Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

name. The true philosopher, the true Christian, will only look for truth, and only what he believes to be truth will he speak. It is time that all this worse than nonsense about national honour be swept away. Nothing is honourable, for nations or individuals, that is not founded on truth.

We again call attention to the fact that both the English and the French astronomer were YOUNG MEN. How carefully must Mr. Adams have improved his much younger days, to be even inclined, much more to be enabled, to undertake, and successfully to prosecute, such a task!

AN ARGUMENT A PRIORI TO PROVE THE
UNITY AND PERFECTIONS OF GOD.

BY THE REV. MOSES LOWMAN.

(Continued from page 300.)

PROPOSITION VIII.

The one necessary existent Being, must have all possible

Perfections.

FOR all possible Perfections, must be the Perfections of something, by the third Axiom.

All things, or which is the same, all Existence, is either necessary or contingent, by Proposition the second.

All contingent Existence depends on necessary Existence, by Corollary of Proposition the third.

Therefore all possible Perfections must either be the Perfections of necessary Existence, or of contingent Beings; and so dependent on, and caused by necessary Being, according to Corollary of Proposition the third, and Axiom the first. Otherwise they would be impossible, contrary to Supposition that they are possible.

There can be but one necessarily existent Being, by Proposition the sixth.

Therefore, the one necessary existent Being must have all possible perfections.

PROPOSITION IX.

Contingent Existence is possible.

For contingent Existence does not include a Contradiction; VOL. XI. Second Series.

362 ARGUMENT TO PROVE THE UNITY AND PERFECTIONS OF GOD.

and what does not include a Contradiction, may be, or is possible, by Definition the third,

If it should be supposed to include a Contradiction, that Existence may be contingent, it must certainly follow from the Nature of Existence, either that no Existence can be, and so all Existence is impossible, or that all Existence cannot but be, and so all Existence is necessary; for if any Existence may be, and may not be, that is contingent, by Definition the fifth.

It cannot be a Contradiction to the nature of Existence, to suppose it may be: the Existence of something is possible, by Proposition the first; and for the same reason that something is possible, or may be, many things are possible, or may be too.

Nor is it a Contradiction to suppose some possible Existence may not be; for it follows not from the general Nature of Existence, that it cannot but be, but from one particular manner of Existence, that is, necessary Existence,

It is no Contradiction to the Nature of Existence, to suppose A a Ball of Fire, B a Ball of Earth to continue for any limited time, and then to cease to be in any particular part of space for that time, and in no other; to leave any particular part of space, and move on to another. It is no contradiction to the Nature of Existence, to suppose A a Ball of Fire, to be in any place to-day, and not in that place to-morrow, or not to be in any place, that is, not to be at all,

to-morrow.

It is no Contradiction, then, to the Nature of Existence, to suppose it may be, or it may not be ; it is, therefore, no Contradiction that some Existence may be, or may not be; therefore contingent Existence is possible.

PROPOSITION X.

The one necessary existent Being, is a free Agent.

For contingent Existence is possible, by Proposition the ninth.

For contingent Existence must depend on necessary Existence, by Axiom the first, and Corollary of Proposition the third; or it would be impossible, as an Effect without a

Cause, contrary to Supposition, that it is contingent; that is, that it may be, or is possible: therefore, necessary Existence must be the Agent producing contingent Existence.

But necessary Existence as the Cause of contingent Existence, does not act necessarily, for then contingent Existence could not but be; that is, itself would be necessary, by Definition the fourth, contrary to Supposition, that it is contingent; that is, that it may not be, as well as it may be.

Hence it must follow, that necessary Existence does act as the Cause of contingent Existence, without which it could not be but it does not act necessarily, for then it could not but be; that is, as it acts, but not necessarily, it acts freely, that is, is a free Agent; which was to be proved.

(To be continued.)

MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICAL PAPERS.
(Continued from page 305.)

ALL ponderable elements, and the host of natural and artificial compounds in which they exist, are subject to the imponderable agencies of light, heat, and electricity, which modify and control all chemical changes, but more particularly those of organic productions.

The chemist is totally ignorant of the ultimate nature of these imponderable or ethereal matters; he cannot experiment with them as with solids, liquids, gases, or vapours; he is only acquainted with them when acting upon such ponderable forms.

Solar light enters the confines of the atmosphere, permeates its transparent volume with incredible velocity, and illuminates the solid opaque earth.

Such light is absolutely necessary for the welfare of the animal and vegetable creation; its presence stimulates a healthy action of their vital functions, and causes the elaboration of elements that enter into the constitution of organized structures; whilst, in the prolonged absence of light, morbid and fatal changes will generally ensue.

The power and goodness of God are magnificently displayed in solar light, it being not of one colour, but of seven colours, a fact that we behold with admiration and gratitude, in the stupendous arch of varied light, which so frequently spans the heavens as the rainbow.

These colours likewise appear when the solar beam is refracted by the denser solid medium of flint glass. A triangular prism of this invaluable compound, probably elicits the phenomenon in the greatest perfection and beauty attainable by human skill: hence the term prismatic colours applied to the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet rays of light which constitute the spectrum.

When these seven coloured rays are collected to a focus, by a glass lens, they coalesce into colourless light, and are therefore presumed to constitute such ethereal agent.

The chemist discovers that the coloured rays are possessed of different chemical powers; that the red have the highest, and the violet the lowest temperature; that the former have but little, and, in some instances, no tendency to promote chemical changes, whilst the latter are most powerful excitants of such phenomena.

If solar light were of one colour, or mono-chromatic, all terrestrial objects would appear of such colour, or, if incapable of reflecting it, they would appear black; we should not be charmed with the varied and gorgeous hues of the creation : but light being seven-coloured, or chromatic, and the surfaces of objects being differently constituted, both physically and chemically, they are capable of reflecting, in some cases, all the rays, and thus of appearing white; and, in other cases, of absorbing them all, and thus of appearing black; but more generally of reflecting certain simple rays, or mixtures of rays, in preference to others, and of thus impressing the eye with numerous shades of colour.

Light is accompanied by heat during its swift passage from the sun to the earth; but heat is an imponderable element, and therefore the chemist is obliged to rest content with examining its effects upon terrestrial objects; and although he can artificially elicit heat by various experiments, he is even then ignorant of its nature.

In all our excursions over the surface of the globe, innumerable objects excite our admiration, and contribute to inspire delight; but whether our gratitude is awakened by the verdure of the earth, the lustre of the waters, or the freshness of the air, it is to the beneficial agency of heat, under Providence, that we are indebted for them all.

Such is the universal influence of this powerful agent in the kingdoms of nature; nor is this influence diminished in the provinces of art: it is with the aid of heat that rocks are rent, and the hidden treasures of the earth obtained; matter is modified in countless ways by its agency, and rendered subservient to the uses of man; furnishing him with useful and appropriate implements, warm and ornamental clothing, wholesome and delicious food, needful and effectual shelter.

Solar heat, and artificial heat, are indeed powerful agents; the former most particularly, as connected with the varied phenomena of the four seasons; and, with one exception, all substances enlarge in bulk when heated, and contract when cooled.

These temporary expansions by heat, and contractions by cold, are but small in the generality of closely-compacted solids, great in mobile liquids, and greatest in attenuated gases and vapours.

Some substances, especially the metals and their ores, have the power of conducting heat with great facility throughout their entire mass; so that it matters not where the heat be applied, they will in due time be equally elevated in temperature.

Other substances, especially the earths and their compounds, generally absorb heat rapidly upon their surfaces, and only conduct it very slowly and imperfectly throughout their mass; therefore heat chiefly remains upon the part to which it is originally applied.

Lastly, some substances, especially air and water, will not admit of being heated by conduction.

The chemist accordingly classes the foregoing substances, as conductors, imperfect conductors, and non-conductors of heat; and he has reason to admire and appreciate the beneficial results that ensue from their several habitudes with this

« НазадПродовжити »