492 D'ALEMBERT. 



by the smallest addition at each step, every one being as 

 easily taken after the one before as the first step of all was, 

 and yet the result being something not only far from self- 

 evident, but so general and strange, that you can hardly 

 believe it to be true, and are only convinced of it by going 

 over the whole reasoning this operation of the understand- 

 ing, to those who so exercise themselves, always affords the 

 highest delight. The contemplation of experimental inquiries, 

 and the examination of reasoning founded upon the facts 

 which our experiments and observations disclose, is another 

 fruitful source of enjoyment, and no other means can be de- 

 vised for either imprinting the results upon our memory, or 

 enabling us really to enjoy the whole pleasures of science. 



One of the most delightful treats which science affords us 

 is the knowledge of the extraordinary powers with which the 

 human mind is endowed. No man, until he has studied 

 philosophy, can have a just idea of the great things for which 

 Providence has fitted his understanding the extraordinary 

 disproportion which there is between his natural strength, 

 and the powers of his mind and the force he derives from 

 them. When we survey the marvellous truths of astronomy, 

 we are first of all lost in the feeling of immense space, and of 

 the comparative insignificance of this globe and its inhabitants. 

 But there soon arises a sense of gratification and of new 

 wonder at perceiving how so insignificant a creature has been 

 able to reach such a knowledge of the unbounded system of 

 the universe to penetrate, as it were, through all space, and 

 become familiar with the laws of nature at distances so enor- 

 mous as baffle our imagination to be able to say, not merely 

 that the sun has 329,630 times the quantity of matter which 

 our globe has, Jupiter 308^, and Saturn 93^ times; but that 

 a pound of lead weighs at the sun 22 Ibs. 15 ozs. 16 dwts. 

 8 grs. and f of a grain at Jupiter 2 Ibs. 1 oz. 19 dwts. 

 1 gr. f % and at Saturn 1 Ib. 3 ozs. 8 dwts. 20 grs. ^ part of 

 a grain ! And what is far more wonderful, to discover the 

 laws by which the whole of this vast system is held together 

 and maintained through countless ages in perfect security and 

 order. It is surely no mean reward of our labour to become 

 acquainted with the prodigious genius of those who have 



