THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 215 



tlio wisest can do but little, and the ignorant can only do worse than' nothing ; 

 and just as anxiously as we are disposed to seek whatever relief the learned and 

 experienced may be altle to afford us, should we cautiously avoid the mischievous 

 interference of the half-studied empiric; in politics and in religion, we need but 

 look back on the history of kingdoms and republics, in order to be aware of the 

 mischiefs which ensue when ' fools rush in w'here angels fear to tread.' " 



IX. CONTINUATIOX OF THE IXTKODUCTOKY LECTUKE. 



'' Deeply impressed with the importance of mathematical investigations, both 

 for the advancement of science and for the improvement of the mind, I thought 

 it in the first place an indispensable duty to present to the Royal Institution in 

 my syllabus a connected system of natural philosophy, on a plan seldom if ever 

 before executed in the most copious treatises. Proceeding from the simplest 

 axioms of abstract mathematics, the syllabus contains a strict demonstration of 

 every proposition which I have found it necessary to employ throughout the 

 whole extent of iiatural philosophy. In the astronomical part only, some obser- 

 vations occur unsupported by mathematical evidence. Here, however, it was as 

 impracticable as it Avould have been useless to attempt to enter into investiga- 

 tions, which in many instances have been extended far beyond the limits even 

 of Newton's researches. But for the sake of those Avho are not disposed to 

 undertake the labor of following, with mathematical accuracy, all the steps of 

 the demonstrations on which the doctrines of the mechanical sciences are 'founded, 

 I shall endeavor to avoid, in the whole of this course of lectures, every intri- 

 cacy which might be perplexing to a beginner, and every argument which is 

 ■fitter for the closet than for a public theatre. Here I propose to support the 

 same propositions by experimental proofs; not that I consider such proofs as the 

 most conclusive, or as more interesting to a truly philosophic mind than a 

 deduction from general principles, but because there is a satisfaction in discover- 

 ing the coincidence of theories with visible effects, and because objects of sense 

 are of advantage in assisting the imagination to comprehend and memory to 

 retain what, in a more abstracted form, miglit fail to excite sufHcient attention. 

 This combination of experimental with analogical arguments constitutes the 

 principal merit of modern philosophy. 



^' With regard to the mode of deliyering these lectures, I shall in general 

 entreat my audience t^o pardon the formality of a written discourse in favor of 

 the advantage of a superior degree of order and perspicuitv. It would unques- 

 tionably be desirable that every syllable advanced should be rendered perfectl}' 

 easy and comprehensible, even to the most uninformed ; that the most inattentive 

 might find sufficient variety and entertainment in what is submitted to them to 

 excite their curiosity, and that in all cases the pleasing, and sometimes even the 

 .surprising, should be united with the instructive and tlie important. But when- 

 ever there appears to be a real impossibility of reconciling these various objects, 

 I shall esteem it better to seek for substantial utility than temporary amuse- 

 Tnent ; for if we fail of being usefid for want of being sufficiently j)opular, we 

 remain at least respectable ; but if we are unsuccessful in our attempts to amuse, 

 we immediately appear trifling and contemptilde. It shall, however, at all times 

 be my endeavor to avoid each extreme, and I trust that I shall then only be 

 condemned, when I am fVmnd abstruse from ostentation or uninteresting from 

 i^upineness. The most difficult thing for a teacher is to recollect how nnich it 

 cost himself to learn, and to accommodate his instruction to the apprehension of 

 the uninformed ; by bearing in mind this observation, I hope to be able to ren- 

 der my lectures more and more intelligible and familiar; not liy passing over 

 difficulties, but by endeavoring to facilitate the task of overcoming them ; and 

 if at any time I appear to have failed in this attempt, I shall think myself hon- 

 ored by any subsequent inquiries that my audience may be disposed to make. 



