101 



HISTORY OP THE PHYSICAL CONTEMPLATION OP THE 

 UNIVERSE. 



Principal epochs of the progressive development and extension of tho 

 idea of the Cosmos as an organic whole. 



THE history of the physical contemplation of the universe is 

 the history of the recognition of nature as a whole ; it is the 

 recital of the endeavours of man to conceive and compre- 

 hend the concurrent action of natural forces on the earth 

 and in the regions of space: it accordingly marks the 

 epochs of progress in the generalisation of physical views. 

 It is that part of the history of our world of thought which 

 relates to objects perceived by the senses, to the form of 

 conglomerated matter, and to the forces by which it is per- 

 vaded. 



In the first portion of this work, in the section on the 

 limitation and scientific treatment of a physical description 

 of the universe, I have endeavoured to point out the true 

 relation which the separate branches of natural knowledge 

 bear to that description, and to shew that the science of the 

 Cosmos derives from those separate studies only the mate- 

 rials for its scientific foundation. ( 141 ) The history of the 

 recognition or knowledge of the universe as a whole, of 

 which history I now propose to present the leading ideas, 

 and which, for the sake of brevity, I here term sometimes 

 the "history of the Cosmos," and sometimes the "history 



