* 



SECT. III. 



Of Puberty. 



UBERTY commences where childhood 

 ends, and accompanies us through the af- 

 ter periods of Hfe. Before puberty, Nature feems 

 to have had nothing in view but the growth and 

 prefervation of her work. The provifion fhe 

 has made for the infant extends no farther than 

 the nourifhment and expanfion of its members. 

 It Hves, or rather enjoys a kind of vegetable ex- 

 iftence, which is confined to itfelf, and which it 

 cannot communicate. But the principles of life 

 foon multiply : We are foon poiFeiTed of a flock, 

 fufficient not only for our own being, but for 

 enabling us to bcftowexiftence upon others. This 

 redundancy of life, the fource of health and vi- 

 gour, can no longer be confined, but is ftrongly 

 impelled to expand and diffufe itfelf. The age 

 of puberty is accompanied with feveral external 

 and internal marks. It is the fpring of life ; the 

 feafon of pleafure. May we be enabled to write 

 the hifiory of this critical period, without exci- 

 ting any ideas but what are flriclly philofophical ! 



In 



