10 



been often proposed as theories and so 

 denominated. That such foolish specu- 

 lations, such Awaking dreams, will mis- 

 lead and deceive us, cannot be doubted ; and 

 hence has arisen the prejudice which some 

 have entertained against the term. 



The greatest philosophers were through 

 the whole course of their enquiries and 

 demonstrations, theorists. Theorizing, ac- 

 cording to my conception of the word, 

 means nothing more than thinking cor- 

 rectly, in a concatenated manner, and in 

 conformity to rules which I shall pre- 

 sently have occasion to notice. It is 

 scarcely necessary for me to assert that 

 this kind of thinking is useful, and promo- 

 tive of Science. For was it not thinking 

 in this manner on the cause of an apple 

 falling from a tree, that led Sir Isaac 

 Newton to ascertain the laws of attrac- 

 tion? was it not thinking thus which led him 



