ON LIFE. 363 



XXVI. 



ON LIFE. 



When we survey the discoveries in the physical 

 and abstract sciences, our vi^onder and admiration 

 are excited by the great and various powers of 

 the human mind ; but we learn, also, that men ac- 

 quire a habit of viewing objects, and of thinking, 

 which trammels them, though possessed of the 

 highest genius, when they change abruptly the 

 subject of their studies. 



The life of the body is a study new to science, 

 and it has no natural alliance with any of the 

 higher branches which occupy men of intellect ; 

 yet it requires a great reach of thought. Those 

 who follow intricate mathematical deductions, cal- 

 culate the return of comets, estimate the magni- 

 tude and attraction of the sun and planets, and 

 even extend their investigations to the fixed stars, 

 come to the subject as much under the influence 

 of habit as the artisan who tries to accomplish by 

 the dexterity of his hand, that for which a differ- 

 ent manner of working has unfitted him. This 

 may be a humiliating consideration, yet it must be 

 acknowledged, or we shall never discover by what 

 hypotheses we have hitherto been misled ; nor can 



