PREFACE. V 



the public. The anited judgments too of men corre£l 

 and confirm each other by communication, their fre- 

 quent intercourfe excites emulation, and from the com- 

 parifon of different phaenomcna, remarked by different; 

 perfons, there often refult general truths, of which, from 

 one of thefe phaenomena, no man of the greateft fagacity 

 could entertain any fufpicion. Though the colle£tion 

 of experiments feems continually, by means of the learn- 

 ed focieties, and the labours of individuals, to be aug- 

 menting, we need not entertain any apprehenfions, that 

 the world will ever be overwhelmed by the number of 

 confufed and independent obfervations. The heap does 

 not always go on, increafing in bulk and diforder, 

 through every age. There arife, from time to time, 

 bold and happy geniufes, who introduce method and fim- 

 plicity into particular branches of fcience ; and, reducing 

 the fcattered experiments to more general theorems, a- 

 bridge the fcience of nature. Hints of this kind, we 

 hope, may be able to pafs through our hands ; and, at 

 worft, our colleftions Avill be a fpecies of magazine, in 

 which fafts and obfervations, the fole ^means of true 

 induftion, will be depofited for the purpofes of philo- 

 fophy. 



The fciences of theology, morals, and politics, the 

 fociety are refolved intirely to exclude from their plan. 

 However difficult the inferences in thefe fciences, the 

 fads on which they are founded are extremely obvious; 



and 



