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CHAPTER II. 



DEFINITIONS. 



The following preliminary definitions, which with very 

 few exceptions coincide with those of the most celebrated 

 naturalists and metaphysicians, appear to me so little ob- 

 jectionable, that I cannot refrain from proposing them as 

 the foundations on which I could wish all my subsequent 

 observations to repose. 



1. Nature is a word Avhich has many different signifi- 

 cations; but it will for our purpose be sufficient to consi- 

 der it either as a collective name for the whole of the 

 beings which compose the universe, or for the original 

 properties with which these beings may be invested. Fi- 

 nally, we shall consider it as a term applicable to the 

 laws which govern the universe ; a meaning which has 

 often caused the word to be figuratively used in deno- 

 ting the Divine Providence whence these laws originate ; 

 and it must be confessed that this metaphor is very conve- 

 nient, though it has sometimes had the bad consequence of 

 seeming to refer effects either to other effects, or to causes 

 which are only secondary. 



2. The knowledge of the laws of the universe, of the 

 beings which compose it, and of their properties, is the 

 object of Natural Science; and it must be obvious from 



