The economy of the animal kingdom, considered anatomically, physically, and philosophically

발행: 1846년

분량: 540페이지

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induction Dom tho leading facts of the gi ven subjeci, and also om those of the cognate subjecis and Sciences : thus not Dompolitis or single liues, but si om parallel regions; the subject in hand, hoWever, being alloWed the central position, While contiguous subjecis only Supply mathematical, or analogical, notmaterial information. Without delay the result is assumed asa principie, Dom Whicli the iniud descends to the sold os expo-rience, and mali es neW discoveries of facis, Whicli although palpabie to sense are rational facis, because they are seen by the miud through the senses, being not OtherWise discernible. These facts supply a frest, and higher induction, and this, amore commanding descent into nature : so that a circulation isostablishod belWixi the mitid and things,V untii considerable accumulations os L OWledge beeo me rational or organic.' Τhisus a method is not peculiar to SKeden borg. Rightly or Wronglyali minds inser laWs Dom facis, and Dom those laWs look uponsacts With a neW eye. But SNedenhorgys peculiarity thus far, consisis in the class of facts made use os, in the quality of the matter, and also in the quantity, as estimated by the numberos distinct sciences that it represenis. Τhus, sor eXample, heinforms us, that in investigating the causes of muscular action, or the qualities of the motive fibre, uniess Wo combine the particular experience of Oue individual With ait the experiendo ofothers; and unless, in addition to this, We talie into account the experience recorded of the bl ood, the arteries, the heari, the nerves, the nervous ganglia, the gland8, the medulla spinalis, the medulla oblongata, the cerebellum, the cerebrum, and nil the Other members, organs, and tunies, endoWed With

Omne vivum ex ovo ' appears to hold of philosophices truth. Thus there is the limitation of the matter, the separation os it Dom surrounding things as it Were by a sheli, Mihin whicli nothing is allowed but what will be service te for use. Then there is the punctum saliens-the first-born principie beating and animatingin the midst of the select periphe , tili the whole becomes a form repreSentingwhatever Was involved in the formative force, or illi ait the finer portions of knowledge are tinen up, and converted into philosophy. But the egg itself must come

Om a Prior organization, and the punctum saliens requires an anSWerable ternalheat to excite and keep up iis reciprocations. In correspondence to Whicli, philosophyin iis origin is dependent on What has gone belare it, and also upon the individualaffections that nourish it into lue.

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avail Oursolves of tho facts that have been brought to light in

But is S Wodenborg is peculiar in his materiais, he is muchmore so in the kind of inductive ladder by Whicli ho ascends and descends through nature. It is impossibie to follos nature Without doctrines derived Dom nature. The generat notion Osinduction is common to nil manliind: it simply implies, that facts have proper explanations Whicli must be gained Dom a satrviow of the facis. But the question is, hoW to gain them; orhoW to elevate induction itself Dom a commoti faut, sueti as it

tional facis: hoW, in Ahori, to organige it so as to talty Withthe ordor it has to apprehend tu nature. Ars inveniendi cum invento adolescit.V Yet something may be dono at ali times, and SKede borg has discovered so much of nature, that he has

also unsoldest much of the ari os discovery. His means os induction comprise severat doctrines, which With the most intense application and study,V and the use of Whatever Waspreviousty linoWn of methods, he elaboraten Dom the various sciences, and they are the doctrines os forms, os ordor and degrees, of series and society, os communication and influx, of correspondence and representation, and of modification.' These are the mathematius of the universals Os physics, corre-

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Sponding to the vulgar mathematics, Whicli are those of thogenerals of the Same . We incline to suppose that SWedenbOrg made use of various meanS of suggestion and confirmation Whicli are not mentionedin his Wortis; leaving them to be gleaned Dom his reSulis, solar as these stre subsequently establishod; but Uith characteristic caution, not recommending them, or assigning them any generalfunctions. Assuredly to his universat sympathies neither tradition nor history Would be voicoless, Dor Would he do OtherWisethan suppose that much had been accomptished by his great predecessors in philosophy and science. The good use Whicli hemalies of the heathen mythology, either in the Way of illustratio' confirmation, Or formula, attests the correctuess of Bacon's notion, that a just exposition of the ancient labies is of thouimost importance to philosophy :' and shews that SWedenburg HSO regarded them as containing profouud ideas. And this isone of the fources Dom Which We imagine he took occasionalsuggestions. It was not that these fabies involve physical science, as Bacon supposed, but Other trullis to Whicli it corresponds :and as Swedent,org held it to be our duty to carry the sciences beyond the Pindus of the ancients,' ' so in ascending the mouΠ-tain, he himself came parallel, by analysis, With the intuitions of the old Worid, enueloped in iis various religiOus SymbolS. Wo Will not aver that he interrogated langunge RS a meRUSto trullis; yot it is remari able hoW his resulis are borne out by the commoti speech of manliind. There is Scarcely an important position in these Works but summotis out Of the verbal memory a number of Willing corroboratio S. Tahe, lar ex-

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ample, the doctrine of the spirat, Whicli is the mainspring os nature, the very form of motion and evolution. When iis physical impori is seen, hoW striking the analogy beeomes be-

tWeen spirat an d spiritual, and hoW suggestive the use of many derivatives Dom these WOrds, as revire, invire, conspire, trunSpire, With a host os others, Whicli notWithstanding their plain relationship to the spire, no lexi cographer hi therio ventures toconnect With it.' But may me not inser, that is the spiralsorm and force bo the highest in nature, it Would almost necessarily supply the analogical term for that whicli is beyond

ledge or rational philosophy : although they had suci, analogies of both as their day required: much as the insant earth hadnone of the present species of animais, and yet it had ansWerable creatures suilen to iis early time.

SO again We are Ied to imagine, that SWedenhorg took in. dications from the usage of natural things in the Holy Scripture. Observe, sor instance, the singular position Whicli sali occupies in his minorat theory: it is the first of solid formations: the complement of the interstices of fluids, When their particles are in the natural siluation :: and being the principi e of earlli, itis also the earth or planet Of the bloon globule, to Whicli the

imply in the former, that sali is the beginning of terrestriat

Philology can hardly advance apari Dom a true natural philosophy : Wordsbeing, in their last recesses, the vestments of the most germinant ideas.' Cosmic motion, says Carus, can be absolutely none oster inan that of the spirat, susceptibie of the most varied modifications. Erdleben, V p. 90.). V Prodromus Principiorum, V pars viii., g 8 ; and pars xi.

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We might accumulate instances of a similar kiud, but sufficeit to mention the implied relationship botWeon the hoari and the reius,' as thus connected in the inspired writings. What physiology ventu res to linii them in usu and ossice 8 Yot Sive- de borg's doctrino of the heari and pericardium, and of the

to justisy the Scripture phraseology even in a natural SenSe. Not hoWover to dWeli upon this subjeci, We Will merely remarii, that as tho Holy Scripture involves universat trullis, So perhapsit usus the principies of things, or the beginnings Only of naturalseries; Whence it is not prosane to thiuli, that besides iis sacredossico os onlighfening manliiud in their duty, it may also supplythum With seed for the nobier sciences. Sequitur quod nos Christiani debemus uti philosophia in divinis, et in philosophicis

multa assumere theologica, ut appareat quod una sit Sapientia in utrkque relucen S.' 'Another solarce of indication Or confirmation, appearS toliave occurren to SWede borg in the doctrines of the old philo-

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80phers. Is it nos remari ablo that his doctrine of Water, mbeing the prima materia of the carth, coincides With that ofΤhales of Miletus, the earliust of tho Grook philosophers 3 But more than this, Wo find in Swede borg Dearly ali the doctrines of the schools; Whether physical, mathematical, metaphysical, moral, logical or scientific; as though he explored antiquityWith an unmensured appreciation of ita various jeWeis. For Onetest of the truth, says he, lies in the laci, that it en abies many hypotheses to coincide, or to fheW a particular mode Os Contactor approximation.' An d assuredly his doctrine is at amity with Widely dissere ut opinions, and reconciles the philosophers Witheaeli Other, and modern modes of thought With ancient, and

The career of SWedenhorg, as traced in his Writings, is infaci an epitome of the religion and philosophy of mauhiud. Tho srst half of his liso supplies the archetype of Whateuer is Worthiest in philosophy; of Whatever the intelligetice of the

When the truth is present, ali experience, and ali the rules Os true philosophy, attest it, and many hypotheses, so far as they are founded on a generat notion, coincide, or indicate potnts of contact, or approximation. '' Economy of the Animal

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are the onds of physics, yet his morat ground s are his OWn, and imply intellectunt mechanies to connect them With nature:

although induction is his method, yet it is not the induction ofwhicli othors have tho responsibili ty; snalty although God is in ali his thoughis and doctrines, yet it is in no casu the God of the Theist, but the revealed personat Lord of the Christian.

To fhew the mean ing Which SWedent, Org puis iapon commonphilosophical teritis, We select as instanees the folloWing; Vig., Unity Or Simple, principie, substance, aud cause. NoW the unityand simplicity of the philosophers are ultimate resolutions Ofthought, or formulas of absolute heing. With SWedent,org, hoWever, unity or unities signify those things that are leastin each series, and enter iis serm res essentiat paris; and whichare proper to it, and Would not fuit any other series or sorm is they Wero applied to it .V Τhus the pulmonary vesicle is theu ity of the lungs as regards their respiratory ossice, inasmuchas there is no tesser cavlty into Whicli the air can penetrate, andinas much as the lungs exist, and are called the lungs, Dom their vesicles. Whatever goes beyond the vesicles, Or Whatever thatis more simple exists Within them, as the fibre or capillary vesset that enters the composition of the vesicle, cannot be called the proper unity of the lungs, for the fibres and vesseis universallydetermine every subriu of the body.V' The unity, there re, here Spolien os, is a relative, knowabie, substantiat thing, byno means indivisibie, Or abstraci; Day one Whicli abstraci thoughtis almost Sure to Overpass, or miSapprehend. With respect tothe simple, Whicli is unother expression of the unity, the fame remariis may be made; it, too, being relative and substantial: so that SWedent,org says: All things reser them solves to their unities : and the unities themsolves to thoirs; sor overything is a series and in a series: there is no such thing ns absolute simplicity in nature. Henee there is no series that may not beaSSumed as a unity, is We plense.' ' And again he observes : By the simples of tho blood wo do nos mean the simplest elements of nature, but the simples and unities of particular com- pound 8 ; for there are degrees of simples as Weli as Of compOunds.

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So also the word principie, Whicli, like unity, has for themost pari an abstraci signification, means in SWedenborg the first term in any series, Or else the Whole of n series regardedas collectively the srst term of Whicli the Whole os a lomer seriesis the second, or the third.' Thus the cortical substances arethe principies of the body; or is iis higher laWs be so regarded, stili those laWs, as primarily inhabiting the cortical substances,

and there embodied into causes, are no Other than the cortical Substances themselves in actuat operation ; Or than attributes of the cortical substanceS.

This brings us to the term substanee, Which also S WedenbOrguses in his OWn Way. The philosophical definition of it, as that whicli subsists by itfelf, and supporis accidenis, V is Rccepted by him in a scientisc sense. Not heeding the figmentos things in them selves,V he declares the animal body to be a substance: by the above definition, because in iis essentialconditions, it is by no means subject to the order and laWs Ofthe universe, but derives iis forin and determinations Dom iis OWn principies, as the universe does hom iis OKn principies.' Wheres ore it is a Boing separate Dom other things, and subsi8tino by itse . At the fame time it supporis accidenis; beeauseit is enutroned by the circumambient Worid, and according totis oWn nature, and sui tably to iis Wanis, appropriateS the modifications and materials of the lalter. This vioW of substanceis deep and praeticat; begian in philosophy, continued in Seleuce, and terminated in matter.' And we cannot but thinii, that many abstraci formulas might, Willi benefit, be similarly realigedand embodied in the sciunces; Which Would be preserable tothroWing them aWay, as some of the positiveV school seem inclinen to attempl.

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Almost the fame observations apply to the Author's conception Os cause. Far Dom mea ing What haS no forin or quality, What the common miud never thiulis that it knows, and whattho learned intellect indoed dreams of apprehending, althoughWithout any proof or light to bear Witness to the faut,) SWeden-b Org uses the term utirestrictedly of the active paris of thebodily organs. Thus the leasis or pori bilarii of the liver aretho seld of causos or ossicients in that organ. And a similar predication applies to the leasts of any universe in the body, CVery Series being a universe relatively to iis oWn unities. Forthe rule is paramount, that Whatever belongs to the class OfCauSes must be formed organicatly cause and substance belligonly disserent aspects of One scientisae truth. AS a Crowning sample of SKede borg's scientific usu of the term S, principie, cause and effeci, tali e the following 1 rom the Animal Kingdom.' There are,' says he, three SphereSin the living body, one superior, prior and interior to, and Simpler than, another, each of Whicli is dividod into iis regioris; namely, a Sphere Of effecis, a Sphere Os causes, and a Sphere offrincipies. The SPHERE OP EFFΕcis, Whicli is the lo vest Or theoutermost, properly involves that Whicli is callud the body, and comprehends the viscera of the abdomen and thorax, and the externat sensories of the hend. The SPHERE OF CAUSES, Whichis the Superior Or middie sphere, properly includes that Whichis called the cerebrum or brain, this sphere being the proxi- mately essicient cause of the effecis and determinations in the

body. . . . But the SPHERE OF PRINCIPI ES, Or the supreme and

innermOSi Sphere, as it Were the Olympus or heaven of the Other spheres, is the cortical or cineritious substanee, frOm Whicli, as their begintiing, the fibres spring fortii, and at Whicli, astheir end, they terminate : for the fibre born of this substance exercises ali influence, and delinentes ali structure, in the Universat body; Dom it the determinations of the Will flow down into aet, and to it the modes of sensations florir in untii ultimatelythey reach the intellect; for the foui resides in this substanceas in iis principies.' We might pursiae this important subject in great delati, sor

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kHOWIedge is gained whicli is equully applicable Whether in his theological or philosophical WrilingS. For the rest it is observabie, that Whereas the philosophynnd religion os former ages Were separated ut sirst by the impa8Sable barriers of time, place and nationality, and never mingleduntii both Were corruptod; Whoreas philosophy Was Mith Socrates and Ρlato, tho intellectual and pure minded, and religion Withthe sensual JeWs: so On the contrary, in this age, these tWo administrations of the divine light are blended in SWedent,org;being destined to go forti, hereaster, united in their course RSat their origin, through ali the Lindrens and nations of theearth. For the most excellent of the ancient sages had dimglimpses of that Truth Which was to be realiged in a sar eountry, and in another age; but SWedeliborg, more happy than they, Was permitted to emerge frona the brilliant moonlight of his oWngenius, and during the better portion of his years, to live under the sun of that New Dispensation os Which he was the heriad.

Τherelare We repent, that evenis Whicli ere While Were Spreadover long cycles, and committed to disserent races of men, are concentraled here in one lisetime aud in ono individual. Which

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