LECTURE VI. 



WHEN we ask the student why he broods over the most 

 abstract problems in his solitary chamber, far from all the 

 enjoyments of life the soldier why he has allowed himself 

 to be subjected to the toil and dust of the hard recruit 

 school the bustling merchant, to what purpose he early 

 and late strives to equalize demand and supply over the 

 earth by his activity nay, even when we inquire of the 

 criminal the cause which led him boldly to dare a shameful 

 death, we receive one answer from all, which though 

 clothed in the particular language of each, is ever essentially 

 the same : " What can we do ? we cannot help it ; a man 

 cannot live upon air." This answer appears to every one 

 to afford an explanation ; and even the stern judge is so 

 convinced of the validity of this plea, that he allows hunger 

 to be a good ground for showing mercy in certain cases. 



But then comes the Naturalist, an impracticable kind of 

 man, who will recognize no authority, and who believes in 

 nothing but what he can grasp in his hand, and says, 

 " You foolish people, man can very well live upon air; nay, 

 in point of fact, he does live on air alone, and nothing else 



.9* 



