ments, renders it impossible for individuals to attain the full enjoyment of their rational nature, until they have rendered their fellow men virtuous and happy; and in the truth and power of this principle, the ignorant and the wretched have a better guarantee for being raised in their condition by the efforts of their more fortunate brethren, than in the establishment of poor-laws or other legislative enactments. If all ranks of the people were taught the philosophy which I am now advocating, and if, in so far as it is true, it were enforced by their religious instructers as the will of the Creator communicated to man through his natural institutions, the progress of general improvement would be greatly accelerated. If the notions now advocated shall ever prevail, it will be seen that the experience of past ages affords no sufficient reason for limiting our estimate of man's capabilities of civilization. In the introductory chapter, I mentioned the slow and gradual preparation of the globe for man; and that he appears to be destined to advance only by stages to the highest condition of his moral and intellectual nature. At present he is obviously only in the beginning of his career. Although a knowledge of external nature, and of himself, is indispensable to his advancement to his true station as a rational being, yet four hundred years have not elapsed since the arts of printing and engraving were invented, without which, knowledge could not be disseminated through the mass of mankind; and, up to the present hour, the art of reading is by no means general over the world so that, even now, the means of calling man's rational nature into activity, although discovered, are but very imperfectly applied. It is only five or six centuries since the mariner's compass was known in Europe, without which even philosophers could not ascertain the most common facts regarding the size, form, and productions of the earth. It is but three hundred and forty-seven years since one-half of the habitable globe, America, became known to the other half; and considerable portions of it are - still unknown even to the best informed inquirers. It is little more than two hundred years since the circulation of the blood was discovered; previously to which it was impossible even for physicians to form any correct idea of the uses of many of man's corporeal organs, and of their relations to external nature. Haller, who flourished in the early part and middle of the last century, may be regarded as the founder of human physiology as a science of observation. It is only between forty and fifty years since the true functions of the brain and nervous system were discovered; before which we possessed no adequate means of becoming acquainted with our mental constitution and its adaptation to external circumstances and beings. It is no more than sixty-five years since the study of Chemistry, or of the constituent elements of the globe, was put into a philosophical condition by Dr. Priestley's discovery of oxygen; and hydrogen was discovered so lately as 1766, or seventy-three years ago. Before that time, people in general were comparatively ignorant of the qualities and relations of the most important material agents with which they were surrounded. At present this knowledge is still in its infancy, as will appear from an enumeration of the dates of several other important discoveries. Electricity was discovered in 1728, galvanism in 1794, gas-light about 1798; and steam-boats, steam-looms, and the safety-lamp, in our own day. It is only of late years that the study of Geology has been seriously begun; without which we could not know the past changes in the physical structure of the globe, a matter of much importance as an element in judging of our present position in the world's progress. This science also is still in its infancy. An inconceivable extent of territory remains to be explored, from the examination of which, the most interesting and instructive conclusions will probably present themselves. In astronomy, too, the discoveries of the two Herschels promise to throw additional light on the early history of the globe. The mechanical sciences are at this moment in full play, putting forth vigorous shoots, and giving the strongest indications of youth, and none of decay. The sciences of inorals and of government are still in many respects in a crude condition. In consequence, therefore, of his profound ignorance, man, in all ages, has been directed in his pursuits by the mere impulse of his strongest propensities, formerly to war and conquest, and now to accumulating wealth; without having framed his habits and institutions in conformity with correct and enlightened views of his own nature, and its real interests and wants. Up to the present day, the mass of the people in every nation have remained essentially ignorant, the tools of interested leaders, or the creatures of their own blind impulses, unfavorably situated for the development of their rational nature; and they, constituting the great majority, necessarily influence the condition of the rest. But at last, the arts and sciences seem to be tending towards abridging human labor, so as to force leisure on the mass of the people; while the elements of useful knowledge are so rapidly increasing, the capacity of the operatives for instruction is so generally recognised, and the means of communicating it are so powerful and abundant, that a new era may fairly be considered as having commenced. From the want of a practical philosophy of human nature, multitudes of amiable and talented individuals are at present anxious only for the preservation of the attainments which society possesses, and dread retrogression in the future. If the views now expounded be correct, this race of moralists and politicians will in time become extinct, because progression being the law of our nature, the proper education of the people will render the desire for improvement universal. 10* CHAPTER V. TO WHAT EXTENT ARE THE MISERIES OF MANKIND REFERABLE TO INFRINGEMENT OF THE LAWS OF NATURE? In the present chapter, I propose to inquire into some of the evils that have afflicted the human race; and whether they have proceeded from neglect of laws, benevolent and wise in themselves, and calculated, when observed, to promote the happiness of man; or from a constitution of nature so defective that he cannot supply its imperfections, or so vicious that he can neither rectify nor improve its qualities. The following extract from the journal of John Locke, contains a forcible statement of the principle which I intend to illustrate: Though justice be also a perfection which we must necessarily ascribe to the Supreme Being, yet we cannot suppose the exercise of it should extend farther than his goodness has need of it for the preservation of his creatures in the order and beauty of the state that he has placed each of them in; for since our actions cannot reach unto him, or bring him any profit or damage, the punishments he inflicts on any of his creatures, i. e. the misery or destruction he brings upon them, can be nothing else but to preserve the greater or more considerable part, and so being only for preservation, his justice is nothing but a branch of his goodness, which is fain by severity to restrain the irregular and destructive parts from doing harm.'Lord King's Life of Locke, p. 122. SECTION I. CALAMITIES ARISING FROM INFRINGEMENT OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS. THE proper way of viewing the Creator's institutions, is to look, first, to their uses, and to the advantages that flow from using them aright; and, secondly, to their abuses, and the evils that proceed from this source. In Chapter II., some of the benefits conferred on man by the law of gravitation are enumerated; and I may here advert to some of the evils originating from that law, when human conduct is in opposition to it. For example, men are liable to fall from horses, carriages, stairs, precipices, roofs, chimneys, ladders, and masts, and also to slip in the street-by which accidents life is often suddenly cut short, or rendered miserable from lameness and pain; and the question arises, Is human nature provided with any means of protection against these evils, at all equal to their frequency and extent? The lower animals are equally subject to this law; and the Creator has bestowed on them external senses, nerves, muscles, bones, an instinctive sense of equilibrium, the sense of danger, or cautiousness, and other faculties, to place them in accordance with it. These appear to afford sufficient protection to animals placed in all ordinary circumstances; for we very rarely discover any of them, in their natural condition, killed or mutilated by accidents referrible to gravitation. Where their mode of life exposes them to extraordinary danger from this law, they are provided with additional securities. The monkey, which climbs trees, enjoys great muscular energy in its legs, claws, and tail, far surpassing, in proportion to its gravitating tendency, or its bulk and weight, what is bestowed on the legs and arms of man; so that, by means of them, it springs from branch to branch, in almost complete security against the law in question. The goat, which |