The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical NotesDarwin, Erasmus
Philosophy
The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical Notes
Darwin, Erasmus
Cosmology -- Poetry; Life -- Origin -- Poetry
To further elucidate these various attractions, if the patient reader
be not already tired, he will please to attend to the following
experiment: let a bit of sponge suspended on a silk line be moistened
with a solution of pure alcali, and another similar piece of sponge be
moistened with a weak acid, and suspended near the former; electrize
one of them with vitreous ether, and the other with resinous ether; as
they hang with a thin plate of glass between them: now as these two
electric ethers appear to attract each other without intermixing; as
neither of them can pass through glass; they must be themselves
surrounded with secondary ethers, which pass through the glass, and
attract each other, as they become in contact; as these secondary
ethers adhere to the primary vitreous and resinous ethers, these
primary ones are drawn by them into each other's vicinity by the
attraction of cohesion, and become condensed on each side of the glass
plane; and then when the glass plane is withdrawn, the two electric
ethers being now in contact rush violently together, and draw along
with them the pieces of moistened sponge, to which they adhere; and
finally the acid and alcaline liquids being now brought into contact
combine by their chemical affinity.
The repulsions of distant bodies are also explicable by this idea of
their being surrounded with two ethers, which we have termed masculine
and feminine for the ease of conversing about them; and have compared
them to vitreous and resinous electricity, and to arctic and antarctic
magnetism. As when two particles of matter, or two larger masses of
it, are surrounded both with their masculine ethers, these ethers
repel each other or refuse to intermix; and in consequence the bodies
to which they adhere, recede from each other; as two cork-balls
suspended near each other, and electrised both with vitreous or both
with resinous ether, repel each other; or as the extremities of two
needles magnetised both with arctic, or both with antarctic ether,
repel each other; or as oil and water surrounded both with their
masculine, or both with their feminine ethers, repel each other
without touching; so light is believed to be reflected from a mirror
without touching its surface, and to be bent towards the edge of a
knife, or refracted by its approach from a rarer medium into a denser
one, by the repulsive ether of the mirror, and the attractive ones of
the knife-edge, and of the denser medium. Thus a polished tea-cup
slips on the polished saucer probably without their actual contact
with each other, till a few drops of water are interposed between them
by capillary attraction, and prevent its sliding by their tenacity.
And so, lastly, one hard body in motion pushes another hard body out
of its place by their repulsive ethers without being in contact; as
appears from their not adhering to each other, which all bodies in
real contact are believed to do. Whence also may be inferred the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account