l66 , ON THE PHILOSOPHY 



dence is, on this occasion, of no moment whatever, 

 and as many new facts on the subject of Asiatic Phi- 

 losophy are fresh in my remembrance, I propose to 

 address you now on the sciences of Asia* reserving 

 for our next annual meeting a disquisition concerning 

 those fine arts which have immemorially been culti- 

 vated, with different success, and in very different 

 modes, within the circle of our common inquiries. 



By science I mean an assemblage of transcendental 

 propositions discoverable by human reason, and re- 

 ducible to first principles, axioms, or maxims, from 

 which they may all be derived in a regular succession ; 

 and there are consequently as many sciences as there 

 are general objects of our intellectual powers. When 

 man first exerts those powers, his objects are himself 

 and the rest of nature. Himself he perceives to be 

 composed of hody and mind; and in his individual ca- 

 pacity he reasons on the uses of his animal frame and 

 of its parts, both exterior and internal ; on the dis- 

 orders impeding the regular functions of those parts, 

 and on the most probable methods of preventing 

 those disorders, or of removing them ; he soon feels 

 the close connexion between his corporeal and men- 

 tal faculties ; and when his mind is reflected on itself, 

 lie discourses on its essence and its operations : in his 

 social character, he analyzes his various, duties and 

 rights, both private and public; and in the leisure 

 which the fullest discharge of those duties always ad- 

 mits, his intellect is directed to nature at large, tq 

 the substance of natural bodies, to their several pre- 

 fer tieSi 



