OF NATIONAL ENCOURAGEMENT.

The little encouragement which at all previous periods has been
afforded by the English Government to the authors of useful
discoveries, or of new and valuable inventions, is justified on
the following grounds:

1. The public, who consume the new commodity or profit by the
new invention, are much better judges of its merit than the
government can be.

2. The reward which arises from the sale of the commodity is
usually much larger than that which government would be justified
in bestowing; and it is exactly proportioned to the consumption,
that is, to the want which the public feel for the new article.

It must be admitted that, as general principles, these are
correct: there are, however, exceptions which flow necessarily
from the very reasoning from which they were deduced. Without
entering minutely into these exceptions, it will be sufficient to
show that all abstract truth is entirely excluded from reward
under this system. It is only the application of principles to
common life which can be thus rewarded. A few instances may
perhaps render this position more evident. The principle of the
hydrostatic paradox was known as a speculative truth in the time
of Stevinus; [About the year 1600] and its application to raising
heavy weights has long been stated in elementary treatises on
natural philosophy, as well as constantly exhibited in lectures.
Yet, it may fairly be regarded as a mere abstract principle,