PR? (AVC *E. 
which they are founded, are extremely obvi-” 
ous; and we could not hope, by our collecti- 
ons, to be, in this refpect, of any fervice to 
the public. ‘The great delicacy of the fub- 
ject, the imperfections of human underftand- 
ing, the various attachments and inclinations 
_ of mankind will for. ever propagate difputes 
with regard to thefe parts of erudition. And 
’tis the peculiar happinefs of geometry and 
 phyfics, that, as they intereft lefs the paffions 
of men, they admit of more calm difquifition 
and inquiry. 
Ir is not that the fociety expect or pro- 
pofe, that what they communicate will be 
intirely above doubt or difputation. The pa- 
pers, indeed, which they print, were all 
red before them, and they gave their confent 
to the inferting them in their colle@tions: But 
they pretend not to warrant the juftnefs of e- 
very reafoning, nor the accuracy of every 
obfervation. The author alone of each pa- 
per is anfwerable for the contents of it: And 
the fociety are as willing to infert what may 
be communicated in oppofition to the fenti- 
ments 
