THE KEY OF THE UNIVERSE. "As in an organ, from one blast of wind To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes." MILTON. BOD LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. MDCCCLXVI. [The right of Translation is reserved.] 196.9.9 THE KEY OF THE UNIVERSE. INTRODUCTION. ON THE RESOLUTION OF PHENOMENA. THE various endeavours which are made by philosophers from time to time to arrive at the unity of physical forces all imply that the great problem of Creation has yet to be solved; whether the failures in which such inquiries terminate be owing to any defect in the reasoning or to any difficulty in the facts, since all forces are convertible, and every force can in its turn become every other. It might therefore be worth while to reflect whether or not induction alone be best qualified to conduct us to such a result, since we seldom enter upon researches of this nature without reference to some imagined truth which precedes the argument by which it is to B |