Francesco Levato

if caloric, a modification of light

The names of such things as affect us, which please, and displease,
the common discourses of inconstant signification,
its species and respective capacities; of the structure required; 
of the number and nature of constituent parts;
this crevice a small room, whitewashed and clean 
but scarce that principle of morality to be named,
of virtue to be thought on, not somewhere or other
slighted and condemned, between general fashion
and rules of living quite opposite to others.

[ from kaustos ‘burnt’ (from kaiein ‘to burn’) ] 1.0b6


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the gravity of the water

At first I had neglected them, 
but now that I was able to decipher the characters,
death, wounds, imprisonment,
the promise of not resisting force,
the action as one continuous whole, 
can it be imagined, that they perceive the impressions 
from things without, and be at the same time ignorant 
of those which nature stamped within?

[ from kaustos ‘burnt’ (from kaiein ‘to burn’) ] 1.0b7


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sulphuric ether, small narrow glass

Let us follow the natural order and begin with primary facts. 
The other is compounded; as when from the sight of a man at one time, 
and of a horse at another, we conceive in our mind a centaure,
qualify metaphor by adding on to it that which it supplants.
But the use of words in registering our thoughts
is in nothing so evident than reward and punishment; 
in enjoyment embittered by memory of the future, 
anticipation of the past.

[ from kaustos ‘burnt’ (from kaiein ‘to burn’) ] 1.0b9


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