LECTURE II. 97 



prism to a luminous body, so as to produce 

 the regular exhibition of the rainbow co- 

 lours, do I not exhibit a knowledge of the 

 causes of such effects ? If indeed the re- 

 tailers of such sentences as I have been 

 commenting on, merely design to inform 

 us that we have no knowledge of the pre- 

 cise means by which a cause produces an 

 effect, they surely need not have exhibited 

 so much parade in shewing what is con- 

 stantly seen and acknowledged. If how- 

 ever they mean to insinuate, that we have 

 no knowledge of cause or effect beyond 

 that which results from mere observation, 

 they publish at the same time, a libel on 

 the human understanding ; a prohibition 

 to rational inquiry, and a most severe sa- 

 tire on themselves. 



Should the result of our general enqui- 

 ries, or attention to the subjects proposed 

 to us by Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, even- 

 tually induce us to believe that the pecu- 

 liarities of our feelings and faculties were 

 the effects of variety of excitement trans- 

 mitted through a diversity of organization, 



H 



