Note 5 — ANTICIPATION, &c.
Reading edition
Probably, from supposing the first origin of their connection to have arisen (at least on the part of Dr. Franklyn) from a philosophical rather than a political curiosity. And certainly, no two projectors in Science were ever more strikingly contrasted: the one, like a modern Prometheus, collecting fire from vapour to inflame the terrestrial mass by its pernicious infusion: the other employing his magic plates to freeze its ardour and quench its malignity.—Happy for this country, if these professors had shifted their pursuits! as the former, could his inclinations have been propitious to the peace of mankind, might then have become a powerfull Extinguisher, while the other, however malignant his intentions, must always have been acknowledged an innocent Incendiary.