417 



Sect. vi. 

 RECAPITULATION. 



Mi/cellaneous Obfervations, and Conclufton. 



I have already enlarged fo fully, on the importance of fclence, and 

 particularly, of chymical fcience, in a variety of arts, and manufac- 

 tures, indeed, I might fay in all ; that it would be an unneceffary 

 wafte of time, to trace over the fame ground again. However, fuch 

 is the culpable fupinenefs of people in this country, and fo predomi- 

 nant the inert force of pafllve ignorance, unconfcious of the advan- 

 tages, or the capabilities of improvement, that the importance of 

 knowledge cannot be fufSciently re-echoed to the public ear. 



The utility of chemical knowledge, in the arts, that operate on 

 minerals, is obvious, to the mofl ftupid obfcrver. I have pointed out 

 its great importance, in the linen, the woollen, the cotton, and paper 

 raanufafturcs, and the improvements that may be expefted from it, 

 in the operations of bleaching and dying. Signal fervices might be 

 rendered by it, alfo, to the manufaftures in leather ; not only by 

 providing a fubftitute for oak bark, and (hortening the operation of 

 tanning hides, for the common purpofes of life ; but, in preparing 

 and colouring fkins, fo as to imitate, and in time fuperfede, Spanijh, 

 Morocco, and Rnjfian leather. Might not chemiftry furnifli us, with a 

 fubftitute for barilla aflies, which are now imported, at a confiderable 

 expence, to this country, and which might anfwer equally well all 

 the ends, to which that fubftance is applicable. We find what ad- 

 vantages, the French have derived, from their knowledge of chymif- 

 try, in the raanufa^lure of faltpetre, and in the difcovery of a fubfti- 



VoL. IX. ( 3 G ) tute, 



