GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE: WITH AN OUTLINE OF SOME OF ITS RECENT DEVELOPMENTS EMBRACING THE PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS OF SCHELLING AND HEGEL, AND OKEN'S SYSTEM OF NATURE. By J. B. STALLO, A. M., LATELY PROFESSOR OF ANALYTICAL MATHEMATICS, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, BOSTON: WM. CROSBY AND H. P. NICHOLS, 111 WASHINGTON STREET. 1848. PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX AND Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by WM. CROSBY & H. P. NICHOLS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. PREFACE. THE great diversity of scientific pursuits in our days naturally prompts the mind to trace their several lines of direction to a point of concurrence, or, at least, to search for some general principle, under whose dominion the assemblage of so many individual figures may give rise to a significant picture. The mere "man of letters," indeed, who is in quest of naught but "accomplishments," contrives to vamp a number of literary shreds together, for the purpose of attiring himself in a sort of festival garb, which serves, with its motley dyes, to distinguish him from the illiterate multitude. He barely wishes to adorn himself with the spectral colors of science; but it is the endeavour of the honest aspirant, to recompose these colors into the primitive luminar ray, under the conviction that the light born from this union only can kindle the flame of enthusiasm, in warming the heart, while it enlightens the head. To this craving for mental unity the present little work owes its existence. The reader will perceive, that the First Part is thoroughly programmatic, and simply assigns the general points of view for a philosophical α * |