INTRODUCTION. 17 



riated" plants aiid animals are the eifect of thcse-'two ovec 

 divided forces, of which the one, heat, specially appertains to 

 the celestial, and tne other, cold, to the terrestrial sphere. 



With yet more unbridled fancy, but with a profound spirit of 

 enquiry, Giordano Bruno of Xola attempted to comprehend 

 the whole universe, in three works, 38 entitled, De la causa 

 Principio e Uno ; Contemplationi circa lo Infinite, Universo 

 e Mondi innumerdbili ; and De Mini/no et*Maximo. In the 

 natural philosophy of Telesio, a contemporary of Coperni- 

 cus, we recognise at all events the tendency to reduce the 

 changes of matter to two of its fundamental forces, which, 

 although " supposed to act from without," yet resemble the 

 fundamental forces of attraction and repulsion in the dyna- 

 mic theory of nature of Boscovich and Kant. The cosmical 

 views of the philosopher of Nola are purely metaphysical, and 

 do not seek the causes of sensuous phenomena in matter 

 itself, but treat of " the infinity of space, filled with self-illu- 

 mined worlds, of the animated condition of those worlds, and 

 of tne relations of the highest intelligence God to the 

 universe." 



Scantily endowed with mathematical knowledge, Giordano 

 Bruno continued nevertheless to the period of his fearful mar- 

 tyrdom 29 an enthusiastic admirer of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, 



28 Compare the acute and learned commentary on the works 

 of the Philosopher of Nola in the treatise, Jurdano Bruno par 

 Christian Bartholmess, torn. ii. 1847, pp. 129, 149, and 201. 



29 He was burnt at Rome on the 17th of February, 1600, 

 pursuant to the sentence " ut quam clementissime et 

 citra sanguinis effusionem puniretur." Bruno was imprisoned 

 six years in the Piomli. at Venice, and two years in the In- 

 quisition at Rome. When the sentence of death was an- 

 nounced to him, Bruno, calm and unmoved, gave utterance to 

 the following noble expression, " Majori forsitan cum timore 

 sententiam in me fertis quain ego accipiam." When a fugitive 

 from Italy, in 1580, he taught at Geneva, Lyons, Toulouse, 



YOL. III. 



