Physical and Metaphysical Inquiries: Being an Essay to Inculcate the Rational System of DeismR. Carlile, 1819 - 335 pages |
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abfurd againſt alfo alſo animals appear arguments arife ariſe atmoſphere attraction becauſe betwixt body cafe caloric capacity caſe caufe cauſe character circumftances colour combination confequence confider confiderable confifts conftitution courſe defign deftroy Deity diftinct diſcover diſtance earth equally eſtabliſhed evident exift exiſtence external fame feems fenfations fenfes fhall fhewn fhould firſt fluid folely folid fome fource ftate ftill ftrong fubftance fubject fuch fufficient fuppofe fupport fyftem heat himſelf idea immenfity impoffible improvement increaſe infinite inherent itſelf kinds of matter laws of matter laws of neceffity lefs liberty light magnitude material action material powers mind moft moſt motion motives muft muſt nature neceffarily neceffary never obferved object oppofite paffions particles perceive perception pleaſure poffeffed poffible prefent preferved principle produce properties purpoſe queftion racter reaſon reft ſenſe ſeparate ſhall ſpace ſtate ſuppoſe thefe themſelves thofe thoſe tion univerfe uſe variety velocity
Popular passages
Page 57 - ... pretend to explain the perception of distance, are themselves not at all perceived; nor are they in truth ever thought of by those unskilful in optics.
Page 14 - ... existence, natural or real, distinct from their being perceived by the understanding. But with how great an assurance and acquiescence soever this principle may be entertained in the world, yet whoever shall find in his heart to call it in question may, if I mistake not, perceive it to involve a manifest contradiction. For what are the forementioned objects but the things we perceive by sense? and what do we perceive besides our own ideas or sensations? and is it not plainly repugnant that any...
Page 120 - Nothing but my will, a thought of my mind; my thought only changing, the right hand rests, and the left hand moves. This is matter of fact, which cannot be denied: explain this, and make it intelligible, and then the next step will be to understand creation.
Page 32 - If at any time I fpeak of light and rays as * coloured or endowed with colours, I would be " underftood not to fpeak philofophically and pro " perly, but grofsly, and according to fuch concep...
Page 120 - If you do not understand the operations of your own finite mind, that thinking thing within you, do not deem it strange that you cannot comprehend the operations of that eternal, infinite Mind who made and governs all things, and whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain.
Page 87 - Water occupies a lefs fpace in the fluid than in the folid ftate, and the contraction takes place juft before it reaches the point of congelation. Its •capacity or bulk has therefore been diminifhed, rather than enlarged, as this theory neceflarily fuppofes. It is argued, that we know no chemical combination in which the properties of one of the bodies combining are entirely loft, while thofe of the other are unaltered.
Page 105 - We have only to fuppofe the quantity of caloric to be proportioned to the diftance ; and if a fmall quantity exifts in Mercury, no more heat may be excited than is done by a large quantity in Saturn. There ftill remain fome other points of inquiry concerning heat. It will be afked, how heat is produced, if it come not from the body of the fun ? I can only anfwer this queftion by referring it to the fource which is common to all material powers. The action of light upon body produces colours; that...
Page 297 - Lastly, the idea of moral discipline proceeds entirely upon this principle. If I carefully persuade, exhort, and exhibit motives to another, it is because I believe that motives have a tendency to influence his conduct. If I reward or punish him, either with a view to his own improvement, or as an example to others, it is because I have been led to believe that rewards and punishments...
Page 132 - The connexion between these propositions is not intuitive. There is required a medium, which may enable the mind to draw such an inference, if indeed it be drawn by reasoning and argument.
Page 104 - It fhews that light produces heat merely by exciting, an infenfible action betwixt caloric and the particles of matter contained in bodies. It accounts for the want of heat in the upper regions of the atmofphere by the want of fufficient matter to produce the action of caloric ; and. for the cold of the night and the polar regions, by the want of that action which the fun produces.