MENTAL AND CORPOREAL. 259 



Thus we find in the place of one homogeneous 

 mass of which the crust of the globe appears to 

 be composed, it is made up of a great variety of 

 compound substances, capable of being applied 

 by art and ingenuity to the most useful purposes ; 

 without which, civilization could never have been 

 effected, nor would those arts and sciences, that 

 now adorn the human character, and from which 

 have emanated so many important occupations, 

 have ever been accomplished. 



The discovery of the more common metals, 

 and the mode of working them, appear therefore 

 to have been among the earliest of human ac- 

 quirements; and this first gave rise to the inven- 

 tion of implements for agricultural and other 

 purposes; and the various cavities in the rocks 

 which offered shelter to man, and the contrivances 

 of the more ingenious animals, would naturally 

 suggest to him, that with stones, or earthy mate- 

 rials closely put together, a far more commodious 

 retreat might be afforded him than from the sim- 

 ple arrangement of stakes or the boughs of trees 

 rudely arched over; to which, upon the emer- 

 gency of the moment, he might at first have 

 resorted. And hence, the origin of architecture. 



Thus, through his earliest necessities, he ac- 

 quired a knowledge of some of the contents of the 

 earth, and of the capabilities of which they are 

 susceptible. And thus, as his wants increased, 

 and as his taste improved, that knowledge was 



