ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



sublimity, and displays of infinite intelligence 

 arui power, if it is connected with tranquillity of 

 mird, which generally accompanies intellectual 

 pursuits, and with the subjugation of the plea 

 sures of sense to the dictates of reason the en 

 lightened mind must enjoy gratifications as far 

 superior to those of the ignorant, as man is su 

 perior, in station and capacity, to the worms of 

 the dust. 



In order to illustrate this topic a little farther, 

 I shall select a few facts and deductions in rela 

 tion to science which demonstrate the interesting 

 nature and delightful tendency of scientific pur 

 suits. 



Every species of rational information has a 

 tendency to produce pleasing emotions. There 

 is a certain gratification in becoming acquainted 

 with objects and operations of which we were 

 formerly ignorant, and that, too, altogether inde 

 pendent of the practical tendency of such know 

 ledge, of the advantages we may expect to reap 

 from it, or the sensitive enjoyments with which 

 it may be accompanied. A taste for knowledge, 

 a capacity to acquire it, and a pleasure accom 

 panying its acquisition, form a part of the con 

 stitution of every mind. The Creator has im 

 planted in the human mind a principle of curi 

 osity, and annexed a pleasure to its gratification, 

 to excite us to investigations of the wonders of 

 creation he has presented before us, to lead us 

 to just conceptions of his infinite perfections, 

 and of the relation in which we stand to him as 

 the subjects of his government. We all know, 

 with what a lively interest most persons peruse 

 novels and romances, where hair-breadth es 

 capes, mysterious incidents, and tales of wonder 

 are depicted with all the force and beauty of 

 language. But the scenes detailed in such wri 

 tings produce only a momentary enjoyment. 

 Being retraced as only the fictions of a lively 

 imagination, they pass away like a dream or a 

 vision of the night, leaving the understanding 

 bewildered, and destitute of any solid improve 

 ment. In order to improve the intellectual facul 

 ties while we gratify the principle of curiosity, 

 it is nly requisite, that we direct the attention 

 to fa&amp;lt;;is instead of fictions ; and when the real 

 scenes of the universe are presented in an in 

 teresting aspect, they arc calculated to produce 

 emotions of wonder and delight even superior to 

 those excited by the most highly wrought tales 

 of fiction and romance. The following facts 

 and considerations will pc.haps tend to corro 

 borate this, position. 



In the first place, the number of effects produced 

 by a single principle in nature, is calculated to 

 excite emotions of admiration and delight. From 

 the simple principle of gravitation, for instance, 

 proceed all the beauties and sublimities which 

 arise from the meandering rills, the majestic ri 

 vers, and the roaring cataracts it causes the 

 mountains to rest on a solid basis, and confines 



the ocean to its appointed channels retains tli 

 inhabitants of the earth to its surface, and pre 

 vents them from flying off in wild confusion 

 through the voids of space it produces the de 

 scent of the rains and dews, and the alternate 

 flux and reflux of the tides regulates the various 

 movements of all animals forms mechanical 

 powers gives impulsion to numerous machines 

 rolls the moon round the earth, and prevents 

 her from flying off to the distant regions of space 

 extends its influence from the moon to tho 

 earth, from the earth to the moon, and from the 

 sun to the remotest planets, preserving surround 

 ing worlds in their proper courses, and connect 

 ing the solar system with other worlds and sys 

 tems in the remote spaces of the universe. 

 When a stick of sealing wax is rubbed with a 

 piece of flannel, it attracts feathers or small bits 

 of paper ; when a long tube of glass, or a cat s 

 back is rubbed in the dark, they emit flashes of 

 fire, accompanied with a snapping noise. Now 

 is it not delightful to a rational mind to know, 

 that the same principle which causes wax or 

 amber to attract light substances, and glass 

 tubes or cylinders to emit sparks of fire, pro 

 duces the lightnings of heaven, and all the sub 

 lime phenomena which accompany a violent 

 thunder-storm, and, in combination with other 

 agents, produces also the fiery meteor which 

 sweeps through the sky with its luminous train, 

 and the beautiful coruscations of the aurora bo- 

 realis ? There are more than fifty thousand dif 

 ferent species of plants in the vegetable king 

 dom, all differing from one another in their size, 

 structure, flowers, leaves, fruits, mode of propa 

 gation, internal vessels, medicinal virtues, and 

 the odours they exhale. Who would imagine 

 that this immense assemblage of vegetable pro 

 ductions which adorns the surface of the earth 

 in every clime, with such a diversity of forms, 

 fruits and colours, are the result of the combina 

 tion of four or five simple substances variously 

 modified by the hand of the Creator? Yet it i? 

 an undoubted fact, ascertained from chymical 

 analysis, that all vegetable substances, from the 

 invisible mushroom which adheres to a spot of 

 mouldiness, to the cedar of Lebanon and the 

 Banian-tree, which would cover with its shade 

 an army of ten thousand men, are solely com- 

 posed of the following natural principles, Ca 

 loric, Light, Water, Air and Carbon. 



Asain, is it not wonderful, that the invisible 

 atmosphere should compress our bodies every 

 moment with a weight of more than thirty thou 

 sand pounds without our feeling it. and the whole 

 rarth with a weight of 12,043,468,800,000,000, 

 000 of pounds, or five thousand billions of tons, 

 that this pressure is essentially necessary to oui 

 existence, ond that a small quantity of air within 

 us, which would not weigh above a single ounce, 

 by its strong elastic force, counteracts 

 of this tremendous pressure upon our 



