258 Literary and Scientific Associations. 



It was before remarked that the publications 

 made by these societies and academies, exhibiting 

 the result of their labours, were more numerous, 

 more valuable, and more generally circulated, 

 during the eighteenth century, than in any former 

 period. They amount to many hundred volumes, 

 and hold an important place among the literary 

 and scientific productions of the age. 



We had occasion to remark, in a former part 

 of this work, that the discoveries in Geography, 

 and the numerous improvements in Navigation, 

 during the last age, had led to a great and unex- 

 ampled increase of the intercourse of men. The 

 same effect has been produced, in modern times, 

 by the formation of so many learned societies, by 

 their great extent, their frequent meetings, their 

 numerous publications, and by their correspon- 

 dence and mutual interchange of literary honours. 

 Never, assuredly, at any former period, were learn- 

 ed men so well acquainted with the labours and 

 the characters of each other, so free and mutually 

 instructive in their intercourse, or enabled so far 

 to combine their talents and industry in the pursuit 

 of important investigations. 



But this is by no means the only advantage of 

 these associations. They may be reckoned among 

 the principal causes of the superiority of the mo- 

 derns over the ancients, especially in the physical 

 sciences. They have kindled a spirit of emulation 

 among the learned; they have stimulated into ac- 

 tion many useful talents, by holding out literary re- 

 wards; and they have suggested objects of inquiry, 

 and methods of experiment, which might other- 

 wise have passed unobserved and forgotten. Such 

 societies, also, have furnished useful repositories 

 for the observations and discoveries of the ingeni- 

 ous, and have thus been enabled to present to the 

 world many valuable productions, which would pro- 



