NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY. 



" THE natural philosopher of to-day may dwell amid conceptions 

 which beggar those of Milton. So great and grand are they, that in 

 the contemplation of them a certain force of character is requisite to 

 preserve us from bewilderment. Look at the integral energies of our 

 world ; the stored power of our coal-fields, our winds and rivers, our 

 fleets, armies, and guns. What are they? They are all generated by 

 a portion of the sun's energy, which does jiot amount to- 2)3 Q ;-Q^ 0>000 ' 

 of the whole ! This, in fact, is the entire portion of the sun's force in- 

 tercepted by the earth, and in reality we convert but a small portion 

 of this fraction into mechanical energy. Multiplying all our powers 

 by millions of millions, we do not reach the sun's expenditure. And 

 still, notwithstanding this enormous drain, in the lapse of human his- 

 tory, we are unable to detect a diminution of his store. Measured by 

 our largest terrestrial standards, such a reservoir of power is infinite ; 

 but it is our privilege to rise above these standards, and to regard the 

 sun himself as a speck in infinite extension ; a mere drop in the uni- 

 versal sea. We analyze the space in which he is immersed, and which 

 is the vehicle of his power. We pass to other systems and other suns, 

 each pouring forth energy like our own, but still without infringement 

 of the law, which reveals immutability in the midst of change, which 

 recognizes incessant transference and conversion, but neither find gain 

 nor loss. This law generalizes the aphorism of Solomon, that there is 

 nothing new under the sun, by teaching us to detect everywhere, un- 



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der its infinite variety of appearances, the same primeval force. To 

 nature nothing can be added ; from nature nothing can be taken 

 away ; the source of her energies is constant, and the utmost man can 

 do, in the pursuit of physical truth, or in the application of physical 

 knowledge, is to shift the constituents of the never-varying total, and 

 out of one of them to form another. The law of conservation rigidly 

 excludes both creation and annihilation. Waves may change to rip- 

 ples, and ripples to waves; magnitude may be substituted for number, 

 and number for magnitude; asteroids may aggregate tio suns, suns 

 may revolve themselves into florae and faun SB and floras and faunae 

 melt in air ; the flux of power is eternally the same. It rolls in music 

 through the asjes, and all terrestrial enerer, the manifestations of life, 



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as well as the display of phenomena, are but the modulations of its 

 rhythm." Prof Tyndall. 



THE NATURE OF FORCE. 



The following is an extract of a lecture recently delivered before 

 the Royal Institution, London, by Prof. Tyndall, on the above subject. 



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