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32 OV IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE i 



I ' e.uidurt, and to lay the foundations of a new 

 morality. 



Let us take these points separately ; and first, 

 what great ideas has natural knowledge introduced 

 into men's minds ? 



I cannot but think that the foundations of all 

 natural knowledge were laid when the reason of 

 man first came face to face with the facts of 

 Natuiv: when the savage first learned that the 

 fingers of one hand are fewer than those of both ; 

 that it is shorter to cross a stream than to head it ; 

 that a stone stops where it is unless it be moved, 

 and that it drops from the hand which lets it go ; 

 that light and heat come and go with the sun ; 

 that sticks burn away in a fire; that plants and 

 animals grow and die; that if he struck his 

 fellow savage a blow he would make him angry, 

 and perhaps get a blow in return, Vhile if he 

 offered him a fruit he would please him, and 

 perhaps receive a fish in exchange. When men 

 had acquired this much knowledge, the outlines, 

 rude though they were, of mathematics, of physics, 

 of chemistry, of biology, of moral, economical, 

 and political science, were sketched. Nor did the 

 germ of religion fail when sciemv began to bud. 

 Listen to \\-onls which, though new, are y. t three 

 thousand years old : 



" - . . When in heaven the stars about the moon 

 Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid, 



