A System of Mechanical Philosophy, Vol. 3 of 4 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A System of Mechanical Philosophy, Vol. 3 of 4 While the motions of the heavenly bodies afford us the means of attaining these useful ends, they also present to the curious philosopher a series of magnificent phenomena, the operation of the greatest powers of material nature; and thus they powerfully excite his curiosity with respect to their causes. This circumstance alone makes the celes tial motions the proper objects of attention to a student of Mechanical Philosophy, and he has less concern in the beautiful regularity and subordination which have made them so subservient to the purposes of Navigation, of Chronology, and the occupations of rural life. But the purposes of the mechanical philosopher cannot be attained without attending to that beauty, regularity, and subordination. These features are exhibited in every circumstance of the celestial motions that renders them' susceptible of scientific arrangement and investigation; and a philosophical view cannot be taken, without the same ao curate knowledge of the motions that is wanted for the arts of life. It must be added, that society never would have derived the benefits which it has received from astronomy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com 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.