DISCOURSE ON METHOD. 83 



those who unite good sense with habits of study, 

 whom_alone,I desire for judges, they will not, I feel 

 assured, be s^_rjartial_tp_JLatin as to refuse to listen 

 to my reasonings merely because I expound them 

 in the_vulgar Tongue. 



In conclusion, I am unwilling here to say anything 

 very specific of the progress which I expect to make 

 for the future in the Sciences, or to bind myself to 

 the public by any promise which I am not certain of 

 being able to fulfil ; but this only will I say, that I 

 have resolved to devote what time I may still have 

 to live to no other occupation than that of endeavour 

 ing to acquire some knowledge of Nature, \vhich 

 shall be of such a kind as to enable us therefrom to 

 deduce rules in Medicine of greater certainty than 

 those at present in use; and that nr- inclination is 

 so much opposed to all other pursuits, especially to 

 such as cannot be useful to some without being 

 hurtful to others, that if, by any circumstances, I 

 had been constrained to engage in such, I do not 

 believe that I should have been able to succeed. Of 

 this I here make a public declaration, though well 

 aware that it cannot serve to procure for me any 

 consideration in the world, which, however, I do not 

 in the least affect; and I shall always hold myself 

 more obliged to those through whose favour I am 

 permitted to enjoy my retirement without inter 

 ruption than to any who might offer me the highest 

 earthly preferments. 



