Page 348 of 734

A corroboration of what I have said is[30] the fact, that the

young come to be geometricians, and mathematicians, and

Scientific in such matters, but it is not thought that a young

man can come to be possessed of Practical Wisdom: now the reason

is, that this Wisdom has for its object particular facts, which

come to be known from experience, which a young man has not

because it is produced only by length of time.

By the way, a person might also enquire,[31] why a boy may be

made a mathematician but not Scientific or a natural philosopher.

Is not this the reason? that mathematics are taken in by the

process of abstraction, but the principles of Science[32] and

natural philosophy must be gained by experiment; and the latter

young men talk of but do not realise, while the nature of the

former is plain and clear.