No. IX.
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~To the Reader.~
In the present volume has been commenced, and will be concluded, a
series of Articles under this title, which to some readers may not
have been sufficiently attractive. It is therefore now re-stated, that
they present very curious particulars concerning the extent to which
the ancients were acquainted with several popular systems and
theories, usually supposed to have originated in modern times.
Sir Isaac Newton’s Theory of Colours appears, by the succeeding paper,
to have been imagined above two thousand years ago. The History of
Ancient Philosophy is pregnant with similar instances of
discrimination. It is hoped that this may justify the present attempt
to familiarize the reader with the knowledge of the Ancients in
various branches of Natural Philosophy, and the Elements of the Human
Mind. Succeeding papers will be found to relate to their acquaintance
with the Motion of the Earth--the Antipodes--Planetary
Revolutions--Comets--the
Moon--Air--Air-guns--Thunder--Earthquakes--the Magnet--the Tides--the
Circulation of the Blood--Chirurgery--Chemistry--Malleability of
Glass--Painting on Glass--Gunpowder--the Sexes of Plants--the
Pendulum--Light--Perspective--the Quadrature of the Circle--Burning
Glasses--the Precession of the
Equinoxes--Mechanics--Architecture--Sculpture--Painting--Music, &c.
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