P H I 
P H I 
plumbago, which was fo foft that it was perfe&ly free 
from refiftance when cruftied between the thumb and 
finger.” Speaking of the globules obtained in another 
experiment, he obferves that “ fome were perfectly lim¬ 
pid, and could not be diftinguilhed by the eye from por¬ 
tions of diamond.” The experiments detailed remove 
every fufpicion which might be entertained that thefe 
globules were the earthy matter contained in the plum¬ 
bago, which was vitrified by the intenfe heat. They 
were expofed in a jar of oxygen gas to the focus of a 
powerful lens; and, although they neither melted nor 
altered theirforms, a decided precipitate was formed upon 
the introdufiion of lime-water into the velfel. The glo¬ 
bules of melted plumbago are abfolute non-condu< 5 tors 
of ele« 5 fricity, as ftri&ly lb as the diamond. 
PHILOSOPH'IC, or Philosophical, adj. [from phi¬ 
lofophy. Belonging to philofophy ; fuitable to a philo- 
l’oplier; formed by philofophy.—When the fafety of the 
public is endangered, the appearance of a philofopliical or 
affedted indolence mult arife either from llupidity or per- 
fidioufnefs. Addifon's Freeholder. 
Others in virtue plac’d felicity : 
The Stoic laft in philofophic pride. 
By him call’d virtue; and his virtuous man, 
Wife, perfect in himfelf, and all pofielfing. Milton. 
Skilled in philofophy.—We have our philofopliical perfons 
to make modern and familiar things fupernatural and 
caufelefs. Shahefpeare. —Acquaintance with God is not a 
fpeculative knowledge, built on abftrafted reafonings 
about his nature and eflence, fuch as philofopliical minds 
often bufy themfelves in, without reaping from thence 
any advantage towards regulating their pafiions; but 
practical knowledge. Attcrbury. —Frugal; abftemious: 
This is what nature’s wants may well fuffice : 
But, fince among mankind fo few there are 
Who will conform to philofophic fare. 
I’ll mingle fomething of our times to pleafe. Dryden. 
PHILOSOPHICAL TREE, or Arbor Dianes. See the 
article Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 311. 
PHILOSOPHICALLY, adv. In a philofopliical 
manner; rationally; wifely.— No man has ever treated 
the pafiion of love with fo much delicacy of thought and 
of expreffion, or fearched into the nature of it more phi¬ 
lofophic ally, than Ovid. Dryden. —If natural laws were 
once fettled, they are never to be reverfed : to violate and 
infringe them, is the fame as what we call miracle, and 
doth not found very philofophically cut of the mouth of 
an atheift. Bentley's Serm. 
To PHILOS'OPKIZE, v. n. To play the philofopher ; 
to reafon like a philofopher; to moralize; to fearch into 
nature; to enquire into the caufes of effefts.—Qualities 
occult to Ariftotle mull be fo to us ; and we muft not 
philofophize beyond fympathy and antipathy. Glanville. — 
The wax philosophized upon the matter; and, finding out 
at laft that it was burning made the brick fo hard, call 
itfelf into the fire. L' Bjlrange. —Some of cur philofophiz- 
ing divines have too much exalted the faculties of our 
fouls, when they have maintained, that by their force 
mankind has been able to find out God. Dryden. 
The Rules of Philosophizing, Regulcs Philofuphandi, 
as eftablilhed by fir Ifaac Newton are, 1. That no more 
caufes of a natural efreft be admitted than are true, and 
fuffice to account for the phenomena thereof. This agrees 
with the fentiments of moft philofophers, who hold that 
nature does nothing in vain ; and that it were vain to do 
that by many things, which might be done by fewer. 
2. Natural effefts, therefore, of the fame kind, proceed 
from the fame caufes. Thus, e. gr. thecaufeof refpiration 
is one and the fame in man and brute ; the caufe of the 
defeent of a ftone the fame in Europeas in America ; the 
caufe of light the fame in culinary fire as in the fun; 
and the caufe of reflexion the fame in the planets as the 
earth. 
3. Thofe qualities of bodies which are not capable of 
being heightened, and remitted, and which are found in 
Vol. XX. No. 1354.. 
105 
all bodies where experiments can be made, muft be look¬ 
ed on as univerfal qualities of all bodies. Thus the ex- 
tenfion of body is only perceived by our fenfes, nor is it 
perceivable in all bodies; but, fince it is found in all that 
we have perception of, it may be affirmed of all. So we 
find, that feveral bodies are hard ; and argue that the 
Iiardnefs of the whole only arifes from the hardnefs of 
the parts : whence we infer, that the particles, not only 
of thofe bodies which are fenfible, but of all others, are 
likewife hard. Laftly, if all the bodies about the earth 
gravitate towards the earth, anti this according to the 
quantity of matter in each; and if the moon gravitates 
towards the earth alfo according to its quantity of matter; 
and the fea again gravitates to wards the moon ; and all 
the planets and comets gravitate towards each other; it 
may be affirmed univcrfally, that all bodies in the creation 
gravitate towards each other. This rule is the founda¬ 
tion of all natural philofophy. 
PHILOS'OPHY, J'. [from the Gr. cpiXeu, to love, and 
crotpia., wifdom.] Knowledge natural or moral.—I had 
never read, heard, nor feen, any thing, I had never any 
tafte of philofophy nor inward feeling in myfelf, which for 
a while I did not call my fuccour. Sidney. 
Hang up philofophy! 
Unlefs philofophy can make a Juliet, 
Difplant a town, reverfe a prince’s doom, 
It helps not, it avails not; talk no more. Shahefpeare. 
Hypothefis, or fyftem, upon which natural effefts are ex¬ 
plained.—We Ilia 11 in vain interpret their words by the 
notions of our philofophy, and the doctrines in ourfchools. 
Locke. —Reafoning; argumentation.—His decifions are the 
judgment of his pnffions, not of his reafon ; the philofophy 
of the finner, not of the man. Rogers. 
Of good and evil much they argu’d then ; 
Vain wifdom all, and falfe philofophy ! Milton. 
The courfe of fciences read in the fchools. 
Philosophy is a term of a very wide and extenfive 
fignification ; and of courfe has been divided into many 
branches, the greater part of which have been already 
treated of. So extenfive, indeed, is the meaning that has 
been applied to the word, that Cicero’s definition of 
a philofopher is, “one who ftudies to know the natures 
and caufes of all things human and divine, and to at¬ 
tend to every good rule and method of life.” And thus 
philofophy has been applied by many modern writers not 
only to all fpeculative fcience, but the term has been 
ufed fo as to comprehend Ikill in municipal law, the 
knowledge of medicine, the art of critic!(in, and the 
whole circle of polite literature. The term has been 
even transferred to theology, fo that the Chriftian reli¬ 
gion has been called facred philofophy ; and ecclefiaftical 
dodlors and monks have been denominated “ philofo¬ 
phers.” 
The following we think a more rational definition : 
“ By philofophy we mean the knowledge of the reafons of 
things; in oppofition to hijlory, which is the bare know¬ 
ledge of fafts ; or to mathematics, which is the knowledge 
of the quantity of things or their meafures.” 
Thefe three kinds of knowledge ought to be joined as 
much as poffible. Hiftory furnillies matter, principles, 
and practical examinations, and mathematics complete 
the evidence. Philofophy being the knowledge or the 
reafons of things, all arts muft have their peculiar philo¬ 
fophy, which conftitutes their theory : not only law and 
phyfic, but the loweft and moft abjefl arts, are not defti- 
tute of their reafons, which might ulefully employ the 
time of the ftudious : and the advantages refulting from 
this kind of employment has been amply manifeiied in 
the difedveries of modern times. 
It is to be obferved, that the bare intelligence and me¬ 
mory of philofopliical propofitions, without any ability 
to demonftrate them, is not philofophy, but hiftory only. 
However, where fuch propofitions are determinate and 
true, they may be ufefully applied in practice, even by 
E e thofe 
