ON THE HISTORY OF MECHANICS. 193 



but if it be hereafter found to have given notoriety to what is useful, and 

 popularity to what is elegant, the purposes of those who established it will 

 not have been frustrated. 



After all that has been effected by the united labours and talents of the 

 philosophers who have been mentioned, and of many more, who, though 

 less fortunate, have yet been highly meritorious, there is still ample oppor- 

 tunity for the employment of genius and industry in following their steps. 

 To suppose that little or nothing remains to be done, betrays a want either 

 of knowledge, or of courage. The experimental researches of some of the 

 greatest philosophers have been very imperfectly conducted, and the most 

 interesting results may be expected from repeating and diversifying them. 

 Whatever advances our neighbours may have made beyond us, in intricate 

 calculations and combinations, we are still able to vie with them, and shall 

 probably long remain so, in the accuracy of our instruments, and in the 

 art of using them with precaution and with success. 



When, however, we contemplate the astonishing magnitude to which a 

 collection of books in any department of science may even at present be 

 extended, and the miscellaneous nature of the works in which many of the 

 most valuable disquisitions have been communicated to the public, together 

 with the natural disposition to indolence, which a high degree of civilisa- 

 tion too frequently encourages, there is the greatest reason to apprehend, 

 that from the continual multiplication of new essays, which are merely 

 repetitions of others that have been forgotten, the sciences will shortly be 

 overwhelmed by their own unwieldy bulk, that the pile will begin to totter 

 under its own weight, and that all the additional matter that we heap on 

 it, will only tend to add to the extent of the basis, without increasing the 

 elevation and dignity of the fabric. Having been impressed, from con- 

 tinued experience, with the truth of this observation, I have employed no 

 small portion of time and labour, in order to obtain an effectual remedy 

 for the evil ; and I trust that, in future, every one who is desirous of en- 

 larging the sphere of our knowledge, with respect to any branch of science, 

 connected with the subject of these Lectures, will find it easy, by consult- 

 ing the authors who will be quoted in my catalogue of references, to collect 

 that previous knowledge of all that has been already done with the same 

 view, which, in justice to himself, he ought to acquire before he enters on 

 the pursuit, or at any rate, in justice to the public, before he calls on the 

 world at large to participate in his improvements and discoveries. 



LECT. XX. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES. 



History of Mechanics. P. Vergilius, De Inventpribus rerum, Basle, 1521. 

 Sprat's History of the Royal Society, 4to, Lond. 1667.x Histoire des Ouvrages des 

 Savans. Journal des Savans, Sep. 1688. Harris, Lexicon Technicum, 3 vols. fol. 

 1704, &c. Pancirollus, History of Memorable Things, 3 vols. 12mo, 1715. Reg- 

 nault, Origine Ancienne de la Physique Nouvelle, 3 vols. Amst. 1735. Goguet, 

 Origine des Lois, des Arts, et des Sciences, 3 vols. 4to, 1755. Mattaire, Mar- 



(chand, Bowyer, Ames, Lemoine, and Lucombe, on the History of Printing. Birch's 

 History of the Royal Society, 4 vols. 4to, 1756. Rollin's History of the Arts and 

 Sciences of the Ancients, 3 vols. 1768. Priestley's Chart of Biography. Diction- 



