Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: OUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY PART I PROLEGOMENA Qnare speculatio ilia Parmenidis et Platonu, quamvis in illis nuda fucrit speculatio, excelluit tamen: Omnia per scalam quandam ad unitatem ascen- dere. ? Bacon. Dai schonstc Gluck des denkenden Menschen ist das Erforcchliche erforsclit zu haben, und das Unerforschlicbe ruhig zu verehren. ? GoiTHI. CHAPTER I THE RELATIVITY OF KNOW- LEDGE l WHEN we contemplate any portion I of matter, such as a cubical block of metal or wood, it appears to our -.'. .'J senses to be perfectly solid. No breach of con- tinuity appearing anywhere among the aggregate ' C / of visual and tactual perceptions which its pre-, ( sence awakens in us, we are unable to restrain ourselves from imagining that its parts are everywhere in actual contact with each other. Nevertheless, a brief analysis of this opinion will suffice to show that it cannot be maintained without landing us in manifest absurdity. We need only recollect that every portion of matter is compressible, ? may be made to occupy less space than before, ? and that compressibility, implying the closer approach of the constituent particles of the body, is utterly out of the ques- tion, unless empty space exists between these particles. We are therefore obliged to admit that the molecules of which perceptible matter 1 See Introduction, 8.] XL, / is composed are not in immediate contact, but are separated from each other by enveloping tracts of unoccupied space. But no sooner do we seek refuge in this assumption than we are again met by difficulties no less insuperable than the one just noticed. The form of our experience of all objects compels us to postulate that cohesive or gravitative forces are continually urging the particles of matter toward closer uni...