232 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



** thoie wonders, confidering that the perfons who 



*' had the reputation of being moft profoundly 



*' ikilled in fuch matters, maintained opinions 



" contradiftory to each other, and quarrelled like 



** madmen. For as among madmen, there are 



** fome undaunted at the approach of the moft 



'* formidable calamities, and others affrighted 



** where there is no appearance of danger; in 



*' like manner, among thofe Philofophers, fome 



*' have maintained, that there is no aétion which 



" may not be performed in public, nor a word 



" which may not be freely fpoken in the prefence 



*' of the whole World ; others, on the contrary, 



" have taught, that all intercourfe with men ought 



** to be broken off, and perpetual folitude prefer- 



** red to fociety : fome have poured contempt on 



" temples and altars, and decried the worfhip of 



" the Gods ; others are fuch Haves to fuperftition, 



*' as to adore wood, and ftone, and irrational ani- 



" mais. And as to the Science of natural things, 



*' fome have acknowledged but one fingle being ; 



** others have admitted an infinite nnmber : fome 



" infift, that all things are in a ftate of perpetual 



*' motion ; others, that there is no fuch thing as 



** motion : fome tell you that the World is filled 



" with inceffant generations and diffolutions ; and 



*' others afTure you that nothing is generated or 



*' deftroyed. He faid farther, that he would be 



*' gladly informed by thofe ingenious gentlemen, 



" whether 



