“If it is possible to have a linear unit that depends on no other quantity, it would seem natural to prefer it. Moreover, a mensural unit taken from the earth itself offers another advantage, that of being perfectly analogous to all the real measurements that in ordinary usage are also made upon the earth, such as the distance between two places or the area of some tract, for example. It is far more natural in practice to refer geographical distances to a quadrant of a great circle than to the length of a pendulum.” IfsMadeTwoRealSeemsEarthScienceNaturalPracticeTakenExampleDependsOffersOrdinaryAdvantageAreasDistanceDefinitionsCirclesLengthQuantityUnitsMeasurementLinearUsagePendulums Author:Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet
“And, to prevent mistakes, I must advertize you, that I now mean by elements, as those chymists that speak plainest do by their principles, certain primitive or simple, or perfectly unmingled bodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one another, are the ingredients of which all those called perfectly mixt bodies are immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimately resolved: now whether there be any such body to be constantly met with in all, and each, of those that are said to be elemented bodies, is the thing I now question.” MeanMadeSaidBodyScienceCertainSpeakSimpleMistakePrinciplesMetsElementsDefinitionsIngredientsPrimitive Book:The Sceptical Chymist Source: The Sceptical Chymist