412 THE PRESIDENTS SECOND 



" Newton had flourifhed in ancient Greece, he would 

 " have been worfhipped as a divinity." How zealoufly 

 then would he be adored in Hindu/Ian, if his incom- 

 parable writings could be read and comprehended by 

 the Pandits of Caflimir or Benares ! I have feen a ma- 

 thematical book in Sanfcrit of the higheft antiquity ; 

 but foon perceived, from the diagrams, that it contained 

 only fimple elements. There may, indeed, have been 

 in the favourable atmofphere of Afia, fome diligent ob- 

 fervers of the celeftial bodies ; and fuch observations as 

 are recorded mould indifputably be made publick ; but 

 let us not expecl any new methods, or the analyfis of 

 new curves, from the geometricians of Iran, Turkiflan> 

 or India. Could the works of Archimedes, the Newton, 

 of Sicily, be reftored to their genuine purity by the help 

 of Arabick verfions, we might then have reafon to tri- 

 umph on the fuccefs of our fcientifical inquiries ; or 

 could the fucceffive improvements and various rules of 

 algebra, be traced through Arabian channels, to which 

 Cardan boafted that he had accefs, the modern hiftory 

 of Mathematicks would receive confiderable illuftfation. 



The jurifprudence of the Hindus and Mufelmans will 

 produce more immediate advantage; and if fome ftan- 

 dard law-traBs were accurately tranflated from the 

 Sanfcrit and Arabick, we might hope in time to fee fo 

 complete a Digeft of Indian Laws, that all difputes 

 among the natives might be decided without uncer- 

 tainty, which is, in truth, a difgrace, though fatirically 

 called a. glory, to the forenfick fcience. 



All thefe objects of inquiry mud appear to you, Gen- 

 tlemen, in l'o ftrong a light, that bare intimations of 

 them will be fufHcient: nor is it neceffary to make ufe 

 of emulation as an incentive to an ardent purfuit of 

 them : yet I cannot forbear exprefling a wifh that the 



activity 



