of the Sciences And Arts. 249 



Thefe then are of all others the ftudies 



Quie magis ad nos 

 Pertinent et nefcire malum eft. 



On the cultivation of thefe depends not only our 

 prefent, but our future welfare; and fhall we, with 

 the ill-timed application of the pretended philo- 

 fopher, perfift in the folution of a mathematical 

 problem, whilft the houfe burns around us ; or 

 fufFer fhells and feathers to attract our notice, 

 whilft our happinefs and our mifery hang yet 

 in the balance, and it remains in the power of 

 our utmoft exertion to throw an atom into the 

 fcale ? 



Imprefled with the idea that thefe ftudies arc 

 of the firft importance to us, and confcious that 

 we are not uninformed with refpeft to them ; 

 it may then be allowed us, to engage in the 

 acquifition of other branches of fcience, which 

 unite with the gratification of an innocent and 

 natural palTion, the expeftation of being enabled 

 to render our employment of eflfential fervice to 

 the happinefs of mankind. 



To thefe ftudies we may give the name of 

 Natural Philofophy, though, perhaps, in a more 

 general acceptation than that in which it his 

 been, of late, underftood : but I am not aware of 

 any impropriety in the ufe of this term, applied 

 to the ftudy of the whole fyftem of nature j as 

 well intelleftual as material. The faculties of 



the 



