hands nor my income, though it were a thousand times larger than it is,
would be sufficient for them all; so that according as henceforward I
shall have the means of making more or fewer experiments, I shall in the
same proportion make greater or less progress in the knowledge of nature.
This was what I had hoped to make known by the treatise I had written, and
so clearly to exhibit the advantage that would thence accrue to the public,
as to induce all who have the common good of man at heart, that is, all who
are virtuous in truth, and not merely in appearance, or according to opinion,
as well to communicate to me the experiments they had already made, as to
assist me in those that remain to be made.

But since that time other reasons have occurred to me, by which I have
been led to change my opinion, and to think that I ought indeed to go on
committing to writing all the results which I deemed of any moment, as
soon as I should have tested their truth, and to bestow the same care upon
them as I would have done had it been my design to publish them. This
course commended itself to me, as well because I thus afforded myself more
ample inducement to examine them thoroughly, for doubtless that is always
more narrowly scrutinized which we believe will be read by many, than that
which is written merely for our private use (and frequently what has
seemed to me true when I first conceived it, has appeared false when I
have set about committing it to writing), as because I thus lost no
opportunity of advancing the interests of the public, as far as in me lay,
and since thus likewise, if my writings possess any value, those into
whose hands they may fall after my death may be able to put them to what
use they deem proper. But I resolved by no means to consent to their
publication during my lifetime, lest either the oppositions or the
controversies to which they might give rise, or even the reputation, such
as it might be, which they would acquire for me, should be any occasion of
my losing the time that I had set apart for my own improvement. For though