and the Sciences dependent upon them. 27 



because a century back our philosophers made such ad- 

 vances in science that all other nations were left at an im- 

 measurable distance, that we are contented with their glory, 

 and think our country sufficiently immortalized ? Can we 

 tamely sit down with what they have done, and see other 

 nations gaining fame where our ancestors immortalized 

 themselves ? By such conduct, the fame they have acquired 

 reflects double disgrace upon ourselves ; we show that we 

 are degenerate, and unworthy of such fathers. 



-There are some remarks upon the importance and decline 

 of mathematical learning in the Encyclopcedla Britannkay 

 article Fliys'ics, which I shall take the liberty of inserting, 

 as the remarks of professor fiobison will carry with them a 

 deference not to be expected from those of one unknown to 

 lame. 



" A notion has of late gained ground, that a man may 

 become a natural philosopher v.ithout mathematical know- 

 ledge ; but this is enleriaincd by none who have any ma- 

 thematics themselves ; and surely those who are ignorant 

 of mathematics should not be sustained as judges in t>,i8 

 matter. We need only appeal to fact. It is only in those 

 parts of natural philosophy which have been mathemati- 

 cally treated, that the investigations have been carried on 

 with certainty, success, and utility. Without this guide 

 we must expect nothing but a schoolboy's knowledge, re- 

 fcembling that of the man who takes up his relitijus creed 

 on the authority of his priest, and can neither give a reason 

 for w hat he imagines that he believes, nor apply it with 

 confidence to any valuable purpose in life. We rnay read 

 and be amused with the trilling or vague writings of a Nol- 

 let, a Ferguson, or a Priestley; but we shall not understand 

 nor profit by the truths communicated by a Newton, a 

 J^'Alembert, or De la Grange." — 



" It is to be lamented that the taste for mathematical 

 sciences has so prodigiously declined in this country of late 

 years ; and that Britain, which formerly took the lead in 

 natural philosophy, should now be the country where they 

 are least cultivated. Few among us know more than a 

 few elementary doctrines of equilibrium : while on the 

 continent we find many authors who cultivate the Newto.- 

 nlan philosophy with great assiduity and success, and whose 

 ■writings are consulted as the fountains of knowledge by all 

 our countrymen who have occasion to employ the discove- 

 ries of natural philosophy in tlie arts of life. It is to the 

 Jorei'jn writers that we have recourse in our sen)inaries even 

 Jor elementary treatises; and while the continent has sup^ 



