Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/8

It was at Alexandria, that persons in general first possessed the ready means of knowing what others knew and thought, by consulting their writings collected in its stupendous library. How different must have been the state of learning and learned men in ancient and in modern times! What surprising changes has the invention of printing produced! An ancient student of any subject of nature or science must have sought for the information which others possessed, by distant visits, to procure the perusal of any work of celebrity, or the conversation of those engaged in the same pursuits. His knowledge, therefore, must chiefly have resulted from his own exertions, and if he deemed it worthy of being recorded for the benefit of others, he knew that it must be communicated to them very gradually and slowly. His fame, as a discoverer, or improver of science, could never spread so as to reverberate to his own ears. His reputation must necessarily be of slow Growth, and therefore his endeavour would be to make it lasting. As he could not compare his knowledge with that of others, lie would strive to make his own perfect,