204 Biographical Sketch of the late Dugald Stexvart^ Esq. 



ed by the world at large in the person of another philosopher, 

 and fellow of this society, although not a contributor to our 

 annual publications. Mr Dugald Stewart, imbued with a 

 taste for mathemati(;al learning by his father's eminence in that 

 department of knowledge,Jias done more than almost any of 

 his contemporaries towards preserving from mystery and pa- 

 radoxes the science which should naturally be of all the most 

 clear and precise. Following the steps of Bacon and of Locke, 

 and stored with an extent of reading and of acquired know- 

 ledge almost beyond example, there can be found few subjects 

 which he has not illustrated ; and in respect to conclusions 

 which seem to differ from the deductions of his great prede- 

 cessors, his arguments are so fairly stated on either side, that 

 every intelligent reader is placed in a situation to form his own 

 opinions on those profound and abstruse points. Mr Stewart 

 has somewhere quoted Ms/^ov sen ro dwafitv am\\)ri%r\v TtrriGac&at 

 TOM <7roXXag a-Tiodn^stg rojv st/ fMigovg e^e/v. And ' Mathematica 

 multi sciunt, mathesin pauci. Aliud est enim nosci proposi- 

 tiones aliquot, et nonnullos ex iis elicere, casu potiusquam 

 certa aliqua discursendi norma, aliud scientias ipsius naturam 

 ac indolem prospectam habere, in ejus se adyta penetrare, et 

 ab universalibus instructum esse praeceptis quibus theoremata 

 ac problemata innumera excogitandi, eademque demonstrandi 

 facilitas comparetur. Ut enim pictorum vulgus, prototypon sae- 

 pe saepius experimendo, quendam pingendi usum, nullam vero 

 pictori artis, quam optica suggerit, scientiam adquirit, ita mul- 

 ti, lectis Euclidis et aliorum geometrarum libris, eorum imita- 

 tione, fingere propositiones aliquos ac demonstrare solent, ip- 

 sam tamen secretissimam difficiliorum theorematum ac proble- 

 matum solvendi methodum prorsus ignorent.' By reverting 

 to the long neglected controversies of the Nominalists and Re- 

 alists, and by adopting the theories of a most acute and sub- 

 tle reasoner, who for centuries past has been remembered (such 

 is the caprice of some) by a reference only to the frailties and 

 to the misfortunes of his youth, this able metaphysician has 

 either fully explained, or has pointed out the method of ex- 

 plaining, every difficulty which seemed to obstruct the use of 

 imaginary quantities. And by pursuing the same track, if 

 ancient prejudices, derived from far different speculations. 



