Experimental philosophy, indeed, was far from being unknown to the ancients. But, they do not seem to have prosecuted it with the intrepi dity it has of late days experienced. Nor did they clearly understand, that the end of chymistry, for instance, was to discover and to be informed of the nature of bodies, and their action one upon another; and the nature of physics to discover, and to be informed, of their masses, and their properties. Thus, "ubi desinit physicus, ibi incipit chimicus." The greatest misfortune, however, that then and since hath happened to real and unsophisticated knowledge, has been, that authors, almost in all ages, have been touched with the ambition of being mysterious, as if learning grew more honourable, in proportion as it became less intelligible. The astronomer, the navigator, the engineer, must be mathematicians, and it may perhaps be well for the philosopher, if he be so too. But, the properties of the elements are opened to us in a more simple manner, and in great measure by the common experiments of chymistry.* Electricity has but little to do with calculation; and the philosophy of the three kingdoms, of plants, animals, and fossils, are full of wonders, and

Philosophy of the Elements.

and may be treated without the formulæ of algebra.

By pretending, by mere contemplation, to unlock with ease and expedition the secrets of nature, the natural rage of explaining all things is, indeed, soothed; and by supposing every thing accessible to the human intellect, pleasing flattery is administered to vanity and ignorance. The philosopher at his table, surrounded with books, undertakes to penetrate the arcana of nature, and to deal out truths as by inspiration. The time, however, employed in this manner, would surely be better applied in experiment and observation. * When the bold speculator, assuming matter and motion, begins ab ovo, and constructs the world, imagines certain forms, and led away by what is called sublimity of imagination, connects and demonstrates mechanically, a priori, every phænomenon, and every operation, a stupendous but visionary structure will appear; but being reared without foundation, it must necessarily fall to ruin. It was not thus the immortal Newton presented himself. That illustrious philosopher, rendered cautious by the failure of his predecessors, acknowledged that a conception of the theory of creation, exceeded human

E 4

* Bergman.

verse method.

human powers. He, therefore, followed the inHe first solicitously collected facts; these he examined with accuracy, and compared with acuteness: thence he deduced the laws of nature, and from effects well established, he inferred their causes.

Bacon well says, "that one who begins with certainties, shall end in doubts; but, if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." Thus it has happened, that when any one has made a progress, or some useful discovery in physics, it has been by trying, not indeed to know every thing, or to explain the origin of things, but only to know a little more than what was known before; above all, to be able to render science intelligible, if not by its clearness, at least by a sensible certainty; and for want of the first causes, which remain concealed, to be contented with taking, for so many principles and guides, certain effects, constantly known the same by observation, and by the testimony of our senses.

From the inquiries we are at present engaged in, it is clear to unprejudiced reason, that experiments in philosophy should unremittingly be made. For the elucidation of the simplest ap

pearances

pearances of nature, it is even necessary that their chymical analysis should be understood Certainty can be established in no other way. "The man who first saw a metal corroded by a limpid menstruum," says Bergman," and in such a manner, that a body so extremely ponderous and so opaque, should gradually and entirely disappear, and afterwards, upon the addition of a suitable precipitant to a liquor, which appeared simple and homogeneous, saw that metal separate, and again come into view, must have been struck with astonishment." But, what was this compared with what we have seen, in the compositions, and decompositions, of the elementary principles of the great bodies of nature? In every corner of the earth, incessant transformations are going on. Nothing stands still. Menstrua, and precipitants, are every where at work. The chymical phænomena of this uncircumscribed laboratory are, perhaps, as boundless as the immeasurable space itself.

Æther, or elastic fluid, say the disciples of the old schools, is the father of all things, the soul of existence. The air is the second principle, or the receptacle of the vital spirit of the macrocosm. They are neither of them emanations from above; they proceed from the aqua

tic and terrestrial spheres. Every substance that partakes of the principle of air, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, throws off its superfluities. These ascend. Air is the element, whereby the æther is connected with the waters and the earth. The water and the earth hold together, as the æther and the air. Water is the third principle, and the universal menstruum of nature.

The

earth is the fourth principle, and the womb of all sublunary things. It is a fixed æther, a condensed air, a coagulated water; in like manner, as minerals are fixed vegetables, animals volatile vegetables, and vegetables fixed animals. Thus the air is agitated by the æther, the air agitates the water, and the waters agitate the earth, which in its turn sends up its exhalations, and so the circle is continued.

Now this is more philosophical, whatever we may think of it, than the vortices of Des Cartes, or the monades of Leibnitz. It is at least not so imaginary. It steers clear of the fatal assumption of physical elements, merely upon the grounds of mathematical conclusions. But, not to dwell on this, chymistry, even though our best aid in natural investigations, is yet far from being infallible. In a system given us by Stahl, phlogiston is made the sole agent; and