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Matters where Miſtakes are unavoidable) whether by his own or others Obſervation. With how many hundred Errors did the Species Plantarum make its firſt Appearance; how many of them have been rectified; and how many yet remain to be ſet right? Yet no one, ever blamed Linnæus for his firſt Conjectures; nor has the World ſeen any other Book of Science of equal Value.
Such Errors are the Children of imperfect Information; and muſt be found in all who attempt to write for general Utility.
Let others therefore freely repeat theſe my Experiments, and add more of their own; and with an honeſt Freedom tell the Reſult of all: My ſingle Attention can only make a few Experiments, where true Knowledge demands a thouſand: But the Reſult of different Trials will bring forth Truth.
It never was more needed in Philoſophy than in the Part before us; for with all the Plauſibility of Syſtem, we cannot but perceive, upon, this free and fair Enquiry, that the Student in Foſſils has yet to work upon a Chaos: And that the Paths into a better Light, are ſtopped and cloſed up utterly: Not by Ignorance; but what is much worſe, by authenticated Error; authenticated even by greateſt Names. We muſt unwind this Charm, if ever we hope to gain the right Clue to lead us thro' the Labyrinth of Nature: We.mutt break the fated Taliſman; and all the ſeemingly impregnable
