266 ON THE HUMAN FACULTIES, 



from the mind those superstitious apprehensions, 

 which many of them in former times had oc- 

 casioned. 



Keeping in view the same principle, the hea- 

 venly bodies, the last portion of the creation to 

 be noticed, do not appear to have been formed 

 merely to lighten the earth's surface, or to gratify 

 a curiosity so naturally excited by the wonderful 

 aspect which they present. 



At the earliest period, we find their situation 

 and movements led uninformed man to observe 

 them; and by their aid, to ascertain the means 

 of traversing those trackless countries, which 

 without it would long have remained unexplored; 

 and ultimately to venture upon that ocean, which, 

 in his primitive state, he would rather have fled 

 from, than approached. Hence the origin of 

 mathematical and physical sciences. 



But it was only under the slow operation of 

 experience, assisted by the explanations of inge- 

 nious men at different periods, that the laws of 

 the planetary bodies, and the applications of 

 which they are susceptible, have been brought 

 to the perfection in which we now see them ; 

 thus affording another characteristic proof of the 

 means adopted by Providence to exercise the 

 human faculties in the direction best calculated 

 to render them useful. 



But independently of all these causes as con- 

 tributing to the improvement of the human mind, 



