A Tranjlation of Part of Mon- 

 fteur Fontenelle'^ Preface to 

 the Memoirs of the Royal Acade- 

 my at Paris, in the Tear 1699. 

 treating of the Vfefulnefs of 

 Mathematical Learning. 



U T to what purpofe fhould People become 

 Xj fond of the Mathematicks and Natural Phi-* 

 lofophy. Of what ufe are the Tranfaclions of 

 the Academy ? Thefe are common Queftion , 

 which moft do not barely propofe as Queftions j 

 and ir will not be improper to clear them. 



People very readily call ufelefs, what they do 

 not underftand. It is a fort of Revenge ; and as 

 the Mathematicks and Natural Philofophy are 

 known but by few, they are generally look'd up- 

 on as ufelefs. The reafon of this is , becaufe they 

 are crabbed and not eafily learnt. 



We have a Moon to light us in the Night ; 

 What is it to us, fay they, whether Jupiter hath 

 four ? Why lb many laborious Obfervationr, fa 

 many tedious Calculations to know exactly their 

 Courfe ? They'll not afford us the more Light 

 for it j and Nature, which hath plac'd thefe little 

 Planets without the reach of our Eyes, doth not 

 fecm to have made them for us. According to 

 this plaufible Argument they ought not to have 



beea 



