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 the Wills and Fancies of Men, which are the Foundations of most of the Things that are transacted in the World.

Aving now gone through with the several Parts of Natural History, I am to enquire into the State of Physico-Mathematical and Physical Sciences: Such as Astronomy, Opticks, Musick and Medicks. I put Astronomy first, because of the vast Extent, and real Nobleness of its Subject; and also because it has suffered the least Eclipse of any part of Knowledge whatsoever in the barbarous Times: For when the Greeks neglected it, the Arabs, and from them the Spaniards took it up. That this Enquiry might be the more exactly made, and that you might be throughly convinced of the Truth in this Matter, to which chiefly our Obligation lies, Mr. Edmond Halley, whose Labours towards the Advancement of this Science, have made him famous in so many distant Parts of the World, did me