Ixxxviii TO THE READER 



Truths, (already so often and extraordinarily establish'd ;) so, 

 nor will any thing satisfie these unreasonable Men, but the 

 production of the Philosopher -s-stone, and Great-Elixir ; which 

 yet were they Possessors of, they would consume upon their 

 Lux and Vanity. 



It is not therefore to gratifie these magnificent Fops, whose 

 Talents reach but to the adjusting of their Peruques, courting 

 a Miss, or at the farthest writing a smutty, or scurrilous 

 Libel, (which they would have to pass for genuine Wit) that 

 I concern my self in these papers ; but, as well in Honour of 

 our 'Royal Founder, as the Ration, to Assert what of other 

 Countries has been surreptitiously Arrogated, and by which, 

 they not only value themselves abroad ; but (prevailing on 

 the Modesty of that Industrious Assembly) seek the deference 

 of those, who whilst it remains still silent, do not so clearly 

 discern this glorious Plumage to be purely ascititious, and not 

 a Feather of their own. But still, What have they done ? 



Those who perfectly comprehend the Scope, and End of 

 that noble Institution ; which is to improve 3\(atural Knowledge, 

 and inlarge the Empire of Operative Philosophy ; not by an 

 Abolition of the Old, but by the Real Effects of the Experi- 

 mental ; Collecting, Examining, and Improving their scatter'd 

 Phenomena, to establish even the 'Received Methods and 

 Principles of the Schools (as far as were consistent with Truth, 

 and matter of Fact] thought it long enough, that the World 

 had been imposed upon by that Optional, and Formal way of 

 delivering divers Systems and 'Bodies of Philosophie (falsely so 

 call'd) beyond which there was no more Country to discover; 

 which being brought to the Test and Tryal, vapours all away 

 in Fume, and empty Sound. 



This Structure then being thus 'Ruinous and razy ; 'tis 

 obvious what they were to do ; even the same which skilful 

 Architects do every day before us ; by pulling down the 

 decay'd and sinking Wall to erect a better, and more 



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