Recapitulation. 293 



:suppose, as will be afterward shown, that, in the 

 pliilosophy of the human mind, and especially of 

 human duty, the prevailing character of the age, 

 and particularly of the latter part of it, has been 

 that oi. vain speculation mid fantastic theoiy, rather 

 than of princif)les dictated by sober and enlight- 

 <?ned experience. But in the physical sciences, 

 amid much false theory, such an immense variety 

 and amount of facts and experiments have been 

 laid before the public, as eminently to distinguish 

 the eighteenth from all preceding centuries. 



5. The last age wa.s remarkably distinguished 

 by REVOLUTIONS IN SCIENCE. Theorists v^ere 

 more numerous than in an}^ former period, their 

 i^ystems more diversified, and revolutions followed 

 each other in more rapid succession. In almost 

 every department of science, changes of fashion, 

 of doctrine, and of authority, have trodden so 

 closely on the heels of each other, that merely 

 to remember and enumerate them would be an 

 arduous task. 



The frequency and rapidity of scientific revo- 

 lutions may be accounted for in various ways. 

 The extraordinary diffusion of knowledge ; the 

 swarms of inquirers and experimenters every 

 where abounding J the unprecedented degree of 

 intercourse wliich 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. 



