ct, this is a dispute merely about words, and as the extension of
the art of printing puts it in the power of every man to propose and
to defend his opinions at length, and at leisure, the best friends may
support different sides of a question with mutual regard, and the most
violent enemies with civility and decorum. Can we believe that Tycho
Brahe lost half his nose in a dispute with a Danish nobleman about a
mathematical demonstration?

FOOTNOTES:

[19] Plutarch.--Life of Dion.

[20] V. Rivuletta, a little story written _entirely_ by her in 1786.

CHAPTER XVII.

ON MECHANICS.

Parents are anxious that children should be conversant with Mechanics,
and with what are called the Mechanic Powers. Certainly no species of
knowledge is better suited to the taste and capacity of youth, and yet
it seldom forms a part of early instruction. Every body talks of the
lever, the wedge, and the pulley, but most people perceive, that the
notions which they have of their respective uses, are unsatisfactory,
and indistinct; and many endeavour, at a late period of life, to
acquire a scientific and exact knowledge of the effects that are
produced by implements which are in every body's hands, or that are
absolutely necessary in the daily occupations of mankind.

An itinerant lecturer seldom fails of having a numerous and attentive
auditory; and if he does not communicate much of that knowledge which
he endeavours to explain, it is not to be attributed either to his
want of skill, or to the insufficiency of his apparatus, but to the
novelty of the terms which he is obliged to use. Ignorance of the
language in which any science is taught, is an insuperable bar to its
being suddenly acquired; besides a precise knowledge of the meaning of
terms, we must have an instantaneous idea excited in our minds
whenever they are repeated; and, as this can be acquired only by
practice, it is impossible that philosophical lectures can be of much
service to those who are not familiarly acquainted with the technical
language in which they are delivered; and yet there is scarcely any
subject of human inquiry more obvious to the understanding, than the
laws of mechanics. Only a small portion of geometry is necessary to
the learner, if he even wishes to become master of the more difficult
problems which are usually contained in a course of lectures, and most
of what is practically useful, may be acquired by any person who is
expert in common a