As for my part, I have obtained my end, if these my small Labours shall be
thought fit to take up some place in the large stock, of _natural
Observations_, which so many hands are busie in providing. If I have
contributed the _meanest foundations_ whereon others may raise nobler
_Superstructures_, I am abundantly satisfied; and all my ambition is, that
I may serve to the great Philosophers of this Age, as the makers and the
grinders of my Glasses did to me; that I may prepare and furnish them with
some _Materials_, which they may afterwards _order_ and _manage_ with
better skill, and to far greater advantage.
The next remedies in this universal cure of the Mind are to be applyed to
the _Memory_, and they are to consist of such Directions as may inform us,
what things are best to be _stor'd up_ for our purpose, and which is the
best way of so _disposing_ them, that they may not only be _kept in
safety_, but ready and convenient, to be at any time _produc'd_ for use, as
occasion shall require. But I will not here prevent my self in what I may
say in another Discourse, wherein I shall make an attempt to propose some
Considerations of the manner of compiling a Natural and Artificial History,
and of so ranging and registring its Particulars into Philosophical Tables,
as may make them most useful for the raising of _Axioms_ and _Theories_.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25