concerning the Actions of Machines. T7 



the arguments of one whom he considers as a pure theorist. 

 The fashion of the day, which puts diffuse and indistinct no- 

 tions in the place of true learning, which cries for science level- 

 led to the meanest capacity, or, as I would translate it, to the 

 most confirmed indolence, fastens these prejudices more firmly 

 on the minds of the half instructed. Were the evils of this 

 fashion to rest with those who turn to philosophy for relief 

 from the ennui of idleness, they might have been passed over 

 in silence ; but when they reach that class to whose usefulness 

 extensive information is essential, their removal becomes an 

 object of the highest importance. It would not be proper for 

 me, in the present paper, to venture into the depths of this 

 subject ; but the connection between what is called popular 

 science and many of those mistakes which are so current, is too 

 immediate to permit of remarking on these without casting a 

 glance, at least, to their fertile source. 



AVere the laws which regulate the phenomena of the uni- 

 verse, laws of human invention, and did they involve contra- 

 dictions and absurdities, then, indeed, with some propriety 

 might the cry be raised, " They are too abstruse, they are too 

 difficult ; let us have them simplified and levelled to the mean- 

 est capacity.^' Level these laws, and they are no longer the 

 laws of nature ; the true method of seizing them, is to nerve 

 the mind with higher powers, to infuse into it an exalted am- 

 bition, and to come to the attempt prepared for long-continued 

 and strenuous exertion. Would effeminacy pave the way to 

 the white summit of the Jungfrau? or, had your parlour 

 hearth-stones been brought;^ from the summit of Ben-Lomond, 

 think you that your delighted eyes could thence have wandered 

 over lakes and mountains ? No. He who would scan the won- 

 ders of Nature, who would contemplate the wisdom, the benefi- 

 cence of her works, and would use .his acquirements for the 

 advantage of his race, must give himself enthusiastically to the 

 pursuit, and must scorn to turn from difficulties in his path 

 Perseverance will crown his exertions with success ; and the ele- 

 vation of his mind, the calm and ineffable delight which accom- 

 panies the acquisition of knowledge, will, a thousand times 

 over, repay all his exertions. From the throne of science he will 

 descry connections and arrangements and sympathies among 



