12 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
Ionian Science
According to legend, the first mathematical formulation of what we might today call a law of nature dates back to an Ionian named Pythagoras (ca. 580 BC-ca. 490 bc), famous for the theorem named after him: that the square of the hypotenuse (longest side) of a right triangle equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Pythagoras is said to have discovered the numerical relationship between the length of the strings used in musical instruments and the harmonic combinations of the soun...
1 Stephen Hawking provides a fascinating summary of what the ancient Ionians knew about the natural world.
19 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Only Atoms are Immortal
... moving randomly through space, like dust motes in a sunbeam, colliding, hooking together, forming complex structures, breaking apart again, in a ceaseless process of creation and destruction. There is no escape from this process. ... There is no master plan, no divine architect, no intelligent design.
All things, including the species to which you belong, have evolved over vast stretches of time. The evolution is random, though in the case of living organisms, it involves a principle of ...Folksonomies: classic
Folksonomies: classic
1 
notes
notesA fantastically accurate ancient description of the universe, complete with animals evolving from others.
09 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
An Experiment in Evaporation and Condensation finds Eleme...
Salt water when it turns into vapour becomes sweet, and the vapour does not form salt water when it condenses again. This I know by experiment. The same thing is true in every case of the kind: wine and all fluids that evaporate and condense back into a liquid state become water. They all are water modified by a certain admixture, the nature of which determines their flavour. 1 notes
notesFrom Aristotle's "Meteorology". An example of knowing something from experiment.
09 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
An Ancient Observation of Life from Lifelessness.
Nature proceeds little by little from things lifeless to animal life in such a way that it is impossible to determine the exact line of demarcation, nor on which side thereof an intermediate form should lie. Thus, next after lifeless things comes the plant, and of plants one will differ from another as to its amount of apparent vitality; and, in a word, the whole genus of plants, whilst it is devoid of life as compared with an animal, is endowed with life as compared with other corporeal enti... 1 notes
notesFrom Aristotle's "History of Animals". From mineral to plant to animal; this could be seen as an early view of evolution.
17 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Break Nature's Locks to Reveal Truth
When human life lay groveling in all men's sight, crushed to the earth under the dead weight of superstition whose grim features loured menacingly upon mortals from the four quarters of the sky, a man of Greece was first to raise mortal eyes in defiance, first to stand erect and brave the challenge. Fables of the gods did not crush him, nor the lightning flash and the growling menace of the sky. Rather, they quickened his manhood, so that he, first of all men, longed to smash the const... 1 notes
notesGive up superstitious fears, Lucretius tells us, which oppress us and prompt us to do vile things.
15 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
French Encyclopedists Disparage Wildlife in the New World
We formerly remarked, as a singular phaenomenon, that the animals in the southern provinces of the New Continent, are small in proportion to those in the warm regions of the Old. There is no comparison between the size of the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the camelopard, the camel, the lion, the tiger, &c. and the tapir, the cabiai, the ant-eater, the lama, the puma, the jaguar, &c. which are the largest quadrupeds of the New World: The former are four, six, eight, and...Buffon states that mammals of North America are smaller and its Native Americans less developed than European life, owing to the continent's lack of resources and cold climate. Reptiles and insects thrive, however.
15 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Comparing European and American Mammals and Livestock
Europe.
America.
lb.
lb.
Mammoth
Buffalo. Bison
*1800
White bear. Ours blanc
Caribou. Renne
Bear. Ours
153.7
*410
Elk. Elan. Orignal, palmated
Red deer. Cerf
288.8
*273
Fallow deer. Daim
167.8
Wolf. Loup
69.8
Roe. Chevreuil
56.7
Glutton. Glouton. Carcajou
Wild cat. Chat sauvage
30
Lynx. Loup cervier
25.
Beaver. Castor
18.5
*45
Badger. Blaireau
13.6
Red Fox. Renard
13.5
Grey Fox. Isatis
Otter. Loutre
8.9
12
Monax. Marmotte
...Jefferson cataloges the sizes of animals in the two continents in order to refute the European idea that animals are larger and more advanced in the old world.
