
audiobook
by Balfour Stewart, Peter Guthrie Tait
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
PREFACE.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH AND FIFTH EDITIONS.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY SKETCH.
CHAPTER II. POSITION TAKEN BY THE AUTHORS—PHYSICAL AXIOMS.
CHAPTER III. THE PRESENT PHYSICAL UNIVERSE.
This work opens with a meditative chorus of ancient verses, biblical reflections, and Shakespearean musing, setting a tone that blends poetry with earnest inquiry. The authors invite listeners to consider how the fleeting world of the senses contrasts with an unseen, timeless reality that lies beyond ordinary perception. Drawing on 19th‑century scientific thought, philosophical reasoning, and theological tradition, the book sketches a vision of a cosmos whose deeper mechanisms hint at a future state still beyond our grasp.
Throughout the early sections, the writers argue for a “principle of continuity” that links human intellect to the broader intelligences that might shape the universe’s hidden architecture. Their aim is to foster a respectful dialogue between emergent science and revealed faith, encouraging readers to weigh reason against reverence without surrendering either. As a historical piece, it offers a vivid glimpse into the era’s earnest struggle to reconcile discovery with devotion, making it a thought‑provoking companion for anyone curious about where belief and inquiry intersect.
Language
en
Duration
~7 hours (456K characters)
Release date
Jan 28, 2025
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1828–1887
A Scottish physicist and meteorologist, he helped shape 19th-century thinking about radiant heat, terrestrial magnetism, and the physics of the atmosphere. His work earned the Royal Society’s Rumford Medal and made him an influential scientific writer as well as a researcher.
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1831–1901
A pioneering Scottish physicist, he helped shape modern mathematical physics through influential work on thermodynamics, quaternions, and knot theory. He is also remembered for co-writing a major physics textbook with Lord Kelvin and for bringing unusual curiosity to subjects from atoms to golf balls.
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