{"id":"01KG8AN1SBNXE9W5PWJ5YPDN6K","cid":"bafkreid5in3rxjhtpdybsnypqbvoo5ugepmzrcevtvctzyklfoidpkrtl4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9407,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.921Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":9333,"text":"comprehend the strange writer's conceit in all its bearings. Yet was\r\nthis conceit apparently one of the plainest in the world; so natural, a\r\nchild might almost have originated it. Nevertheless, again so profound,\r\nthat scarce Juggularius himself could be the author; and still again so\r\nexceedingly trivial, that Juggularius' smallest child might well have\r\nbeen ashamed of it.\r\n\r\nSeeing then that this curious paper rag so puzzled Pierre; foreseeing,\r\ntoo, that Pierre may not in the end be entirely uninfluenced in his\r\nconduct by the torn pamphlet, when afterwards perhaps by other means he\r\nshall come to understand it; or, peradventure, come to know that he, in\r\nthe first place, did--seeing too that the author thereof came to be made\r\nknown to him by reputation, and though Pierre never spoke to him, yet\r\nexerted a surprising sorcery upon his spirit by the mere distant glimpse\r\nof his countenance;--all these reasons I account sufficient apology for\r\ninserting in the following chapters the initial part of what seems to me\r\na very fanciful and mystical, rather than philosophical Lecture, from\r\nwhich, I confess, that I myself can derive no conclusion which\r\npermanently satisfies those peculiar motions in my soul, to which that\r\nLecture seems more particularly addressed. For to me it seems more the\r\nexcellently illustrated re-statement of a problem, than the solution of\r\nthe problem itself. But as such mere illustrations are almost\r\nuniversally taken for solutions (and perhaps they are the only possible\r\nhuman solutions), therefore it may help to the temporary quiet of some\r\ninquiring mind; and so not be wholly without use. At the worst, each\r\nperson can now skip, or read and rail for himself.\r\n\r\n\r\nIII.\r\n\r\n\"_EI_,\"\r\n\r\nBY PLOTINUS PLINLIMMON,\r\n\r\n(_In Three Hundred and Thirty-three Lectures._)\r\n\r\n\r\nLECTURE FIRST.\r\n\r\nCHRONOMETRICALS AND HOROLOGICALS,\r\n\r\n(_Being not to much the Portal, as part of the temporary Scaffold to the\r\nPortal of this new Philosophy._)\r\n\r\n\r\n\"Few of us doubt, gentlemen, that human life on this earth is but a\r\nstate of probation; which among other things implies, that here below,\r\nwe mortals have only to do with things provisional. Accordingly, I hold\r\nthat all our so-called wisdom is likewise but provisional.\r\n\r\n\"This preamble laid down, I begin.\r\n\r\n\"It seems to me, in my visions, that there is a certain most rare order\r\nof human souls, which if carefully carried in the body will almost\r\nalways and everywhere give Heaven's own Truth, with some small grains of\r\nvariance. For peculiarly coming from God, the sole source of that\r\nheavenly truth, and the great Greenwich hill and tower from which the\r\nuniversal meridians are far out into infinity reckoned; such souls seem\r\nas London sea-chronometers (_Greek_, time-namers) which as the London\r\nship floats past Greenwich down the Thames, are accurately adjusted by\r\nGreenwich time, and if heedfully kept, will still give that same time,\r\neven though carried to the Azores. True, in nearly all cases of long,\r\nremote voyages--to China, say--chronometers of the best make, and the\r\nmost carefully treated, will gradually more or less vary from Greenwich\r\ntime, without the possibility of the error being corrected by direct\r\ncomparison with their great standard; but skillful and devout\r\nobservations of the stars by the sextant will serve materially to lessen\r\nsuch errors. And besides, there is such a thing as _rating_ a\r\nchronometer; that is, having ascertained its degree of organic\r\ninaccuracy, however small, then in all subsequent chronometrical\r\ncalculations, that ascertained loss or gain can be readily added or\r\ndeducted, as the case may be. Then again, on these long voyages, the\r\nchronometer may be corrected by comparing it with the chronometer of\r\nsome other ship at sea, more recently from home.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTDYVK8J8YE00DK13XV8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AN1S4SQD8H6WSBZM300FG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AN1SB1EBW0HARB3ECTR61","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:57.131Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:24.153Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}