busy Lives. The Belief of this has always made a wide Divorce between Men of Knowledge and Action; while both have thought, that they must either be wholly Scholars, or wholly Men of Business; and that an Excellence in both these Courses can never be obtain'd by human Wit. 'Tis true indeed, there is no Knowledge or Science that can be acquitted from being too large, if their Professors have not the Discretion to know how far to proceed, and what Moderation is to be us'd in every Study. There is in the least Art enough Matter, about which if Men shall resolve to trouble their Brains all their Lives, one Question and Difficulty will perpetually beget another, and so (as one of the Ancients says) Ipsa tractatio, & quæstio quotidiè ex se gignet aliquid, quod cum desidiosâ delectatione vestiges.
To this Danger perhaps Experiments may seem most expos'd, by reason of the infinite multitude of particulars, and innumerable variations of Inquiries, that may be made. But the Royal Society has prevented this Mischief, by the Number and Succession of those that shall undertake the Work. They require not the whole time of any of their Members, except only of their Curators: From the rest they expect no more but what their Business, nay even their very Recreations can spare. It is the Continuance and Perpetuity of such Philosophical Labours, to which they principally trust; which will both allow a sufficient Relaxation to all the particular Labourers, and will also give good assurance of the happy Issue of their Work at the last: For though that be true, which the Great Physician laments, That Art is long, and Life is short; yet many Lives of studious and industrious Men in one Age, and the Succession of many Lives of such Men in all
