JDr. Gregory's Striclures on t)on Hodrigiiez. 179 



tensures currency in such a vehicle: but how much more 

 extraordinary must it be thought, if on inquiry it shall ap- 

 pear that his strictures are causi-Iess, and therefore unjust ! 

 This is an inquiry which every man nf Cdmpelent informa- 

 tion, who has at heart the luniour of his country, has a 

 right to institute : and, hnuever unpleasant the under- 

 taking may in some respects be, I enter upon it without 

 delay, because Colonel Mudge, whose reputation is so 

 deeply implicated in this business, is at present prevented 

 fronj giving- Don Rodriguez's paper that decided and com- 

 plete refutation which it will hereafter receive at his hands; 

 and because his silence, though unavoidable, may be con- 

 strued into defeat. 



Impressed by these considerations, I propose in this 

 communication to show, that the observations of this in- 

 genious foreigner are, in all his main positions, unfounded; 

 and although the matter under investigation is, in general, 

 so nearly elementary, that any man of moderate scientific 

 attainments might safely rest the truth of his assertions 

 upon his own character and their intrinsic evidence ; yet, 

 lest it should be apprehended that, on this occasion, my 

 judgement may be warped either by strong national feeling, 

 or by private attachment, I shall fortify my positions, as I 

 go along, by such authorities as neither Don Rodriguez 

 nor any other person will be inclined to question. 



Before I proceed to the points which Don Rodriguez 

 selects as the basis of his animadversions, it may not be 

 thought improper if I briefly advert to what appears his 

 main, if not his sole object, in making those animadver- 

 sions at all. I shall not, I hope, be deemed uncandid, if 

 I say, that to me this object appears to be no other than 

 the depression of English (and perhaps oiher) ingenuity 

 and exertion, in order to the undue exaltation of the French 

 scientific character. To this end, as it would seem, (for 

 to what other purpose can it be?) we are toM that in con- 

 sequence of " the general inipuise which the human mind 

 received" from the French revolution, the members of their 

 academy of sciences " invented new instruments, new me- 

 thods, new formulcR," for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 figure of the earth, &:c. and commenced " an important 

 undertaking almost the whole of which consisted of some- 

 thing new in science." I have no wish to depreciate the 

 value of the discoveries and improvements of the French 

 mathematicians; yet surely I mav affirm that much had 

 been done with respect to the grand topic in question, long 

 before the French revolution. Did not Euler Invent *' new 

 M 8 methods 



