Mechanical Philosophy. 49 



bveircoming these difficulties, can scarcely be 

 thought either to gratify a mind of true philosophic 

 cnterprize, or to be worthy of such a mind. 



Late navigators and travellers have furnished 

 valuable materials towards forming a theory of 

 the zvindt It must be acknowledged that no- 

 thing entirely satisfactory has yet been offered to 

 the world on this subject. Still many facts have 

 been brought to light; important discoveries have 

 been made; and from the number and talents of 

 the gentlemen who have been for sortie time en- 

 gaged in exploring this dark recess of philosophy, 

 still greater advances in our knowledge of it may 

 soon be expected. Various instruments, which 

 answer valuable purposes for ineasuring the direc- 

 tion, the force, and the velocity of winds, have also 

 been invented^ within a few years past, by Dr, 

 Linn, Mr. Pickering, and others of Great-Britain, 

 These inventions have been denominated the 

 Anemoscope, the Anemomelei^ &;c. 



Finally, the doctrines of Acoustics have been 

 very successfully illustrated, since the time of 

 Newton, by various inquirers. Many facts re- 

 lating to the velocity, the intenseness, and the ge- 

 neral principles of sounds, have been established 

 by numerous experiments. The capacity of dif- 

 feretit bodies, to propagate sound, has become 

 better understood by the investigations of modern 

 philosophers. Mr. Hawksbee, of Great-Britain, 

 first showed that sound is propagated further iii 

 dense than in rarefied air; M. Brisson, of France^ 

 and others, demonstrated, by various interesting 

 experiments, that a medium more dense than air 

 conveys sound still better than this fluid; and Dn 

 Young, of Dublin, has, within a few years, made 

 some new and instructive inquiries into the prin- 

 ciples of acoustics. To which may be added the 

 interesting experiments lately made, showing the 



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