264 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [YoL.LIII 



Extract, ' ' and we conclude the survey of this man of the 

 past still using the words of the past: 



the Greatness and Extent of his natural and acquired Parts, and more 

 than common, if not wonderful Sagacity, in diving into the most hidden 

 Secrets of Nature, and in contriving proper Methods of forcing her to 

 confess the Truth, by d.-iving and pursuing the Proteus thro' all her 

 Changes, to her last and utmost Recesses; so that what Ovid said of 

 PyOiagoras may not untlttly be apply'd to him. 



Mente Beos adiit, et quae Natura negavit 

 Visibus humanis, oculis ea Pectoris hausit. 

 There needs no other Proof for this than the great number of Experi- 

 ments he made, with the Contrivances for them, amounting to some 



numerous, his admirable Facility and Clearness, in explaining the Phae- 

 nomena of Nature, and demonstrating his Assertions; his happy Talent 

 in adapting Theories to the Phaenomena obsei-v'd, and contriving easy 



those Theories; proceeding from Observations to Theories, and from 

 Theories to farther trials, which he often asserted to be the most proper 

 method to succeed in the interpretation of Nature. For these, his happy 

 Qualifications, he was much respected by the most learned Philosophers 



reckon'd among the great Men of the last Age, so had he been free 

 from them, possibly, he might have stood in the Front. But hurmnum 



* Waller, op. cit. 



