LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 293 



dition, a little more fully; but, at the same time, 

 take a brief survey of that artificial state of exist- 

 ence in which he has placed himself. 



This, dear John, is a curious subject, and it em- 

 braces a most extensive field of philosophical spe- 

 culation : it is, nevertheless, one, concerning which 

 I would have you entertain right notions ; as other- 

 wise, a good portion of my time and labour have 

 been thrown away. You must be able to under- 

 stand the one, in order fully to appreciate the 

 other. 



I am the more anxious to do this, because it is 

 generally asserted that man has no natural condi- 

 tion ; but that, into whatever state he brings himself, 

 and with whatever circumstances he surrounds him- 

 self by the exercise of his ingenuity, that state, 

 and those circumstances, constitute the sphere in 

 which he was designed to exist. The same opinion 

 has lately been expressed by a Medical Author, in 

 one of our periodicals, with respect to diet. " In 

 short," says he, "whatever kind of food the ingenuity 

 of man has been able to discover, that kind of food 

 is proper for him." If the phrase had been, 'by the 

 right exercise of his reason,' I should have agreed 

 with him; but the term " ingenuity" embraces, not 

 only the use of reason, but also its abuse. 



