2 OUTLINES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



when the same power burns and consumes bodies, its 

 action belongs to Chemistry. When it converts wa- 

 ter into steam it may belong to either science. 



In all this we exclude the consideration of the organic 

 structure of bodies. 



3. WTien from a comparison of a number of facts 

 known from experiment or observation to be true, 

 the existence of a more general fact is inferred, the 

 inference is said to be made by INDUCTION. 



It is from induction that all certain and accurate know- 

 ledge of the laws of nature is derived. 



4. When general principles or axioms have been 

 established by induction, we can often, by the ap- 

 plication of mathematical reasoning, deduce con- 

 clusions from them, as clear and certain as the prin- 

 ciples themselves. 



This great advantage which Natural Philosophy seems 

 to possess almost exclusively, arises from the cir- 

 cumstance, that the action which it treats of, ex- 

 tends to large masses of matter, and to considerable 

 distances^ such as can be measured by lines and 

 numbers. 



5. The branch of knowledge which collects and 

 classifies facts, is called Natural History. 



Natural History is here taken in its most general sense, 

 such as it is understood by BACON ; in common lan- 

 guage its objects are confined to what are called the 

 three kingdoms, the Mineral, Vegetable, and Ani- 

 mal. 



6. We 



