The defects of Descartes lie rather in his apparently imperfect apprehension of the principle of movements uniformly accelerated which his contemporary Galileo had illustrated and insisted upon, and in the indistinctness which attaches to his views of the transmission of motion in cases of impact.
Defects in their arguments have been exposed to view by those who are most concerned to defend their reputation.
There were moreover special local causes such as undoubted defects in the Natal administration.'
The town of Bourke, lying on the upper Darling, may be taken as an example of many of the interior districts, and illustrates peculiarly well the defects as well as the excellencies of the climate of the whole region.
Daru, in his history of Venice, mentions fourteen between the years 1207 and 1365, the most important being that of 1361-1364, - a revolt not of the natives against the rule of their Venetian masters, but of the Venetian colonists against the republic. But with all its defects their administration did much to promote the material prosperity of the country, and to encourage commerce and industry; and it is probable that the island was more prosperous than at any subsequent time.
