For the Members of the Assembly having
before their eys so many _fatal_ Instances of the errors and falshoods, in
which the greatest part of mankind has so long wandred, because they rely'd
upon the strength of humane Reason alone, have begun anew to correct all
_Hypotheses_ by sense, as Seamen do their _dead Reckonings_ by _Coelestial
Observations_; and to this purpose it has been their principal indeavour to
_enlarge & strengthen_ the _Senses_ by _Medicine_, and by such _outward
Instruments_ as are proper for their particular works. By this means they
find some reason to suspect, that those effects of Bodies, which have been
commonly attributed to _Qualities_, and those confess'd to be _occult_, are
perform'd by the small _Machines_ of Nature, which are not to be discern'd
without these helps, seeming the meer products of _Motion_, _Figure_, and
_Magnitude_; and that the _Natural Textures_, which some call the _Plastick
faculty_, may be made in _Looms_, which a greater perfection of Opticks may
make discernable by these Glasses; so as now they are no more puzzled about
them, then the vulgar are to conceive, how _Tapestry_ or _flowred Stuffs_
are woven. And the ends of all these Inquiries they intend to be the
_Pleasure_ of Contemplative minds, but above all, the _ease and dispatch_
of the labours of mens hands. They do indeed neglect no opportunity to
bring all the _rare_ things of Remote Countries within the compass of their
knowledge and practice.
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