14- IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN 



whole of Nature, for the sake of MAN. But if Man be 

 the Lord of the Creation, it is manifestly important that he 

 should have some knowledge of the beings subject to his au- 

 thority. It is the province of the Physical Sciences to impart 

 this knowledge. An acquaintance with the forms exhibited by 

 the objects of nature, with the substances of which they con- 

 sist, and the mutual action of these latter on each other, and 

 with the indefinite variety also of those objects, which constitutes 

 each of the three kingdoms of nature, imparts a peculiar spe- 

 cies of precision and firmness to the deductions of the intellect ; 

 distinct and very different from that which is communicated 

 by the abstract Mathematical consideration of form and quan- 

 tity, in the study of Arithmetic, the higher species of Calculus, 

 and Geometry, but not less important, I am disposed to urge, 

 as an element of a rightly-constituted mind. The under- 

 standing which has by this means received instruction, in the 

 properties of the irresistible force which has been conferred 

 upon many of the powers of nature, will be disposed, from the 

 manifestation of Omnipotent Wisdom they display, more 

 readily to entertain an intelligent belief in the miraculous 

 exertions of the same Power recorded in the Sacred Scrip- 

 tures ; and reciprocally, the mind thus instructed in the laws 

 of nature, will learn at the same time not to confound the ope- 

 ration of these, in the constant succession of natural phseno- 

 mena, with miraculous or supernatural interposition; and 

 will be preserved, by such discrimination, from the inroads 

 of superstition. 



With respect also to the importance of Scientific knowledge 

 as a means of improving the arts and manufactures, when pos- 

 sessed by those who are engaged in such pursuits, it is scarcely 

 necessary, at the present time, to make many observations. 

 Since the greater number of the useful arts depend for their 

 success either on the application of certain powers of nature 

 to the substances manufactured, or more immediately on the 

 properties of those substances, considered in themselves, it is 

 manifest that a correct and definite knowledge of those powers 

 and substances must eminently conduce to success in manu- 

 facturing the latter ; especially when new wants of society 

 require novel applications of material. But it will be useful 

 to state a few examples of the improvements which have 

 been made in certain branches of manufacture and the useful 

 arts, arising, in a direct manner, from scientific knowledge. 



Mr. Watt's inventions for improving the Steam-engine 

 (for this is the only correct term which can be applied to 

 them) have so often been referred to as examples of the 

 value of scientific knowledge in the useful arts, that an allusion 



