Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy

CHAPTER I.

OF MAN REGARDED AS A CREATURE OF INSTINCT, OF REASON, AND SPECULATION.--GENERAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS ON THE MIND.

(1.) The situation of man on the globe he inhabits, and over which he has obtained the control, is in many respects exceedingly remarkable. Compared with its other denizens, he seems, if we regard only his physical constitution, in almost eve...