemistry : formodern authorities teli us that experiment has shewn definitively that there arebetWeen fifty and Sixty elements ; and they reason that the peopte Who Stated that there Were but Dur elements must have been considerably bellind those Who knowthat there are fifty. Ρresuming that the knowledge was similar in Lind, and that theword element signifies the fame in both cases, this deduction might certainly be true. But What did the ancients mean by the terin, and what do the moderns Z There canbe no doubi that so sar as the lastitig distinctions of thingS are concerned, the ancients
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XXVI INTRODUCTORY REMARΚS BY ΤΠE EDII OR.
Whatever they contained os error and impurity might be putaside, and the smali bulli of their siner paris be gathered up
We are theres ore justistest in that destructive analysis Whichlias bocome the main instrument of the sciences : it is the purification of the lower regions of the mi d by death and sire, and Such other ruthless ageticies as bring things back to their 1irstforms, though sor ages they Were paris Os an Organte SyStem, and were tenderly dealt With as living members. But When sire comes to be the novum oryanum, the curling flesti is of no account. Oid generalities burn and evaporate, notWith standing they Were Veneraled through long antiqui ty, and assorded a hospitable shelter in the universe to past generations os Sages and philosophers. This stage is no doubi included in the destinius Os science: but let us remarii that a condition in Which tho
have admitted a greater number of elements than even the present chemisis. Butthe truth is, that their elements Were rationat elemenis, Or generaligations of nature ;as Coleridge has rightly Observed, earth, air, 1ire, and Water, Were their eXpreSSionsor the four grand elemental forms of physical creation; namely, the terrestriat form, the aeriat form, the igneous form, and the aqueous form: and RS Such eXΡreSSion, they stand unshaken and unshaheable, like the four great continents of the worid, amid the ceaseless fluctuations of modern science. The modern elemenis, On theother hand , are but landmarks of mati's destructive ageticies ; and is his poWer of hemicat torture be increased, their number may be modified in either direction. It is, hoWever, remarkable that the doctrine of the four elements is at this day
adopted by oken, an experimentalist Of established reputation us weli as a philosopher of profound insight,) as the key of his analysis of nature. See De Blattiville, Ηistoire des Sciences de l'Organigation, tom. iii., p. 497-499. Paris and Lyons, 1845. And Carus says in his V Erdleben, V p. 124, Ed. 1841): UIhold to the distinction of these Dur elemenis, air, lire, Water, and earth, RS beingindeed pregnant With signification. Bacon, Νovum organum, V partii., Sec. i. , θ 7.
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PHILOSOPHICA L VALUE OF PRACΤICA L ARΤS. XXVII
linoWn is regnrded as unknO n, the triae as probabie, and the probabie as false,V' Ought Dot to elate the miud; for humility, and the nothingness of science Without human grounds, are theo ly morai or intellectual instruction Whicli it conveys. It is astate in Whicli the common eye embraces the whole sold of experienee, Whicli ranges Simply Dom the potnt of no vision os the microscope, to the potui of no intellection of the generals of nature. With such experience the doctrines of Sweden borghave yet to be connected, and evidently by a medium not at present in exiStence ; Vig., by true generaligations from the massos neW facis, and perhaps by a condescension of those doctrinesthemselves into certain Jower Or middie forins sui ted to thooccasion. It required a laborious process On his part to confirmhis doctrinos sor his OWn generation, Dor Without an effori canthey be corroborated by . existing lino Kledge, so indeterminateis it, and so litile redueed to forms that contain intellect, Or
In truth, it is ruther froin the economio aris than the sciences that We expect those generat facts or mid ille principies Whichwill unito the doctrines of SKedetiborg u illi modern investiga
talus, being dissipated successively into the smallest objecis and the most trivial questions, and yearly tenil to beeome more and more impalpabie. Yet stili somo portion of them is determined
eminent beyond historical antiquity. They are to the present time What the perception os generat experience Was to the past: Vig., the continents of the sciences; the organs that eleet Ieadingsacis, and prove their value by the test of practice; the siners of heterogeneous experimenis; the media Whicli prosser natureto man, and invite hirn to carry it into nobier applications. Τhrough them a connexion may be maintained belWeen thephilosophy that will mino men bolter and Wiser, and the Gaeeat Desert of particular facis. And this, it may be, WRS R TURSOn, even at that timo, for tho training Whicli S edent,Org underWent. Τhe practical miner Was sited thoroby to become the philosophical explorer. The metallurgist took a materiat lesson in
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Separatin g, purifying, and combining trullis, and in castingthe sciences for human use. The geometrician, engineer, and mechanio, learni the value and the limits of intellectual instruments, the laWs and poWers of eXpres Sions Or formulas, and the application of vario us methods in attaining knowledge. And the resulting philosopher Was at the fame time a praeficat man, and there re Was cap able Os becoming a Satisfactorytheologinn. There is one remari ablo indication common to both the aris Rud Sciences; We mean the attention that is nos puid to tholarces of the imponderabies and other fluids, and the mightyeffecis Whicli are traceable to that elemental World Which SWe- deliborg Was probably the firSt to erect into a separate Lingdomos nature.' Steam, electricity, galvanism, light and heat, have been explored With uncommon persistence, and With great stilli conversed to Use, in the present age. But is the imponderabluand fluid world bo of suci, vast utility in practical science, Whatshali be iis limit in tho philosophic sphere, When iis in s arerecogniged, and the intellect can perceive iis mechanism, and apprehend iis signification. The auras of SWedent,org, and the vitai and animal spirits of the old philosophers, Will then comebach into their former place among proved and rational eXist- ences; the body of the aris and sciences receiving them With
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ongon ders such unbounded considenee in the material refources of the future.
We have thought it necessary to go ni some longili into this argument, on belial f of tho se Who, in ali sincerity, Would test
Way permeate eXperienee, and range it upon doctrines. AndWe have attemptest to suggest that experience requires to beboth seleci and prepared besore it cati be assimilated into thebody of rationes philosophy: much as alime ut must be not Onlyproper in iiself, but must also undergo preliminary trenimenthe re it can nourish an organio bling. The Sun, it is true,
enlightens the universe by disrusive radiation, but philosophy is
human, and not OtherWise Cosmical, and Only pervades those facts that are in it, Whieli, hoWever, should be principat and representative in their offices, the concentration and quintes-Sence of experienee, the objecis not of vulgar Sense, but OfWise observation. By conformity With facts of this Liud, Wo invite the reader to test tho philosophy of SWedent,org. Let the justice be as rigorous as possibie When once the tribunal is rightly appotnted. We destre also to reassure those Who Willi every dispositionto accepi the truth, are tormented by a Dur that scientific investigation Will Dom time to time presunt neW facts Whicli are irreconcitable With their chorished principies. Let these remember the Sabbath-day, Whicli is a station Of rest, as Weli as a potnt in progre88; and in Which, as here represented by the evioymentos truth, assirmation has fuit scope, OutWard labor censes, and the stranger that is Within the gate,-the experieuce Whicli is not in complete accord With the truth, or What is the samething, the truth that is imperfectly embodied in experienee, partahes the security and repose of the household. NoW sucha Sabbath may be permanent notWithstanding our Week-dnytolis. Or to drop the metaphor. the hold on principies may be constantly maintained, and yet their application be constantlyadvancing. For the WOrid is, and ulWays WaS, in pOSSe8Sion ofnumerous trullis; respecting Whicli the question Oeeurs, notwhether they are true, but how they are true. Ali scienco is but
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XXX INTRODUCTORY REΜARΚS BY TUE EDITOR.
an analysis of the trullis of the sensus, and philosophy is a further an absis of the trullis os science: there re both scienceand philosophy presuppose tho generat truth of that of whichthey discern the particulars and universals; for Scepticism Onthis poliat Would paralyge or annui them. Consequently rest in principies is essentialty necessary to progress in the understandingos them. Or to put the mattor in another light, principies them solves admit os modification: they may rise higher, and
objeci. But besides that principies are eminently plastie, Containing more variety thau the particulars that spring Domthem, it should not be largoiten that they are elicited Domgenerat experieuce by prerogative instances,'' and through
Such experience Or instances Mone they communicate Withfacis. Is duly formed, particular facts cannot invalidate them, for they arisu Dom privileged and not hom ordinary CXperienee. The rational Worhings of the minu are similar to tho constitutive Operations Os a representative govertament, Where theelectorat power is vested in individuals Who have certain propertius distinet hom those in Whicli nil men agrest. Iu such agovertament it is nos the OutWard human form, or the credentialos bipes implumis, but accumulated industry, or Some preSumablyspirituat titie, Whicli constitutes the elector; and so in a genuine philosophy, modification of principies is not alloWed Dom alilaeis, or Dom any on the pretexi of mere faci, but only Dompeculiar facis, on the ground of representative sitne88, os prerogative viriue, of eminent and speaking quality. Τhe largerand looser the generat notion, as in the theory of gravitation, the more a direct appeat is made to the democracy of Sensations: