us. In our larger cities some approach to it may be found, 



but the immense extent of country we possess not yet reclaim- 

 ed from a state of nature, removes to a distance scarcely with- 

 in the Umits of calculation, the period when over-population 



And until that time shall arrive, we can scarcely expect that 

 the principle of the division of labor will reach its full develop- 

 ment. To me this seems a matter of congratulation ; for al- 

 though it may be strictly true that in the mechanic arts, high 

 degrees of perfection can only be obtained by exclusive atten- 

 tion to a limited department, yet it may well be questioned 

 whether, if the lowest price at which this perfection can be ob- 

 tained, be, as it is and must be the comparative destruction of 

 the human intellect by reducing its possessor almost to the 

 level of the machine he directs, it is not too dearly bought. 

 With us, however, such a state of things is as yet far remote, 

 and we are at liberty to enjoy the more agreeable task of spe- 

 culating about its results, instead of being compelled to occupy 

 ourselves in devising plans for the modification or removal of 

 its inevitable consequences. 



And as in the mechanic arts, so in a limited degree is it 

 true in the fine arts and the sciences, but only in a limited de- 

 gree. The mind of man is of a finer and more flexible cha- 

 racter, than his physical organs, and while an entire and com- 

 plete devotion to a single branch of these higher pursuits, if it 

 were possible, would injure and weaken the instrument, in the 

 exact proportion in which it should be thus confined, it would 

 not tend to produce the greatest perfection. There is a close 

 and intimate vmion of the different departments here which 

 does not exist in those of an inferior rank, and which requires 

 in him who aspires to eminence in any of its divisions, a great- 

 er or less acquaintance with the whole. Improvement and 

 perfection here, depend not upon manual skill and dexterity, 

 but on the cultivation of the intellect. And he will be most 

 likely to be successful in enlarging the boundaries of science, 

 who possesses intellectual powers capable of taking the most 

 extensive range, and which are least fettered by the empirical 

 rules of the mere artisan. The argument from analogy then 



