The student's manual of natural philosophy / [Charles Tomlinson].

  • Charles Tomlinson
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The student's manual of natural philosophy / [Charles Tomlinson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    scientific, as well as religious pride.' ‘‘Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, hut to think soberly,’ would make him feel his own weakness without Divine grace in attempting a research into Nature, which God permits him to make for a brief time, and see his own solitude in neglecting the summons to “ set his affections on things above, not on things of the earth.” But yet if he study the wonderful phe¬ nomena presented to him here with an humble conviction of his own unworthiness, and the omnigenous power of the One Great Being who surpasses our conception, he will find this healthy curiosity amply repaid by the acquisition of knowledge which will at once ennoble and elevate him as a thinking being, and teach him to “ look through Nature up to Nature’s God.” 8. In treating of physical phenomena the term Nature is frequently employed, and this term requires some explanation. We employ the word in order to express concisely, the results of those laws to which the Almighty Creator has subjected the universe; or the collection of beings and objects which He has created. Nature, contemplated thus, excites sentiments of respect and admiration at the sight of so many miracles, \vhich may be termed the miracles of natural religion, which come under our observation at every waking hour of our existence; stamped, as they are, with the visible signs of infinite wisdom and power. The mutual connexion which exists between effects and their causes; the concurrence of all the particulars to the harmony of the vwhole, are a direct proof of the position that the Almighty has made nothing in vain. We know that the Being which constructed the eye must have had a perfect intelligence of light; that He who modelled the ear, must have adjusted it, in an exquisite manner, as well as the medium in which it is placed, through all the fluctuations of such medium, in harmony with the appreciation of sounds. ‘ 9. It is -not the business of science to dispute with Nature, but to understand her; to investigate the properties of matter, Ahe changes which it undergoes, the modes of its behaviour tinder various circumstances, its combinations, and its means of application. When a work of art is presented to us, which displays an intricate and curious amount of mechanical skill,
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