LUCRET. lib. iii. V. 1,S.
Ornnis cairn per Sc divum natura n.-cesse est tnimorudi an() summa cum pace fru...tn. Seniota ab nostris rebus, seoinetaque rouge ; Nan pl ivata unlace until, pviN T.enicii Ins:. suis pull to opibus, indiga nostri Ncc belie promentis capitur, nec tangitu. Ira.
. lib. 1, v. 57.
Pythagoras held, that xther, or the pure portion of fire, really colistituLLI a distinct element, and that from their joint Opel anion, this universal awe arose. Empedocles thought, that xther was first sepal ited, next fire, and then earth ; and that, this being compressed by violent c umagitatioil, Ovate , was made to boil out of it, and the exhalation of the water lastly formed air.
Per ram foramina terra Partibus erumpens primus se sustulit xther Sig:Meer, et multos secum levis abstulit ignes.
Id. lib. The grosser particles of fire, collecting into a mass, were imagined to produce the sun, while the various conglo hations of the diffused xther were supposed to form the celestial bodies. Manilius describes that ra diant fluid, studding the heavens with gems : --Primurn candidus :ether Astrigerani faciem nitidu genimaN it Oiympo.
The sun is called, in the hymn of Orpheus, the heaven ly light, 13,wrov and the light of life, e.);:5 In every hypothesis, the four elements are considered as passive, and subject to transmutation. But Aristotle held toe divine nature of x.ther to be absolutely patible with any disposition to change, and therefore garded that substance as a certain fifth immutable prin ciple, wvE,V;4770Y TI J1.44 Hence the to rill q uin lessen 5'e, su laDnOuS once in the schools.
The Pythagoreans believed, that our atmosphere ex tends to the nmon ; that the air, which surrounds the earth, is inert and morbid, liable to vicissitude and cor ruption ; but that the higher portions or xther are con tinually in motion, pure and salubrious, and the sacred abodes of immortality ; because warmth, the source of life, prevails in these resplendent regions4 Below the moon, every thing is mortal and transient, except the human mind. " Infra autem ram," says Cicero, "nihil cst nisi mortale et caducum, lower animos mancre deorum hominum generi datos ; supra lu:an: sent reterna amnia." Such is the origin of an expression of singular beauty, though now debased by vulgar use,—t/na sublunary scene.
In the language of ancient mythology, ether was sy nonymous with Jupiter, as air corresponded to Juno : and the combined influence of heat, air, and moisture, in promoting vegetation, has been finely described by Virgil : •or, Pater Omnipotens fecundis irnbribus :ether Coojugis in gremiurn Ixtx descendit et omnes !Oughts alit magna commixtus corpore fartus.
Georg. ii. 324, &c.
Such were the opinions commonly held by the ancient p.hioseynei .lspeeting the nature of xther. The heat, ho,vevet . which is oisplays, was sometimes considered as me re:, a,, accidental quality, excited in the fluid by the exti, rapidity of its circumvolution. Others
were to believe, that the xtherial expanse had been inflamed by its vicinity to the sun, the great foun tain of light and heat.
The Pythagoreans, led by a gross analogy, viewed the world as one vast animal of a hot and fiery temperament ; and thence concluded, that a void space must necessari ly exist beyond it to give room for breathing, and to re ceive its expirations, ce.a.77YaY TOY This strange fancy was likewise adopteu ny Aristotle. But the lam bent fluid of xther, in a state of extreme tenuity, was believed to he diffused through the vacuum.
After all, may it not be fairly questioned, if those mo dern philosophers have reasoned better, who, at this advanced period, have laboured to revive the doctrine of xther, and have ascribed to that ideal substance still more extensive and more imaginary powers ? It is cu rious to mark the relapses of natural science. Those aberrations have, in general, proceeded from unwise at tempts to reconcile the primary indications of the senses vvith the results of matured reflection. Newton had ex ploded the vortices of Descartes, had revived the vacuum of Epicurus, and triumphantly established the system of universal attraction. Nothing seemed then wanting but to follow out the consequences of that simple and origi nal fact. To countenance the supposition of visionary agents, was to desert the very first principles of induc uve philosophy. The delusion has become contagious, and it is high time to resist the progress of such crude opinions. Are the phantoms of certain chemical ex perimentalists at all more specious or seductive than the dreams of their predecessors, toe ancient cosmologists ? On some other occasion, we propose to resume the dis cussion ; meanwhile we shall conclude with an extract from professsor Leslie's celebrated work on Heat ; " It is a remarkable and instructive fact, in the history of philosophy, that impulsion should have been at one period the only force that was admitted. The motion of a falling stone was certainly not less familiar to the senses than that of a stone that was thrown : but, in the latter case, the contact of the hand was observed to pre cede the flight of the projectile, and this circumstance seemed to fill up the void, and satisfy the imagination. Gravitation sounded like an occult quality ; it was neces sary to assign some mechanical cause, and if there were invisible impulses to account for the weight of a body, might not that office be performed by some subtile invi sible agent ? Such was the sway of metaphysical pre judice, that even Newton, forgetting his usual caution, suffered himself to be borne along. In an evil hour, he threw out those hasty conjectures concerning xther, which have since proved so alluring to superficial think