2S On the Decline of MatJiemal'ual Slndidf, 



plictl us \\ ith most elaborate and useful treatises on %'ariou» 

 articles in physical astronomy, practical mechanics, hydrau- 

 lics, and optics, there have not appeared in Britain half a 

 flo/.en treatises worth consulting for these last forty years. 

 It is therefore devoutly to be wished that the taste for the 

 jnalhi luatical sciences may again turn the eyes of Europe 

 to this country for instruction and imjirovcmcnt. The 

 present seems a most favourable tera, while tlK' amazing 

 julvanees in manufactures of every kind seem to call aloud 

 ior the assistance of the philosopher. What pleasure would 

 it have given to Newton or Ha! ley to have seconded the 

 ingenious efl'orts of a Watt, a Boulton, a Smeaton, art 

 -A vl-: Wright, a Doilond ! And how mortifying is it to sec 

 ibcin indebted to the services of a Belidor, a Bossuet, a 

 dairaut, a Boscovich !" 



Perhaps one reason to be assigned for the deficiency of 

 mathemulicians and natural philosophers is the want of pa- 

 tronage. These sciences are so abstruse, that, to excel in 

 iheni, a student must give up his whole time, and that 

 v\?thoiit anv prospect of recompense ; and should his talents 

 and application enable him to compose a work of the high- 

 fst merit, he nuist never expect, by publishing it, to clear 

 one-half of the expense of printing. Ail those men, there- 

 fore, who h.avc not fortune sufficient to enable them to give 

 lip their time in the study, and part of their property to the 

 publicatic-n, of works in these sciences, arc in a manner ex- 

 cluded from advancing them. In France and most other 

 nations of Europe it is uiOerent : in them the student may 

 look forward to a place in the National Institute or Aca- 

 demy of Sciences, where he will have an allowance suffi- 

 cient to enable him to comfortably pursue his studies ; and 

 should he produce works worthy of publishing, they w ill be 

 prinlvil at the expense of the nation. 



It is remarkable, that amongst the very few men who 

 still pursue mathematical studies in this country, a consi- 

 derable part, instCiid of being dazzled and delighted by the 

 wonderful and matchless powers of modern analysis, still 

 obstinately attach themselves to geomelrv. It is a science, 

 jperhaps, of all others, from the clearness and accuracy of 

 Its proofs, the most proper to be tausht young men, that 

 from the study of it their reasoning faculties may be im- 

 proved ; but at the same time, as a science, it is confined 

 in its application, feeble, tedious, and almost impractica- 

 ble in Its powers of discovery in natural philosophy. But 

 what is c died analysis possesses boundless and almost su- 

 peiii.ilural po^^■ers in its application to science; and the dis- 

 coveries 



