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ever philosophers may dispute about the mental faculties, all 

 are agreed upon the means by which this feeling may be ex- 

 cited and directed. Of these, the most essential is numbers ; 

 a statement which might be coolly and dispassionately, per- 

 haps incredulously, listened to by a few without producing any 

 especial effect upon them, if made to the same persons among 

 a numerous multitude, will be likely to affect them nearly, if 

 not quite, as much as the most enthusiastic of the crowd; 

 doubts and difficulties vanish ; and when we review in soli- 

 tude that with which we were carried away in the tumult, we 

 might be almost induced to doubt the evidence of our recollec- 

 tion. That it may be, and in fact often is, perverted to the 

 vilest purposes, instead of affording a sufficient reason against 

 availing ourselves of it for good and noble ends, should, on the 

 contrary incite us to its employment. It is the principal in- 

 ducement that influences us to form associations for distinct 

 purposes. The naturalist who has expended long and pain- 

 ful hours in the examination of some obscure point in science, 

 feels himself at length amply rewarded, and urged to new ex- 

 ertions, by the cheering applause of those to whom he com- 

 municates his labors. One of the most striking accounts of 

 the operation of this principle, is given in the record of the 

 proceedings of the British Association for the advancement of 

 Science, at its recent meeting in Bristol. A gentleman almost 

 entirely unknown as a naturalist, at the request of some of 

 his friends, communicated an account of his voltaic experi- 

 ments, pursued for years in the deepest retirement, by which 

 he had succeeded in imitating nature in some of her most ob- 

 scure operations. He had, in other words, effected the forma- 

 tion of crystals of quartz, carbonate of lime, and other mine- 

 rals, from watery solutions. The effect was indeed electrical; 

 loud peals of applause frequently interrupted his communica- 

 tion, and were continued for several minutes after he had 

 finished. The assemblage though large, was principally com- 

 posed of the philosophers of Britian, and one of these, the 

 Rev. Mr. Conybeare, declared himself to be so excited with the 

 intelligence, as to be unwilling to submit the observations which 

 he had intended to make. Now, although much of this feel- 



