36 



ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



departments of human knowledge ; nay, some 

 times thev appeared to have taken a reirograde 

 course. During the dark ages, when the hu 

 man mind, fettered by papal tyranny and super 

 stition, and absorbed in sensual gratifications, 

 seldom made excursions into the regions of sci 

 ence, no useful discoveries were brought to 

 light, science was not only at a stand, but the 

 knowledge and improvements of preceding ages 

 were even in danger of being entirely oblite 

 rated. But no sooner had the human intellect 

 burst its fetters, and the number of rational in 

 vestigators begun to increase, no sooner had 

 they formed themselves into regular associ 

 ations for scientific purposes, than Science and 

 Art were aroused from the slumber of ages, 

 and began to move forward towards perfection 

 with accelerated progress. This may easily 

 be traced by those who have attended to the 

 history of science during the last 160 years. 

 About the commencement of this period, the 

 Academy of Sciences at Paris, and the Royal 

 Society of London, were established. These 

 soon gave birth to similar societies in almost 

 every country in Europe ; and there can be no 

 doubt, that the advanced state of knowledge in 

 the present day is chiefly to be attributed to the 

 investigations and discoveries made by the 

 members of those associations, to their joint co 

 operation in the propagation of useful know 

 ledge, and to the stimulus they afforded to intel 

 lectual pursuits. 



Would we then accelerate the march of sci 

 ence far beyond the rate of its past and present 

 progress, would we wish to extend its range 

 far beyond its present boundaries, nothing is so 

 likely to effectuate this end, as an increase of 

 the number of scientific experimenters and ob 

 servers. Let a certain portion of rational in 

 formation be imparted to the great mass of man 

 kind, let intellectual acquirements be exhi 

 bited to them as the noblest objects of pursuit, 

 and let them be encouraged to form associations, 

 for the purpose of mutual improvement and sci 

 entific research. By these means their atten 

 tion would oe directed to intellectual improve 

 ment, a taste would be excited for rational in 

 vestigations, which would stimulate them to 

 make farther progress ; they would soon feel an 

 interest in the objects of science ; they would 

 listen with pleasure to the accounts of disco 

 veries which are gradually brought to light 

 throughout the different regions of physical in 

 vestigation ; and would be stimulated, from a 

 laudable ambition of distinguishing themselves 

 as discoverers, as well as from an innate love 

 to the pursuit of knowledge, to observe those 

 facts, to make those researches, and to institute 



tific investigators now existing, twenty thousand 

 were employed in surveying the various locali 

 ties, aspects, and operations of nature, in the 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, on 

 the surface of the earth and the ocean, and in 

 the celestial regions, hundreds of new fact* 

 would, in all probability, be brought to light 

 for one that is now discovered by the present 

 contracted circle of scientific men ; from which 

 new ami important conclusions in the arts and 

 sciences might be deduced. 



Nor let it be objected, that the great bulk oi 

 mankind, particularly the middling and the 

 lower ranks of society, are incapable of making 

 any important discoveries in science. If what 

 we have already stated be correct, they are 

 possessed of all the essential requisites, not only 

 for acquiring the elementary principles of know 

 ledge, but also for penetrating beyond the circle 

 which marks the present boundaries of science. 

 They are all organized in nearly the same man 

 ner, (a few insulated individuals only excepted,) 

 and, consequently, have nearly an equal apti 

 tude for the exercise of conception, judgment, 

 and ratiocination. They have the same organs 

 of sensation, and the same powers of intellect, 

 as persons in the highest ranks of society. 

 The grand scene of the universe is equally open 

 to peasants and mechanics, as to princes and 

 legislators ; and they have the same opportu 

 nities of making observations on the phenomena 

 of nature, and the processes of art, nay, in 

 many instances, their particular situations, and 

 modes of life, afford them peculiar advantages 

 in these respects, which are not enjoyed by per 

 sons of a superior rank. In short, they have 

 the same innate curiosity and taste for relishing 

 such investigations, provided the path of know 

 ledge be smoothed before them, and their at 

 tention thoroughly directed to intellectual ac 

 quisitions. 



Nor, again, should it be objected, that an at 

 tention to such objects, and an exquisite relish 

 for mental enjoyments, would unfit them for trie 

 ordinary duties of active life. Every man, 

 under a well-regulated government, enjoys a 

 certain portion of leisure from the duties of his 

 station, which, in too many instances, is wasted 

 either in listless inaction, or in the pursuits of 

 folly and dissipation. This leisure is all that is 

 requisite for the purpose in view. It would 

 only be requisite that, during its continuance, 

 the train of their thoughts should be directed 

 into a channel which would lead them to more 

 pleasing associations, and more substantial 

 pleasures, than the general current of human 

 thought is calculated to produce. That those 

 who are in the habit of exercising their facultiei 



those experiments, that might have a tendency on rational subjects are thereby^rendered moro 



to enlarge the circle of human know.__ o _. 

 Were the number of such persons increased but 



unfit for the common business of life, it would 

 be absurd to suppose. He who habitually ex- 



thousand-fold, so that for every twenty scien- ercises his judgment on scientific objects, is 



