46 Lord Brougham’s Address on the Inauguration of a 
some admirable contrivances, now forgotten, before he made the | 
step which created the steam-engine anew—not only the parallel — 
motion, possibly a corollary to the proposition on circular motion — 
in the Principia, but the separate condensation, and above all, — 
the governor, perhaps the most exquisite gf mechanical inven- — 
tions; and now we have those here present who apply the like | 
principle to the diffusion of knowledge, aware, as they must 
that its expansion has the same happy effect, naturally prevent- 
ing mischief from its excess which the skill of the great mechan- — 
ist gave artificially to steam, thus rendering his engine as safe as _ 
it is powerful. a 
e grand difference, then, between one discovery or inven- 
tion and another is in degree rather than in kind; the degree in 
which a person, while he outstrips those whom he comes after, 
also lives, as it were, before his age. Nor can any doubt exist — 
that, in this respect, Newton stands at the head of all who have 
extended the bounds of knowledge. The sciences of dynamics 
and of optics are especially to be regarded in this point of view, — 
but the former in particular; and the completeness of the system — 
which he unfolded, its having been at the first elaborated and — 
given in perfection, its having, however new, stood the test of | 
time, and survived, nay, gained by, the most rigorous scrutiny, — 
can be predicated of this system alone, at least in its high de — 
gree. ‘l'hat the calculus, and those parts of dynamics which are — 
purely mathematical, should thus endure for ever is a matter of | 
course. But his system of the universe rests partly upon con- 
tingent truths, and might have yielded to new experiments and 
more extended observation. Nay, at times it has been thought ~ 
to fail, and further investigation was deemed requisite to ascer- 
tain if any error had been introduced—if any circumstance had | 
the notice of the great founder. The most memorable — 
cation, except the negative positions, the subversion of the sy 
tem of Stahl! The substance having most eminently the p: 
* 
instance of this kind is the discre pposed to have been — 
