206 Dr. Spurgin's Ouili?ies of a Philosophical 



unless all the facts which can be brought to bear upon it 

 unite their suffrages in its favour; that is, unless the final 

 conclusions are connected with and confirmed by the mediate 

 links, throughout their whole progression. To me it appears 

 that there is no other possible way for an edifice to be con- 

 structed, or for a system of philosophy to be formed, which 

 posterity shall acknowledge, on the superadded testimony of 

 thousands of new experimental discoveries, to rest on a solid 

 foundation, and it shall no longer be necessary for every age 

 to be perpetually erecting new structures on the ruins of the 

 former. 



If a time shall ever arrive when the human mind will be en- 

 abled to deduce an entire series of conclusions from the facts 

 and general expei'ience with which it can be furnished, so as 

 to build up a more harmonious and consistent philosophy 

 than we at present enjoy ; the facts themselves and our ge- 

 neral experience must be of that definite and indisputable kind 

 that will impress on our minds a conviction of their immuta- 

 bility. To such a state of things are we undoubtedly ad- 

 vancmg; but it is impossible to say how remote we are from 

 this state at present. Every science requires of its cultivators a 

 rejection of hjpothesis and an attainment of certainty, to such 

 a degree almost as to admit of calculation : in no instance is 

 this more apparent than in chemistry. Consequently we may 

 with justice aver, that we are advancing to a period when the 

 human mind will be enabled to philosophize more consistently 

 and harmoniously than heretofore; more especially as we have 

 good reasons for supposing that the human mind, regarded in 

 itself and as to the complex of its astonishing faculties, is as 

 perfect in one age as in another ; is as capable of instruction 

 at the infancy of a state as at its maturity : the only requisites 

 being, good materials for its development, and well-established 

 facts as things upon which it can be exercised ; — it being in this 

 respect exactly similar to the human body, which is as perfect 

 at this day as it was ages ago ; as capable of imbibing nou- 

 rishment in the peasant as in the piince, — the only requisites 

 being wholesome food for its growth and repair, and active 

 pursuits to preserve it in vigour. An analogy of this kind 

 may also be seen to exist, between the gradual advance of 

 mankind from barbarism to civilization, and the gradual pro- 

 gress of the mind from ignorance to intelligence : for whilst 

 history in recording the one, interests us with the extraordi- 

 nary feats of mighty heroes and conquerors; so do the volumes 

 of literature in containing the other, astonish us with the vast 

 manifestations of mental power exhibited by profound rea- 

 soners and skilful experimenters. 



At no period ol" the world was the human mind so (jiiali- 



fied 



