of Mathematical Learning. 



The different views of Humane Underftand- 

 ing are almoft infinite ; and Nature is really Co. 

 So that we may every day expeft fbme Difco- 

 veries, either in Mathematicks or Natural Phi- 

 lofophy, which {hall be of a new fort of Utility or 

 Curiofity. Make a Collection of all the diffe- 

 rent Advantages which the Mathematicks afford- 

 ed a Hundred Years ago, and you'll find no* 

 thing to be compared to the Perfpe6tive Glafles 

 they have furnifh'd fince that time, and which ■ 

 are a new Organ to the Sight, and cou'd not be 

 expected from Art. How fiirpriz'd had the An- 

 cients been, if they had been told that their Po- 

 fterity, by the help of fbme Inftruments, fhou'd 

 one day fee a vaft number of Objects which they 

 did not fee; a Heaven that was unknown to 

 them ; and Plants and Animals they did not even 

 (ufpecT: it was poffible to exift. Naturalifts had al- 

 ready a great many curiousExperiments; but with- 

 in about half a Century, the Air-Pump hath pro- 

 duced a prodigious quantity of them wholly new, 

 and which by (hewing Bodies in a Space void of 

 Air, (hews them as tranfported in a World dif- 

 ferent from ours, where they undergo Alterations 

 whereof we had no Notion. The Excellency of 

 Geometrical Methods, which are every day in- 

 vented and improv'd, may perhaps at la ft ex- 

 hauft Geometry ; that is, The Art of ma- 

 king Geometrical Difcoveries, and that is all : 

 Whereas Natural Philofbphy, which contemplates 

 an Object of an unlimited Variety, and Fecundity, 

 (hall always find room for new Obfervations, and 

 opportunities to increafe its vaft Stock, and (hall 

 have the Advantage of never being a compleac 

 Science. 



There 



