An address introductory to the course of lectures in the St. Louis Medical College / by Charles A. Pope.

  • Pope, Charles A. (Charles Alexander), 1818-1870.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An address introductory to the course of lectures in the St. Louis Medical College / by Charles A. Pope. 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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    too refulgent and hot, for man's abode. Saturn is as light as cork—the fixed stars have at any rate no discoverable attendant planets—the comets are mainly composed of luminous vapor—the Sun is the largest body in the universe, so far as the telescope can inform us—the Earth is the largest solid globe in the solar system, and probably the only one on which man could possibly exist. But on any supposition, whether the stars and planets are in- habited worlds, or mere sparks thrown off from the lathe of the mighty Workman—whether they, like the Earth have brought forth myriads of sentient beings, or are mere barren flowers of the sky— man, intellectual and moral man, is the master-piece and greatest wonder—the climax of creation, in space as in time. Man was created in the image of God—he was created for God—the Earth was made for man. For him kind Nature exerts her mysterious powers—for him the successive geological changes, and the ascending series of animals—for him are the fruits for food, and the flowers for beauty—for him the brilliant plumage of birds, the endless tints of an autumnal foliage, the gorgeous clouds of the setting sun, and the prismatic glories of the rain- bow—for him the balmy dews and the nectareous juices—for him the mines yield their treasures and the springs their refreshment and health—for him the dog's fidelity, the horse's strength and agility—for him the fleecy flocks and the cattle of a thousand hills—for him the caravans of the East are forever on the march —for him the canvas of a thousand ships whitens every sea and throngs every port: Seas roll to waft him, suns to light him rise, His footstool earth, his canopy the skies. Man, as has been no less truly than eloquently said, is the centre of nature and echo of the universe! What nature contains scattered and in fragments, is united in the person of man. Every isolated feeling, every sound in nature, is to pass through his personality and to centre in it. lie is the great, perfect, and completo bell, that announces all, everything; while nature contains only parts of it, the sounds of which are dark and dull. Man gives dignity to earth, not earth to man. Why, when standing on the Athenian Acropolis, docs thy bosom swell, thy