P H I
PHI,
employ the time of the Studious. It is true, thofe who call themfelves philofopbers and learned men have as yet done little towards forwarding the intelligence of arts : but we fpeak not of what is done, but of what ought to be done. One great obftacle to the progrefs of arts and fciences has been the neglect of practice in fpeculative men, and the igno- rance or contempt of theory in mere practical men. What chimeras and absurdities the neglect of experience and practice has produced, need not be mentioned; the mifchiefs arifing from a neglect of theory, are not fo obvious : yet certainly it retards the progrefs of arts. All invention or improvement muft be either cafual or rational, including analogy or infe- rence from fimilar cafes, under the term rational. Nowakho' the foundations of arts have often been owing to fome cafual difcovery, as gunpowder or the loadstone; yet is this not to be trufted to alone. Improvement? do not always flow from this fource, but rather from the reflexions of artifts; and it thefe reflexions were rendered more diftinct, more communi- cable and eafier to be retained, by the proper ufe of Signs and other philosophical helps, great advantages might be expected : it being certain, that phlhjbpbical knowledge is more extenfive, and more fure in the application ; and befides, gives a pleafure to the mind not to be expected from that which is merely hilto- rical.
It is to be obferved, that the bare intelligence and memory of pbiUfipbUat proportions, without any ability to demon- strate them, is not pbilofophy y but history only. However, where fuch proportions are determinate and true, they may be ufefully applied in practice, even by thofe who are ignorant of their demonstrations. Of this we fee daily inliances in the rules of arithmetic, practical geometry, and navigation ; the reafons of which are often not understood by thofe who prac- tife them with fuccefs. And this fuccefs in the application produces a conviction of mind, which is a kind of medium be- tween plnkjbphical, or fcicntifica), and historical knowledge. The ingenious author of the Analyft has gone fo far as to fug- geft, that mathematicians have no other conviction of the truth of the doctrine of fluxions. Pbilofophy may be divided into three parts, intellectual, moral, and phyfical. The intellectual part comprizes logic and meta- phyfics. The moral part contains the laws of nature and na- tions, ethics and politics. And laftly, the phyfical part com- prehends the doctrine of bodies, animate or inanimate. Thefe, with their various fubdivifions, will take in the whole of phi- lofpby.
Wolfius makes the three parts of pbilofophy to be the doctrine of God, the human foul, and of bodies a . However, when he fubdivides, and comes to treat the feveral branches feparate- ly, his divifions readily come under the three heads intellectual moral, and phyfical, before mentioned. The doctrine of God and the human foul may be ranged under the fame head meta- phyfics, the notion of the divine nature being formed from that of the human foul, excluding limitations and imperfec- tions b . [*Wolf.. Difc. Prelim. Logic, fed. 56. b Wolf. Theol. nat Part. 1. feet. 1059.]
We have faid that pbilofophy is the knowledge of the reafons of things. It may be afked what is the reafons of things, or what is the explication of phenomena or facts. An n- genious author tells us, that the explication confifts only in fhewingthe conformity any particular phenomenon hath to the general laws of nature, or, which is the fame thing, is difcovering the uniformity there is in the production of na- tural effects, this he thinks evident to whoever fhall attend to the feveral inflances, wherein philofopbers pretend to ac- count for appearances. By a diligent obfervation of the phe- nomena within our view, we may difcover the general laws of nature, and from thence deduce, , tho' not demonstrate other phenomena, all deductions of this kind depending on a fuppofition that the author of nature always operates uni- formly, and in a conltant obfervation of thofe rules we take for principles ; which we cannot evidently know. Berkeley-, Princip. of Hum. Knowl. Sect. 62 & 107. If we take a view of the feveral phenomena, and compare them together, we may obferve fome likenefs and confor- mity between them. For example, in the falling of a Stone to the ground, in the rifing of the fea towards the moon, in cohefion and crystallization, there is fometiiing alike, name- ly an union or mutual approach of bodies : fo that any one of thefe, or the like phenomena, may not feem ftrange or furprifing to a man who has nicely obferved and compared the effects of nature : for that only is thought fo which uncommon, or a thing by itfelf, and out of the ordinary courfe of our obfervation. That bodies fhould tend towards the center of the earth,, is not thought ftrange, becaufe it is what we perceive every moment of our lives ; but that they mould -have a like gravitation towards the center of thi moon, may feem odd and unaccountable to moft men, be caufe it is difcerned only in the tides; but a philofophcr, whofe thoughts take in a larger compafs of nature, having obferved a certain fimiiitude of appearances, as well in the heavens as the earth, that argue innumerable bodies to have mutual tendency towards each other, which he denotes by the general name attraction, whatever can be reduced to that he thinks juitly accounted for. Thus he explains the tides by
the attraction of the terraqueous globe towards the moot! which to him doth not appear odd or anomalous, but only a particular example of a general rule or law of nature. Jf, therefore, we confider the difference there is betwixt natu- ral philofopbers and other men, with regard to their know- ledge of the phenomena, we fhall find it confifts not in an ex- acter knowledge of the efficient caufe that produces them, for that can be no other than the will of a fpirit; but only in a greater Iargenefs of comprehenfion, whereby analogies, har- monies, and agreements are difcovered in the works of nature, and the particular effects explained : that is, reduced to gene- ral rules, which rules, grounded on the analogy and uniform- nefs obferved in the production of natural effects, are molt agreeable and fought after by the mind ; for that, they extend our profpect beyond what is prefent and near to us, and en- able us to make very probable conjectures, touching things that may have happened at very great diftances of time and place, as welt as to predict things to come ; which fort of en- deavour towards omnifcience, is much affected by the mind. Berkeley^ Princ. of Hum Knowledge, Sect. JO4, 105.
PHILYRA, in natural hiftory, a name given to the fubftancc of which fome of the molt anticnt books are written. It is the inner bark of the tiiia, or common lime-tree. The empe- ror's library at Vienna has a book written by Tully, never yet publifhed, which is written on this fubftance. Muntins de Plantis.
PHLEBOTOMY, (C)d.) in furgery, the opening of a vein by a proper fnarp-edged and pointed instrument of ftee), forlettino- out a proper quantity of blood, either for the preservation or recovery of a perfon's health.
This appears not only to be one of the moft ufeful, but one of the moft antient operations in furgery, fince we find by. Hip- pocrates, Celfus, &c. that it was pradtifed near three thou- fand years ago. The operation is frequently performed in dif- ferent parts of the body, as the hand, the foot, the forehead, temples, neck, tongue, penis, and other parts ; yet it is moft: generally performed in that vein of the arm which lies near the joint of the cubit, hieijhrs Surg p. 273. In bleeding itfometimes happens, that an artery is opened ei- ther inftead of, or together with, the vein : an accident of this kind is attended with the utmoft danger. An artery is known to be wounded when the blood fpins out very forcibly from the orifice, and that by Starts or leaps, not in an even Stream, and extends itfelf in a greater arch from the orifice to the bafin. The colour of the blood from an artery is alfo much more florid than from a vein ; to which add, that on preSfing the finger on the vc^cl below the orifice, the blood Starts out more violently than before; and Stops, or at leaft abates, on prefling above the orifice ; quite the contrary of what happens on the opening a vein.
In an accident of this kind, the furgeon Should have prefence of mind not to betray the cafe by his fears to the patient, or attendants : he Should obferve whether the blood flows freely from the orifice, or whether it infinuates itfelf in any confi- derable quantity between the integuments. If the firlr is the cafe, he muft take a large quantity of blood away, even till the patient faints, perfuading the attendants, that the heat of the blood requires it; and while the patient is in his faintino- fits, as the flux then ceafes, he may commodioufly drefs and bind up the wound ; and by this precaution hinder'a frefh hemor- rhage or an aneurifm. The furgeon muft place fome fmall piece of money between the folds of the firft comprefs; and on * this place two, thre , or more comprerTes, each larger than the other : and then bending the cubitus, apply two "bandages in this manner, as after bleeding in the vein, only a little tighter; and lay a thick, long, and narrow comprefs over the artery, from the cubitus to the axilla : and the patient muft be warned to wear his arm in a Sling, pinned to his cloaths, for a fort- night, and refrain from ail ufe of it. Heifter's Surg. p. 287. Jf the blood from the wounded artery is found to infmuate it- felf between the integuments, the orifice muft be immediately compreiled, and tied up as before directed ; and the arm o r ten infpected, to fee whether a bleeding within the integuments does not yet continue. The patient mult be frequently bled in the other arm, and if a large quantity of blood Should be lodged from the wounded artery under the integuments, it will be neceflary to open the integuments to difcharge it. It is too common an accident to find a nerve or tendon punctured in bleeding, and this is generally known to be the cafe by the patient's making a fevere outcry at the time ; and efpecially if he complains afterwards of acute pains, and the limb begins to fwell and be inflamed, convulfcd, fliff, and extended al in the cramp: which fyrnMoms, if not timely relieved, threaten convulfions of the whojf body, a gangrene of the part, and even death in a Short time.
The beft method to betaken in thefe accidents, is to- firft bathe the part with a mixture of oil of turpentine and fpirit of wine, and then inveft the whole arm with the diachalciteqs plaifter, melted down in oil of vinegar and rofes, retaining it on by the expulfive bandage; which beginning upon the hand, af- cends gradually by fpiral turns to the top cf the moulder; by which means the impulfe of the blood on the part is not only much abated, but alfo the pain and inflammation much dimi-. nifhed : and lafily, the following cataplafm Should be applied
