184 upon the Redundancies of Nature^ May 



It 'is a proverb in the fens, that * a willow will buy a horfe be- 

 fore an oak will buy a faddle. * 



I am yours, &c. 



A Cambridge Agriculturist. 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMERS MAGAZINE. 



Upon the Redundancits of Naturk. 



By the Baron Munchausen. 

 Sir, 



It hath been whifpered to me, that fome murmurs of incr«» 

 dulity have been raifed againfl; the Talicotian experiment, de- 

 tailed in my laft. I am indeed, Sir, well auare of the invi- 

 dious eyes v/ith which bold IMunchaufcnian reaioners are fur- 

 yeyed, by the timid followers of that great prccautionift Bacon. 

 We indeed fnatch froni them the palm of fcience : We rapidly 

 ere£t fyftems upon the narroweft ground^ of experiment, through 

 extenfion of analogy, leaving to them the mere piddling labour of 

 the verification, by experiment, of our adventurous conclufions. 

 They, on the other hand, endeavour to detra(ft from our merit, 

 by various cavillings. ' Senfat'ions^ ' fay thty, * are of that fohd, 

 fubftantial nature, that they can never be confounded with the 

 ideas fupplied from memory, or fuggefted from imagination : 

 But the latter, being of like airy tenuity, from whichever of 

 thofe fources derived, are eafily miftal^en for each other : And 

 we are ftrongly inclined to fufpect that, in the ardour of fyfte- 

 matyzing, you Munchaufenians are apt to prefs, equally, into the 

 fervice of theory, the ficlions of fancy as the recoiiedlions of 

 memory •, and to bring forward, in fupport of your fyllems, 

 mere imagined analogical inferences, as experiments recoUeCled 

 from the teftimony of fenfe. ' 



Aware of thofe cavils, I would not have been furprifed, had 

 any of your numerous correfpondents attempted to clap this 

 fame interpretation upon my Talicotian procefs for the increafe 

 of wool. As, however, a full half of your folar year has c- 

 lapfed, without any objetlion having been offered i and that no 

 one has, during that period, thought proper to accept my chal- 

 lenge of ccme and fe\ \ think I am fully entitled to conclude, 

 that the analogical reafoning, upon which the probability of my 

 experiment was fupported, has appeared, of itfelf, fo complete- 

 ly fatisfacStory, that not a doubt remains of the reality of my 

 fuccefs. Being thus encouraged, I call upon your readers to 

 attend, with tucked up hair, and the fame eafy faith, vvhilft I 

 pour into their ear, my 



Reafonifigs^ 



