OBJECTS, 

 ADVANTAGES, AND PLEASURES 



OF 



SCIENCE. XP ^ 



T? C T T V 1 



P.SITY 



INTRODUCTION. 

 I. MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE. 

 II. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL TRUTHS. 



III. NATURAL OR EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE. 



IV. APPLICATION OF NATURAL SCIENCE TO THE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE 



WORLD. 

 V. "ADVANTAGES AND PLEASURES OF SCIENCE; 



IN order fully to understand the advantages and the pleasures 

 which are derived from an acquaintance with any Science, it is necessary 

 to become acquainted with that science, and it would therefore be 

 impossible to convey a complete knowledge of the benefits conferred 

 by a study of the various sciences which have hitherto been chiefly 

 cultivated by philosophers, without teaching all the branches of them. 

 But a very distinct idea maybe given of those benefits, by explaining 

 the nature and objects of the different sciences ; it may be shown by 

 examples how much use and gratification there is in learning a part of 

 any one branch of knowledge ; and it may thus be inferred, how great 

 reason there is to learn the whole. 



It may easily be demonstrated, that there is an advantage in learn- 

 ing, both for the usefulness and the pleasure of it. There is some- 

 thing positively agreeable to all men, to all at least whose nature is 

 not most grovelling and base, in gaining knowledge for its own sake. 

 When you see any thing for the first time, you at once derive some 

 gratification from the sight being new ; your attention is awakened, 

 and you desire to know more about it. If it is a piece of workman- 

 ship, as an instrument, a machine of any kind, you wish to know how 

 it is made ; how it works ; and what use it is of. If it is an animal, 

 you desire to know where it comes from ; how it lives ; what are its 

 dispositions, and, generally, its nature and habits. This desire is felt, 

 too, without at all considering that the machine or the animal may ever 

 be of the least use to yourself practically ; for, in all probability, you 

 may never s^e them again. But you feel a curiosity to learn all about 

 them, because they are new and unknown to you. You accordingly 

 make inquiries; you feel a gratification in getting answers to your 



