ILLUSTRATED BY ANECDOTES.
Introduction. Newton; Galileo; Torricelli; Pascal; Prince Rupert ; Montgolfier; Self-education.
WE are about to select from the records of Philosophy, Literature, and Art, in all ages and countries, a body of examples, to shew how the most unpropitious circumstances have been unable to conquer an ardent desire for the acquisition of knowledge. Every man has difficulties to encounter in this pursuit; and therefore every man is interested in learning what are the real hindrances which have opposed themselves to the progress of some of the most distinguished persons, and how those obstacles have been surmounted.
The Love of Knowledge will of itself do a great deal towards its acquisition; and if it exist with that force and constancy which it exhibits in the characters of all truly great men, it will induce that ardent, but humble spirit of observation and inquiry, without which there can be no success. Sir ISAAC NEWTON, of all men that ever lived, is the one who has most extended the territory of human knowledge; and he used to speak of himself as having