14 



CHAPTER I. 



MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY. 



U NDER this general head is included the whole 

 of that extensive branch of science, " which ex- 

 plains the sensible motions of the bodies of the 

 universe, with the view to discover their causes, to 

 account for subordinate phenomena, and to im- 

 prove art." In this department of science, the pro- 

 gress of the last century has been astonishingly 

 great. New fields of inquiry have been opened 3 

 splendid discoveries have been made; and facts, 

 apparently discordant, have been connected and 

 systematised, to an extent which does signal honour 

 to human capacity, and wdiich far surpasses what 

 the most sanguine projectors of former times had 

 reason to anticipate. And the paths to yet farther 

 improvements in this science are so clearly marked 

 out, that nothing seems requisite but honest in- 

 dustry, patience, and persevering attention, to en- 

 able future adventurers to penetrate into regions of 

 knowledge, at present far removed from the sight 

 of man. 



Though the Newtonian Philosophy is, perhaps, 

 one of the noblest products of human genius ever 

 given to llie world ; yet that great interpreter of 

 nature was by no means free from mistake, wiiich 

 b'jsets and characterises all human labours. — His 



