LECTURE I. 9 



dice which some have entertained against 

 the term. 



The greatest philosophers were, through 

 the whole course of their enquiries and de- 

 monstrations, theorists. Theorizing, ac- 

 cording to my conception of the word, 

 means nothing more than thinking correctly, 

 in a concatenated manner, and in con- 

 formity to rules which I shall presently have 

 occasion to notice. It is scarcely necessary 

 for me to assert that this kind of thinking is 

 useful, and promotive 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 to perceive that the operation of the 

 same causes might perpetuate the regular 

 motions of the planetary system ? Why do 

 we note facts with accuracy, or collect them 

 with diligence ? why do we interrogate na- 

 ture by experiment ? Is it not because we 

 wish to prove some of our own opinions to 

 be true, or the opposing opinions of others 

 to be false ? or, because we wish to enlarge 



