ADVERTISEMENT. IjfXV 



quirers who have followed his fteps. If, on the 

 one hand, they have betrayed us into fome errors, 

 they have contributed, on the QLher, to enlarge the 

 field of human knowledge. Had Newton never 

 invented any thing except his telefcope, wefhould 

 have been under inexpreffible obligations to him. 

 He has extended to Man the fpherc of the Uni- 

 verfe, and the fentiment of the infinity of God. 

 Others have diffufed, through all ranks of Society, 

 a tafte for the ftudy of Nature, by the fuperb pic- 

 tures which they have exhibited of her. While I 

 was detedling their miftakes, I refpedled their vir- 

 tues, their talents, their difcoveries, and their pain- 

 ful labours. Men equally celebrated, fuch as 

 Plato, Arijiotle^ Pliny^ De/carles, and many others, 



had, like them, given currency to great errors 



The Philofophy of Ariftotle alone had been, for 

 ages, the moft infurmountable obftacle to the in- 

 veftigation of truth. Let us never forget that the 

 Republic of Letters, ought to be in reality a Re- 

 public, which acknowledges no other authority but 

 that of Reafon. Befides, Nature has placed each 

 of us in the World, to keep up an immediate cor- 

 refpondence with herfelf. Her intelligence irra- 

 diates all minds, as her Sun illuminates all eyes. 

 To ftudy her Works only in fyftems, is to obferve 

 them merely with the eyes of another perfon. 



I( 



