OF MR. AUERNKTHY. 5 



enlightened to confound the angry feelings and exaggerated 

 expressions of controversy with the calm deductions of 

 reason ; — and well able to appreciate this attempt at enlist- 

 ing religion and morality on the side of self-love; by which 

 difference of opinion, at all times but too irritating to the 

 liuman njind, receives the double aggravation, of real in- 

 ability to persuade, and f^mcied right to condemn. 



Where, Gentlemen ! shall we find proofs of this heavy 

 charge — of this design so hostile to the very elements and 

 foundation of civil union ? What are the overt acts to prove 

 this treason against society ? this compassing and imagining 

 the destruction of moral restraint, and the grounds of mu- 

 tual confidence ? What support can you discover for such 

 imputations in the profession, pursuits, habits, and character 

 of those who are accused ? How will it promote their inte- 

 rests to endanger the very frame of society ? By what lati- 

 tude and artifice of construction, by what ingenuity of ex- 

 planation, can the materials of such a charge be extracted 

 from the discussion of an abstract physiological question ? 

 from discourses first delivered in this theatre to an assembly 

 of the whole profession, and since openly published to the 

 whole world ? I need not remind you that such an accusa- 

 tion is repelled by every appearance, every probability, and 

 every presumption ; and that in opposition to tliese prira^ 

 facie sources of distrust, it can only be established by the 

 clearest and most unequiv^ocal evidence : not by bold asser- 

 tions and strained inferences—not by declamatory common- 

 places on morals — nor by all the pangs and complaints of 

 mortified self-love. 



A party of modern sceptics ! A sceptic is one who 



doubts; — and if this party includes those who doubt — or 

 rather, who do not doubt at all — about the electro-chemical 

 doctrine of life, I can have no objection to belong to so 

 numerous and respectable a body. The assent of the mind 

 to any proposition cannot be forced; — it must depend on 

 the weight of evidence and argument. I cannot adopt 

 this hypothesis until some proof or reasoning of a very dif- 

 ferent nature from any hitherto produced shall be brought 

 forwards. I declare most sincerely, that I never met with 



