7 8 literary hitelligetice. March tj^ 



" The philosopher ought to be the enemy of hypothe- 

 ses and systejns, — the friend of observations, experiencey 

 and sound reasonhig. 



" In every science, as in the difk of the planets, there 

 are luminous parts, parts that are lefs lucid, and parts that 

 are obscure. 



■" One ought to read little, observe and meditate a 

 great deal, and read more in the book of nature, than in 

 the books of men, which often betray us into error. 



" If in many things modern philosoplievs have surpafsed 

 the ancients, they have also been, in a good many things^ 

 surpafsed by these last •, and in a great many things the 

 obscurity of modern philosophy is equal to that of the 

 ancient. 



" Whoever studies only with a view to make money, 

 is never, or very rarely, in a situation either to make 

 himself better, to discover the truth himself, or to commu- 

 nicate it to others. 



" The riches of the understanding are much preferable 

 to the greatest pecuniary wealth." 



At the general meeting of the academy of Dijon, held 

 the 28th of August last, M. Grofsart read a memoir on 

 the means of making instruments of the elastic gum from 

 the bottles of it which come from the Brazils. 



Mr Grofsart, after regretting, as we have done, vol. ii. 

 that the tree which affords the caoutchouc, grows at too 

 great a distance from Europe, to admit of the juice being, 

 brought hither in its fluid state, sets himself to discover if 

 it be pofsible to convert the dried bottles of it to useful 

 purposes. The difsolving the caoutchouc, by means of 

 cether, he considers, justly, to be too expensive a proceis 

 for ordinary purposes, and the softening of it by means of 

 efsential oils, is not only objectionable on account of the ex- 

 pence, but also to the inconvenience that results from their 



