SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 151 



which, stimulated to exertion by his varied wants, 

 soon amply supplied them all, and eventually raised 

 him to his measureless superiority over the rest 

 of created beings. To the perfectibility of man's 

 intellect, no definite limits can be assigned. He 

 has, as we have said, reduced, by means of his intel- 

 ligence, most other animals to docility and servi- 

 tude, and such as their native ferocity render in- 

 capable of utility and dangerous to his repose, he 

 has banished to the " howling wilderness." The 

 surface of the earth attests his industry and intel- 

 ligence, and nature herself is delighted to obey 

 him. He has drained the unwholesome marsh, 

 turned the course of rivers, banked out the en- 

 croaching sea, and cleared the umbrageous forest ; 

 with an energy neither tired by labour, nor dis- 

 heartened by difficulty, he has succeeded in pro- 

 ducing abundance, comfort, utility, and pleasure, 

 the arts which adorn social life, and the blessings 

 which render it valuable. He has scrutinized the 

 mysterious relations of space and time, ascertained 

 the courses and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, 

 and pursued his path with accuracy over the track- 

 less ocean, thus establishing a communication be- 

 tween the remotest nations, and extending far and 

 wide the discoveries of science and the improve- 

 ments of civilization. When we compare the pre- 

 sent state of human advancement, with the rude 

 efforts of society in its earlier stages, we are lost in 

 astonishment ; and when we recollect the fact, that 

 the human species is still advancing, probably even at 



