experiment a

Plural of experimentum. experimental (eks-per-i-men't 'tal), a. [=G. Dan. Sw. experimental (in comp.), He [Calvert] was a liberal in politics, and had a lively, if amateurish, interest in experimental science. E. Dowden , Shelley, I. 209. 2. Taught by experience; having personal experience; known by or derived from experience; experienced. Trust not my reading, nor my observations, Which with experimental seal doth warrant The tenour of my book. Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. Admit to the holy communion such only as profe and appear to be regenerated and experimental Christians. H. Humphrey . IMG:content-0927.png:[ocr errors] Of liberty, such as it is in small democracies, of patriotism, such as it is in small independent communities of any kind, they had, and they could have, no experimental knowledge. Macaulay , History. Experimental proposition, in logic , a proposition which is founded upon experience. Experimental philosophy, that philosophy which accepts nothing as absolutely certain, but holds that opinions will gradually ap proximate to the truth in scientific researches into nature. The chief reason why I prefer the mechanic all and ex per i ment all philosophy before the Aristo tele an is not so much because greater certainty, but because it puts inquisitive men into a method to attain it, whereas the other serves only to obstruct their industry by amusing them with empty and insignificant notions. Bp . Parker , Platonick Philos., 2d ed. (1667), p. 47. Experimental religion, religion that exists as an actual experience, as distinct from that which is held simply as an opinion or practised externally from some ulterior considerations; a state of religious feeling or principle which has sustained the test of trial, as opposed to a religious belief which is held merely as a theory.