PHILOSOPHY, NATURAL PHIPS. 



533 



different states of which are owing to the contending 

 action of two opposite powers, expansion and attrac- 

 tion ; the other, that matter is composed of minute 

 particles, or atoms of unchangeable forms, which pri- 

 mitive forms produce particular modifications of the 

 natural powers. (See Dynamic Theory.) The 

 Egyptians, Chaldeans and Phoenicians were, in the 

 earliest periods, celebrated for their knowledge of 

 mechanical, chemical, astronomical and physical sci- 

 ence. Among the Greeks, Thales, the founder of 

 the Ionic school, was the first who separated natural 

 philosophy from allegory and fable ; but the later 

 Greek philosophers again carried natural science 

 backward, by indulging in metaphysical speculations 

 in their studies of nature. Plato and Aristotle are 

 the most distinguished of this class, although the 

 writings of the latter are less faulty in this respect 

 than those of the former. Pythagoras taught that 

 certain monads were the final causes of the pheno- 

 mena of matter. His school, however, had some 

 indistinct conceptions of the Copernican system. 

 The atomic theories of Leucippus and Democritus 

 made near approaches to the atomic theory of the 

 present day. The works of Theophrastus, Hippo- 

 crates, with the writings of Aristotle, on physical 

 subjects, show that the Greeks, notwithstanding 

 their speculative turn of mind, did not entirely neglect 

 observation. Among the Romans Lucretius is dis- 

 tinguished by his poem De Rerurn Natura ; Seneca, 

 by his QtKcstiones Naturales, and Pliny, by his His- 

 toria Naturalis. In the middle ages, natural science 

 was involved in a deep darkness, rendered still more 

 impenetrable by the clouds of scholastic philosophy. 

 Among the Arabs, however, it was not entirely 

 neglected. Francis Bacon (q. v.) first dissipated 

 this night by the light of a sounder method of investi- 

 gation, founded on observation (in his Novum Or- 

 ganum). At about the same time, Galilei (q. v.) 

 discovered the laws of the fall of heavy bodies, and 

 of the pendulum, and Torricelli invented the baro- 

 meter. Kepler explained the laws of the motions of 

 the heavenly bodies, and, by happy applications of 

 geometry, laid the foundation of optics. Otto von 

 Guericke invented the air-pump, and Descartes now 

 found it easy to pull down the tottering fabric of the 

 physics of the schools. (See Scholastic Philosophy.) 

 While he was attempting to substitute a better meta- 

 physical foundation for natural science, Boyle and 

 Hooke in England, Borelli and Grimaldi in Italy, 

 and Pascal, Mariotte and Picard in France, success- 

 fully cultivated experimental physics ; the royal so- 

 ciety was instituted in London, the academy of sci- 

 ence in Paris, and the Accademia del Cimento in 

 Florence ; and these institutions had a powerful and 

 happy influence on the progress of physical studies. 

 Finally appeared Newton (q. v.), who by his Philoso- 

 phies Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), be- 

 came the founder of modern natural philosophy in 

 all its brilliancy. We cannot follow it in its 

 splendid course, and can only allude in gene- 

 ral to the improvements of the thermometer, the 

 discovery of the gases, the discoveries in electricity, 

 particularly of the lightning-rod and of galvanism 

 (q. v.), the substitution of oxygen, by Lavoisier, to 

 the phlogiston of Stahl, the reduction of the alkalies 

 and earths, the discovery of iodine and chlorine, of 

 the polarization of light, of the connexions between 

 electricity and magnetism, &c., which are more par- 

 ticularly treated of under separate articles. The 

 uses of the study of natural philosophy are too obvi- 

 ous to require mention, since our comfort and safety 

 depend upon a knowledge of the powers and proper- 

 ties of bodies ; and a right study of nature not only 

 dispels a thousand superstitions, but affords a most 

 striking proof of the existence of an intelligent go- 



vernment of the universe. (See Herschel's admir- 

 able Discourse on the Objects, Advantages and Plea- 

 sures of the Study of Natural Philosophy, in Lurd- 

 ner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia.) Among the best works 

 on the history of natural philosophy, are Fischer's 

 History of Physics since the Revival of Letters (in 

 German, Gottingen, 1801, 6 vols.), and Playfair's 

 Dissertation on the Progress of Mathematical and 

 Physical Science since the Revival of Letters, pre- 

 fixed to the Encyclop. Britannica, ^nd continued by 

 Leslie. On the method of observation in experi- 

 mental physics, Senebeir's Essai sur I Art d' 'observer 

 et faire des Experiences (3 vols., Geneva, 1802) de- 

 serves to be consulted; and, in connexion with it, 

 Sigaud de la Pond's Description et Usage d'un Ca- 

 binet de Physique Experimental (Tours, 1796, 2 

 vols.) ; Blot's Traite de Physique Experimentale et 

 Mathematique (4 vols., 8voj, is the most complete 

 manual. There is an excellent abridgment of this 

 work by the author, Precis elementaire de Physique 

 Experimentale (3d ed., 1824, 2 vols., 8vo). Arnott's 

 Elements of Physics is a good popular treatise. 



PHILOSOPHY, PERIPATETIC. See Peripatetic 

 Philosophy. 



PHILTRE ; a love potion. From the earliest 

 it has been supposed that there were means by which 

 love could not only be excited, but be directed to a 

 particular object. Various substances, from the ani- 

 mal and vegetable kingdoms, have been used for this 

 purpose, some disgusting, some injurious, some with- 

 out any distinguishing character. The truth is, that 

 physical desire may be produced by physical stimuli, 

 which are called aphrodisiacs, but it is absurd to sup- 

 pose that such means can produce a passion for a par- 

 ticular object. 



PHIPPS. See Mulgrave. 



PHIPS, SIR WILLIAM, governor of Massachusetts, 

 was born at Pemaquid, Feb. 2, 1650. He was one 

 of twenty-six children, twenty-one of whom were 

 sons. His father died when he was a child. He 

 then bound himself to a ship carpenter, and, in due 

 time, engaged in the business on his own account. 

 He was so illiterate as not to be able to read or write; 

 but he soon acquired knowledge sufficient for the 

 purposes of common life, and was fortunate enough 

 to connect himself, by marriage, with a young widow 

 of a respectable family. In 1683, he sailed from 

 England, in search of a Spanish vessel which had 

 been wrecked near the Bahamas, having gone to the 

 mother country on hearing of the circumstance, and 

 solicited means for the expedition. He was supplied 

 with two frigates by the admiralty, but failed of suc- 

 cess. Nothing discouraged, however, he made fresh 

 importunities for the means of making a second at- 

 tempt, which were given to him by the duke of Al- 

 bemarle. He discovered the wreck, and brought 

 from it .300,000, 16,000 of which were appropri- 

 ated to his share. He was also knighted by the king, 

 and appointed high-sheriff of New England. After 

 residing for a time, in that capacity, at Boston, he 

 returned to England in consequence of some disagree- 

 ment with two other functionaries, by which his situ 

 ation was rendered uncomfortable. In 1690, he cap- 

 tured Port Royal, but was not so fortunate in the ex- 

 pedition against Quebec. In the same year, he was 

 chosen by the freemen a magistrate of the colony. 

 He did not remain long in Boston, but repaired to 

 England to solicit an expedition to Canada. At that 

 time, the agents of Massachusetts were soliciting a 

 restoration of their old charter from king William ; 

 but this being refused, and a new one given, Sir 

 William was appointed captain-general and governor 

 in-chief of the province. He discharged the duties 

 of his office with fidelity. His impetuous temper, 

 however, sometimes involved him in quarrels, and 



