488 D'ALEMBERT. 



inquire how and why these things excite our attention, and 

 wherefore the reading about them is a pleasure : the fact is 

 certain ; and it proves clearly that there is a positive enjoy- 

 ment in knowing what we did not know before : and this 



O 



pleasure is greatly increased when the information is such as 

 excites our surprise, wonder, or admiration. Most persons 

 who take delight in reading tales of ghosts, which they know 

 to be false, and feel all the while to be silly in the extreme, 

 are merely gratified, or rather occupied, with the strong 

 emotions of horror excited by the momentary belief, for it 

 can only last an instant. Such reading is a degrading waste 

 of precious time, and has even a bad effect upon the feelings 

 and the judgment.* But true stories of horrid crimes, as 

 murders, and pitiable misfortunes, as shipwrecks, are not 

 much more instructive. It may be better to read these than 

 to sit yawning and idle much better than to sit drinking or 

 gaming, which, when carried to the least excess, are crimes in 

 themselves, and the fruitful parents of many more. But this 

 is nearly as much as can be said for such vain and unprofit- 

 able reading. If it be a pleasure to gratify curiosity, to know 

 what we were ignorant of, to have our feelings of wonder 

 called forth, how pure a delight of this very kind does natural 

 science hold out to its students ! Recollect some of the 

 extraordinary discoveries of mechanical philosophy. How 

 wonderful are the laws that regulate the motions of fluids ! 

 Is there anything in all the idle books of tales and horrors 



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more truly astonishing than the fact, that a few pounds of 

 water may, by mere pressure, without any machinery by 

 merely being placed in a particular way, produce an irresistible 

 force ? What can be more strange, than that an ounce weight 

 should balance hundreds of pounds, by the intervention of a 

 few bars of thin iron? Observe the extraordinary truths 

 which optical science discloses. Can anything surprise us 



* Children's Books have at all times been made upon the pernicious plan 

 of exciting wonder, generally horror, at whatever risk. The folly and 

 misery occasioned by this error it would be difficult to estimate. The time 

 may come when it will be felt and understood. At present the inveterate 

 habits of parents and nurses prevent children from benefiting by the excel- 

 lent lessons of Mrs. Barbauld and Miss Edgeworth. 



