On Learning and the Arts. 473 
state of scientific improvement it must be ac- 
knowledged that the valuable arts of mechanics 
and chemistry have been indebted for discoveries 
of high estimation to rude and unlettered prac- 
titioners, who had eluded all the penetration of 
the theoretic artist. The fact appears to be, that 
mere accidental observation, excited by the con- 
tinually working hand of nature, and agreeably to 
those eternal laws which govern her operations, 
has revealed to man, in every state and condition, 
the fundamental principles of all the arts; that 
they are thus brought home to his very feeling, 
and that, the discovery being made, the neces- 
sities and interests of man seize the discovery, 
and apply it to his use. Man, in a state of liter. 
ary culture, digests these experimental discoveries, 
compares them, reasons upon them, and reduces 
them into an orderly and harmonious system, 
which is without doubt of great assistance, in 
applying the practice of the arts to progressive 
improvement and utility. Sensible of this truth, 
the ingenious theorist will acknowledge that the 
arts, in the whole extent of their subservience to 
the use of man, have derived their richest treasures 
from the discoveries and operations of rude and 
unlearned men. 
Rousseau therefore fails in every view in which 
it can be attempted to fix the odium of luxury | 
and its concomitant vices upon learning. There 
