Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best mobile ebook reader TXT) 📖

Earth's Temperature Had Been Found To Increase Below

The Surface One Degree In Every Forty Yards, There Were Data For

Inferring The   Past Condition Of    Our Globe; The   Vast Period It Has Taken

To Cool Down To Its Present State; And The   Immense Age Of    The   Solar

System--A Purely Astronomical Consideration.

 

 

 

Chemistry Having Advanced Sufficiently To Supply The   Needful Materials,

And A Physiological Experiment Having Furnished The   Requisite Hint,

There Came The   Discovery Of    Galvanic Electricity. Galvanism Reacting On

Chemistry Disclosed The   Metallic Bases Of    The   Alkalies, And Inaugurated

The Electro-Chemical Theory; In The   Hands Of    Oersted And Ampère It Led

To The   Laws Of    Magnetic Action; And By Its Aid Faraday Has Detected

Significant Facts Relative To The   Constitution Of    Light. Brewster's

Discoveries Respecting Double Refraction And Dipolarisation Proved The

Essential Truth Of    The   Classification Of    Crystalline Forms According To

The Number Of    Axes, By Showing That The   Molecular Constitution Depends

Upon The   Axes. In These And In Numerous Other Cases, The   Mutual

Influence Of    The   Sciences Has Been Quite Independent Of    Any Supposed

Hierarchical Order. Often, Too, Their Inter-Actions Are More Complex

Than As Thus Instanced--Involve More Sciences Than Two. One Illustration

Of This Must Suffice. We Quote It In Full From The   _History Of    The

Inductive Sciences_. In Book Xi., Chap, Ii., On "The Progress Of    The

Electrical Theory," Dr. Whewell Writes:--

 

 

 

     "Thus At That Period, Mathematics Was Behind Experiment, And A

     Problem Was Proposed, In Which Theoretical Results Were Wanted For

     Comparison With Observation, But Could Not Be Accurately Obtained;

     As Was The   Case In Astronomy Also, Till The   Time Of    The   Approximate

     Solution Of    The   Problem Of    Three Bodies, And The   Consequent

     Formation Of    The   Tables Of    The   Moon And Planets, On The   Theory Of

     Universal Gravitation. After Some Time, Electrical Theory Was

     Relieved From This Reproach, Mainly In Consequence Of    The   Progress

     Which Astronomy Had Occasioned In Pure Mathematics. About 1801

     There Appeared In The   _Bulletin Des Sciences_, An Exact Solution Of

     The   Problem Of    The   Distribution Of    Electric Fluid On A Spheroid,

     Obtained By Biot, By The   Application Of    The   Peculiar Methods Which

     Laplace Had Invented For The   Problem Of    The   Figure Of    The   Planets.

     And, In 1811, M. Poisson Applied Laplace's Artifices To The   Case Of

     Two Spheres Acting Upon One Another In Contact, A Case To Which

     Many Of    Coulomb's Experiments Were Referrible; And The   Agreement Of

     The   Results Of    Theory And Observation, Thus Extricated From

     Coulomb's Numbers Obtained Above Forty Years Previously, Was Very

     Striking And Convincing."

 

 

 

Not Only Do The   Sciences Affect Each Other After This Direct Manner, But

They Affect Each Other Indirectly. Where There Is No Dependence, There

Is Yet Analogy--_Equality Of    Relations_; And The   Discovery Of    The

Relations Subsisting Among One Set Of    Phenomena, Constantly Suggests A

Search For The   Same Relations Among Another Set. Thus The   Established

Part 2 Chapter 3 (On The Genesis Of Science) Pg 116

Fact That The   Force Of    Gravitation Varies Inversely As The   Square Of    The

Distance, Being Recognised As A Necessary Characteristic Of    All

Influences Proceeding From A Centre, Raised The   Suspicion That Heat And

Light Follow The   Same Law; Which Proved To Be The   Case--A Suspicion And

A Confirmation Which Were Repeated In Respect To The   Electric And

Magnetic Forces. Thus Again The   Discovery Of    The   Polarisation Of    Light

Led To Experiments Which Ended In The   Discovery Of    The   Polarisation Of

Heat--A Discovery That Could Never Have Been Made Without The   Antecedent

One. Thus, Too, The   Known Refrangibility Of    Light And Heat Lately

Produced The   Inquiry Whether Sound Also Is Not Refrangible; Which On

Trial It Turns Out To Be.

 

 

 

In Some Cases, Indeed, It Is Only By The   Aid Of    Conceptions Derived From

One Class Of    Phenomena That Hypotheses Respecting Other Classes Can Be

Formed. The   Theory, At One Time Favoured, That Evaporation Is A Solution

Of Water In Air, Was An Assumption That The   Relation Between Water And

Air Is _Like_ The   Relation Between Salt And Water; And Could Never Have

Been Conceived If The   Relation Between Salt And Water Had Not Been

Previously Known. Similarly The   Received Theory Of    Evaporation--That It

Is A Diffusion Of    The   Particles Of    The   Evaporating Fluid In Virtue Of

Their Atomic Repulsion--Could Not Have Been Entertained Without A

Foregoing Experience Of    Magnetic And Electric Repulsions. So Complete In

Recent Days Has Become This _Consensus_ Among The   Sciences, Caused

Either By The   Natural Entanglement Of    Their Phenomena, Or By Analogies

In The   Relations Of    Their Phenomena, That Scarcely Any Considerable

Discovery Concerning One Order Of    Facts Now Takes Place, Without Very

Shortly Leading To Discoveries Concerning Other Orders.

 

 

 

To Produce A Tolerably Complete Conception Of    This Process Of

Scientific Evolution, It Would Be Needful To Go Back To The   Beginning,

And Trace In Detail The   Growth Of    Classifications And Nomenclatures; And

To Show How, As Subsidiary To Science, They Have Acted Upon It, And It

Has Reacted Upon Them. We Can Only Now Remark That, On The   One Hand,

Classifications And Nomenclatures Have Aided Science By Continually

Subdividing The   Subject-Matter Of    Research, And Giving Fixity And

Diffusion To The   Truths Disclosed; And That On The   Other Hand, They Have

Caught From It That Increasing Quantitativeness, And That Progress From

Considerations Touching Single Phenomena To Considerations Touching The

Relations Among Many Phenomena, Which We Have Been Describing.

 

 

 

Of This Last Influence A Few Illustrations Must Be Given. In Chemistry

It Is Seen In The   Facts, That The   Dividing Of    Matter Into The   Four

Elements Was Ostensibly Based Upon The   Single Property Of    Weight; That

The First Truly Chemical Division Into Acid And Alkaline Bodies, Grouped

Together Bodies Which Had Not Simply One Property In Common, But In

Which One Property Was Constantly Related To Many Others; And That The

Classification Now Current, Places Together In Groups _Supporters Of

Combustion_, _Metallic And Non-Metallic Bases_, _Acids_, _Salts_, Etc.,

Bodies Which Are Often Quite Unlike In Sensible Qualities, But Which Are

Like In The   Majority Of    Their _Relations_ To Other Bodies. In Mineralogy

Again, The   First Classifications Were Based Upon Differences In Aspect,

Texture, And Other Physical Attributes. Berzelius Made Two Attempts At A

Classification Based Solely On Chemical Constitution. That Now Current,

Recognises As Far As Possible The   _Relations_ Between Physical And

Chemical Characters. In Botany The   Earliest Classes Formed Were _Trees_,

_Shrubs_, And _Herbs_: Magnitude Being The   Basis Of    Distinction.

Dioscorides Divided Vegetables Into _Aromatic_, _Alimentary_,

_Medicinal_, And _Vinous_: A Division Of    Chemical Character. Cæsalpinus

Classified Them By The   Seeds, And Seed-Vessels, Which He Preferred

Because Of    The   _Relations_ Found To Subsist Between The   Character Of    The

Fructification And The   General Character Of    The   Other Parts.

 

 

 

While The   "Natural System" Since Developed, Carrying Out The   Doctrine Of

Linnæus, That "Natural Orders Must Be Formed By Attention Not To One Or

Two, But To _All_ The   Parts Of    Plants," Bases Its Divisions On Like

Peculiarities Which Are Found To Be _Constantly Related_ To The   Greatest

Number Of    Other Like Peculiarities. And Similarly In Zoology, The

Successive Classifications, From Having Been Originally Determined By

External And Often Subordinate Characters Not Indicative Of    The

Essential Nature, Have Been Gradually More And More Determined By Those

Internal And Fundamental Differences, Which Have Uniform _Relations_ To

The Greatest Number Of    Other Differences. Nor Shall We Be Surprised At

This Analogy Between The   Modes Of    Progress Of    Positive Science And

Classification, When We Bear In Mind That Both Proceed By Making

Generalisations; That Both Enable Us To Make Previsions Differing Only

In Their Precision; And That While The   One Deals With Equal Properties

And Relations, The   Other Deals With Properties And Relations That

Approximate Towards Equality In Variable Degrees.

 

 

 

Without Further Argument, It Will, We Think, Be Sufficiently Clear That

The Sciences Are None Of    Them Separately Evolved--Are None Of    Them

Independent Either Logically Or Historically; But That All Of    Them Have,

In A Greater Or Less Degree, Required Aid And Reciprocated It. Indeed,

It Needs But To Throw Aside These, And Contemplate The   Mixed Character

Of Surrounding Phenomena, To At Once See That These Notions Of    Division

And Succession In The   Kinds Of    Knowledge Are None Of    Them Actually True,

But Are Simple Scientific Fictions: Good, If Regarded Merely As Aids To

Study; Bad, If Regarded As Representing Realities In Nature. Consider

Them Critically, And No Facts Whatever Are Presented To Our Senses

Uncombined With Other Facts--No Facts Whatever But Are In Some Degree

Disguised By Accompanying Facts: Disguised In Such A Manner That All

Must Be Partially Understood Before Any One Can Be Understood. If It Be

Said, As By M. Comte, That Gravitating Force Should Be Treated Of    Before

Other Forces, Seeing That All Things Are Subject To It, It May On Like

Grounds Be Said That Heat Should Be First Dealt With; Seeing That

Thermal Forces Are Everywhere In Action; That The   Ability Of    Any Portion

Of Matter To Manifest Visible Gravitative Phenomena Depends On Its State

Of Aggregation, Which Is Determined By Heat; That Only By The   Aid Of

Thermology Can We Explain Those Apparent Exceptions To The   Gravitating

Tendency Which Are Presented By Steam And Smoke, And So Establish Its

Universality, And That, Indeed, The   Very Existence Of    The   Solar System

In A Solid Form Is Just As Much A Question Of    Heat As It Is One Of

Gravitation.

 

 

 

Take Other Cases:--All Phenomena Recognised By The   Eyes, Through Which

Only Are The   Data Of    Exact Science Ascertainable, Are Complicated With

Optical Phenomena; And Cannot Be Exhaustively Known Until Optical

Principles Are Known. The   Burning Of    A Candle Cannot Be Explained

Without Involving Chemistry, Mechanics, Thermology. Every Wind That

Blows Is Determined By Influences Partly Solar, Partly Lunar, Partly

Hygrometric; And Implies Considerations Of    Fluid Equilibrium And

Part 2 Chapter 3 (On The Genesis Of Science) Pg 117

Physical Geography. The   Direction, Dip, And Variations Of    The   Magnetic

Needle, Are Facts Half Terrestrial, Half Celestial--Are Caused By

Earthly Forces Which Have Cycles Of    Change Corresponding With

Astronomical Periods. The   Flowing Of    The   Gulf-Stream And The   Annual

Migration Of    Icebergs Towards The   Equator, Depending As They Do On The

Balancing Of    The   Centripetal And Centrifugal Forces Acting On The   Ocean,

Involve In Their Explanation The   Earth's Rotation And Spheroidal Form,

The Laws Of    Hydrostatics, The   Relative Densities Of    Cold And Warm Water,

And The   Doctrines Of    Evaporation. It Is No Doubt True, As M. Comte Says,

That "Our Position In The   Solar System, And The   Motions, Form, Size,

Equilibrium Of    The   Mass Of    Our World Among The   Planets, Must Be Known

Before We Can Understand The   Phenomena Going On At Its Surface." But,

Fatally For His Hypothesis, It Is Also True That We Must Understand A

Great Part Of    The   Phenomena Going On At Its Surface Before We Can Know

Its Position, Etc., In The   Solar System. It Is Not Simply That, As We

Have Already Shown, Those Geometrical And Mechanical Principles By Which

Celestial Appearances Are Explained, Were First Generalised From

Terrestrial Experiences; But It Is That The   Very Obtainment Of    Correct

Data, On Which To Base Astronomical Generalisations, Implies Advanced

Terrestrial Physics.

 

 

 

Until After Optics Had Made Considerable Advance, The   Copernican System

Remained But A Speculation. A Single Modern Observation On A Star Has To

Undergo A Careful Analysis By The   Combined Aid Of    Various Sciences--Has

To _Be Digested By The   Organism Of    The   Sciences_; Which Have Severally

To Assimilate Their Respective Parts Of    The   Observation, Before The

Essential Fact It Contains Is Available For The   Further Development Of

Astronomy. It Has To