A discourse, before the Humane Society, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts : Boston, June 14, 1808 / by Thomas Danforth ; published by request of the Society.

  • Danforth, Thomas, 1772-1817.
Date:
1808
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A discourse, before the Humane Society, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts : Boston, June 14, 1808 / by Thomas Danforth ; published by request of the Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    no sense, and living bodies are ever varying, according to their susceptibility to the powers of excitement. In contemplating the objects which surround us, and with which we form a connected whole in the chain of nature, we find that nothing on this globe is stationary, nothing is at rest, all is action and reaction, from man the chief work of organization, to the lowest mineral. The for- mation of bodies proceeds by insensible degrees, particle by particle is added, or assimilated, to the substance of their individual species, when nature from her thick, impervi- ous veil, presents to the view of admiration, the beauteous crystal, the fruitful plant, or the wonder man. Arrived at the point of completion, her steps are all re- traced ; solution follows on solution, till by the resistless strength of her chymick power, the work and its form are lost in that vast fluid, which fills all space, and actuates all substance. Thus is matter continually changing from simple to compound, till it is reconverted into its original principles. A benevolent God, through the medium of light and heat, has produced, in the human species, the powers of sensation and thought. He has given us faculties, which have placed us high on the scale of beings. He has taught us to study in ourselves, how to promote the happiness of others, for he who is not charitable to himself, has nothing for his fellow. He has stopped the impatient hand, which vainly grasps at all knowledge. He has caused the princi- ples with which we must operate, the crucible in which we would test the bold experiment, to crumble like ourselves beneath his resistless power.