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COMXE'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY. By G. H. Le...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Vivian Flirting With The Mtjse. Poetry I...
With a strange inward tremor ; my brain full-of light , Sees vanishing visions more exquisite still ! Those aref glimpses of : heaven , they : quicken the soul , And rouse it to fashion a Life to great aims—To create the grand thoughts that will Science control-To glory in martyrdom ' s vesture of flames ! To stand up- ? midthe ( crowd , and speak out the bright truth / That ; has grown up defiant of all that is rife ; To change all the dreamy Rehearsals of Youth Into one steadfast Part to be played for a Life . Not for Eame , in itself ,- —that was never a prize Worth the toil ^ nd the tears men - have paid for its pride ,- ~ But for Fame as ¦« brightness to lure her fond eyes , Till it make her creep lovingly close to my side . Now if any one ^ else'had placed these lines before me , I think the critical scalpel would have been somewhat cruelly inserted ; but no surgeon dissects his own offspring ! I place them before you upon much the same ground as that of an unknown correspondent , who , sending me some love verses , remarks , - ^? - " It is a little foolish , perhaps , to drop one ' s tears , or groan one s prayers in . the market place , but the thing is not without precedent ; and if , by lapse of time , the . tears have become petrified crystals , or the groans by distance are mellowed into sad music , why , perhaps , the gazing and listening public have a claim on them for temporary excitement . When , the biographical . becomes ? historical , which in love , matters takes no very long time , it is every one ' s property who cares to appropriate it . " Exactly ! The unhappy Qystery troubled with disease , secretes a Pearl to glisten on Fanny ' s neck ; and Poems are the Pearls secreted during the malady of love . But as Moliere says , il y a fagot et fagot , there are pearls and pearls , some of them priceless gems , others cast aside for grains of wheat . As I am always in love I ought always to be writing poems ( Tremble !) But somehow I find that an occasional flirtation with the Muse is less expensive than Marriage , and not being a marrying man , I don't encourage " serious thoughts" of poetry . J I hope my correspondent is of the same way of thinking ; at any rate here : are his verses : — . To Ever present—ever near Though afar : In this hour of gloom thou art - i Shining 6 ' er me , calm and clear , I Like a star To the careworn traveller . Oh ! sweet heart Still guide me Through the wild waste—memory . Sad , yet blessed memory ; Ah ! my own Heart must yield its ruby stream , Ere it cease to beat for thee , Thee alone ; Daily life must thoughtless be , And . no dream bless my rest , . Ere I forget I have been blest . Have been blest—Oh ! God of heaven , God of love 1—Grant me patience , soothe this pain ; Loved one be not lightly driven To reprove Passion , which , hath well nigh riven Heart and brain ; Give , oh give Hope again , that I may live .
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Comxe's Positive Philosophy. By G. H. Le...
COMXE'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . By G . H . Lewes . Part NTH . -r—Astronomy and Religion . I need scarcely say 'that many interesting details must necessr only he omitted in these papers , in order not to extend the series to a length incompatible with its introductory character . To complete what 1 < tfeem indispensable to be » aid on the subject of Astronomy , I will notice Comte ' s division of the science , his remarks on its hierarchical position , atnd its illustration of the doctrine of final causes .
In Mathematics , Oomtc . establishes , with great precision , the two capital divisions of Geometry and Mechanics : the one treating , of apace , ai id the forms of things occupying space—i . e ., treating of lines , surface ; i , and solids , straight or curved ; the other treating of motion and its laws , j Istronomy is , par excellence , a mathematical science ; indeed it may bo » called applied mathematics ; and it forms the link between general Mechanics and terrestrial Physics , for it is simply a science of space ? , figures ,, and motion , brought down from the region of pure abstraction into that of reality by the introduction of a real agent—gravitation . Astronomy also , conformably with it » mathematical ( structure , haa two
capital divisions— -1 st , Geometrical Astronomy , or celestial geometry wv v from its having possessed the scientific character -so long before the oth ' still preserves the name of astronomy , properly so called ; 2 nd , Mechani ) Astronomy , or celestial mechanics , of which Newton was the iinmortal founder , and which has received : so . vast and so admirable a development within the last century . In astronomy , properly so called , we have only to determine the form and magnitude of ; the heavenly bodies , and to study the geometrical law ..
according to which their positions vary , without considering these changes of position in relation to the forces which produce them ; or , in inore positive terms , to the elementary movements on which they depend . Thus was it able to make , and actually did make , the most important progress before celestial mechanics began to exist ; and even since that tune , its most remarkable discoveries have been due to its own spontaneous development , as we see so well in the beautiful work of the great Bradley on Aberration and Nutation . Celestial mechanics , on the contrary , is ,. frojn its nature , essentially dependent on celestial geometry , without which
it could not possess any solid foundation . Its object , j n fact , is to analyze the actual movements of the stars , so as to connect them , according t o the rules of rational mechanics , with the elementary movements governed by an universal and invariable mathematical law ; and in then proceeding from this law , to bring to a high degree of perfection our knowledge of the real movements , by determining them , a priori , by the calculations of general mechanics , —taking the least possible number of terms ; from direct observation , but yet always , verifying them by it . It is thus that is established , in the most natural way , the fundamental -bond between astronomy and
physics , properly so called ; a connexion now 'become such , that several great phenomena form an almost insensible transition from the one to the other , as we see particularly in the theory of tides . But it is evident that what gives to celestial mechanics all their reality , js , asCpmte endeavours to show , its having started from the actual ¦ knowledge of real movements , furnished by celestial geometry . It is precisely from their not having been conceived in accordance with , thiai fimdamental relation , that all the attempts made before Newton to form systems of celestial
mechanics , — -and among others , that of Descartes , — -were necessarily illusory under the scientific point of view , however useful they may have been at the time under the philosophical aspect . The position of Astronomy in the hierarchical scale is jso evidently that given to it by Comte , that all readers will with him regard the title chosen by Newton as a trait of philosophic insight : PMlosophianaturalisprincipia mathematica . Newton thus , with concise energy , pointed out that the general laws of celestial phenomena are the prime basis of the entire systeja of human knowledge .
Moreover , Astronomy stands first in virtue of its absolute independence of all other phenomena . It stands aloof . It is in no way subordinated to any physical , chemical , or physiological phenomena . : But ,. on the , contrary , it is certain that physical , chemical , physiological , and even social phenomena , are essentially subordinated to astronomical phenomena , in a more or less direct manner , independently of their mutual co-ordination . The study of the other fundamental sciences can therefore only possess a truly rational character , when it is preceded , as an essential . requisite , by am accurate knowledge of the astronomical laws , referring to . the most general
phenomena . How could our mind apprehend any terrestrial . phenomenon , in a really scientific manner , without in the first place considering what that earth is , in the world of which we form part , —seeing 'that its position ! and its movements necessarily exercise a preponderating influence on all the phenomena that happen in it ? What must our physical concep tions be , and , as a consequence , our chemical and -physiological , without the fundamental notion of gravitation , which overrules them all ? To choosff the most unfavourable example , where the subordination is the least apparent , we must admit , although at first it , may appear strange , that even
those phenomena which relate to the development of human society , couW not be conceived in a rational way without a previous consideration of 4 * principal laws of astronomy . We may easily become sensible of tlus > by observing that if the different astronomical elements of our planet , aa n distance from the HUn ,, and the consequent duration of theyear , tb ^ ooligu ^ y of the ecliptic , & c . were to undergo Any important changes , ( fl "f ^ f which in astronomy would have scarcely . any other effect than ^ tna modifying certain co-efficionts , )—our social development would doubti be notably affected , and even become impossible , if ever these altcrat , io were to pass beyond a certain point . . Comte declares he is , not ' at''fll ocifll meriting the reproach of exaggeration by saying on thia subject , that so physics did not become a possible science , until gepmetricians had de ^ ^ strated , as a general result of celestial mechanics , that the deran ^ ^ d our solar system could never extend beyond gradual and very i
oscillations about a-mean state necessarily invariable . # rtance One would have a very imperfect idea of the . high * nWllertua Y ™ ° eSSary of the theories of astronomy , were he to limit lu " s view to t heir ^ ge and special influence on the different parts of Natural ^ } ° ^ ny % h 0 must also have regard to the general effect ^ hich they directly have »' ., fundamental tendencies of our intelligence ,-to whose renovation the p s ^ , of astronomy has contributed more , powerfully than that . 9 * Py science . i . ? th jof- tlf ^ Consider ptfy the , religious flppect tf Astronomy , aadt » e ™ V fOoJOi m foregoina yeniwk twill » t « ad out j- w » d how , while concumng . mttv . w * v
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 22, 1852, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22051852/page/20/
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