Immortal Curiosity

Towards a Universal Characteristic, 1677.

“Number is therefore, so to speak, a fundamental metaphysical form, and arithmetic a sort of statics [from OED: “Originally, the science relating to weight and its mechanical effects, and to the conditions of equilibrium as resulting from the distribution of weight. In modern use, the branch of physical science concerned with the action of forces in producing equilibrium or relative rest, in contradistinction to Dynamics in its older sense as the science of the action of forces in producing motion. In recent terminology, Statics and Kinetics (= the older Dynamics) are the two branches of Dynamics.” ] of the universe, in which the powers of things are revealed.”