Page:A Treatise upon the Small-Pox.pdf/22

xviii by correcting his involved Method and removing his Obscurities should set his meaning in a full and clear Light; and particularly should he unriddle his quid divinum in some Distempers, which is as dark and as inexplicable as Aristotle's, ''or his occult Qualities and substantial Forms in lifeless Bodies, What has he done for the Advantage of the present Age, which is so much refined and improved since the Times of that Author, and seeing the Art of Physick is now got out of its Cradle, freed from the Weakness of Infancy, and being grown Adult is possessed of the Schools, and dictates from the Chair? Should any Man compile and publish an accurate Account of the Passage of King Solomon's coasting Fleets from Esiongeber, through the Red Sea to the Ports of Asia, or the East Indies, or of the Manner of the antient Tyrians sailing along the Shores of Africa or Europe, when the Seamen of all Nations were ignorant of the Use of the Load-stone in Navigation, and intended this Performance for the Improvement and Instruction of Modern Sailors, who understanding the Compass since invented, perform their Voyages with more Safety, and in a far shorter Time, would not the World cry out,'' What