Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy - John F. W. Herschel

Acoustics cultivated by Pythagoras and Aristotle, page [248].
Æpinus, his laws of equilibrium of electricity, [332].
Aëriform fluids, liquids kept in a state of vapour, [321].
Agricola, George, his knowledge of mineralogy and metallurgy, [112].
Air, compressibility and elasticity of; limitation to the repulsive tendency of, [226].
Weight of, unknown to the ancients, [228].
First perceived by Galileo, [228].
Proved by a crucial instance, [229].
Equilibrium of, established, [231].
Dilatation of, by heat, [319].
Air-pump, discovery of, [230].
Airy, his experiments in Dolcoath mine, [187].
Alchemists, advantages derived from, [11].
Algebra, [19].
Ampere, his electro-dynamic theory, [202].
Utility of, [203], [324].
Analysis of force, [86].
Of motion, [87].
Of complex phenomena, [88].
Anaxagoras, philosophy of, [107].
Animal electricity, [337].
Arago, M., his experiment with a magnetic needle and a plate of copper, [157].
Archimedes, his practical application of science, [72].
His knowledge of hydrostatics, [231].
Arfwedson, his discovery of lithia, [158].
Aristotle, his knowledge of natural history, [109].
His works condemned, and subsequently studied with avidity, [111].
His philosophy overturned by the discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, [113].
Arithmetic, [19].
Art, empirical and scientific, differences between, [71].
Remarks on the language, terms, or signs, used in treating of it, [70].
Assurances, life, utility and abuses of, [58].
Astronomy, cause of the slow progress of our knowledge of, [78].
Theory and practical observations distinct in, [132].
An extensive acquaintance with science and every branch of knowledge necessary to make a perfect observer in, [132].
Five primary planets added to our system, [274].
Positions, figures, and dimensions of all the planetary orbits now well known, [275].
Atomic theory, [305].
Advantage of, [306].
Atomic weights of chemical elements, [306].
Attraction, capillary, or capillarity, investigated by Laplace and Young, [234].
Bacon, celebrated in England for his knowledge of science, [72].
Benefits conferred on Natural Philosophy by him, [104].
His Novum Organum, [105].
His reform in philosophy proves the paramount importance of induction, [114].
His prerogative of facts, [181].
Illustrated by the fracture of a crystallized substance, [183].
His collective instances, [184].
Importance of, [185].
His experiment on the weight of bodies, [186].
Travelling instances of, frontier instances of, [188].
His difference between liquids and aëriform fluids, [233].
Bartolin, Erasmus, first discovers the phenomena exhibited by doubly refracting crystals, [254].
Beccher, phlogistic doctrines of, [300].
Bergmann, his advancement in crystallography, [239].
Bernoulli, experiments of, in hydrodynamical science, [181].
Biot, his hypothesis of a rotatory motion of the particles of light about their axes, [262].
Black, Dr., his discovery of latent heat, [322].
Bode, his curious law observed in the progression of the magnitudes of the several planetary orbits, [308].
Bodies, natural constitution of, [221].
Division of, into crystallized and uncrystallized, [242].
Bones, dry, a magazine of nutriment, [65].
Borda, his invention for subdivision, [128].
Botany, general utility of, [345].
Boyle, Robert, his enthusiasm in the pursuit of science, [115].
His improvement on the air-pump, [230].
Brain, hypothesis of its being an electric pile, [343].
Bramah’s press, principle and utility of, [233].
Brewster, Dr., his improvement on lenses for lighthouses, [56].
His researches prove that the phenomena exhibited by polarized light, in its transmission through crystals, afford a certain indication of the most important points relating to the structure of crystals themselves, [263].
Cabot, Sebastian, his discovery of the variation of the needle, [327].
Cagnard, Baron de la Tour, utility of his experiments, [234].
Causes and consequences directors of the will of man, [6].
Causes, proximate, discovery of, called by Newton veræ causæ, [144].
Celestial mechanics, [265].
Chaldean records, [265].
Chemistry furnishes causes of sudden action, also fulminating compositions, [62].
Analogy of the complex phenomena of, with those of physics, [92].
Benefits arising from the analysis of, [94].
Axioms of, analogous to those of geometry, [95].
Many of the new elements of, detected in the investigation of residual phenomena, [158].
The most general law of, [209].
Illustration of, [210].
Between fifty and sixty elements in, [211].
Objects of, [296].
General heads of the principal improvements in, [302].
Remarks on those general heads, [304].
Chemistry, Stahlian, cause of the mistakes and confusions of, [123].
Chladni, experiments of, in dynamical science, [181].
Chlorine, disinfectant powers of, [56].
Clarke, Dr., his experiments on the arseniate and phosphate of soda, [170].
His success in producing a new phosphate of soda, [171].
Climate, change of, in large tracts of the globe, alleged cause of, [145].
Coals, power of a bushel of, properly consumed, [59].
Quantity consumed in London, [60].
Cohesion, an ultimate phenomenon, [90].
Cold, qualities of, [318].
Compass, mariner’s, [55].
Condensation, a source of heat, [313].
Conduction of heat, laws of, [205].
Copernicus, effect of his discoveries on the Aristotelian philosophy, [113].
Objections to his astronomical doctrines, [269].
Crystallography, laws of, [123], [239].
A determinate figure supposed to be common to all the particles of a crystal, [242].
D’Alembert, his improvements in hydrodynamics, [236].
Dalton, his announcement of the atomic theory, [305].
His examination of gases and vapours, [319].
Davy, Sir H., brings the voltaic pile to bear upon the earths and alkalies, [339].
Deduction, utility of, [174].
De l’Isle, Romé, his study of crystalline bodies, [239].
Dew, causes of, investigated, [159].
Effects of, on different substances, [160].
Objects capable of contracting it, [161].
A cloudless sky favourable to its production, [162].
General proximate cause of, [163].
Drummond, lieutenant, his improvement on lenses for lamps of lighthouses, [56].
Dynamics, importance of, [96], [223].
Earth, the orbit of,—diminution of its eccentricity round the sun, [147].
Economy, political, [73].
Egypt, great pyramid of, height, weight, and ground occupied by it, [60].
Accuracy of the astronomical records of, [265].
Elasticity, an ultimate phenomenon, [90].
Electricity may be the cause of magnetism, [93].
Universality of, [329].
Effects of, [330].
Activity of, [331].
Equilibrium of, [332].
Productive of chemical decomposition, [338].
Empirical laws, [178].
Evils resulting from, [179].
Encke, professor, his prediction of the return of the comet so many times in succession, [156].
Englefield, sir H., his analysis of a solar beam, [314].
Equilibrium maintained by force, [222].
Erman, professor, his opinion of the effects of the voltaic circuit, [340].
Euler, his improvement on Newton’s theory of sound, [247].
Experience, source of our knowledge of nature’s laws, [76].
Experiment, a means of acquiring experience, [76].
Utility of, [151].
Facts, the observation of, [118].
Faujas de St. Fond, imaginary craters of, [131].
Fluids, laws of the motion of, [181].
Compressibility of, [225].
Consideration of the motions of, more complicated than that of equilibrium, [235].
Force, analysis of, [86].
The cause of motion, [149].
Phenomena of, [221].
Molecular forces, [245].
Fourier, baron, his opinion that the celestial regions have a temperature, independent of the sun, not greatly inferior to that at which quicksilver congeals, [157].
His analysis of the laws of conduction and radiation of heat, [317].
Franklin, Dr., his experiments on electricity, [332].
Fresnel, M., his mathematical explanation of the phenomena of double refraction, [32].
His improvement on lenses for lamps of lighthouses, [56].
His opinions on the nature of light, [207].
His experiments on the interference of polarized light, [261].
His theory of polarization, [262].
Friction, a source of heat, [313].
Galileo, celebrity of, for his knowledge of science, [72].
His exposition of the Aristotelian philosophy, [110].
His refutation of Aristotle’s dogmas respecting motion, his persecution in consequence of it, [113].
His knowledge of the accelerating power of gravity, [168].
His knowledge of the weight of the atmosphere, [228].
Galvani, utility of his discoveries in electricity, [335].
His application of it to animals, [336].
Gay-Lussac, his examination of gases and vapours, [319].
Generalization, inductive, [1], [90].
Geology, [281].
Its rank as a science, [287].
Geometry, axioms of, an appeal to experience, not corporeal, but mental, [95].
Gilbert, Dr., of Colchester, his knowledge of magnetism and electricity, [112].
Gravitation, law of, a physical axiom of a very high and universal kind, [98].
Influence of, decreases in the inverse ratio of the square of the distance, [123].
Greece, philosophers of, their extraordinary success in abstract reasoning, and their careless consideration of external nature, [105].
Their general character, [106].
Philosophy of, [108].
Grimaldi, a jesuit of Bologna, his discovery of diffraction, or inflection of light, [252].
Guinea and feather experiment, [168].
Gunpowder, invention of, [55].
A mechanical agent, [62].
Haarlem lake, draining of, [61].
Harmony, sense of, [248].
Head, captain, anecdote of, [84].
Heat, [193].
Radiation and conduction of, [205].
One of the chief agents in chemistry, [310].
Our ignorance of the nature of, [310].
Abuse of the sense of the term, [311].
The general heads under which it is studied, [312].
Its most obvious sources, [312].
Animal heat, to what process referable, [313].
Radiation and conduction of, [314].
Solar heat differs from terrestrial fires, or hot bodies, [315].
Principal effects of, [317].
The antagonist to mutual attraction, [322].
Latent heat, [322].
Specific heat, [323].
Herschel, sir William, his analysis of a solar beam, [314].
Hipparchus, his catalogue of stars, [276].
Holland drained of water by windmills, [61].
Hooke almost the rival of Newton, [116].
Huel Towan, steam-engine at, [59].
Huyghens, his doctrine of light, [207].
Ascertains the laws of double refraction, [254].
Hydrostatics, first step towards a knowledge of, made by Archimedes, [231].
Law of the equal pressure of liquids, [232].
General applicability of, [232].
Hypothesis, not to be deterred from framing them, [196].
Conditions on which they should be framed, [197].
Illustrated by the laws of gravitation, [198].
Use and abuse of, [204].
Induction, different ways of carrying it on, [102].
Steps by which it is arrived at on a legitimate and extensive scale, [118].
First stage of, [144].
Verification of, [164].
Instanced in astronomy, [166].
Must be followed into all its consequences, and applied to all those cases which seem even remotely to bear upon the subject of enquiry, [173].
Nature of the inductions by which quantitative laws are arrived at, [176].
Necessity of induction embracing a series of cases which absolutely include the whole scale of variation of which the quantities in question admit, [177].
Induced electricity, [333].
Inertia, [223].
Iodine, discovery of, [50].
Efficacy of, in curing goître, [51].
Isomorphism, law of, [170].
Kepler, effect of his discoveries on the Aristotelian philosophy, [113].
Nature of his laws of the planetary system, [178].
Proofs of the Newtonian system, [179].
Knowledge, physical facts illustrative of the utility of, [45].
Diffusion of, how to take advantage of in the investigation of nature, [138].
Lagrange, his improvements on Newton’s theory of sound, [247].
His astronomical researches, [275].
Lamp, safety, [55].
Laplace, his explanation of the residual velocity of sound and confirmation of the general law of the developement of heat by compression, [172].
His astronomical research, [275].
His experiments on the dilatation of bodies by heat, [319].
His study of specific heat, [323].
Latent heat, [323].
Laws, inductive, [171].
General, [198].
How applicable, [199].
Illustrated by the planetary system, [201].
Empirical laws, [178].
Lavoisier, his improvements in chemical science, [302].
Experiments on dilatation of bodies by heat, [319].
His investigation on specific heat, [323].
Light, refraction of, [30].
Double refraction of, [31].
Polarization of, [254].
Light and vision, ignorance of the ancients respecting, [249].
Lighthouse, [56].
Lightning, how to judge philosophically of it, [120].
Returning stroke of, [121].
Liquids, cohesion, attraction and repulsion of the particles of, [227].
Differ from aëriform fluids by their cohesion, [233].
The Florentine experiment on; experiments by Canton, Perkins, Oërsted, and others on, [235].
Obscurity of the laws of dilatation of, [320].
Linnæus, his knowledge of crystalline substances, [239].
Logic, [19].
Lyell’s Principles of Geology, extract from, [146].
Magnetism may be caused by electricity, [93].
Offers a “glaring instance” of polarity, [326].
Experiments illustrative of, [327].
Malus, a French officer of engineers, discovers the polarization of light, [132], [258].
Man, regarded as a creature of instinct, [1].
Of reason and speculation, [3].
His will determined by causes and consequences, [6].
Advantages to, from the study of science, [7].
His necessity to study the laws of nature illustrated, [66].
Happiness and the opposite state of man in the aggregate, [67].
Advantages conferred on, by the augmentation of physical resources, [68].
Advantages from intellectual resources, [69].
Mariotte, his law of equilibrium of an elastic fluid recently verified by the Royal Academy of Paris, [231].
His difference between solar and other heat, [315].
Matter, indestructibility of; Divided by grinding, [40].
By fire, [41].
Dilated by heat, [193].
Inertia of, [202].
Polarity of, one of the ultimate phenomena to which the analysis of nature leads us, [245].
Inherent activity of, [297].
Causes of the polarity of, [299].
Imponderable forms of, [310].
Measure, the standard, difficulty of preserving it unaltered, [128].
How to be assisted in measurement, [129].
Our conclusions from, should be conditional, [130].
Menai Bridge, weight and height of, [60].
Mechanics, practical, [63].
Mètre, the French, [126].
Microscopes, power of, [191].
Millstones, method of making in France, [48].
Mind, its transition from the little to the great, and vice versâ, illustrated, [172].
Mineralogy unknown to the ancients, [79].
Prejudiced by the rage for nomenclature, [139].
Benefited by the progress of chemical analysis, [293].
Minerals, simple, apparent paucity of, [294].
Difficulty in classing them, [295].
Mitscherlich, his law of isomorphism, [170].
His experiments on the expansion of substances by heat, [243].
Motion, [87].
Simplicity and precision of the laws of, [179].
Nature, laws of, [37].
Immutability of, [42].
Harmony of, and advantage of studying them, [43].
Prove the impossibility of attaining the declared object of the alchemist. How they serve mankind generally, [44].
Illustrated by mining, [45].
Economy derived from a knowledge of, [65].
How to be regarded, [100], [101].
Nature, objects of, an enumeration and nomenclature of, useful in the study of, [135].
Mechanism of, on too large or too small a scale to be immediately cognisable by our senses, [191].
Newton, his proof of Galileo’s laws of gravitation by an experiment with a hollow glass pendulum, [160].
His foundation to hydrodynamical science, [181].
Fixes the division between statics and dynamics, [223].
His investigation of the law of equilibrium of elastic fluids, [231].
His law of hydrostatics, [232].
His foundation of hydrodynamics [236].
His analysis of sound, [247].
Hypothesis of light, [250].
Examination of a soap-bubble, [252].
His hypothesis of fits of easy transmission and reflection, [253].
His combination of mathematical skill with physical research, [271].
His Principia, [272].
His successors; his geometry, [273].
Nomenclature, importance of, to science, [136].
More a consequence than a cause of extended knowledge, [138].
Prejudicial to mineralogy, [139].
Norman, Robert, his discovery of the dip of the needle, [327].
Numerical precision, necessity of, in science, [122].
Objects, and their mutual actions, subjects of contemplation, [118].
Observation, a means of acquiring experience, [76].
Passive and active, [77].
Recorded observation, [120].
Necessity of, to acquire precise physical data, [215].
Illustrated by the barometer, [216].
Oërsted, his discoveries in electricity and magnetism, [132].
Of electro-magnetism, [340].
Opacity, [189].
Otto von Guericke of Magdeburgh, his invention of the air-pump, [230].
Paracelsus, power of his chemical remedies; his use of mercury, opium, and tartar, [112].
Pascal, his crucial instances proving the weight of air, [229].
Pendulum, [126].
Phenomena, analysis of, illustrated by musical sounds, the sensation of taste, [85].
The ultimate and inward process of nature in the production of, [86].
Analysis of complex phenomena, [88].
Ultimate phenomena, [90].
How the analysis of, is useful, [97].
A transient phenomenon, how to judge of, [122].
Method of explaining one when it presents itself, [148].
How to discover the cause of one, [150].
Two, or many, theories, maintained as the origin of, in physics, [195].
Cosmical phenomena, [265].
Philosophy, natural, unfounded objections to the study of, [7].
Advantages derivable from the study of, [10].
Pleasure and happiness, the consequences of the study of, [15].
Phlogistic doctrines of Beccher and Stahl, [300].
Physical data, necessity of, [209].
Great importance of, [211].
Illustrated by the erection of observatories, [213].
Necessity of an exact knowledge of, [214].
More precise than the observations by which we acquire them, [215].
Physics, axioms of; analysis of, [102].
Planets, circumjovial, [186].
Platina, discovery of, [308].
Pliny, his knowledge of quartz and diamond, [239].
Pneumatics, [228].
Political economy, [73].
Prejudices of opinion and sense, [80].
Conditions on which such are injurious, [81].
Illustrated by the division of the rays of light, by the moon at the horizon, and by ventriloquism, [82].
By the transition of the hand from heat to cold, [83].
Prevost, M., his theory of heat, [316].
His theory of reciprocal interchanges, a proof of the radiation of cold, [318].
Printing, the art of, [193].
Performed by steam, [194].
Probabilities, doctrine of, [217].
Illustrated by shooting at a wafer, [218].
Prout, Dr., his opinion of the atomic weights, [307].
Pyrometry, [319].
Pythagoras, philosophy of, [107].
Quinine, sulphate of, comparative comfort and health resulting from the use of, [56].
Radiation of heat, laws of, [205].
Repulsion in fluids and solids, [227].
Rules, general, for guiding and facilitating our search among a great mass of assembled facts, [151].
Rumford, count, experiments of, on gunpowder, [62].
Savart, M., his experiments on solids, [243].
His researches on sound, [249].
Science, abstract, a preparation for the study of physics, [19].
Not indispensable to the study of physical laws, [25].
Instances illustrative of, [27].
Science, physical, nature and objects, immediate and collateral, as regarded in itself and in its application to the practical purposes of life, and its influence on society, [35].
State of, previous to the age of Galileo and Bacon, [104].
Causes of the rapid advance of, compared with the progress at an earlier period, [347].
Science, natural, cause and effect, the ultimate relations of, [76].
Sciences and Arts, remarks on the language, terms, or signs used in treating of them, [70].
Receive an impulse by the Baconian philosophy, [114].
Sensation, cause of, [91].
Senses, inadequate to give us direct information for the exact comparison of quantity, [124].
Substitutes for the inefficiency of, [125].
Seringapatam, method of breaking blocks from the quarries of, [47].
Shells found in rocks at a great height above the sea, supposed cause of, [145].
Smeaton, his experiments on bodies dilated by heat, [319].
Solids, transparent, exhibit periodical colours when exposed to polarized light, [99].
Influence of, on the Mind, [101].
Solids in general, nature of, [236].
Constitution of, complicated, [237].
Toughness of, distinct from hardness; tenacity of, [238].
Become liquefied by the addition of heat, [321].
Sounds, musical, illustrative of the analysis of phenomena, [85].
Means of having a knowledge of, [89].
Propagation of, through the air, [246].
Newton’s analysis of, [247].
Standard measurement, necessity of, [125].
Laws of nature used as such, illustrated by the rotation of the earth, [126].
Substances all subject to dilatation by the addition of heat, [243].
Sun, the character of the heat of, [315].
Thales, philosophy of, [107].
Theories, how to estimate the value of, [204].
Best arrived at by the consideration of general laws, [208].
Explanatory of the phenomena of nature; on what their application ought to be grounded, [209].
Thomson, Dr., his opinion of the atomic weights, [307].
Thermometer, air, [319].
Thermo-electricity, [341].
Time, division of, [126], [127].
Torricelli, pupil of Galileo, his experiments proving the weight of atmosphere, [229].
Torpedo, shock of, [341], [342].
Ulugh Begh, his catalogue of stars, [277].
Vaccination, success of, as a preventive to small-pox, [52].
Vision and light, ignorance of the ancients respecting, [249].
Volta, his discoveries in electricity, [335].
Electric pile of, [337].
Voltaic circuit, [338].
Water, effects of the power of, [61].
Whewell, his experiments, [187].
Wells, Dr., his theory of dew, [163].
Wind, effects of the power of, [61].
Wire steel, magnetized masks of, used by needle-makers, [57].
Wollaston, Dr., his verification of the laws of double refraction in Iceland spar, [258].
His invention of the goniometer, [292].
World, the materials of the, [290].
Young, Dr., his experiments on the interference of the rays of light, [260].
Zoology, fossil, [344].

THE END.

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FOOTNOTES

[1] Hooke’s Posthumous Works. Lond. 1705.—p. 472 and p. 458.

[2] Wealth of Nations, book i. chap. i. p. 15.

[3] On this subject, we cannot forbear citing a passage from one of the most profound but at the same time popular writers of our time, on a subject unconnected it is true with our own, but bearing strongly on the point before us. “But, if science be manifestly incomplete, and yet of the highest importance, it would surely be most unwise to restrain enquiry, conducted on just principles, even where the immediate practical utility of it was not visible. In mathematics, chemistry, and every branch of natural philosophy, how many are the enquiries necessary for their improvement and completion, which, taken separately, do not appear to lead to any specifically advantageous purpose! how many useful inventions, and how much valuable and improving knowledge, would have been lost, if a rational curiosity, and a mere love of information, had not generally been allowed to be a sufficient motive for the search after truth!”—Malthus’s Principles of Political Economy, p. 16.

[4] Λογος, ratio, reason.

[5] Λογος, verbum, a word.

[6] It were much to be wished that navigators would be more cautious in laying themselves open to a similar censure. On looking hastily over a map of the world we see three Melville Islands, two King George’s Sounds, and Cape Blancos innumerable.