An account of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophical discoveries : in four books / By Colin Maclaurin ... Published from the author's manuscript papers, by Patrick Murdoch.

  • Colin MacLaurin
Date:
M.DCC.XLVIII. [1748]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophical discoveries : in four books / By Colin Maclaurin ... Published from the author's manuscript papers, by Patrick Murdoch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    counted for the inequality of the days and the variation of the feafons. The vault of heaven lean’d upon the earth extended beyond the ocean, being likewife fupported by two vail columns : beneath the arch, angels conducted the Bars in their various motions. Above it were the celeflial waters, and above all he placed the fupreme heavens. However abfurd the conceits of this author, who wrote in darker times, may appear, we have a more inexcufable inflance, in the laft century, of the fame kind, in what Kircher calls his Ecftatic Voyage to the Planets; who, after many great difcoveries had been made concerning the celeflial bodies, produced nothing worthy * of fo noble a fubjedl, or of his own extenfive learn¬ ing and invention, having determined to make a facrifice of both to certain decrees of the church of Rome: he de- fcends even fo low as to adopt the folly, or rather impiety, of aflrologers, in deriving the good or evil that happens to man from the propitious or malignant influences of planets. True religion requires no fuch facrifices ; nor are its interefls advanced by feigning philofophical fyflems purpofely to favour it: for when we afterwards find thefe to be ill-grounded, we may be in danger of falling into fcepticifm. An entire liberty mufl be allowed in our enquiries, that natural philofophy may become fubfervient to the mofl va¬ luable purpofes, and acquire all the certainty and perfe&ion of which it is capable : but we ought not to abufe this liberty by fuppofmg inflead of enquiring, and by imagining fyflems, inflead of learning from obfervation and experience the true conflitution of things. Speculative men, by the force of ge- y * In the planet Venus for example, he finds no other amufement but to admire the limpid waters and beautiful cryjtals he found there *, and to afk the genie, his companion and guide, whether bap til in with iuch water would be valid. I he left is pf a piece wi:h this. I runs,
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