50 DISSERTATION SECOND. [parti. 



in lucent dies extrahat, et longioris aevi diligentia : ad 

 inquisitionem tantorum aetas una non sufficit. Veniet 

 tempus, quo posteri nostri tarn aperta nos nescisse mi- 

 rentur. 1 



It was, however, often the fate of such truths to give way 

 to errour. The comets, which these ancient philosophers 

 had ranked so justly with the stars, were degraded by 

 Aristotle into meteors floating in the earth's atmosphere ; 

 and this was the opinion concerning them which ultimately 

 prevailed. 



But, notwithstanding the above, and a few other splendid 

 conceptions which shine through the obscurity of the an- 

 cient physicks, the system, taken on the whole, was full of 

 errour and inconsistency. Truth and falsehood met almost 

 on terms of equality ; the former separated from its root, 

 experience, found no preference above the latter ; to the lat- 

 ter, in fact, it was generally forced to give way, and the do- 

 minion of errour was finally established. 



One ought to listen, therefore, with caution to the enco- 

 miums sometimes bestowed on the philosophy of those early 

 ages. If these encomiums respected only the talents, the 

 genius, the taste of the great masters of antiquity, we would 

 subscribe to them without any apprehension of going be- 

 yond the truth. But if they extend to the methods of phi- 

 losophizing, and the discoveries actually made, we must be 

 excused for entering our dissent, and exchanging the lan- 

 guage of panegyrick for that of apology. The infancy of 

 science could not be the time when its attainments were 

 the highest ; and, before we suffer ourselves to be guided by 

 the veneration of antiquity, we ought to consider in what 

 real antiquity consists. With regard to the progress of 

 knowledge and improvement, " we are more ancient than 



1 Nat. Quaest. lab. vii. c. 25. 



