difficult. There can be nothing done till you have got rid of the Quantity ab. In order to this the Notion of Fluxions is ſhifted: It is placed in various Lights: Points which ſhould be clear as firſt Principles are puzzled' and Terms which ſhould be ſteadily uſed are ambiguous. But notwithſtanding all this addreſs and skill the point of getting rid of ab cannot be obtained by legitimate reaſoning. If a Man by Methods, not geometrical or demonſtrative, ſhall have ſatisfied himſelf of the uſefulneſs of certain Rules; which he afterwards ſhall propoſe to his Diſciples for undoubted Truths; which he undertakes to demonſtrate in a ſubtile manner, and by the help of nice and intricate Notions; it is not hard to conceive that ſuch his Diſciples may, to ſave themſelves the trouble of thinking, be inclined to confound the uſefulneſs of a Rule with the certainty of a Truth, and accept the one for the other; eſpecially if they are Men accuſtomed rather to compute than to think; earneſt rather to go on faſt and far, than ſolicitous to ſet out warily and ſee their way diſtinctly.
