PLEASURES CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. 



47 



withdrawn, and when sensual gratifications can 

 afford no delight; they affurd solace in the 

 hours of retirement from the bustle of business, 

 and consolation amidst the calamities and afflic 

 tions to which humanity is exposed ; and the 

 more we acquire a relish for such pleasures, the 

 better shall we be prepared for associating with 

 intelligences of a higher order in the future 

 * world. 



Before proceeding to the more particular il 

 lustration of this topic, let us consider the state 

 and the enjoyments of the man whose mind is 

 shrouded in ignorance. He grows up to man 

 hood like a vegetable, or like one of the lower 

 animals that are fed and nourished for the 

 slaughter. He exerts his physical powers, be 

 cause such exertion is necessary for his sub 

 sistence ; were it otherwise, we should most 

 frequently find him dozing over the fire, or 

 basking in the sun, with a gaze as dull and stu 

 pid as his ox, regardless of every thing but the 

 gratification of his appetites. He has perhaps 

 been taught the art of reading, but has never 

 applied it to the acquisition of knowledge. His 

 ?iews are chiefly confined to the objects imme 

 diately around him, and to the daily avocations 

 in which he is employed. His knowledge of 

 society is circumscribed within the limits of his 

 parish, and his views of the world in which he 

 dwells are confined within the range of the 

 country in which he resides, or of the blue hills 

 which skirt his horizon. Of the aspects of the 

 globe in other countries of the various tribes 

 with which they are peopled of the seas and 

 rivers, continents and islands which diversify 

 the landscape of the earth of the numerous 

 orders of animated beings which people the 

 ocean, the atmosphere and the land, of the re 

 volutions of nations, and the events which have 

 taken place in the history of the world, he has 

 almost as little conception as the animals that 

 range the forest, or bound through the lawns. 

 In regard to the boundless regions that lie be 

 yond him in the firmament, and the bodies that 

 roll there in magnificent grandeur, he has the 

 most confused and inaccurate ideas ; and he 

 seldom trounle-s himself with inquiries in relation 

 to such subjects. Whether the stars be great 

 or small, whether they be near us or at a dis 

 tance, or whether they move or stand still, is to 

 him a matter of trivial importance. If the sun 

 give him light by day, and the moon by night, 

 and the clouds distil their watery treasures upon 

 his parched fields, he is contented, and leaves all 

 such inquiries and investigations to those who 

 have little else to engage their attention. He 

 views the canopy of heaven as merely a ceiling 

 to our earthly habitation, and the starry orbs as 

 only so many lumino;is studs or tapers to diver 

 sify its aspect, and to afford a glimmering light 

 to the benighted traveller. Of the discoveries 

 which have been made in the physical sciences 

 4 



in ages past, of the wonders of creation which 

 they have unfolded to view, of the instruments 

 which have been invented for exploring the uni 

 verse, and of the improvements which are now 

 going forward in every department of science 

 and art, and the prospects they are opening to 

 our view, he is almost as entirely ignorant as if 

 he had been fixed under the frozen pole, or 

 chained to the surface of a distant planet. He 

 considers learning as consisting chiefly in the 

 knowledge of grammar, Greek and Latin ; and 

 philosophy and astronomy, as the arts of telling 

 fortunes and predicting the state of the wea 

 ther ; and experimental chymistry, as allied to 

 the arts of rnagic and necromancy. He has no 

 idea of the manner in which the understanding 

 may be enlightened and expanded, he has no re 

 lish for intellectual pursuits, and no conception 

 of the pleasures they afford, and he sets no 

 value on knowledge but in so far as it may tend 

 to increase his riches and his sensual gratifica 

 tions. He has no desire for making improve 

 ments in his trade or domestic arrangements, 

 and gives no countenance to those useful in 

 ventions and public improvements which are 

 devised by others. He sets himself against 

 every innovation, whether religious, political, 

 mechanical, or agricultural, and is determined 

 to abide by the &quot; good old customs&quot; of his fore 

 fathers, however irrational and absurd. Were 

 it dependent upon him, the moral world would 

 stand still as the material world was supposed to 

 do in&quot; former times ; all useful inventions and 

 improvements would cease, existing evils would 

 never be remedied, ignorance and superstition 

 would universally prevail, the human mind would 

 be arrested in its progress to perfection, and man 

 would never arrive at the true dignity of his in 

 tellectual nature. 



It is evident that such an individual, (and the 

 world contains thousands and millions of such 

 characters) can never have his mind elevated 

 to those sublime objects and contemplations 

 which enrapture the man of science, nor feel 

 those pure and exquisite pleasures which culti 

 vated minds so frequently experience ; nor can 

 he form those lofty and expansive ideas of the 

 Deity which the grandeur and magnificence of 

 his works are calculated to inspire. He is left 

 as a prey to all those foolish notions and vain 

 alarms which are engendered by ignorance and 

 suoerstition ; and he swallows, without the least 

 hesitation, all the absurdities and childish tales 

 respecting witches, hobgoblins, spectres and ap 

 paritions, which have been handed down to him 

 by his forefathers in former generations. And 

 while he thus gorges his mind with fooleries and 

 absurdities, he spurns at the discoveries of sci 

 ence as impositions on the credulity of mankind, 

 and contrary to reason and common sense. That 

 the sun is a million of times larger than the 

 earth, that light flies from his body at the rav 



