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have never yielded to that sort of sceptical temptation. But 

 I remember a fact which ought to have given me a lesson, on 

 the danger of hastily rejecting conclusions which have been ma- 

 turely considered by others. A learned Chancellor of Ireland, 

 now no more, assured me often and earnestly, that he gave 

 no faith to the inductions of astronomers respecting the dis- 

 tances and sizes of the sun and moon ; and hinted that he 

 disliked our year, for containing the odd fraction of a day. Yet 

 this was a man, not only of great private worth, but of great 

 intellectual power, and eminent in his profession as in the state. 

 Astronomers and mathematicians, it may be, look sometimes on 

 other inductions with a not less unfounded incredulity. It is one 

 of the advantages of an Academy, so constituted as ours is, that it 

 brings together persons of the most different tastes and the most 

 varied mental habits, and teaches them an intellectual toleration, 

 which may ripen into intellectual comprehension. Thus, while 

 the antiquary catches from the scientific man his ardent desire for 

 progression, and for that clearer light which is future, the man of 

 science imbibes something in return, of the antiquarian reverence 

 for that which remains from the past. The literary man and the 

 antiquary, again, re-act upon each other, through the connexion of 

 the Beautiful and the Old, which in conception are distinct, but in 

 existence are often united. And finally, the scientific man learns 

 elegance of method from the man of literature, and teaches him pre- 

 cision in return. 



Before I leave the subject of Transactions, I may remark that 

 their value, both as stimulants and as assistants to study, must 

 much depend on the rapidity and extent of their circulation, and on 

 the care that is taken to put them as soon as possible into the hands 

 or within the reach of studious men abroad. Reciprocally it is of 

 importance that measures should be taken for obtaining speedy in- 

 formation here of what is doing by such men in other countries. 

 On both these points, some reforms have lately been made, but 

 others still are needed, and will soon be submitted to your Council. 

 On these and all questions of improvement, I rely upon receiving the 

 assistance of all those gentlemen who are in authority among us ; 

 but especially am encouraged by the hope of the cordial co-opera- 



