INTRODUCTION. 



the immensitity of space, which, under common < 

 munition, are either invisible, or form mere points in 

 the heavens. And with the microscope he sees the 

 texture of the most minute atom. 



The Ear, along with the powers of articulation, ena- 

 bles the whole human family to make a common stock 

 of the knowledge which each individual may possess. 

 As connected with the preservation of the individual, 

 it is much less important than the eye or the touch; 

 yet, considering it as a means by which we receive 

 knowledge and impart it to others, the aggregate of 

 human intellect depends for its present state and future 

 improvement, essentially upon it. In its acuteness, 

 we are much inferior to many other animals; neither 

 have we, by instruments, been able to do much in im- 

 proving it : yet, by cultivation and by studying its most 

 minute and delicate impressions, an endless source of 

 instruction and amusement has been opened to us, in 

 the intonations of language, and in the enrapturing 

 strains of harmony. It eminently qualifies man for 

 the social state, occasionally warns him of danger, and 

 allures him to such things as are useful to his sub- 

 sistence. 



In regard to the Taste and to the Smell, they make 

 us acquainted only with such objects as are necessary 

 to our subsistence. They are enjoyed too imperfectly 

 by man, for them to become a fruitful source of his 

 intelligence. As they principally lead us to filling the 

 stomach, and to debasing the intellectual man into the 

 beast, that eats and dies; the wisdom of nature is as 

 fully demonstrated in the imperfection which she has 

 put upon these senses, and our inability to improve 

 them, as in the exalted and varied degrees to which 



3* 



