The Works of John Playfair ...: With a Memoir of the Author ... |
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Page 7
The first demonstration of any considerable number of them , is that which was lately communicated to this Society , * though I believe there are few mathematicians , into whose hands they have fallen , whose skill they have not often ...
The first demonstration of any considerable number of them , is that which was lately communicated to this Society , * though I believe there are few mathematicians , into whose hands they have fallen , whose skill they have not often ...
Page 50
Several years before the time I am now speaking of , he had completed the great outline of his system , but had communicated it to very few ; I believe to none but his friends Dr Black and Mr Clerk of Elden .
Several years before the time I am now speaking of , he had completed the great outline of his system , but had communicated it to very few ; I believe to none but his friends Dr Black and Mr Clerk of Elden .
Page 70
The statical principle by which heat is thus propagated , was first , I believe , accurately explained by Dr Black , and since his time has been farther illustrated by the experiments of Count Rumford . These last have led their ...
The statical principle by which heat is thus propagated , was first , I believe , accurately explained by Dr Black , and since his time has been farther illustrated by the experiments of Count Rumford . These last have led their ...
Page 71
He was , I believe , the first who thought of ascertaining the medium temperature of any climate by the temperature of the springs . With this view he made a great number of observations in different parts of Great Britain , and found ...
He was , I believe , the first who thought of ascertaining the medium temperature of any climate by the temperature of the springs . With this view he made a great number of observations in different parts of Great Britain , and found ...
Page 82
At what time these last speculations began to share his attention with the former , I have not been able to discover , though I have reason to believe , that before I became ...
At what time these last speculations began to share his attention with the former , I have not been able to discover , though I have reason to believe , that before I became ...
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Page 81 - The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time ; and while we listened with, earnestness and admiration to the philosopher who was now unfolding to us the order and series of these wonderful events, we became sensible how much farther reason may sometimes go than imagination can venture to follow.
Page 335 - ... the three angles of a triangle are together equal to two right angles, although it is not known to all.
Page 309 - ... that the mean longitude of the first satellite, minus three times that of the second, plus twice that of the third, is always equal to two right angles.
Page 125 - The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour — The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Page 325 - In one of these, where the dictates of Aristotle are still listened to as infallible decrees, and where the infancy of science is mistaken for its maturity, the mathematical sciences have never flourished ; and the scholar has no means of advancing beyond the mere elements of geometry.
Page 522 - An account of experiments for determining the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in the latitude of London.
Page 55 - It is unreasonable, indeed, to suppose that such marks should any where exist. The Author of nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, carry in themselves the elements of their own destruction ; he has not permitted in his works any symptom of infancy or of old age, or any sign by which we may estimate either their future or their past duration.
Page 56 - The Author of nature has not given laws to the universe, which, like the institutions of men, carry in themselves the elements of their own destruction. He has not permitted, in his works, any symptom of infancy or of old age, or any sign by which we may estimate either their future or their past duration. He may put an end, as he no doubt gave a beginning, to the present system, at some determinate period; but we may safely conclude, that this great catastrophe will not be brought about by any of...
Page 301 - Between the laws by which the tides diminish from their maximum at the full and change, to their minimum at the first and third quarters, and by which they increase again from the minimum to the maximum, as deduced from the observations at Brest, and as determined by the theory of gravitation, there is an exact coincidence. 2. According to theory, the height of the tides...
Page 439 - ... most general rule that we are enabled to give admits of many exceptions. The violation of the order of events among the phenomena of the former class, the suspension of gravity, for example, the deviation of any of the stars from their places or their courses in the heavens, &c., — these are facts of which the improbability is so strong that no testimony can prevail against it.