Vi PREFACE. 



and we could not hope, by our colleftions, to be, ik 

 this refpe£t, of any fervice to the public. The great de- 

 licacy of the fubjeft, the imperfeftions of human un- 

 derftanding, the various attachments and inclirjations of 

 mankind, will for ever propagate difputes with regard to 

 thefe parts of erudition. And it is the peculiar happi- 

 hefs of geometry and phyfics, that, as they intereft lefs 

 the paffions of men, they admit of more calm difquifitioh 

 and inquiry. 



It is not that the fociety expe£l: or propofe, that what 

 they communicate will be intirely above doubt or difpu- 

 tation. The papers, indeed, which they print, were all 

 read before them j and they gave their confent to the in- 

 ferting them in their colledlions : But they pretend not 

 to warrant the juftnefs of every reafoning, nor the ac- 

 curacy of every obfervation. The author alone of each 

 paper is anfwerable for the contents of it : And the fo- 

 ciety are as willing to infert what may be communicated 

 in oppofition to the fentiments of any of Its members, 

 as in confirmation of them. 



The fociety are fenfible that it belongs alone to the 

 public to decide concerning the value of any invention ; 

 and all the merit to which they pretend, is ■ that of ex- 

 citing the induftry of the learned, and of conveying their 

 productions to the notice of the world. They affiime 

 not fuch authority as to ftamp their approbation on any 

 performance, even thofc which they commuiucatc; much 



kffr 



