3(>S 



Neioton's Principia. 



A multitude of workers have helped to rear the structure whose 

 foundation stones he laid. Thousands who went before him brought 

 the material to his hands. Descartes' geometry was his school book, 

 Euclid was his delight, and no valued work of ancient mathematical 

 science escaped him. He was the contemporary «>f Halley, Huygens, 

 Flainsteed, Wallis, De l'Hopital and Leibnitz. If he was greater than 



originated in his desire to speedily arrive at useful results. Thus 

 he brought the studies of the past into shape available for human 

 purposes, and by new devices made difficult problems easy to the un- 

 derstanding; and we, of the present age, should seek to devise some 

 equally general and simple methods to bring more into unity and 

 crystalline form the vast accumulations of knowledge collected during 



Whether we may best be able to gather all these observations into 

 proper form by means of a permanent international commission; a 

 world's university, organized into classes and sub-classes for the collec- 



ment of science, and by publication of the revised data in one language— 

 preferably English — is not now for discussion. The assembling of the 

 facts, the literature of science, both ancient and modern, in one lan- 

 guage, is but one step toward the end in view; an important step im- 

 mediately in the direction of that method and system which we seek, 

 but it must be reinforced by the work of capable scientists, men bold 

 in thought, simple in mind and language, and aide in original investi- 



'In whatever manner this great work shall be accomplished let us not 

 lose sight of what should be the only object of science and education; 

 the study of the will of the Creator: the search for his rules in order 

 that we may obey: the sum and essence of all philosophy and inquiry. 



