THE
POETRY OF SCIENCE;
OR,
STUDIES
OF THE
PHYSICAL PHENOMENA OF NATURE.
BY
ROBERT HUNT,
AUTHOR OF
“RESEARCHES ON LIGHT;” “ELEMENTARY PHYSICS;”
“PANTHEA, OR THE SPIRIT OF NATURE,” ETC.
PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS, METROPOLITAN SCHOOL OF SCIENCE, ETC., ETC.
THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLIV.
From Shakespeare to Plato--from the philosophic poet to the poetic
philosopher--the transition is easy, and the road is crowded with
illustrations of our present subject.
* * * * *
Hast thou ever raised thy mind to the consideration of EXISTENCE, in
and by itself, as the mere act of existing?
Hast thou ever said to thyself, thoughtfully, IT IS!--heedless, in
that moment, whether it were a man before thee, or a flower, or
a grain of sand,--without reference, in short, to this or that
particular mode or form of existence? If thou hast, indeed,
attained to this, thou wilt have felt the presence of a mystery,
which must have fixed thy spirit in awe and wonder.
_Coleridge._
LONDON:
WILSON and OGILVY,
57, Skinner Street.
PREFACE.
Since 1848, when the “Poetry of Science” was first submitted to the
public, two editions have been exhausted. This, were proofs required,
would of itself show that there is a large circle of readers to whom
the deductions of science have an unfailing interest. Beyond this,
it conveys an assurance that every truth, however abstract it may
appear, has a large popular value if studied in its relations to
those generalities which embrace great natural phenomena. With this
persuasion the third edition of the “Poetry of Science” has been
extended so as to include all the important discoveries which have
been made in Natural Philosophy to the end of the year 1853. It is now
presented to the world in a new and cheaper form, in the hope, that,
with the extension of its circulation, there may be awakened, in still
larger circles, a deep and healthful interest in the sciences of which
the volume treats.
R. H.
Edinburgh, March 7, 1854.
CONTENTS.
Page
PREFACE. iii
CONTENTS. v
INTRODUCTION. ix
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF MATTER.
Its varied Characters, and constant change of
external Form--The Grain of Dust, its Properties and
Powers--Combinations in inorganic Masses and in organized
Creations--Our knowledge of Matter--Theory of Ultimate
Atoms--The Physical Forces acting on the Composition
of Masses--The certainty of the exercise of subtile
principles, which are beyond the reach of experimental
Science 1
CHAPTER II.
MOTION.
Are the Physical Forces modes of Motion?--Motion
defined--Philosophical Views of Motion, and the Principles
to which it has been referred--Motions of the Earth and
of the Solar System--Visible Proofs of the Earth’s Motion
on its Axis--Influence of the proper Motions of the Earth
on the Conditions of Matter--Theory of the Conversion of
Motion into Heat, &c.--The Physical Forces regarded as
principles independent of Motion, although the Cause and
often apparently the Effects of it 7
CHAPTER III.
GRAVITATION.
The Forms of Matter--Shape of the Earth--Probability
of the Mass forming this Planet having existed in a
Nebulous State--Zodiacal Lights--Comets--Volatilization
of Solid Matter by Artificial means--The principle
of Gravitation--Its Influence through Space and
within the smallest Limits--Gravitating powers of the
Planets--Density of the Earth--Certainty of Newton’s Law
of the Inverse Square--Discovery of Neptune--State of a
Body relieved from Gravitation--Experiment explaining
Saturn’s Ring, &c.--General inference 21
CHAPTER IV.
MOLECULAR FORCES.
Conditions of Matter--Variety of organized
Forms--Inorganic Forms--All matter reducible to the
most simple conditions--Transmutation, a natural
operation--Chemical Elementary Principles--Divisibility
of Matter--Atom--Molecules--Particles--Molecular
Force includes several Agencies--Instanced
in the Action of Heat on Bodies--All Bodies
porous--Solution--Mixture--Combination--Centres
of Force--Different States of Matter (Allotropic
Conditions)--Theories of Franklin, Æpinus, and
Coulomb--Electrical and Magnetic Agencies--Ancient
Notions--Cohesive Attraction, &c. 35
CHAPTER V.
CRYSTALLOGENIC FORCES.
Crystallisation and Molecular Force
distinguished--Experimental Proof--Polarity of
Particles forming a Crystal--Difference between
Organic and Inorganic Forms--Decomposition of
Crystals in Nature--Substitution of Particles in
Crystals--Pseudomorphism--Crystalline Form not dependent
on Chemical Nature--Isomorphism--Dimorphism--Theories of
Crystallogenic Attraction--Influence of Electricity and
Magnetism--Phenomena during Crystallisation--Can a change
of Form take place in Primitive Atoms?--Illustrative
Example of Crystallisation 50
CHAPTER VI.
HEAT--SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL.
Solar and Terrestrial Heat--Position of the Earth
in the Solar System--Heat and Light associated in
the Sunbeam--Transparency of Bodies to Heat--Heating
Powers of the Coloured Rays of the Spectrum--Undulatory
Theory--Conducting Property of the Earth’s
Crust--Convection--Radiation--Action of the Atmosphere on
Heat Rays--Peculiar Heat Rays--Absorption and Radiation
of Heat by dissimilar Bodies--Changes in the Constitution
of Solar Beam--Differences between Transmitted and
Reflected Solar Heat--Phenomena of Dew--Action of
Solar Heat of the Ocean--Circulation of Heat by the
Atmosphere and the Ocean--Heat of the Earth--Mean
Temperature--Central Heat--Constant Radiation of Heat Rays
from all Bodies--Thermography--Action of Heat on Molecular
Arrangements--Sources of Terrestrial Heat--Latent Heat
of Bodies--Animal Heat--Eremacausis--Spheroidal State
Cold--Condensation--Freezing--Theories of Heat--Natural
Phenomena--and Philosophical Conclusion 62
CHAPTER VII.
LIGHT.
Theories of the Nature of Light--Hypotheses
of Newton and Huygens--Sources of Light--The
Sun--Velocity of Light--Transparency--Dark
Lines of the Spectrum--Absorption of
Light--Colour--Prismatic Analysis--Rays of the
Spectrum--Rainbow--Diffraction--Interference--Goethe’s
Theory--Polarisation--Magnetisation of Light--Vision--The
Eye--Analogy--Sound and Light--Influence of Light on
Animals and Vegetables--Phosphorescence arising from
several Causes--Artificial Light--Its Colour dependent on
Matter 118
CHAPTER VIII.
ACTINISM--CHEMICAL RADIATIONS.
The Sun-ray and its Powers--Darkening of
Horn Silver--Niepce’s Discovery--Prismatic
Spectrum--Refrangibility of Light, Heat, and
Actinism--Daguerre’s Discovery--Photography--Chemical
Effects produced by Solar Radiations--Absorption of
Actinism--Phenomena of the Daguerreotype--Chemical
Change produced upon all Bodies--Power of Matter to
restore its Condition--Light protects from Chemical
Change--Photographs taken in Darkness--Chemical Effects
of Light on organized Forms--Chemical Effects of Solar
Heat--Influence of Actinism on Electricity--Radiations in
Darkness--Moser’s Discoveries, &c. 166
CHAPTER IX.
ELECTRICITY.
Discovery of Electrical Force--Diffused through all
Matter--What is Electricity?--Theories--Frictional
Electricity--Conducting Power of Bodies--Hypothesis
of two Fluids--Electrical Images--Galvanic
Electricity--Effects on Animals--Chemistry of Galvanic
Battery--Electricity of a Drop of Water--Electro-chemical
Action--Electrical Currents--Thermo-Electricity--Animal
Electricity--Gymnotus--Torpedo--Atmospheric
Electricity--Lightning Conductors--Earth’s Magnetism due
to Electrical Currents--Influence on Vitality--Animal and
Vegetable Development--Terrestrial Currents--Electricity
of Mineral Veins--Electrotype--Influence of Heat, Light,
and Actinism on Electrical Phenomena 193
CHAPTER X.
MAGNETISM.
Magnetic Iron--Knowledge of, by the Ancients--Artificial
Magnets--Electro-Magnets--Electro-Magnetism--Magneto-
Electricity--Theories of Magnetism--The Magnetic
Power of soft Iron and Steel--Influence of Heat
on Magnetism--Terrestrial Magnetism--Declination
of the Compass-needle--Variation of the
Earth’s Magnetism--Magnetic Poles--Hansteen’s
Speculations--Monthly and Diurnal Variation--Dip and
Intensity--Thermo-Magnetism--Aurora Borealis--Magnetic
Storms--Magnetic conditions of Matter--Diamagnetism, &c. 235
CHAPTER XI.
CHEMICAL FORCES.
Nature’s Chemistry--Changes produced by Chemical
Combination--Atomic Constitution of Bodies--Laws
of Combination--Combining Equivalents--Elective
Affinity--Chemical Decomposition--Compound Character
of Chemical Phenomena--Catalysis or action of
Presence--Transformation of Organic Bodies--Organic
Chemistry--Constancy of Combining Proportions--The Law of
Volumes, the Law of Substitutions, Isomeric States, &c. 270
CHAPTER XII.
CHEMICAL PHENOMENA.
Water--Its Constituents--Oxygen--Hydrogen--Peroxide
of Hydrogen--Physical Property of
Water--Ice--Sea Water--Chlorine--Muriatic
Acid--Iodine--Bromine--Compounds of Hydrogen
with Carbon--Combustion--Flame--Safety
Lamp--Respiration--Animal Heat--The Atmosphere--Carbonic
Acid--Influence of Plants on the Air--Chemical Phenomena
of Vegetation--Compounds of Nitrogen--Mineral Kingdom, &c.
&c. 295
CHAPTER XIII.
TIME.--GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA.
Time, an element in Nature’s Operations--Geological
Science--Its Facts and Inferences--Nebular Hypothesis
applied--Primary Formations--Plutonic and Metamorphic
Rocks--Transition Series--Palæozoic Rocks--Commencement
of Organic Arrangements--Existence of Phosphoric
Acid in Plutonic Rocks--Fossil Remains--Coal
Formation--Sandstones--Tertiary Formations--Eocene,
Miocene, and Pliocene Formations--Progressive changes
now apparent--General Conclusions--Physics applied in
explanation 332
CHAPTER XIV.
PHENOMENA OF VEGETABLE LIFE.
Psychology of Flowers--Progress of Matter
towards Organization--Vital Force--Spontaneous
Generation--The Vegetable Cell--Simplest Development
of Organization--The Crystal and the Cell--Primitive
Germ--Progress of Vegetation--Influence of
Light--Morphology--Germination--Production of Woody
Fibre--Leaves--Chlorophylle--Decomposition of
Carbonic Acid--Influence of Light, Heat, and Actinism
on the Phenomena of Vegetable Life--Flowers and
Fruits--Etiolation--Changes in the Sun’s Rays with the
Seasons--Distribution of Plants--Electrical and Combined
Physical Powers 357
CHAPTER XV.
PHENOMENA OF ANIMAL LIFE.
Distinction between the Kingdoms
of Nature--Progress of Animal
Life--Sponges--Polypes--Infusoria--Animalcula--Phosphorescent
Animals--Annelidans--Myriapoda--Animal
Metamorphoses--Fishes--Birds--Mammalia--Nervous
System--Animal Electricity--Chemical Influences--Influence
of Light on Animal Life--Animal Heat--Mechanical
Action--Nervous Excitement--Man and the Animal Races, &c. 383
CHAPTER XVI.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
The Changes produced on Physical Phenomena by the Movement
of the Solar System considered--Exertion of the Physical
Forces through the Celestial Spaces--The Balance of
Powers--Varieties of Matter--Extension of Matter--Theory
of Nonentity--A Material Creation an indisputable
fact--Advantages of the Study of Science--Conclusion 403
INDEX. 413
BOHN’S BOOKS.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE.
INTRODUCTION.
The True is the Beautiful. Whenever this becomes evident to our senses,
its influences are of a soul-elevating character. The beautiful,
whether it is perceived in the external forms of matter, associated in
the harmonies of light and colour, appreciated in the modulations of
sweet sounds, or mingled with those influences which are, as the inner
life of creation, ever appealing to the soul through the vesture which
covers all things, is the natural theme of the poet, and the chosen
study of the philosopher.
But, it will be asked, where is the relation between the stern labours
of science and the ethereal system which constitutes poetry? The fumes
of the laboratory, its alkalies and acids, the mechanical appliances of
the observatory, its specula and its lenses, do not appear fitted for
a place in the painted bowers of the Muses. But, from the labours of
the chemist in his cell,--from the multitudinous observations of the
astronomer on his tower,--spring truths which the philosopher employs
to interpret nature’s mysteries, and which give to the soul of the poet
those realities to which he aspires in his high imaginings.
Science solicits from the material world, by the persuasion of
inductive search, a development of its elementary principles, and of
the laws which these obey. Philosophy strives to apply the discovered
facts to the great phenomena of being,--to deduce large generalities
from the fragmentary discoveries of severe induction,--and thus to
ascend from matter and its properties up to those impulses which
stir the whole, floating, as it were, on the confines of sense, and
indicating, though dimly, those superior powers which, more nearly
related to infinity, mysteriously manifest themselves in the phenomena
of mind. Poetry seizes the facts of the one and the theories of the
other; unites them by a pleasing thought, which appeals for truth to
the most unthinking soul, and leads the reflective intellect to higher
and higher exercises; it connects common phenomena with exalted ideas;
and, applying its holiest powers, it invests the human mind with the
sovereign strength of the True.
Truth is the soul of the poet’s thought;--truth is the reward of the
philosopher’s toil; and their works, bearing this stamp, live among
men through all time. Science at present rejoices in her ministry to
the requirements of advancing civilization, and is content to receive
the reward given to applications which increase the comforts of life,
or add to its luxuries. Every improvement in the arts or manufactures,
beyond encreasing utilities for society, has a tendency to elevate the
race. Science is ever useful in the working days of our week, but it is
not to be neglected on our Sabbath,--when, resting from our labours,
it becomes agreeable to contemplate the few truths permitted to our
knowledge, and thus enter into communion as closely as is allowed to
finite beings, with those influences which involve and interpenetrate
the earth, giving to all things Life, Beauty, and Divinity.
The human mind naturally delights in the discovery of truth; and
even when perverted by the constant operations of prevailing errors,
a glimpse of the Real comes upon it like the smile of daylight to
the sorrowing captive of some dark prison. The Psychean labours to
try man’s soul, and exalt it, are the search for truth beneath the
mysteries which surround creation,--to gather amaranths, shining with
the hues of heaven, from plains upon which hang, dark and heavy, the
mists of earth. The poet may pay the debt of nature,--the philosopher
may return to the bosom of our common mother,--even their names fade
in the passage of time, like planets blotted out of heaven but the
truths they have revealed to man burn on for ever with unextinguishable
brightness. Truth cannot die; it passes from mind to mind, imparting
light in its progress, and constantly renewing its own brightness
during its diffusion. The True is the Beautiful; and the truths
revealed to the mind render us capable of perceiving new beauties on
the earth. The gladness of truth is like the ringing voice of a joyous
child, and the most remote recesses echo with the cheerful sound. To be
for ever true is the Science of Poetry,--the revelation of truth is the
Poetry of Science.
Man, a creation endued with mighty faculties, but a mystery to himself,
stands in the midst of a wonderful world, and an infinite variety of
phenomena arise around him in strange form and magical disposition,
like the phantasma of a restless night.
The solid rock obeys a power which brings its congeries of atoms into
a thousand shapes, each one geometrically perfect. Its vegetable
covering, in obedience to some external excitation, developes itself
in a curious diversity of forms, from the exquisitely graceful to the
singularly grotesque, and exhibits properties still more varied and
opposed. The animal organism quickened by higher impulses,--powers
working within, and modifying the influence of the external
forces,--presents, from the Monad to the Mammoth, and through every
phase of being up to Man, a yet more wonderful series of combinations,
and features still more strangely contrasted.
Lifting our searching gaze into the measureless space beyond our earth,
we find planet bound to planet, and system chained to system, all
impelled by a universal force to roll in regularity and order around a
common centre. The pendulations of the remotest star are communicated
through the unseen bond; and our rocking world obeys the mysterious
impulse throughout all those forces which regulate the inorganic
combinations of this earth, and unto which its organic creation is
irresistibly compelled to bow.
The glorious sun by day, and the moon and stars in the silence and the
mystery of night, are felt to influence all material nature, holding
the great Earth bound in a many-stranded cord which cannot be broken.
The tidal flow of the vast ocean, with its variety of animal and
vegetable life, the atmosphere, bright with light, obscured by the
storm-cloud, spanned by the rainbow, or rent with the explosions of
electric fire,--attest to the might of these elementary bonds.
These are but a few of the great phenomena which play their part around
this globe of ours, exciting men to wonder, or shaking them with terror.
The mind of man, in its progress towards its higher destiny, is tasked
with the physical earth as a problem, which, within the limits of a
life, it must struggle to solve. The intellectual spirit is capable of
embracing all finite things. Man is gifted with powers for studying
the entire circle of visible creation; and he is equal, under proper
training, to the task of examining much of the secret machinery which
stirs the whole.
In dim outshadowing, earth’s first poets, from the loveliness of
external nature, evoked beautiful spiritualizations. To them the shady
forests teemed with aërial beings,--the gushing springs rejoiced in
fantastic sprites,--the leaping cataracts gleamed with translucent
shades,--the cavernous hills were the abodes of genii,--and the
earth-girdling ocean was guarded by mysterious forms. Such were the
creations of the far-searching mind in its early consciousness of the
existence of unseen powers. The philosopher picked out his way through
the dark and labyrinthine path, between effects and causes, and slowly
approaching towards the light, he gathered semblances of the great
Reality, like a mirage, beautiful and truthful, although still but a
cloud-reflection of the vast Unseen.
It is thus that the human mind advances from the Ideal to the Real,
and that the poet becomes the philosopher, and the philosopher rises
into the poet; but at the same time as we progress from fable to
fact, much of the soul-sentiment which made the romantic holy, and
gave a noble tone to every aspiration, is too frequently merged in a
cheerless philosophy which clings to the earth, and reduces the mind
to a mechanical condition, delighting in the accumulation of facts,
regardless of the great laws by which these are regulated, and the
harmony of all Telluric combinations secured. In science we find the
elements of the most exalted poetry; and in the mysterious workings
of the physical forces we discover connections with the illimitable
world of thought,--in which mighty minds delight to try their
powers,--as strangely complicated, and as marvellously ordered, as in
the psychological phenomena which have, almost exclusively, been the
objects of their studies.
In the aspect of visible nature, with its wonderful diversity of form
and its charm of colour, we find the Beautiful; and in the operations
of these principles, which are ever active in producing and maintaining
the existing conditions of matter, we discover the Sublime.
The form and colour of a flower may excite our admiration; but when
we come to examine all the phenomena which combine to produce that
piece of symmetry and that lovely hue,--to learn the physiological
arrangement of its structural parts,--the chemical actions by which
its woody fibre and its juices are produced,--and to investigate those
laws by which is regulated the power to throw back the white sunbeam
from its surface in coloured rays,--our admiration passes to the higher
feeling of deep astonishment at the perfection of the processes, and
of reverence for their great Designer. There are, indeed, “tongues in
trees;” but science alone can interpret their mysterious whispers, and
in this consists its poetry.
To rest content with the bare enunciation of a truth, is to perform
but one half of a task. As each atom of matter is involved in an
atmosphere of properties and powers, which unites it to every mass of
the universe, so each truth, however common it may be, is surrounded
by impulses which, being awakened, pass from soul to soul like musical
undulations, and which will be repeated through the echoes of space,
and prolonged for all eternity.
The poetry which springs from the contemplation of the agencies which
are actively employed in producing the transformation of matter, and
which is founded upon the truths developed by the aids of science,
should be in no respect inferior to that which has been inspired by the
beauty of the individual forms of matter, and the pleasing character of
their combinations.
The imaginative view of man and his world--the creations of the
romantic mind--have been, and ever will be, dwelt on with a
soul-absorbing passion. The mystery of our being, and the mystery
of our ceasing to be, acting upon intelligences which are for ever
striving to comprehend the enigma of themselves, leads by a natural
process to a love for the Ideal. The discovery of those truths which
advance the human mind towards that point of knowledge to which all
its secret longings tend, should excite a higher feeling than any mere
creation of the fancy, how beautiful soever it may be. The phenomena
of Reality are more startling than the phantoms of the Ideal. Truth
is stranger than fiction. Surely many of the discoveries of science
which relate to the combinations of matter, and exhibit results which
we could not by any previous efforts of reasoning dare to reckon on,
results which show the admirable balance of the forces of nature, and
the might of their uncontrolled power, exhibit to our senses subjects
for contemplation truly poetic in their character.
We tremble when the thunder-cloud bursts in fury above our heads. The
poet seizes on the terrors of the storm to add to the interest of his
verse. Fancy paints a storm-king, and the genius of romance clothes
his demons in lightnings, and they are heralded by thunders. These
wild imaginings have been the delight of mankind; there is subject
for wonder in them: but is there anything less wonderful in the
well-authenticated fact, the dew-drop which glistens on the flower,
that the tear which trembles on the eye-lid, holds locked in its
transparent cells an amount of electric fire equal to that which is
discharged during a storm from a thunder-cloud?
In these studies of the effects which are continually presenting
themselves to the observing eye, and of the phenomena of causes, as far
as they are revealed by Science in its search of the physical earth,
it will be shown that beneath the beautiful vesture of the external
world there exists, like its quickening soul, a pervading power,
assuming the most varied aspects, giving to the whole its life and
loveliness, and linking every portion of this material mass in a common
bond with some great universal principle beyond our knowledge. Whether
by the improvement of the powers of the human mind, man will ever be
enabled to embrace within his knowledge the laws which regulate these
remote principles, we are not sufficiently advanced in intelligence
to determine. But if admitted even to a clear perception of the
theoretical Power which we regard as regulating the known forces, we
must still see an unknown agency beyond us, which can only be referred
to the Creator’s will.
THE POETRY OF SCIENCE.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF MATTER.
Its varied Characters, and constant change of external Form--The
Grain of Dust, its Properties and Powers--Combinations in inorganic
Masses and in organized Creations--Our knowledge of Matter--Theory
of Ultimate Atoms--The Physical Forces acting on the Composition of
Masses--The certainty of the exercise of subtile principles, which
are beyond the reach of experimental Science.
The Physical Earth presents to us, in every form of organic and
inorganic matter, an infinite variety of phenomena. If we select
specimens of rocks, either crystalline or stratified,--of metals in
any of their various combinations with oxygen, sulphur, and other
bodies,--of gems glistening with light and glowing with colour,--if
we examine the varied forms and hues of the vegetable world, or the
more mysterious animal creations, we must inevitably come to the
conclusion, long since proclaimed, and admit that dust they are, and
to dust must they return. Whatever permanency may be given to matter,
it is certain that its form is ever in a state of change. The surface
of the “Eternal Hills” is worn away by the soft rains which fall to
fertilize, and from their wrecks, borne by the waters to the ocean, new
continents are forming. The mutations of the old earth may be read upon
her rocks and mountains, and these records of former changes tell us
the infallible truth, that as the present passes into the future, so
will the form of Earth undergo an important alteration. The same forces
which lifted the Andes and the Himalayas are still at work, and from
the particles of matter carried from the present lands by the rivers
into the sea, where they subside in stratified masses, there will, in
the great future, be raised new worlds, upon which the work of life
will go forward, and over which will be spread a vast Intelligence.
If we regard the conditions of the beautiful and varied organic
covering of the Earth, the certainty, the constancy, of change is ever
before us. Vegetable life passes into the animal form, and both perish
to feed the future plant. Man, moving to-day the monarch of a mighty
people, in a few years passes back to his primitive clod, and that
combination of elementary atoms, which is dignified with the circle of
sovereignty and the robe of purple, after a period may be sought for in
the herbage of the fields, or in the humble flowers of the valley.
We have, then, this certain truth,--all things visible around us are
but aggregations of atoms. From particles of dust, which under the
microscope could scarcely be distinguished one from the other, are all
the varied forms of nature created. This grain of dust, this particle
of sand, has strange properties and powers. Science has discovered
some truths, but still more are hidden within this irregular molecule
of matter which we now survey, than have yet been shadowed in the
dreams of our philosophy. How strangely it obeys the impulses of
heat--mysterious are the influences of light upon it--electricity
wonderfully excites it--and still more curious is the manner in which
it obeys the magic of chemical force. These are phenomena which we have
seen; we know them, and we can reproduce them at our pleasure. We have
advanced a little way into the secrets of nature, and from the spot we
have gained, we look forward with a vision somewhat brightened by our
task; but we discover so much to be yet unknown, that we learn another
truth,--our vast ignorance of many things relating to this grain of
dust.
It gathers around it other particles; they cling together, and each
acting upon every other one, and all of them arranging themselves
around the little centre according to some law, a beautiful crystal
results, the geometric perfection of its form being a source of
admiration.
It exerts some other powers, and atom cohering to atom, obeying the
influences of many external radiant forces, undergoes inexplicable
changes, and the same dust which we find forming the diamond,
aggregates into the lordly tree,--blends to produce the graceful,
scented, and richly painted flower,--and combines to yield the luxury
of fruit.
It quickens with yet undiscovered energies; it moves with life: dust
is stirred by the mysterious excitement of vital force; and blood and
bone, nerve and muscle, are the results. Forces, which we cannot by
the utmost refinements of our philosophy detect, direct the whole,
and from the same dust which formed the rock and grew in the tree, is
produced a living and a breathing thing, capable of receiving a Divine
illumination, of bearing in its new state the gladness and the glory of
a Soul.
These considerations lead us to reflect on the amount of our knowledge.
We are led to ask ourselves, what do we know? We know that the world
with all its variety is composed of certain material atoms, which,
although presented to us in a great variety of forms, do not in all
probability differ very essentially from each other.
We know that those atoms obey certain conditions which appear to be
dependent upon the influences of motion, gravitation, heat, light,
electricity, and chemical force. These powers are only known to us
by their effects; we only detect their action by their operations
upon matter; and although we regard the several phenomena which we
have discovered, as the manifestations of different principles, it is
possible they may be but modifications of some one universal power, of
which these are but a few of its modes of action.
In examining, therefore, the truths which science has revealed to us,
it is advantageous, for the purpose of fixing the mind to the subject,
that we assume certain conditions as true. These may be stated in a few
sentences, and then, without wasting a thought upon those metaphysical
subtleties which have from time to time perplexed science, and served
to impede the progress of truth, we shall proceed to examine our
knowledge of the phenomena which constantly occur around us.
Every form, whether inorganic or organic, which we can discover within
the limits of human search, is composed of atoms, which are capable of
assuming, under the influence of certain physical forces, conditions
essential to the physical state of that body of which they constitute
a part.[1] The known forces, active in producing these conditions,
are modes of motion; gravitation and aggregation, heat, light; and
associated with these, actinism or chemical radiation; electricity,
under all its conditions, whether static or dynamic; and chemical
affinity, regarded as the result of a separate elementary principle.
These forces must be considered as powers capable of acting in perfect
independence of each other. They are possibly modifications of one
principle; but this view being an hypothesis, which, as yet, is only
supported by loose analogies, cannot, without danger, be received in
any explanation which attempts to deal only with the truths of science.
We cannot examine the varied phenomena of nature, without feeling that
there must be other and most active principles of a higher order than
any detected by science, to which belong the important operations of
vitality, whether manifested in the plant or the animal. In treating
of these, although speculation cannot be entirely avoided, it will be
employed only so far as it gives any assistance in linking phenomena
together.
We have to deal with the active agencies which give form and feature to
nature--which regulate the harmony and beauty and vigour of life--and
upon which depend those grand changes in the conditions of matter,
which must convince us that death is but the commencement of a new
state of being.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Sir Isaac Newton supposed matter to consist of hard, impenetrable,
perfectly inelastic atoms.
Boscovich regarded the constitution of matter differently. The ultimate
atom was with him a point surrounded by powers of infinite elasticity.
(See _Dr. Robisons Mechanical Philosophy_, for a full explanation of
the theory of Boscovich.)
The view entertained by Dr. Faraday, which will be comprehended from
one or two short extracts from his valuable and suggestive paper,
claims attention:--
“If the view of the constitution of matter already referred to be
assumed to be correct--and I may be allowed to speak of the particles
of matter, and the space between them (in water, or in the vapour
of water, for instance), as two different things--the space must be
taken as the only continuous part, for the particles are considered
as separated by space from each other. Space will permeate all masses
of matter in every direction like a net, except that in the place of
meshes it will form cells, isolating each atom from its neighbours, and
itself only being continuous.”
Examining the question of the conducting power of different bodies,
and observing that as space is the only continuous part, so space,
according to the received view of matter, must be at one time a
conductor, at others a non-conductor, it is remarked:
“It would seem, therefore, that, in accepting the ordinary atomic
theory, space may be proved to be a non-conductor in non-conducting
bodies, and a conductor in conducting bodies; but the reasoning ends
in this--a subversion of that theory altogether; for, if space be
an insulator, it cannot exist in conducting bodies; and if it be a
conductor, it cannot exist in insulating bodies.”--_A Speculation
touching Electric Conduction, and the Nature of Matter_: by Michael
Faraday, D.C.L., F.R.S., &c.: Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxiv. Third
Series.
See also Wollaston, _On the Finite Extent of the Atmosphere_.--Phil.
Trans. 1822. Young, _On the Essential Properties of Matter_.--Lectures
on Natural Philosophy. Mossotti, _On Molecular Action_.--Scientific
Memoirs, vol. i. p. 448.