458 MYSTERY THE OFFSPRING 



But, unfortunately for the best interests of the 

 world, an impression has long prevailed, that the 

 animating principle is something beyond the 

 powers of the human mind to comprehend. That 

 such dogmas should have been inculcated by the 

 founders of narrow creeds, and individuals inte- 

 rested in keeping the people in ignorance, is not 

 to be wondered at ; for in all ages of the world, the 

 empire of imposture has been founded on pre- 

 tended mysteries, and upheld by ignorance. It is, 

 however, melancholy to reflect, that philosophers 

 have given countenance to this prejudice. En- 

 slaved by ancient errors, even the wise Socrates 

 is said to have thought it dangerous, unprofitable, 

 and not acceptable to the gods, for men to pry 

 into the hidden mechanism of nature. And in 

 an article on Life, contained in his Philosophical 

 Dictionary, Voltaire, a professed champion of free 

 inquiry, asserts, that " the cause of animal mo- 

 tion, like that which determines all things to a 

 common centre, and the needle to the pole, is 

 the secret of the Deity." The general adoption 

 of this opinion by the instructors of mankind, has 

 done immense injury to the cause of science, by 

 discouraging the efforts of genius to press forward 

 into the undiscovered regions of truth ; while it 

 has fostered ignorance, indolence, and every 

 description of quackery. If there be any pri- 

 mary and efficient cause of vital force, it must be 

 either a portion of the air we breathe, or of the 



