PREFACE. xi 



as a ftander-by would have thought, with 

 trying experiments on a fecmingly con- 

 temptible piece of ftone, found out a guldefor 

 mariners on the ocean, and fuch a guide as 

 no fcience, however fubtile and fublime its 

 fpeculations may be, however wonderful 

 its cpnclufions, would ever have arrived at. 

 It was bare curiofity that put Sir Thomas 

 Millington upon examining the minute 

 parts of flowers j but his difcoveries have 

 produced the moft perfed, and moft ufefull 

 fyflem of botany that the world has yet 

 feen. 



Other inftances might be produced to 

 prove, that bare curiofity in one age is the 

 fource of the greateft utihty in another. 

 And what has frequently been faid of chy- 

 mifls, may he applyed to every other kind 

 of vertuofi. They hunt perhaps after 

 chimseras and impoffibilities, they find 

 fomething really valuable by the bye. We 

 are but inftruments under the Supreme Di- 

 rector, and do not fo much as know in 

 many cafes v/hat is of moft importance 

 for us to fearch after. But we may be fure 



of 



