CONTENTS. Xlll 



Royal Institution, 264 ; Manchester Literal-}- and Philosophical Society, 

 265 ; John Dawson of Sedbergh, 267 ; The Scotch Universities, 267 ; The 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh, 269; The 'Edinburgh Review,' 270; The 

 Analytical Society of Cambridge, 271 ; University life in Scotland, 271 ; 

 The Dublin Mathematical School, 274 ; Importance of British contribu- 

 tions to science, 276 ; Diffusion of scientific knowledge on the Continent, 

 276 ; Isolation of English men of science, 277 ; Individualism of the 

 English character, 279 ; Changes during the last fifty years, 2S0 ; British 

 contributions to biology, 282 ; Jenner, 284 ; English love of Nature, 284 ; 

 Union of individualism and naturalism in England, 286 ; White of Sel- 

 borne, 288 ; The Geological Society, 290 ; William Smith, 291 ; Charles 

 Bell, 292 ; Historical geography, 294 ; Martin William Leake, 296 ; Work 

 of the three nations compared, 298. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE ASTRONOMICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 



The scientific spirit in the first and second half of the century, 302 ; Science 

 become international, -303 ; Disappearance of national differences, 305 ; 

 Special scientific ideas, 306 ; Philosophy of science, 306 ; Whewell's 

 ' History ' and ' Philosophy,' 309 ; Philosophy and science, 311 ; Leading 

 scientific ideas mostly very ancient, 312 ; Mathematical spirit, 314 ; 

 When first introduced into science, 317 ; Newton's 'Principia,' 318 ; The 

 gravitation formula, 319 ; Lines of thought emanating from it, 321 ; 

 Element of error, 323 ; Laplace and Newton, 326 ; Several interests 

 which promote science, 326 ; Insufficiency of observation, 328 ; Practical 

 interest, 328 ; Focalising efi'ect of mathematical formulse, 332 ; Matter 

 and force mathematically defined, 334 ; Weight and mass, 336 ; Gravi- 

 tation not an ultimate property of matter, 338 ; Attraction and repulsion, 

 342 ; Electrical and magnetic action, 344 ; Law of emanations, 344 ; 

 Molecular action, 346 ; The astronomical view : Cosmical, molar, and 

 molecular phenomena, 348 ; Special interest attached to molar dimen- 

 sions, 350 ; Geometrical axioms, 352 ; Difficulty of measuring gravitation 

 directly, 353 ; Astronomical view of molecular jDhenomena, 354 ; Capil- 

 lary attraction, 356 ; Boscovich's extension of the Newtonian formula, 

 357 ; Coulomb's measurements, 360 ; Extended by Gauss and Weber, 

 360 ; Davy and Faraday, 363 ; Ampere and Weber develop the astro- 

 nomical view, 366 ; Weber's fundamental measurements, 368 ; Necessity 

 of developing the infinitesimal methods, 373 ; Newtonian formula the 

 basis of physical astronomy, 375 ; The Newtonian formula unique as to 

 universality and accuracy, 377 ; Is it an ultimate law ? 378 ; Laplace's 

 opinion, 378 ; Opposition to the astronomical view of nature, 381. 



