Recapitulation . 417 



swarms of inquirers and experimenters everv 

 where abounding ; the unprecedented degree of 

 intercourse which men of science enjoyed ; and, 

 of consequence, the thorough and speedy investi- 

 gation which every new theory was accustomed 

 to receive, all led to the successive erection and 

 demolition of more ingenious and splendid fabrics 

 than ever previously, within the same compass of 

 time, passed before the view of man. 



The rapid succession of discoveries, hypotheses, 

 theories and systems, while it has served to keep 

 the scientific world more than ever awake and 

 busy, has done mischief by perplexing the mincj 

 with too many objects of attention, and by ren- 

 dering the labour of the student more extensive, 

 difficult, and tedious. If, in the seventeenth cen-r 

 tury, the inquirer had reason to complain, that the 

 shifting aspect of science rendered necessary the 

 most unremitting vigilance, and an endless repe- 

 tition of his toil, this complaint might have been 

 urged with an hundred fold more reason in the 

 eighteenth. The advantages, however, of this state 

 of things may be considered, on the whole, as pre- 

 dominant. The ardour, the competition, and the 

 diligence in the pursuit of knowledge which it 

 has inspired, deserve at once to be recognized as 

 beneficial, and to be noticed as distinguishing 

 characteristics of the age. 



6. The last century is pre-eminently entitled to 

 the character of the age of printing. It is ge- 

 nerally known, that this art is but little more than 

 three centuries old. Among the ancients, the dif- 

 ficulty and expense of multiplying copies of w T orks 

 of reputation were so great, that few made the 

 attempt; and the author who wished to submit 

 his compositions to the public, was under the ne- 

 cessity of reciting them at some favourable meet- 

 ing of the people. The disadvantages attending 

 vol, n. ig 



