Dissertation Sixth: Exhibiting a General View of the Progress of Mathematical and Physical Science, Principally from 1775 to 1850

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Adam and Charles Black, 1856 - Mathematics - 201 pages
 

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Page 936 - All these things being considered, 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 proportion 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...
Page 968 - It is very natural to suppose, that the repellent and attractive energies are communicated from one particle to another particle of the same kind, so as to establish a conducting chain in the fluid ; and that the locomotion takes place in consequence ; and that this is really the case seems to be shown by many facts.
Page 896 - Were I to assume an hypothesis, it should be this, if propounded more generally so as not to determine what light is, further than that it is something or other capable of exciting vibrations in the ether; for thus it will become so general and comprehensive of other hypotheses as to leave little room for new ones to be invented...
Page 968 - Allowing combination to depend upon the balance of the natural electrical energies of bodies, it is easy to conceive that a measure may be found of the artificial energies, as to intensity and quantity produced in the common electrical machine, or the Voltaic apparatus, capable of destroying this equilibrium ; and such a measure would enable us to make a scale of electrical powers corresponding .to degrees of affinity.
Page 971 - Nothing tends so much to the advancement of knowledge as the application of a new instrument. The native intellectual powers of men in different times are not so much the causes of the different success of their labours, as the peculiar nature of the means and artificial resources in their possession.
Page 812 - Near and more near your beamy cars approach, And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach; Flowers of the sky ! ye too to age must yield, Frail as your silken sisters of the field...
Page 830 - Verrier, and not with the intention of interfering with his just claims to the honours of the discovery ; for there is no doubt that his researches were first published to the world, and led to the actual discovery of the planet by Dr. Galle, so that the facts stated above cannot detract, in the slightest degree, from the credit due to M. Le Verrier.
Page 929 - ... be said of any other person, that whatever he accomplished, was perfect at the moment of its production. His processes were all of a finished nature ; executed by the hand of a master, they required no correction; the accuracy and beauty of his earliest labours even, have remained unimpaired amidst the progress of discovery, and their merits have been illustrated by discussion, and exalted by time.
Page 812 - Till o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm, Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form, Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame, And soars and shines, another and the same.
Page 906 - I also should claim some right to participate in the compliment which is tacitly paid to myself in common with you by this adjudication, but, considering that more than a quarter of a century is passed since my principal experiments were made, I can only feel it a sort of anticipation of posthumous fame, which I have never particularly coveted.

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