• I^p2. onSttiarCs eleritent!. 1.43, 



spirit. To draw a straight line, to describe a circle, by 

 aim of hand only, there must be a great difference between 

 an unsteady and unpractised hand, and a steady and prac- 

 tised one j but t© do it by rule and compafs Is much alike." 



" Nor must we omit to ment'on the value which the 

 art of printing communicates to the most limited exer- 

 tions of literary industry, by treasuring up as materials for 

 the future examination of more enlightened inquirers. In 

 -this respect the prefs bestows upon the sciences an ad- 

 ^fantage somew-liat analogous to that which the mechani- 

 cal arts derive from the division of labour. As in these 

 arts the exertions of an uninformed multitude are united 

 by the comprehensive skill of the artist, in the accomplifh- 

 •.rnent of effects, astonifl\ing by their magnitude, and by 

 the complicated ingenuity they displays so, in the scien- 

 ces, the -observations and conjectures of obscure indivi- 

 <iuals, on those subjects whicli are level to their capacities, 

 and which, fall under their own immediate notice, accu- 

 mulate, for a course of years, till at last some philosopher 

 arises, vv>ho combines these scattered materials, and exhibits 

 in his system, not merely the force of a single mind, but 

 the intellectual power of the age in which he lives. 



*' It is upon these last considerations, much more than 

 on the efforts of original genius, that I would rest my 

 hopes of the progrefs of the human race. What genius 

 alone could accomplilh in science, the world has already 

 seen : And I am ready to subscribe to the opinionof those who 

 think that the splendour of its past exertions is not likely to 

 be obscured by thefame of future philosophers. But the 

 experiment yet remains to be tried, -what lights may be 

 -thrown on the most important of all subjects, by the free 

 discufsii-ns of inquisitive nations, unfettered by prejudice, 

 ■and stimulated in their inquiries by every motive that can 

 •awaken whatever is cither generous or selSih in hum?/a 



