INTRODUCTION. XXIX 



phers, as well in foreign countries as among our 

 selves, have shown no reluctance to allow New 

 ton s title to the first place, there have occa 

 sionally been criticisms hazarded rather than 

 objections made, touching several parts of his 

 great work ; and these in most cases have origi 

 nated rather in inadvertence than in any unworthy 

 prejudice. It became necessary to correct such 

 errors, in justice to the illustrious author, who 

 could not have been aware of the statements, 

 except perhaps in one instance. It is possible he 

 might have known the groundless remarks of J. 

 Bernouilli in that particular; the equally erro 

 neous statements of Bailly and Laplace of course 

 he could not have been aware of, and we may 

 confidently add, never could have foreseen ; in 

 deed they could only be ascribed to oversight in 

 those eminent authors. The error detected by 

 F. Boscovich respecting the comet s path belongs 

 to another class, and arose entirely from a ne 

 glect of that careful examination of the limits of 

 a problem peculiar to the ancient analysis, that 

 exhaustive process by which the prolixity some 

 times complained of finds ample compensation in 

 its precluding the possibility of mistake. 



Thus it is hoped that, partly by the account of 

 the work and partly by discussions connected 

 with the subjects of which it treats, the study 



