278 



PLEASURES AND ADVANTAGES OF 



perceive that great part of their industry has been 

 directed to the promotion of universal happiness, 

 that they have endeavoured honestly and zealously 

 to point out the means by which certain animals, 

 plants, or minerals might be advantageously em- 

 ployed in commerce, and contribute towards the 

 health, convenience and welfare of mankind at large, 

 or of one nation in particular ; that they have sought 

 with the utmost diligence and philanthropy to inform 

 themselves of the medicinal qualities of bodies before 

 neglected or unknown, and have lost no opportunity 

 collect a knowledge of the poisonous properties of 

 others ; that with a few exceptions they have striven 

 with their utmost power to direct men's minds in 

 the paths of science, industry, and virtue; that it 

 has been their care to demonstrate the advantages of 

 knowledge of every and any kind, to every and any 

 person, and that they have availed themselves with 

 alacrity of every occasion on which they could ad- 

 duce evidence of the wisdom, power, and goodness 

 of the God of Nature. In this manner have they 

 built for themselves an immortal monument, and by 

 forwarding the interests, and well-beiug of their 

 fellow mortals, and especially the wealth, and pros- 

 perity of their own countrymen, by placing in the 

 hands of scientific surgeons the means of dispelling 

 or alleviating human suffering, by making men gen- 

 erally aware of the noxious, and deadly qualities of 

 some subtances, or of the healthful, and nutritious 

 qualities of others ; and lastly, by directing us to 

 the acquisition of mental happiness in this, and in a 

 future world, have they recommended their actions 

 to their own approving consciences, to the admiration 

 and respect of their cotemporary men, and to the 

 grateful recollections of posterity. 



We have said nothing but what we can most 

 amply prove ; but if we were to select instances they 

 might be invidious ; and to recite every case of this^^i 

 kind would fill volumes, we will do no more than^f^ 

 request those who ure sceptical in the matter to ask 



