58 



ATOMICAL PHILOSOPHY. 



Aiomical other with which he was acquainted. See Macken- 

 Philosophy. z j e g J ournll l n f Voyage through the Sorth-fVest 

 V V"' Continent of America, p. 208, ( j ) 



ATOMICAL Pmi.oxii'iiv, that doctrine which 

 professes to explain the origin of all things, by a com- 

 bination of atoms. 



The philosophers, who adopted this doctrine, may- 

 be divided into two classes ; the theistical, and the 

 atheistical. The first are those who adopted the an- 

 cient doctrine concerning atoms, said to have been 

 first taught by Moschus the Phoenician, who, accord- 

 ing to Strabo, lived before the Trojan war. This 

 philosopher taught, that all bodies were composed of 

 atoms, uniform in substance, impenetrable, indivisible, 

 eternal ; that the different forms and qualities of mat- 

 ter, arose solely from different combinations of these 

 ultimate atoms ; in the same manner as all the words 

 of a language are formed by different combinations of 

 the letters of the alphabet. The same body, for in- 

 stance, becomes hard, or soft, or fluid, not from any 

 alteration in its substance, but merely from a different 

 arrangement of its constituent atoms. In this way 

 they account for all the primary qualities of matter. 

 And with regard to the secondary qualities, such as 

 heat, cold, sweet, bitter, Sec. as these are altogether 

 distinct from the figure, situation, and motion of the 

 insensible atoms, they held, that they must be nothing 

 but sensations or passions excited in the mind, though 

 they are commonly mistaken for qualities in bodies 

 without us. 



Now all this is not only perfectly harmless, but al- 

 so very ingenious, with the exception of the eternity 

 of atoms ; an error, which it was not to be supposed 

 that any of the ancient philosophers should avoid, 

 who all maintained the eternity of matter in some 

 form or other. With this exception, the doctrine 

 is very little different from that which has been 

 received and improved in modern times, under the 

 name of the Corpuscular Philosophy. For Sir Isaac 

 Newton affirms, that matter was at first created in 

 solid, hard, impenetrable, moveable particles ; and 

 that out of these result the various forms and quali- 

 ties of body. Indeed, no doctrine can be more con- 

 sistent with pure theism, than that of the ancient 

 atomists : for, whilst they denied to the atoms sen- 

 sation and innate motion, (an error adopted by the 

 later atomists,) there was an absolute necessity for 

 some intelligent power to arrange them into form, so 

 as to produce that order and regularity, which we 

 perceive in the universe. 



Some have attempted to give eclat to this philoso- 

 phy, by making Moschus, the reputed author of it, 

 the same as Moses. This, however, is very impro- 

 bable. Moses, in his cosmogony, certainly teaches 

 nothing concerning atoms ; and there is no evidence 

 nor probability, that he ever wrote or taught any 

 thing on the subject beyond the concise and simple 

 account contained in the Scriptures. It has even been 

 doubted whether the doctrine is entitled to such high 

 antiquity, as has been ascribed to it. And many have 

 maintained, that it was first broached by Leucippus, 

 Democritus, or Protagoras, many ages after the sera 

 of Moschus. Such as vish to see this point cleared 

 up, may consult Cudvvorth's Intellectual System, 



where the antiquity of the doctrine is ably main- Atomical 

 taiued ; and where- it is traced with infinite learning, I'li'l^'phy. 

 though with little method, through all its changes *"" ~ v * 

 and ramifications, till it ended in absolute atheism. 



We now proceed to consider the philosophy of the 

 later atomists, which was decidedly atheistical. The 

 author of this system is generally allowed to have 

 been Leucippus, who is said to have been a dis- 

 ciple of Zeno the Eleatic philosopher, who flourished 

 about the 81th Olympiad. According to Zeno, tiiere 

 is only one being, and that being is God. This ap- 

 pears, as far as it can be understood, to be nothing 

 else than the Pantheistic doctrine, so commonly 

 adopted by the ancient philosophers. But the pupil 

 departed so far from the tenets of his master in this 

 respect, that he introduced a system, which excluded 

 the agency of Deity altogether, and professed to ac- 

 count for the production of all natural bodies from 

 physical causes. All this is effected by giving to 

 atoms an internal principle of motion, and making 

 them dance together, till at last they produce a world. 

 Observe then the steps, by which this important pro- 

 cess is completed. " The universe, which is infinite, 

 is in part a plenum, and in part a vacuum. The ple- 

 num contains innumerable corpuscles or atoms of va- 

 rious figures, which, falling into the vacuum, struck 

 against each other ; and hence arose a variety of cur- 

 vilinear motions, which continued, till at length atoms 

 of similar forms met together, and bodies were pro- 

 duced. The primary atoms being specifically of 

 equal weight, and not being able, on account of their 

 multitude, to move in circles, the smaller rose to the 

 exterior parts of the vacuum, whilst the larger, en- 

 tangling themselves, formed a spherical shell; which 

 revolved about its centre, and which included within 

 it all kinds of bodies. This central mass was gra- 

 dually increased by a perpetual accession of particles 

 from the surrounding shell, till at last the earth was 

 formed. In the mean tune, the spherical shell was 

 continually supplied with new bodies, which in its re- 

 volution is gathered up from without. Of the par- 

 ticles thus collected in the spherical shell, some, in 

 their combination, formed humid masses, which by 

 their circular motion gradually became dry, and were 

 at length ignited, and became stars. The sun was 

 formed in the same manner, in the exterior surface of 

 the shell ; and the moon in its interior surface. In this 

 manner the world was formed." Enfield's Hist. of Phil. 



Democritus adopted the atomical doctrine as new- 

 modelled by Leucippus; and, by the help of a little 

 more ingenuity, extended its reputation, without cor- 

 recting any of its absurdities. Both these philoso- 

 phers had retained the gods in their systems, from a 

 regard to their own safety, and in compliance with 

 popular prejudices. But Protagoras, a little bolder, 

 and a l'ttle honester, than his predecessors, hesita- 

 ted not to speak freely on the subject, to deduce 

 from the doctrine its legitimate consequences, and 

 thus fairly to explode the gods from the universe. 

 For this instance of his zeal, he was banished from 

 Athens ; and may claim the honour of being the 

 protomartyr of atheism. 



At length appeared Epicurus, who so far outdid 

 the labours of all who had gone before him, in en- 

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