PHILOSOPHY, MORAL. 



superstitious fear : lastly, it is necessary 

 that the pleasures and pains of the moral 

 sense should be perfectly comformable 

 to the dictates of piety and benevolence, 

 of which it may be considered as the sub- 

 stitute 



105. In order to obtain the most per- 

 fect state of the conscience, it is neces- 

 sary for us to be much employed in the 

 practical study of the sacred writing's, 

 and of the good of all denominations ; in 

 observing the living examples of good- 

 ness, and in the perusal of Christian bio- 

 graphy; in self-examination, and in the 

 culture of the' sympathetic and theopathe- 

 tic affections ; and in aiming to follow, 

 with faithfulness, the dictates of piety, 

 benevolence, and the moral sense, such as 

 they are at present. 



106. The moral sense may be, and often 

 is, misled by education ; the dictates of 

 this feeling, therefore, are not a perfect 

 and infallible guide ; though in persons 

 well educated they are decidedly favour- 

 able to virtue. Hence, to cultivate and 

 enlighten the moral sense in ourselves and 

 in others, is a duty of the highest obliga- 

 tion ; the most disastrous consequences 

 have ensued, both to individuals and to 

 society, from obedience to the dictates of 

 misguided conscience. 



107. Character, to use (with some va- 

 riations) the words of Mr. Belsham, from 

 whose Elements we have taken the last 

 paragraph, is the sum total of moral ha- 

 bits and affections. That character is 

 perfectly virtuous, all whose affections 

 and habits tend to produce the greatest 

 ultimate happiness of the agent, that is, 

 in which all are perfectly consistent with 

 pious benevolence, and in which every 

 moral habit and affection is advanced to 

 its most disinterested state. That cha- 

 racter is perfectly vicious, all whose af- 

 fections and habits tend to produce the 

 greatest ultimate misery of the agent, and 

 in which every vicious affection and ha- 

 bit exists in its ultimate state. The for- 

 mer character, though possible, is rarely 

 to be found; but the tendency of moral 

 discipline is, to produce a continual ap- 

 proximation towards it ; and it will pro- 

 bably be the ultimate state of all the ra- 

 tional creatures of God. The character of 

 perfect vice is impossible ; it never can ac- 

 tually exist ; for no being can pursue mi- 

 sery for its own sake. That agent is said 

 to be virtuous, though imperfectly so, 

 all whose affections and habits tend to 

 his own ultimate felicity, but not having 

 attained their most perfect state, are sub- 

 ject to occasional deviations from the 



rules of piety and benevolence. That 

 agent is denominated vicious, but imper- 

 fectly so, in whom there is one moral ha- 

 bit which tends to produce misery, or to 

 diminish happiness : for example ; intem- 

 perance, avarice, dishonesty, impiety 

 The reason is obvious. The existence ot 

 a single habit of this description is incon- 

 sistent with the perfect happiness of the 

 agent, and necessarily involves him in 

 proportional misery. So the prevalence 

 of a single disorder is inconsistent with 

 perfect health ; and if a remedy be not 

 applied in time, may be productive of the 

 most fatal consequences. 



PHILYDRUM, in botany, a genus of 

 the Monandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der. Essential character: spathe one- 

 flowered ; perianthium none ; corolla 

 four-petalled, irregular; capsule three- 

 celled, many-seeded. There is but one 

 species, viz. P. lanuginosum, a native of 

 China and Cochin-China, in moist pla- 

 ces. 



PHLEBOTOMY, in surgery, the open- 

 ing a vein with a proper sharp-edged and 

 pointed instrument of steel, in order to 

 let out a proper quantity of blood, either 

 for the preservation, or recovery of a 

 person's health 



PHLEUM, in botany, cat's-tail grass, a 

 genus of the Triandria Digynia class and 

 order Natural order of Gramina, Gra- 

 mineae, or grasses. Essential character: 

 calyx two-valved, sessile, linear, truncat- 

 ed, with a two-cusped tip ; corolla inclos- 

 ed. There are four species. 



PHOLAS, in natural history, a genus of 

 the Vermes Testacea class and order. 

 Generic character: animal an ascidia; 

 shell bivalve, divaricate, with several les- 

 ser differently shaped accessory ones at 

 the hinge ; hinges recurved, united by a 

 cartilage; in the inside beneath the hinge 

 is an incurved tooth. There are twelve 

 species ; they all perforate clay, spongy 

 stones, and wood, while in the younger 

 state, and as they increase in size, enlarge 

 their habitation within, and thus become 

 imprisoned. They contain a phosphore- 

 ous liquor, which illuminates whatever it 

 touches. 



PHLOGISTON, in chemistry, a term 

 that seems to be almost wholly banished 

 from our language. It was invented by 

 Stahl, according to whom there is only 

 one substance in nature capable of com- 

 bustion ; this he called phlogiston, and all 

 those bodies which can be inflamed, con- 

 tain more or less of it. Combustion, by 

 his theory, is merely the separation of 

 this substance. Those bodies which con- 



