122 SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



" If we are told that in consequence of certain 

 conformations of our brains, we have propensities 

 productive of good or evil, according to the degree 

 or direction in which they are exerted, it is but at- 

 tempting to account for facts, of which we are all 

 conscious. Men are, by nature, brave or fearful, 

 generous or covetous, candid or cunning, fickle or 

 determined ; and these original qualities, although 

 they admit of being controlled and suppressed, 

 cannot be altogether annulled. 



" There is nothing in these assertions contra- 

 dictory to the result of general observation and ex- 

 perience. It is admitted that the superior intel- 

 lectual faculties can and ought to control the 

 inferior propensities. It is admitted that we may 

 possess organs which nevertheless may be inactive 

 from natural torpor or want of education. General 

 observation and experience proclaim that suscepti- 

 bility is the chief incentive to action, that it is 

 the source of genius, and that the character of man 

 greatly depends upon his education and habits. 

 We educate our faculties, and, it is evident, that of 

 whatever materials Nature may have made us, she 

 has, at least, given us great powers of forming and 

 fashioning ourselves. Had the dispositions and 

 powers of our minds been similar, human life would 

 have been dull and monotonous. Their varieties 

 enable us by education to attain different kinds 

 and degrees of excellence, and to be useful to one 

 another. 



" If the peculiarities of our feelings and faculties 



