PROSPECT OF A BRIGHTER ERA. 861 



strument of its preservation. It will then be the 

 province of the enlightened Physician to assist 

 nature in strict accordance with her own laws. 

 The universal diffusion of such knowledge would 

 enable the people to prevent nearly all the diseases 

 by which they are now afflicted, or to cut them 

 short before they become incurable. 



There is reason to hope that a time is coming 

 when a more simple, comprehensive, and practi- 

 cal knowledge of the physical, intellectual, and 

 mor.al laws of the universe, will banish disease, 

 quackery, superstition, intolerance, discord, war, 

 and a thousand other evils from among the na- 

 tions, when the glimmering rays of light now 

 scattered through innumerable libraries shall be 

 condensed into a few priceless volumes, when 

 the science of nature shall be stripped of mystery, 

 and reduced to the simplicity of self-evident 

 axioms, about which there can be no essential 

 difference of opinion, when the many conflict- 

 ing systems of religion, philosophy, and politics, 

 that have so long distracted the world, shall be 

 melted down into one universal code of peace and 

 harmony. The accomplishment of this great ob- 

 ject is surely enough to rouse the ambition, and 

 command the support, of all those who feel with- 

 in them the vocation to benefit mankind. But 

 it must be brought about by the patient and 

 united exertions of men honestly devoted to the 

 study of nature and the pursuit of truth. 



