744 Proposals for Forming 



Anxious only to make new discoveries, and to estab- 

 lish his reputation among philosophers, whom he con- 

 siders as the only competent judges of his merit, and 

 whose suffrages alone can bestow that fame which he 

 is ambitious to acquire, he has seldom either leisure or 

 inclination to interest himself in those busy scenes in 

 which the great mass of mankind are employed, and 

 which he is perhaps but too apt to consider as being 

 unworthy of his attention. 



On the other hand, those who are engaged in arts 

 and manufactures are seldom disposed to ask, or even 

 to receive, the advice of men of science, with whom 

 they have no connection, and of whose knowledge they 

 seldom entertain any very high respect. Intent only 

 on acquiring wealth, all their views are confined to that 

 single object; and as their success depends much on 

 their reputation for ingenuity in their different lines 

 of business, as all proposals for introducing improve- 

 ment presuppose some imperfection, such proposals 

 are commonly not only considered by them as offen- 

 sive, and rejected with disdain, but they frequently 

 maintain that no farther improvement in their line of 

 business is possible, except it be perhaps something 

 they pretend to have found out, and of which, in order 

 to enhance the reputation of their goods, they make a 

 great mystery. 



Ingenuity ought certainly to be rewarded. It is 

 what every liberal-minded person would wish ; but it is 

 greatly to be lamented that the progress of real improve- 

 ments should ever be obstructed by the effects of pro- 

 fessional jealousies, or by any other of those selfish 

 passions that are but too apt to influence men engaged 

 in the busy scenes of life. 



