£lS STUDIES OF NATURE. 



tion of the air. But a folution was found for this 

 likevvife; and woe betide thofe, in the phrafe of 

 certain Writers, who do not comprehend it ! Others 

 apphed themfelves to the inveftigation of it's elaf- 

 ticity, and have explained, equally well, all the 

 operations of Nature, by this quality of the air. 

 The unlverfal cry was, now the veil is removed ; 

 u'e have caught her in the faft. But did not the 

 Savage know, when he walked againft the wind, 

 that air had both gravity and elafticity ? Did he 

 not employ both thofe qualities in managing his 

 canoe when under fail ? I do not objed to invefti- 

 gation, if natural effeds are applied, after exadt 

 calculation, and unequivocal experiment, to the 

 neceffities of human life ; but they are, for the 

 moft parr, introduced for the purpofe of regulating 

 the operations of Nature, and not our own. 



Others find it ftill more commodious to explain 

 the fyftem of the Univerfe, without deducing any 

 confequence from it. They afcribe to it Laws 

 which have fo much accuracy and precifion, that 

 they leave to the divine Providence nothing more 

 to do. They reprefent the Supreme Being as a 

 Geometrician, or a Mechanift, who amufes him- 

 fclf with making fpheres, merely for the pleafure 

 of fetting them a fpinning round. They pay no 

 regard to harmonies, and other moral caufes. 

 Though the exadnefs of their obfervations 



may 



