4 OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 



hoods, and conje&urcs : For in nil crofs ways w 

 feldom arrive at the truth by the fhortcfl path ; 

 nor do we reach it at latt but by many circui- 

 tous wanderings, and after every other read has 

 been tried unfuocefsfully. But, ncverthelds, the 

 view of the errors of the human underfta ,ding 

 is exceedingly ufe ful, and thr caules of them be- 

 ing laid open in the examples of others, the mind 

 is improved ; like a failor, who, from different 

 charts, learns to navigate through dangerous 

 feas, and from the track of former voyagers, to 

 c-fcape the rocks and fhorils around him. Hence 

 then it appears, in what manner the under- 

 ltanding,rcfcued from dark nefs, reflects the light 

 of truth, and refumes its true direction. 



The hiilory of chemillry s properly divided 

 Into the mythologic, the obfcure, and the cer- 

 tain. The firft period exhibits it from its in- 

 fancy, deformed by fictions, until the deftruC- 

 tion of the library of Alexandria by the Arab:. 

 The fecond, though freed in fome meafure 

 from thefc abfurdities, yet is Hill clothed in num- 

 berlcfs enigmas and allegorical exprcilions. 

 The third period commences at the middle ot* 

 the feventeenth century, with the firft eftablilli- 

 rncnt of focicties and academics of fciencc ; of 

 which the wife aflbciates, in many places unit- 

 ing their efforts, determined to purfuc the ilu- 

 dy of Natural Philofophy by obfen-ation and 

 experiments, and candidly to publifh their at- 

 tempts in a general account of their t ran fac- 

 tions. 



