Vlll ADVERTISEMENT. 



respectively, during the last thirty years, I ain ap- 

 prehensive that some of the expression si have used, 

 may lead the mathematical reader to regard my allu- 

 sion to MM. Fourier and Poisson, as involving a de- 

 preciation of their contributions to science. This, 

 however, I beg leave, altogether, and in the most dis- 

 tinct manner, to disclaim : nothing can be further 

 from my intentions. The investigations contained 

 in the Thcorie Analytique de la Chaleur of Baron 

 Fourier, and many others by the same analyst, are as 

 far above my depreciation as they are above my praise ; 

 the same character applies to M. Poisson's researches 

 on the mathematical laws of electricity and magnetism, 

 and, with some exceptions, to his investigations of the 

 equilibrium of fluids and the figure of the planets, &c. 

 My meaning, in the passage referred-to, is simply this : 

 that, under the circumstances I have mentioned, the 

 manner in which science has been cultivated, and the 

 branches of science which have been pursued, in this 

 country, during that portion of the century which has 

 elapsed, have proved at least of equal, if not of superior 

 advantage, to the welfare of the human race, to those 

 which have been pursued on the Continent, and that, 

 down to the present time, no just cause for regret has 

 existed, whatever change may now be desirable. And 

 that a change is now not merely desirable, but abso- 

 lutely necessary, to our preserving our just station 

 among the cultivators of universal science, I have 

 distinctly avowed my opinion. 



If, on the other hand, I should have mentioned any 

 of the living cultivators of science to whom I have had 

 occasion to allude, and with some of whom I have the 



