Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, first edition - Volume I, A-B.pdf/52

 JE T H (3 a writer treating a mere exs rationis as familiarly as if it were an objeft of our fenfes: The notion of compounding the sether of an acid and that of an alkali^ in order to make a neutral of it, is compleatly ridiculous. But if men take the liberty of fublHtuting names in place of facts and experiments, it is an eafy matter to account for any thing. By this method of philofophifing, obfcurity is for ever banifhed from the works of nature. It is impoffible to gravel an astherial philofopher. A fit him what queftions you pleafe, his anfwer is ready —“ As 'we “ cannot find the caufe any nuhere elfe ; ergo, by di“ lemma, it muft be owing to aether !” For example, alk one of thofe fages. What is the caufe of gravity ? he will anfwer, ’Tis nether! Alit him the caule of thought, he will gravely reply, “ The folution of “ this cjueftion was once univerfally allowed to ex“ ceed the limits of human genius: But now, by “ the grand difcoveries we have lately made, it is “ as plain as that three and two make five:—Thmight “ is a mere mechanical thing, an evident effeft of cer“ tain motions in the brain produced by the ofcilla“ tions of afubtile elaltic fluid called nether l" This is indeed aftonilhing! Such jargon, however, affords an excellent leiTon to the true philofopher. It (hows to what folly and extravagance mankind are led, whenever they deviate from experiment and obfervation in their inquiries into nature. No fooner do we leave thefe only faithful guides to fcience, than we inllantly land in a labyrinth of nonfenfe and obfcurity, the natural punilhment of folly and prefumption. When endeavouring to account for that propenfity in the human mind which prompts us to attempt the folution of things evidently beyond our reach, we recoiie&cd a palfage in Swift’s v/orks, which explains it in the moll fatisfaetory manner. Let us next examine (fays the Dean) the great “ introducers of new fchemes in philofophy, and “ fearch till we can find from what faculty of the foul " the difpofltion arifes in mortal man, of taking it into his head to- advance new fyftems, with fuch an “ eager zeal, in things agreed on all hands impofible “ to be known; from what feeds this difpofition “ fprings, and to what quality of human nature thefe “ grand innovators have been indebted for their num“ ber of difciples ; becaufe it is plain, that feveral of “ the chief among them-, both ancient and modern, “ were ufually miftaken by their adverfaries, and ia“ deed by all except their own followers, to havebeen “ perfons crazed, or out of their wits; having gene“ rally proceeded, in the common courfe of their “ words and aftions, by a method very different from “ the vulgar didates of unrefined reafon ; agreeing, “ for the niatft part, in their feveral models, with “ their prefent undoubted fucceffors in the Acade“ my of modern Bedlam. Of this kind were Epi“ cunts, Diogenes, Apollonius, Lucretius, Paracel, “ fus, Des Cartes, and others; who, if they were “ now in the world, tied fall, and leparated from “ their followers, would, in this undijlinguijhing age.

f ) iE T H “ incur manifeft danger of phlebotomy, and whips, “ and chains, and dark chambers, arid ft raw. For “ what man, in the natural Hate or courfe of think“ ing, did ever conceive it in his power to reduce the “ notions of all mankind exa&ly to the fame length, “ and breadth, and height of his own ? Yet this is “ the firft humble and civil delign of all innovators in “ the empire of reafon. Now, I would gladly “ be informed, how it is poffible to account'for fuch “ imaginations as thefe in particular men, v/ithout re“ courfe to my phenomenon of vapours, (i. e. aether), “ afeending from the lower faculties to overlhadow “ the brain, and there dillilling into conceptions, for “ which the narrownefs of our mother-tongue has not “ yet alfigned any other name befides that of madnefs “ or phrenzy. Let us therefore now conjeflure bow “ it comes to pafs that none of thefe great projectors “ do ever fail providing themfelves and their notions “ with a number of implicit difciples; and I think “ the reafon is eafy to be aifigned.—For there is a “ peculiar firing in the harmony of human underfiand“ ing, which, in feveral individuals, is exaCtly of the “ fame tuning. This if you can dextroully fereou “ up to its right key, and then ftrike gently upon it, “ whenever you have the good fortune to light among “ thofe of the fame pitch, they will, by a fecret ne“ ceffary fympathy, llrike exactly at the fame time. ‘ “ And in this one circumftance lies all the fill or “ luck of the matter: For if you chance to jar the “ firing, among thofe who are either above or be“ low your own height, inftead of fubferibing to your “ doCtrine, they will tie you fijl, call you mad, and “ feed you with bread and water. It is therefore a “ point of the niceft conduCt, t6 difiinguifh and adapt “ this noble talent with refpeCi to the difference of “ perfons and of times.—For, to fpeak ahold truth, “ it is a fatal mifearriage fo ill to order affairs as to “ pafs for a fool in one company, when in another “ you might be treated as a philofopher : Which I de“ fire Jome certain gentlemen of my acquaintance to “ lay up in their hearts as a very feefinable innu“ endo.” We would not have dwelt lb long upon this article, had it not been to guard, as far as our influence ex-, tends, the minds of thofe who may be unacquainted with the genuine principles of philofophy, from being led into a wrong track of inveftigation. ./Ether, in chymiftry, a name given to any volatile fpirit. The fpirit which generally goes by that name is procured by difiilling fpirit of wine with oil of vitriol, and then precipitating with an alkali. See Chemistry. iETHERIAL, an epithet for any thing partaking of the nature of aether. /ETHIOPIS, in botany, a fynonime of a fpecies of falvia. See Salvia. ALTHIOPS mineral, a preparation of mercury made by rubbing equal quantities of quickfilver and flour of fulphur in a mortar, till the mercury wholly difappears, and a fine black pov/der remains. jEthiops albus, a preparation of mercury made by rubbing