Wheeling compiler. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [i.e. W. Va.]) 1829-1831, 1830-05-26

repose of a pilot said he, rs found IN la
bor. relieve myself from fahgues of the
body by the exercise ofthe mind. You have
often urged upon me strong objections to
the system ofattraction not such as New
ton has imagined it, but such as is explain
ed by his followers. have promised TO
reply to them when | should be at liberty:
| am so now, and if sleep is not more al
tractye to you than it is to me, and you
will DO me the favor to listen, | will resume
the subiecl-The first enjoyment Of man
IS the discovery of truth and the second
to End an attractive ear" Since, SAID /,
you place the relaxation of the body among
the pleasures of the mind, be assured ]
will share yours as far as the feebleness OF
my reason will enable me. Seating him
| self upon the breech of cannon he thus
lbecan:-
You are right not to rely on human in
Intelligence TO penetrate the secrets of nature.
There is greater distance between the in
telligtnce of natures Author aud that Of
humanity, than between man and the low
est butte in creattiioa scale. Speech, ge-
Ometg, poesy and the invention Ct the arts
/ are bubtless something:-but the inven-
ton If worlds, of generation and of our
own existence is infinitely beyond them
VIVA a difference between the transient in
habip7t of little obscure globe, and the
Creabr and Preserver Of the Universe
We nav even assure ourselves that the
I DivIn, Intelligence is inaccessible TO US,
and th,t we are only permitted to attain to
! the Consequences and results which are
necessary to our existence. And further,
this Of which we are so vain, is but a very
pale rejection of the natural light which
ought Il guide us 1t is only formed and
appropriated to perfection by the concur
renee Of ages of the human race:-In the
mean tine we often wander from the truth
J in following natures guidance, and when,
| by chance we hitupon view, as a phios-
iopher observes, it terminates in a dazzling
delusion. s It seems at first that we do not
perceive mture; or that we look upon hef
works in aSense opposed to that in wiiic
they have been placed. A ceRfIry sls
not yet passed, since the bQ
rope were gnorant Of tba s.
tables had their 90 ey be'ate q
ven that the lnterif c l53se which lhev
had obsered, exhibicd col usele parts
\ the simple sport ofcHance kinAeaz came
and demonstrated Bat The sas IKE
the animal creation made ~ 81 sexes,
land that they too pogpeiaated ihen YES
iby the same div and nconpI e6shsIble
ilaws Of gene w
been more favoi jl9n
Aristotle has transH led ~
rors which were even SUI
whole authority Of our tribud
water of basin asceuded the tubd
} aspraiing pump, It was because .HdtlI
abharred a vacuum:-but accident caus-
led Torricelh to discover. that water noun
ted only TO the height of thirty three feet,
and that the weight of the atmosphere
talone forced the water of the basin to as
cend the tube; whence he nationally con-
GUIDED that the height of the atmosphere
was in equilibrium with thirty three feet of
water. Aristotle affirmed thattne western
part Of the ocean terminated in a frightful
preciplce;-that the torrid zone was unin
.habrable: and that the sun revolved around
the earth The Universities adopted his
doctrines md the parliament Of Paris for
babe their contradiction under the penalty
of the gallies. Notwithstanding. Christie.
pher Columbus discovered a new world
IN the west;-Vasco de Cana penetrated
TO the Indies in the bosom of the tOrrld
zone aud found it more richly peOPled than
either Of the others; and Calico demon
strated the course Of the earth round the
sun and confirmed II by the motions Of the
other planets. Il is true that the beuef
cence OF truth drew heavy prosecutions
down upon the heads Of these great men:
whilst his errors had been the source of
honor and of wealth lavished upon the pre-
ceptor of Alexander We must remark
however, that these truths had been oh
>curely seen by the ancients, as we may
/ fad in Seneca and ID Pllny.
The Chaldeans believed in the motion
of the earth around the sun; they supposed
also that the comets were stars, and not
meteors, as we pretended before the time
of the Astronomer Kepler.
We have still fault among US Europe
ans although we believe ourselves all wise,
I land it might be attributed either to our
vanity or our ingrahtude, If it we're not Of
tener derived from our ignOrance) it Is,
that we appropriate TO ourselves the dis
lcoveries made by the ancients, or by the
people of Asa. the fathers OF the hole hu-
man race. For example, the learned ira
weller Chardin relates IN his chapter on
the religions of the Persians, under the Ii
tie OF additions. that they distinguish be-