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by which the earth and the universe, matter and mind are 

 so wonderfully governed — but because this extraordinary 

 gift, which I am ahnost tempted to call divine, even while 

 1 am proving it to be human, opens at once the doors of 

 knowledge to all mankind: — roots up the labyrinths of dark- 

 ness that surrounded every temple of science; and admits, 

 not the philosopher, and the legislator only ; but the citizen, 

 the mechanic, the rustic, and the labourer — nay the Avhole 

 mass of society, civilised or dawning into civilisation, within, 

 those portals, from which, without its simple but powerful- 

 assistance, it must have been helplessly and hopelessly ex- 

 cluded. 



How little did the original inventor conceive the inher- 

 ent powers of his invention, destined to be one day multi- 

 plied ten thousand fold, by the less profound, but no 

 less important, discovery of Printing. — Little did he imagine 

 that he had set a force in operation, which was to overturn 

 ignorance and barbarism in every class of society, and we 

 may venture to predict, in every horde of the speciesj, how- 

 ever at present degraded, and pour over the surface of the 

 globe in irresistible streams, the blessings of knowledge,, 

 liberty, and happiness. 



But let us turn from the sublime effects to the lowly in- 

 strument and unconscious prime-mover. Let us endeav- 

 our to analyse the process, by Avhich a human being might 

 have contrived an arrangement, which collectivel}' regarded,, 

 might not unreasonably be deemed beyond the reach of hu- 

 man ingenuity, yet when elucidated by ,the analysis which 

 shall be immediately explained, the invention, it is believed,.. 



