Principles Of Natural Philosophy (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt From Principles Of Natural Philosophy The Study Of Such A Subject Must React Upon The Student In Forming Within Him A New Realization Of What Truth Actually Is. He Will Find That Many Of His Most Cherished Beliefs Would Not Stand Before The Court Of Nature, Or For That Matter Before An Ordinary Law Court. For Ages Man Has Seemed Incapable Of Distinguishing Between The True And False, And Has Had Little Desire To Do So Even When The Means Were At Hand. The Idea Prevailed, And Still Prevails, That Truths Could Be Created By Authority. A Statement If Loudly Proclaimed And Accepted By A Sufficient Following Was, And Is, Supposed To Be True Irrespective Of Any In Herent Quality. A Man May Say That He Believes And Ao Cepts As A Truth Something Which He Does Not Understand, But Unless He Clearly Recognizes For Himself The Reasons Why A Thing Must Be True, It Is Not A Truth For Him. The Student Of Mathematics Learns From The Beginning That Nothing But The Truth Can Ultimately Prevail And That What Is False Necessarily Carries With Itself Its Own Annihilation. Authority Has No Place In Science, For Its Results Do Not Rest, Or Need To Rest, Upon Any Personal Sponsor, No Matter How Distinguished, But Solely Upon The Truth Or Falsity Of The Reasoning By Which They Are Derived. Text Books On This Subject Have Been Overfull Of Prob Lems Concerning Rods And Strings And ies Walking On Circular Wires Or Perfectly Smooth Tables, So That It Is Perhaps Natural That The Impression Has Prevailed That Instead Of Being An Instrument For The Acquisition Of Truth, Mathematics Are Chiey An Agglomeration Of Symbols By Which Fantastic Results, Having No Human Or Practical Interest, Are Obtained. But Natural Philosophy Is Not The Study Of Rods And Strings. It Is The Story Of The Universe. For This Reason We Shall Confine Ourselves To Processes Which Are Actually Occurring About Us All The Time To Our Earth, And To Our Solar System. About The Publisher Forgotten Books Publishes Hundreds Of Thousands Of Rare And Classic Books. Find More At This Book Is A Reproduction Of An Important Historical Work. Forgotten Books Uses State-Of-The-Art Technology To Digitally Reconstruct The Work, Preserving The Original Format Whilst Repairing Imperfections Present In The Aged Copy. In Rare Cases, An Imperfection In The Original, Such As A Blemish Or Missing Page, May Be Replicated In Our Edition. We Do, However, Repair The Vast Majority Of Imperfections Successfully; Any Imperfections That Remain Are Intentionally Left To Preserve The State Of Such Historical Works.