256 PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



implies, and produces, in writers and readers, an 

 obscure and inadequate apprehension of the full 

 meaning of the doctrines thus collected ; supposing 

 there be among them any which really possess 

 such a clearness, solidity, and reality, as to make 

 them important in the history of science. Such 

 diversities of opinion convey no truth; such a 

 multiplicity of statements of what has been said, 

 in no degree teaches us what is ; such accumula- 

 tions of indistinct notions, however vast and varied, 

 do not make up one distinct idea. On the contrary, 

 the habit of dwelling upon the verbal expressions 

 of the views of other persons, and of being content 

 with such an apprehension of doctrines as a tran- 

 sient notice can give us, is fatal to firm and clear 

 thought : it indicates wavering and feeble concep- 

 tions, which are inconsistent with sound physical 

 speculation. 



We may, therefore, consider the prevalence of 

 Collections of the kind just referred to, as indicating 

 a deficiency of philosophical talent in the ages now 

 under review. As evidence of the same character, 

 we may add the long train of publishers of Abstracts, 

 Epitomes, Bibliographical Notices, and similar wri- 

 ters. All such writers are worthless for all purposes 

 of science, and their labours may be considered as 

 dead works; they have in them no principle of 

 philosophical vitality; they draw their origin and 

 nutriment from the death of true physical know- 

 ledge ; and resemble the swarms of insects that are 



