languages, throws open the field of abstract inquiry, and excites to the study of the intellect. The thorough study of the written works of antiquity serves as a means for the vigorous developement of the powers. All the powers of the mind are occupied by the explanation and emendation of these works. And what a fund of knowledge is afforded by the view which they present of the developement of man and of society in ancient times! In ancient Greece, we find, what we search for in vain almost every where else, nations and states which possessed in their nature most of those qualities which conduce to perfect the character of man, a people of so lively and susceptible a spirit as to leave no field of action which presented itself untried, and who pursued, in this way, the path of improvement more independently of the nations around them, and for a longer period, than was possible in after times and under altered circumstances; who forgot the man so little in the citizen, that the civil institutions themselves aimed at the developement of the human powers by general sacrifices; who, in fine, with an extreme sensibility for every thing noble and graceful in the arts, united such depth in scientific researches, that they have produced the first admirable masters in ideal speculation as well as the most beautiful works of art." This is the field presented to the student of philology.

PHILOMELA; a daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, who was transformed into a nightingale. According to the fable, Progne, sister of Philomela, married the Thracian prince Tereus, by whom she had a son, Itys. When Itys had grown up, Tereus went to Athens, and, at the persuasion of his wife, took her sister with him on his return. On the way, Tereus violated her person, and, to conceal his crime, cut out her tongue. But Philomela made it known to Progne by means of some tapestry, on which she embroidered her story. To gratify their revenge, they murdered Itys, and served him up to his father. When he saw the remains of his son, he pursued them; but they invoked the gods for help, and they were all immediately transformed. Progne fled to the woods in the form of a nightingale, lamenting for Itys. Philomela mournfully uttered Tereu, under the form of a swallow, in broken chirpings, on account of the mutilation of her tongue; and Tereus, in the form of a lapwing, uttered a piercing poo, or woo. Another story makes Philomela the wife and the nightingale, and Progne the sister and the swallow.

PHILOPEMEN, the last great military commander of the Greeks, was born at Megalopolis, in Arcadia, B. C. 253, and, after the early death of his father, was educated by Cassander, a noble Mantinæan. Two academical philosophers were his teachers, and instilled into him high_principles of honor and patriotism. Disinclined to a life of study, and thirsting for enterprise, military glory was his ambition, and to that all his youthful exercises were directed. No sooner had he begun to bear arms, than he joined his countrymen in their incursions into the Spartan territories. When he was thirty years old, Cleomenes, king of Sparta, surprised Megalopolis by night, and Philopomen, who had unsuccessfully endeavored to repel him, covered the retreat of bis fellow-citizens to Messene, at the extreme hazard of his own life. When Antigonus, king of Macedonia, came to the assistance of the Achæans against Cleomenes, Philopoemen joined him with the cavalry of his native place, and distinguished himself in the battle of Sellasia, in which the Spartans were totally defeated. Antigonus proposed to take him into his service; but Philopomen would only consent to serve some years as a volunteer in so excellent a school of warfare, and, in that capacity, was engaged in the war in Crete. Returning with a high reputation, he received from the Achæans the command of their cavalry, which, under him, became formidable throughout all Greece. In a battle with the Etolians and Eleans, he killed, with his own hand, the commander of the Elean cavalry, and thus decided the victory in his favor. In 210 B. C., he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces of the Achæan league. After having reorganized the Achæan army, he led it into the field against Machanidas, tyrant of Sparta, who was advancing at the head of a powerful force, against Achaia. They encountered each other at Mantinea. After a hard struggle, Philopomen killed Machanidas in single combat, and gained a complete victory. The Achæans perpetuated the memory of this achievement by the erection of a bronze statue in the temple of Delphi. When the Achæans had declared war against Nabis, a later Spartan tyrant, and Nabis had besieged Gythium, Philopomen attacked him by sea, but was defeated. He then surprised the enemy's camp, advanced against Sparta, overthrew the forces of Nabis, and destroyed a great part of them. Nabis was soon after murdered, and Sparta was taken and pillaged by the Etolians, against whom the inhabitants had risen,

when Philopomen arrived before the city with a small force. He took advantage of this emergency to prevail upon them to join the Achæan confederacy, 191. They were desirous of showing their gratitude to the restorer of peace by a present of 120 talents, but he refused to accept it. But the Spartans soon became dissatisfied, separated from the confederacy, and called in the Romans to their assistance. Philopomen, as commander of the Achæans, declared war against Sparta. The Roman consul Fulvius endeavored to mediate between the parties; but their ambassadors returned from Rome with an indecisive answer. Philopomen, however, proceeded against Sparta, and demanded the surrender of the authors of the disturbances. Accompanied by the principal Spartans, they presented themselves in the Achæan camp; but, while the complaints were under examination, an affray took place between them and the Spartan exiles, in which the Achæans also engaged. Seventy-three' Spartans were seized, and executed by Philopomen, after a short trial. The city was consequently surrendered and treated by Philopomen with the same rigors as if it had been taken by storin. He commanded the Spartans to destroy their walls, to dismiss their mercenaries, to admit the exiles, to expel the slaves who had been set free by the tyrants, and substitute the Achæan code for the laws of Lycurgus. The Romans, to whom they had recourse for protection, declared these conditions too severe, but added that they had no right to violate them. Soon after, however, the Roman senate, eager to humble the powerful Achæan coufederacy, sent an embassy to induce it to soften their rigor. Philopomen procured the rejection of this demand; but the Romans finally prevailed on the federal congress to admit Sparta again into the confederacy as an independent state. Hardly was this affair settled, when Messene revolted. Philopomen, though broken by infirmity and disease, marched against the insurgents, and at first beat them back, but was afterwards attacked with such fury, that he was obliged to give way. Separated from his followers, and thrown from his horse, he fell, dangerously wounded on his head, into the hands of the enemy. He was carried in chains to Messene, where his appearance moved to tears many of the inhabitants who had fought under him, and on whom he had conferred benefits. To destroy this impression, the government caused him to be thrown into a subterraneous dungeon, and, the next morning, he was obliged to drink poison. When he re

ceived the cup, having been informed that his troops had saved themselves, he said, "That is enough for me; I die content;" and emptied it with a cheerful countenance. Thus died (B. C. 183) one of the greatest generals of Greece, whom the ancients compared to Hannibal and Scipio. His ashes were transported to his native city with great pomp; statues were raised to his memory in most of the Grecian cities, and a yearly offering was made at his tomb by the city of Megalopolis. PHILOSOPHER'S STONE. (See Alchemy.) PHILOSOPHY, INTELLECTUAL. (See Appendix, end of this volume.)

PHILOSOPHY, NATURAL, or PHYSICS (physica, physice, from pois, nature), is that branch of science which treats of the laws and properties of matter. Natural history (q. v.) describes the external characters and appearances of natural objects, while chemistry (q. v.) separates them into their elements, and explains the modes of the composition and mutual action of these elements upon each other: natural philosophy, on the other hand, deals with matter in its integrant forms, and points out those properties which belong universally to matter, and those laws whose operation is implied in the very definition of the term matter. It therefore comprises astronomy (q.v.), which explains the causes that keep in motion, and bind in fixed orbits, the great train of worlds and systems of worlds composing the universe; mechanics (q. v.), in its different divisions (see Acoustics, Hydraulics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics); optics (q. v.), or the science which explains the motions and laws of light; the laws of heat, electricity and magnetism, except in regard to their chemical properties, also fall within the jurisdiction of natural philosophy. In respect to the method of investigation, it is sometimes by mathematical calculation, and sometimes by observation (experimental philosophy); but these two instruments of truth are more commonly united in illustrating and confirming each other's results than employed in distinct departments of research. In regard to the theory of matter (q. v.), natural philosophers are at present divided, the one school maintaining that all bodies are composed of continuous matter, the different states of which are owing to the contending action of two opposite powers, expansion and attraction; the other, that matter is composed of minute particles, or atoms of unchangeable forms, which primitive forms produce particular modifications of the natural powers. (See Dynamic Theory.) The Egyptians, Chaldeans and Phoenicians were, in the earliest periods,

celebrated for their knowledge of mechanical, chemical, astronomical and physical science. Among the Greeks, Thales, the founder of the Ionic school, was the first who separated natural philosophy from allegory and fable; but the later Greek philosophers again carried natural science backward, by indulging in metaphysical speculations in their studies of nature. Plato and Aristotle are the most distinguished of this class, although the writings of the latter are less faulty in this respect than those of the former. Pythagoras taught that certain monads were the final causes of the phenomena of matter. His school, however, had some indistinct conceptions of the Copernican system. The atomic theories of Leucippus and Democritus made near approaches to the atomic theory of the present day. The works of Theophrastus, Hippocrates, with the writings of Aristotle, on physical subjects, show that the Greeks, notwithstanding their speculative turn of mind, did not entirely neglect observation. Among the Romans Lucretius is distinguished by his poem De Rerum Natura; Seneca, by his Quæstiones Naturales, and Pliny, by his Historia Naturalis. In the middle ages, natural science was involved in a deep darkness, rendered still more impenetrable by the clouds of scholastic philosophy. Among the Arabs, however, it was not entirely neglected. Francis Bacon (q. v.) first dissipated this night by the light of a sounder method of investigation, founded on observation (in his Novum Organum). At about the same time, Galilei (q. v.) discovered the laws of the fall of heavy bodies, and of the pendulum, and Torricelli invented the barometer. Kepler explained the laws of the motions of the heavenly bodies, and, by happy applications of geometry, laid the foundation of optics. Otto von Guericke invented the air-pump, and Descartes now found it easy to pull down the tottering fabric of the physics of the schools. (See Scholastic Philosophy.) While he was attempting to substitute a better metaphysical foundation for natural science, Boyle and Hooke in England, Borelli and Grimaldi in Italy, and Pascal, Mariotte and Picard in France, successfully cultivated experimental physics; the royal society was instituted in London, the academy of science in Paris, and the Accademia del Cimento in Florence; and these institutions had a powerful and happy influence on the progress of physical studies. Finally appeared Newton (q. v.), who, by his Philosophia Naturalis Principia

Mathematica (1687), became the founder of modern natural philosophy in all its brilliancy. We cannot follow it in its splendid course, and can only allude in general to the improvements of the thermometer, the discovery of the gases, the discoveries in electricity, particularly of the lightning-rod and of galvanism (q. v.), the substitution of oxygen, by Lavoisier, to the phlogiston of Stahl, the reduction of the alkalies and earths, the discovery of iodine and chlorine, of the polarization of light, of the connexions between electricity and magnetism, &c., which are more particularly treated of under separate articles. The uses of the study of natural philosophy are too obvious to require mention, since our comfort and safety depend upon a knowledge of the powers and properties of bodies; and a right study of nature not only dispels a thousand superstitions, but affords a most striking proof of the existence of an intelligent government of the universe. (See Herschel's admirable Discourse on the Objects, Advantages and Pleasures of the Study of Natural Philosophy, in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia.) Among the best works on the history of natural philosophy, are Fischer's History of Physics since the Revival of Letters (in German, Göttingen, 1801,6 vols.), and Playfair's Dissertation on the Progress of Mathematical and Physical Science since the Revival of Letters, prefixed to the Encyclop. Britannica, and continued by Leslie. On the method of observation in experimental physics, Senebier's Essai sur l'Art d'observer et faire des Expériences (3 vols., Geneva, 1802) deserves to be consulted; and, in connexion with it, Sigaud de la Fond's Description et Usage d'un Cabinet de Physique Expérimentale (Tours, 1796, 2 vols.); Biot's Traité de Physique Expérimentale et Mathématique (4 vols., 8vo.), is the most complete manual. There is an excellent abridgment of this work by the author, Precis élémentaire de Phys. Expérimentale (3d ed., 1824, 2 vols., 8vo.). Arnott's Elements of Physics (Am. ed., with additions by Dr. Hays, Philadelphia, 1829) is a good popular treatise.

PHILOSOPHY, PERIPATETIC. (See Peripatetic Philosophy.)

PHILTRE; a love potion. From the earliest times it has been supposed that there were means by which love could not only be excited, but be directed to a particular object. Various substances, from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, have been used for this purpose, some disgusting, some injurious, some without any distinguishing character. The truth

is, that physical desire may be produced by physical stimuli, which are called aphrodisiacs, but it is absurd to suppose that such means can produce a passion for a particular object.

PHIPPS. (See Mulgrave.)

PHIPS, Sir William, governor of Massachusetts, was born at Pemaquid, Feb. 2, 1650. He was one of twenty-six children, twenty-one of whom were sons. His father died when he was a child. He then bound himself to a ship carpenter, and, in due time, engaged in the business on his own account. He was so illiterate as not to be able to read or write; but he soon acquired knowledge sufficient for the purposes of common life, and was fortunate enough to connect himself, by marriage, with a young widow of a respectable family. In 1683, he sailed from England, in search of a Spanish vessel which had been wrecked near the Bahamas, having gone to the mother country on hearing of the circumstance, and solicited means for the expedition. He was supplied with two frigates by the admiralty, but failed of success. Nothing discouraged, however, he made fresh importunities for means of making a second attempt, which were given to him by the duke of Albemarle. He discovered the wreck, and brought from it £300,000, £16,000 of which were appropriated to his share. He was also knighted by the king, and appointed high-sheriff of New England. After residing for a time, in that capacity, at Boston, he returned to England in consequence of some disagreement with two other functionaries, by which his situation was rendered uncomfortable. In 1690, he captured Port Royal, but was not so fortunate in the expedition against Quebec. In the same year, he was chosen by the freemen a magistrate of the colony. He did not remain long in Boston, but repaired to England to solicit an expedition to Canada. At that time, the agents of Massachusetts were soliciting a restoration of their old charter from king William; but this being refused, and a new one given, sir William was appointed captain-general and governor-inchief of the province. He discharged the duties of his office with fidelity. His impetuous temper, however, sometimes in volved him in quarrels, and complaints were made against him, which he was sent for to answer. He justified himself, and was about to return to his government, when he was taken sick, and died in London, about the middle of February, 1694. He was a blunt, honest man, ardent

in every thing which he undertook, open hearted and generous, but vulgar in speech and manners. His talents were considerable.

PHLEBOTOMY; the act of letting blood by opening a vein. Among the ancients, great regard was had to the place where the opening was to be made. At present, the custom is to open one of the principal veins of the arm, the hand, the foot, the neck, or the tongue. The operation itself was anciently performed with a springlancet; now, for the most part, with a simple lancet. Of the arteries, that of the temples is the only one which is opened, and that is done in cases of local complaints of the head. Another mode of letting blood is by cupping, or by the application of leeches for the purpose of extracting blood from places affected by inflammations. Phlebotomy is one of the most effectual means of the medical art; but its application is differently regarded by the most distinguished physicians. Hippocrates rarely resorted to it; for he considered the cure of fevers and inflammations as the work of nature, and regarded phlebotomy as a mode of weakening the efficacy of her operations. His followers applied it more frequently, sometimes even to excess. The schools of the empirics (250 B. C.), relying, like Hippocrates, on their own experience and on the observation of nature, endeavored to determine the cases in which bleeding was indispensable. But medicine declined with the general decline of science. Greek physicians, indeed, still distinguished themselves among the Romans; but the sect of empirics had degenerated. Excessive bleeding again became common, until Asclepiades of Bithynia (Cicero's physician and friend) taught a new method of phlebotomy. He considered the cause of the greatest number of diseases to be redundance of blood, and, on this account, advocated the practice of bleeding, but principally for the alleviation of pain, and applied this remedy frequently in case of local affections. After him, Celsus gave an account of the cases in which bleeding was necessary (A. D. 5), and his remarks and directions correspond exactly with those of the greatest modern practitioners. Aretæns, founder of a new school (A. D. 70), prescribed bleeding more frequently in acute than in chronic diseases, and, in extreme cases, he bled the patient to complete exhaustion. Galen (160), who referred the origin of a large class of diseases to excess of blood, ordered copious bleedings; and this practice gained great

repute, and prevailed for several centuries. After the fall of the Roman empire, physicians were so scarce in Europe, that Charlemagne died of an inflammation of the lungs, for want of bleeding and medical attendance. The Arabian physicians followed the authority of Galen, and spread his doctrine over Spain, Italy and France. Bleeding was still more generally practised by the monks, who were in the sole possession of medicine, as well as of all other science, in those ages. At a later period, astrology was connected with the medical art, and bleedings were prescribed on certain days. The popes, indeed, had often forbidden the monks to practise medicine; but they either disregarded the orders, or considered them as referring only to surgical operations. Thus surgery began to be separated from medicine, and formed a new profession, including the art of bleeding, applying leeches, and shaving. But when, after the invention of printing, the writings of the physicians of Greece, especially of Hippocrates, began to circulate, and their doctrines to revive, the practice of bleeding, at least among physicians, was again confined to certain cases. In Germany, Paracelsus (1525) overturned the system of Galen, and with it the practice of bleeding, which is now confined to the surgeons and barbers alone. In France, Italy, &c., the method of Hippocrates and the degenerated system of Galen were, however, not yet abandoned, and the practice of bleeding was carried to the greatest excess. Helmont (1600), the founder of a new system, doubted the use of extracting blood, alleging against it that it weakened too much the vital spirit, which he called archæus. Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood (1619) had some influence on the modes of phlebotomy, in as far as it led to experiments (1642) by which medicines were infused immediately into the veins, or a portion of the infected blood extracted, and supplied by the blood of healthy men or animals. In England, Sydenham rose (1673), who thought it possible to expel diseases by copious bleedings. He extracted blood in almost all cases, never less than eight ounces, generally ten or more, and, in cases of inflammation, as much as forty ounces. The pernicious consequences of this practice did not escape him, but he thought he could not subdue disease by any other means. Stahl (1707) attempted to unite the system of Hippocrates with that of Helmont, and established correct and moderate principles of phlebotomy.

He taught that abundance of blood was no disease, but might become so by a disproportion created between the solid and fluid parts of the system, in which case the proper balance ought to be restored. But he found bleeding indispensable, in cases of too great excitement succeeded by a congestion or effusion of blood. To prevent this, he prescribed occasional bleeding. His method was soon misunderstood and misapplied, The extraction of blood for the preservation of health was every where thought necessary. Bordeu endeavored to stop this abuse in France, Cullen (1777), who regarded all diseases as proceeding from an unnatural state of the nerves; all irregularities of the fluids as the consequences of weakness and spasm, recommended bleeding as the best means to diminish the activity of the whole body, and especially of the system of the blood-vessels. He recommended, however, a due regard to circumstances, and mainly adopted Stahl's doctrine of the superabundance of blood. Stoll of Vienna (1780), an admirer of Sydenham, resorted frequently to bleeding. Several of the later physicians sought, however, to limit its too frequent application. Wollstein (1791) recommended it only in a few cases. Gall, also, improved the system still more.

Brown adhered to the same maxim, and limited the practice of bleeding too much. In modern times, the abuses of phlebotomy have again considerably increased, because the antiphlogistic method of healing has risen into great repute. Bleeding is one of the most effec tual, but also one of the most dangerous means of checking disease.

PHLEGETHON (λeye0wv, burning), in the Grecian mythology; a river of fire in the infernal regions. (See Cocytus.).

PHLEGREAN FIELDS; a place in Macedonia, where the battle of the giants was said to have taken place. The name was also applied to a place near Naples (Forum Vulcani, Solfatara), where the ground is impregnated with sulphur. (See Giants, and Naples.)

PHLOGISTICATED AIR; nitrogen, or azote. (See Nitrogen.)

PHLOGISTON; the supposed general inflammable principle of Stahl. (See Oxygen, and Combustion; also Chemistry, vol. iii, p. 124.)

PHOCAS'S COLUMN. (See Column.)

PHOCION; an Athenian general, and one of the most virtuous characters of antiquity. Though of humble descent, he received a good education, and imbibed, under Plato and other philosophers,