{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38379/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38379","id":"gutenberg_38379","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38379","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education","Science","Superstition"],"text":"Produced by David Widger\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAN ADDRESS TO MEN OF SCIENCE;\n\nCALLING UPON THEM TO STAND FORWARD AND VINDICATE THE TRUTH FROM THE\nFOUL GRASP AND PERSECUTION OF SUPERSTITION; AND OBTAIN FOR THE ISLAND\nOF GREAT BRITAIN THE NOBLE APPELLATION OF WHENCE MANKIND SHALL BE\nILLUMINATED, AND THE BLACK AND PESTIFEROUS CLOUDS OF PERSECUTION AND\nSUPERSTITION BE BANISHED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH; AS THE ONLY SURE\nPRELUDE TO UNIVERSAL PEACE AND HARMONY AMONG THE HUMAN RACE. IN WHICH\nA SKETCH OF A PROPER SYSTEM FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH IS SUBMITTED TO\nTHEIR JUDGMENT.\n\nBy Richard Carlile\n\nLondon:\n\nPRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY R. CARLILE, 55, FLEET STREET.\n\n1821. Price One Shilling.\n\n\n\nADDRESS,\n\nGentlemen,\n\nIn addressing a Letter to so distinguished and so important a part of\nthe community, it becomes me to say, that, I am not myself a man of\nexperimental Science, neither, out of the ordinary occupations of my\npast life, have I ever seen a scientific experiment made in any one\ndepartment of Chemistry, or Natural Philosophy; all that I know, with\nthe above exception, has been acquired by reading and meditation. My\npresent address is chiefly confined to those Philosophers, who study and\npractice the sciences of Chemistry and Astronomy. I shall endeavour to\npoint out to them that, they are bound by duty, by common sense, and by\ncommon honesty, to make known to mankind, or, more particularly their\nfellow countrymen, whatever discoveries they may make to prove that the\nothers are following a system of error, or that they are acted upon by\na system of imposture. I shall make it appear plain to them, that they\nhave not hitherto done this, and that they have openly countenanced\nsystems of error and imposture, because the institutions of the country\nwere connected with them; or, because they feared to offend those\npersons who might be deriving an ill-gotten profit from them. This\nsubject will form the first head of my address. In my second head, I\nshall shew that the present system of educating children is entirely\non a wrong basis, and their youthful time is so far wasted, as to leave\nthem, when advanced to the years of maturity, in a state of comparative\nignorance. I shall shew that if in their school exercises they were made\nacquainted with nothing but the elements of Astronomy, of Geography,\nof Natural History, and of Chemistry, so that they might at an early\nperiod of life form correct notions of organized and inert matter,\ninstead of torturing their minds with metaphysical and incomprehensible\ndogmas about religion, of which they can form no one idea but that of\napparent absurdity and contradiction, they would be prepared to make a\nmuch greater advancement in the Arts and Sciences, and to improve their\ncondition in society much more than can be now possibly done. These\nshall not be altogether theoretical ideas, their practicability will\nreach the mind of every rational being, or he who takes the liberty to\nthink and reason for himself. Many new plans and schemes for education\nare daily starting up, but the whole, of which I have any knowledge,\nhave the above common error; for the subjects upon which our youth are\ntaught to read and write, and those in which the dead or foreign living\nlanguages are taught, are by no means calculated to expand the mind,\nor to give it a knowledge of Nature and her laws; and thus the most\nimportant of all opportunities is lost, and much time actually wasted,\nin which their minds might be prepared for the reception and knowledge\nof natural and useful truths. What is the knowledge of the present\nschool-boy, in what is called classical literature, when compared with a\nuseful instruction 'in Chemistry and the laws of Nature? Of what use\nto society at large is a classical scholar? or one well versed in the\nancient mythologies, for this, after all, is the chief part of classical\nknowledge? It neither gives a polish to manners nor teaches morality. It\nfills the mind with a useless jargon, and enables the possessor now and\nthen to make a tinsel and pompous declamation in half a dozen different\nlanguages; which, if it were to undergo a translation into one\nlanguage, and that which we call native, would be found to be a mass of\nunintelligible and unmeaning trash--words of sound, to which it would\nbe difficult to attach an idea, and in which all correct notions are\nwanting. It makes a man a pedant only. Such men have been most aptly\ntermed spouters of froth. My present object is to lay down a sketch of\nwhat seems to me a more instructive and useful system of education. I\nsubmit this sketch to the judgment of Men of Science, with an idea\nthat every schoolmaster ought to be a Man of Science, and not a parish\npriest, as Mr. Brougham would have. This is the outline of my second\nhead, on which in due order I hope to enlarge most satisfactorily.\n\nIn my first head I shall address myself first to the Chemists of\nthis Island, and finish by a distinct allusion to the students and\npractitioners in the science of Astronomy.\n\nOf all the advancements made in Science of late years, perhaps the\nmost pre-eminent and the most important to mankind, stands that in the\nscience of Chemistry. Our Chemists have proved themselves the greatest\nof all revolutionists, for they have silently and scientifically\nundermined all the dogmas of the priest, upon which the customs and the\nmanners of society seem hitherto to have been entirely founded. Every\nspecies of matter has been brought to dissolution, and its elementary\nproperties investigated, by their crucibles and fires, or their galvanic\nbatteries, and we have been practically and scientifically shewn in what\nmanner Nature performs her dissolutions and regenerations. As far as I\nunderstand, but one of the phenomena of nature remains unexplored, and\nthat is the properties of the electric fluid, or the real cause of the\nsolar light and heat. I do not despair of this being reached, and I have\nthe stronger hope, as it will lead at once to a knowledge of the cause\nof our existence, and that of every animal and vegetable substance. It\nwill shew the cause and process by which inert matter becomes organized,\nand how all the variegated beauties of nature start into life. However,\nat present, we know quite enough to authorize the rejection of all our\npriestly cosmogonies, we know quite enough to set at nought the notion\nthat the planetary system of the universe has existed but six thousand\nyears--we know that matter is imperishable and indestructible, for,\nalthough, a fire to a common understanding seems to destroy combustible\nmatter, yet such is not the case, for after any combustible substance\nhas passed through the fiercest fire, the whole of its component parts\nstill exist to their former full extent; the fire has only separated\nthem and changed their relative situations; they are dispersed in\ntheir gaseous state, and again ready for the operations of nature, to\namalgamate with some new living and growing substance, to which their\nqualities can be assimilated.*\n\n     * The latter part of this sentence might appear preposterous\n     when addressed to the Chemist, or to the Man of Science, but\n     it is probable that this Address might be read by some\n     individual who might not comprehend the assertion that\n     matter is imperishable and indestructible; therefore the\n     writer has taken the liberty to introduce this slight\n     explanation. He confesses that but two years since he\n     startled himself at the assertion, and asked the assertor\n     whether fire did not destroy matter.\n\nWe know that the planetary system of the universe has existed to all\neternity as to the past, and must exist to all eternity as to the\nfuture. For, although, that solar system of which our habitation is a\npart, or other solar systems, might go through great changes, yet its\neffect is but as the falling of a hair from our heads, and cannot be\nsaid to disturb the great whole.\n\nInstead of viewing ourselves as the particular and partial objects of\nthe care of a great Deity, or of receiving those dogmas of the priest\nwhich teach us that every thing has been made for the convenience and\nuse of man, and that man has been made in the express image of the\nDeity, we should consider ourselves but as atoms of organized\nmatter, whose pleasure or whose pain, whose existence in a state of\norganization, or whose non-existence in that state, is a matter of\nno importance in the laws and operations of Nature; we should view\nourselves with the same feelings, as we view the leaf which rises in the\nspring, and falls in the autumn, and then serves no further purpose but\nto fertilize the earth for a fresh production; we should view ourselves\nbut as the blossoms of May, which exhibit but a momentary splendour and\nbeauty, and often within that moment are cut off prematurely by a blast.\nWe are of no more importance in the scale of Nature than those myriads\nof animalcules whose natural life is but for the space of an hour, or\nbut a moment. We come and pass like a cloud--like a shower--those of us\nwho possess a brilliancy superior to others, are but as the rainbow, the\nobjects of a momentary admiration, and a momentary recollection. Man has\nbeen most aptly compared to the seasons of the year, in our own climate,\nthe spring, is his infancy; the summer, the time af his ardent manhood;\nthe autumn, his decline of life; and the winter, his old age and\ndeath--he passes, and another series comes. He is produced by, and\nproduces his like, and so passes away one generation after another,\nfrom, and to all eternity. How ridiculous then is the idea about divine\nrevelations, about prophesies, and about miracles, to procure proselytes\nto such notions! To what generation do they apply, or if they apply to\nall future generations, why were not the same revelations, prophesies,\nand miracles, necessary to all the past generations? What avail the\ndogmas of the priest about an end to the world, about a resurrection,\nabout a day of judgment, about a Heaven and Hell, or about rewards and\npunishments after this life, when we assert that matter is imperishable\nand indestructible--that it always was what it now is, and that it will\nalways continue the same. Answer this, ye Priests. Come forward, ye Men\nof Science, and support these plain truths, which are as familiar\nto your mind, as the simplest demonstration in mathematics is to the\nexperienced and accomplished mathematician.\n\nFuture rewards and punishments are cried up as a necessary doctrine\nwherewith to impress the minds of men, and to restrain them from vice:\nbut how much more impressive and comprehensible would be the plain and\nsimple truth, that, in this life, virtue produces happiness, and vice\nnothing but certain misery.\n\nAway then with the ridiculous idea, and the priestly dogma of\nimmortality. Away with the contemptible notion that our bones, our\nmuscles, and our flesh shall be gathered together after they are rotted\nand evaporated for a resurrection to eternal life. Away with the idea\nthat we have a sensible soul which lives distinct from and after the\ndissolution of the body. It is all a bugbear, all a priestly imposture.\nThe Chemist can analyse the body of man, and send it into its primitive\ngaseous state in a few minutes. His crucible and fire, or his galvanic\nbattery, will cause it to evaporate so as not to leave a particle\nof substance or solid matter, and this chemical process is but an\nanticipation, or a hastening, of the workings of Nature; for the whole\nuniverse might be aptly termed a great chemical apparatus, in which\na chemical analysis, and a chemical composition is continually and\nconstantly going on. The same might be said of every organized body,\nhowever large, or however minute; its motions produce a constant\nchemical analysis and composition, a continual change; so that the\nsmallest particle of matter is guided by the same laws, and performs the\nsame duties, as the great whole. Here is an harmony indeed! Man alone\nseems to form an exception by his vicious conduct and demoralizing\ncharacter. By assuming to himself a character or a consequence to which\nhe is not entitled, and by making a pretension to the possession of\nsupernatural powers, he plays such fantastic tricks as to disturb every\nthing within his influence, and carries on a perpetual war with Nature\nand her laws.\n\nAfter those few observations upon the properties of matter either\norganized or inert, (to which I know every Chemist in the country,\nwhose science has conquered the bigotry of his education, will give his\nassent) I would call upon them all and every one to stand forward and\nteach mankind those important, those plain truths, which are so clear\nand so familiar to their own minds. It is the Man of Science who is\nalone capable of making war upon the Priest, so as to silence him\neffectually. It is the duty of the Man of Science to make war upon\nall error and imposture, or why does he study? Why does he analyse\nthe habits, the customs, the manners, and the ideas of mankind, but to\nseparate truth from falsehood, but to give force to the former, and to\nextinguish the latter? Why does he search into Nature and her laws,\nbut to benefit himself and his fellow man by his discoveries, by the\nexplosion of erroneous ideas, and by the establishment of correct\nprinciples? Science must be no longer studied altogether as an amusement\nor a pastime, which has been too much the case hitherto; it must be\nbrought forward to combat the superstitions, the vices, and the too long\nestablished depravities among mankind, whence all their present and\npast miseries have emanated, and unless the former can be destroyed, the\nlatter will still ensue, as a regular cause and effect.\n\nIt is evident that Men of Science have hitherto too much crouched to the\nestablished tyrannies of Kingcraft and Priestcraft. Speaking generally\nthey have adopted some of the aristocratical distinctions of the day,\nand have supported the frauds upon mankind, which it was their peculiar\nduty to expose. This has given room to the advocates of superstitiop,\nto put forward as an authority-for their dogmas, the names of Bacon, of\nNewton, of Locke, and many others. They say that it is no disgrace\neven to err with such men, and thus, for the want of a more decided and\ndetermined character in the advocates of Science and Philosophy,\nthe enemy has built a strong hold within our lines, and has taken an\nimportant advantage of our irresolution. I will not believe that Bacon,\nor Newton, or Locke, in the latter part of their life, had any other\nideas of the Christian religion, or any other religion, than I have. In\ntheir days, the faggots had scarcely been extinguished, nor was the fuel\nwhich supplied them exhausted. They might therefore deem it prudent to\nequivocate as a matter of safety. Besides, the two former were in the\nemploy of a court, and consequently under the trammels of Kingcraft,\nwhich ever has, and ever will find its interest in the support of\nSuperstition and Priestcraft.\n\nI would appeal to any man who calls himself a conscientious Christian,\nand ask him whether he thinks such a man as himself could write the\nfollowing paragraph:\n\n\"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to\nlaws, to reputation: all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue,\nthough religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and\ncreateth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men: therefore Atheism did\nnever perturb states; for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking\nno farther, and we see the times inclined to Atheism (as the time\nof Augustus Caesar) were civil times: but superstition hath been the\nconfusion of many states, and bringeth in a new _primum mobile_, that\nravisheth all the spheres of government.\" This is Lord Bacon's\napology for Atheism, and, in my humble opinion, he wrote it feelingly,\nconscientiously, and upon principle, as an Atheist, which word has no\nother meaning than a seceder from all mythologies, although the ignorant\nand interested make so much ridiculous clamour and fuss about it.\n\nTo shew that Newton was thoroughly ignorant of the chemical properties\nof matter, I will quote again a paragraph, which I quoted in page 341,\nVol. II. of \"The Republican,\" in the answer to the Rev. Thomas Hartwell\nHome's pamphlet, entitled \"Deism Refuted,\" &c. It is thus: \"All things\nconsidered, it appears probable to me, that God in the beginning\ncreated matter in solid, hard, impenetrable particles; of such sizes and\nfigures, and with such other properties, as most conduced to the end for\nwhich he formed them, and that these primitive particles, being\nsolids, are incomparably harder than any of the sensible porous bodies\ncompounded of them; even so hard as never to wear, or break in pieces:\nno other power being able to divide what God made in the first creation.\nWhile these corpuscles remain entire, they may compose bodies of one and\nthe same nature and texture in all ages; but should they wear away\nor break in pieces, the nature of things depending on them would be\nchanged: water and earth, composed of old worn particles, or fragments\nof particles, would not be of the same nature and texture now, with\nwater and earth composed of entire particles at the beginning; and,\ntherefore, that nature may be lasting, the changes of corporeal things\nare to be placed only in the various separations, and new associations\nof these permanent corpuscles.\" The Chemists of the present day must\nsmile at this notion of Sir Isaac Newton, about what God did in the\nbeginning: it is evident, that he knew but little about chemical\nanalysis and composition; or, rather, that his ideas upon the subject\nwere quite erroneous and hypothetical, when he might have obtained a\ndemonstration quite conclusive, if he had studied Chemistry with other\nparts of his philosophy. Such, in my opinion, is the importance of the\nscience of Chemistry in the pursuit of truth and in the investigation\nof Nature and her laws, that the first proper step towards philosophical\nstudies must be an acquaintance with its elements and powers.\n\nWe need nothing further to convince us of the struggle which existed\nbetween science and superstition in the mind of Sir Isaac Newton than\nthe following creed, which I have met with quite _a propos_, or in the\nmidst of writing this address, in a weekly provincial paper, and which,\nI imagine, has been put forth at this moment as one of those little\nanxieties to prop the declining superstition of the age. It is thus\nheaded, _Sir Isaac Newton's Creed_: \"The Supreme Being governs all\nthings, not as soul of the world, but as Lord of the Universe; and upon\naccount of his dominion, he is stiled the Lord God, Supreme over all.\nThe Supreme God is an eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect being; but\na being, how perfect soever, without dominion, is not Lord God. The\nterm God, very frequently signifies Lord; but every Lord is not God. The\ndominion of a spiritual being constitutes him God; true dominion, true\nGod; supreme dominion, supreme God; imaginary dominion, imaginary God.\nHe is not eternity and infinity, but eternal and infinite. He is not\nduration and space, but his duration of existence is present, and\nby existing always and every where, he constitutes duration and\nspace--eternity and infinity. Since every part of space, and every\nindivisible moment of duration, is every where; certainly the Maker and\nLord of all things, cannot be said to be in no time, and no place. He is\nomnipresent, not by his power only, but in his very substance; for power\ncannot subsist without substance. God is not at all affected by\nthe motions of bodies, neither do they find any resistance from the\nomnipresence of God. He necessarily exists, and by the same necessity\nhe exists always and every where. Whence also it follows, that he is\nall similar, all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all sensation, all\nunderstanding, all active power; but this, not in a human, or corporeal\nform, but in a manner wholly unknown to us, therefore not to be\nworshipped under a corporeal representation.\" Here is the creed of Sir\nIsaac Newton! and who can read this, and for a moment believe that he\nwas a Christian when he wrote it? I am not about to approve all this\njargon and contradiction; I despise it; I pity the Man of Science that\ncould write such nonsense; and rather than I would be called the author\nof it, I would relinquish as much fame as Sir Isaac Newton obtained\nin other respects. The foregoing ideas of Sir Isaac Newton on the\nproperties of matter are equally unintelligible, contradictory, and\nridiculous. Lord Bacon's definition of Christianity, or the essentials\nof the Christian religion, which I have seen printed as a religious\ntract, but which I have not at hand for reference or quotation, is just\nof the same stamp, and rather than be called the author of such trash,\nI would consent to be considered an idiot. Yet Lord Bacon as a natural\nphilosopher, and Sir Isaac Newton as a mathematician and astronomer,\nwere eminent in the highest degree, when the age in which they lived\nis considered. The conduct of both evinces the mischievous effect\nof superstition on the human mind, particularly where that mind is\nbrilliantly adapted for making a progress in science and scientific\ndiscoveries.\n\nIt is impossible to analyze the creed of Sir Isaac Newton relative to\nDeity, or found any one idea upon it. It is a string of words that have\nno application, and independent of their contradiction, all that can be\nsaid of them is, that they describe nothing. The writer of such a\ncreed must have been an Atheist in disguise, or perhaps unknown even to\nhimself. Its total amount implies that there is no God such as priests\nteach, and bigots and fools imagine and believe. Mirabaud, in his\nSystem of Nature, has brought forward several quotations from Newton's\nwritings, and has commented on them to shew that he was what is vulgarly\ncalled an Atheist: that he was what every Man of Science must be, _a\nseceder from the idolatry of the ignorant_. Such I believe he was in his\nlatter days, and in his private opinion, but he had not the honesty\nto avow himself such. It is unquestionable that Newton in his youth\npossessed much superstition, and it is equally unquestionable that\nthe progress he had made in science in his advanced age, had entirely\nconquered that superstition and banished it from his mind, although,\nI am sorry to say, that he was not honest enough to make a full and\nconscientious confession of the change to which his theological opinions\nhad been subjected. Perhaps I cannot make a deeper impression on the\nmind of the reader as to the real character of Newton, than by quoting\nan anecdote from William Whiston's Memoirs written by himself.\n\n\"Sir Hans Sloane, Edmund Halley, and myself, were once together at\nChild's Coffee-house, in St. Paul's Church-yard, and Dr. Halley asked\nme, Why I was not a member of the Royal Society? I answered, because\nthey durst not choose an heretic. Upon which Dr. Halley said to Sir Hans\nSloane, that if he would propose me, he would second it: which was done\naccordingly. When Sir Isaac Newton, the President, heard this, he was\ngreatly concerned; and, by what I then learned, closeted some of the\nmembers, in order to get clear of me; and told them, that if I was\nchosen a member, he would not be president. Whereupon, by a pretence of\ndeficiency in the form of proceeding, the proposal was dropped, I\nnot insisting upon it. Nay, as soon as I was informed of Sir Isaac's\nuneasiness, I told his bosom friend, Dr. Clarke, that had I known his\nmind, I would have done nothing that might bring that great man's 'grey\nhairs with sorrow to the grave:' Nor has that Society ever refused\nto let me come, and lay any of my papers or instruments before them,\nwhenever I desired it; without my being an actual member: which,\nconsidering my small ability to pay the usual sums for admission, and\nannual dues, was almost as agreeable to me, as being a constant member.\nNow if the reader desire to know the reason of Sir Isaac Newton's\nunwillingness to have me a member, he must take notice, that as his\nmaking me first his deputy, and giving me the full profits of the place,\nbrought me to be a candidate, as his recommendation of me to the heads\nof colleges in Cambridge, made me his successor; so did I enjoy a large\nportion of his favour for twenty years together. But he then perceiving\nthat I could not do as his other darling friends did, that is, learn of\nhim, without contradicting him, when I differed in opinion from him, he\ncould not, in his old age, bear such contradiction; and so he was afraid\nof me the last thirteen years of his life. See my Authentic Records,\npage 1070, 1071. He was of the most fearful, cautious, and suspicious\ntemper, that I ever knew: and had he been alive when I wrote against his\nChronology, and so thoroughly confuted it, that nobody has ever ventured\nto vindicate it, that I know of, since my confutation was published, I\nshould not have thought proper to publish it during his life-time:\nbecause I knew his temper so well, that I should have expected it would\nhave killed him. As Dr. Bentley, Bishop Stillingfleet's chaplain, told\nme, that he believed Mr. Locke's thorough confutation of the Bishop's\nMetaphysics about the Trinity, hastened his end also.\"\n\nWhiston was the early friend of Newton and succeeded him at Cambridge in\nthe professor's chair in the science of the Mathematics. Newton when\nyoung was a firm adherent to the ridiculous doctrine of the Christian\nTrinity, and so useful as figures were to him in his mathematical and\nastronomical discoveries, and to such an extent, beyond all\npredecessors, could he carry them, yet superstition could persuade him,\nthat three could be explained to be but one; and one to comprise three!\nThe science of Whiston in the Mathematics was almost equal to that of\nNewton, though I believe the former had not so fertile a genius as the\nlatter, and was obliged to acquire by labour what to the other was\nnatural. Yet Whiston, although he had superstition enough to make him a\nhonest and conscientious Christian, knew the proper use of arithmetic,\nand would not allow three to be one, nor one to be three: he rejected\nthe doctrine of the Trinity in the Godhead. Whiston honestly and openly\ncombated this impossibility, and avowed himself an Arian, and contended\nunder much persecution throughout his lifetime that such were the\nsentiments of the early Christians, and that the doctrine of the Trinity\nwas but a corruption of the church after it had been long established.\nSuch tenets were then called blasphemous, and Whiston was expelled from\nhis professor's chair, and from the university of Cambridge altogether,\nand had to endure more clamour about blasphemy than ever I had, or have\nany reason to fear in future. This circumstance connected with a rivalry\nin the Mathematics occasioned the breach between Whiston and Newton, but\nridiculous as even Whiston's superstition appears to me, I think him a\nmuch more honest man than ever was Newton, and as a member of society\nmuch more useful to the age in which they lived. Newton courted\ndistinction and popularity by servilely succumbing to all the despotisms\nof the day: Whiston was a man of principle, and lived and died poor for\nthe satisfaction of writing and speaking what he thought and believed.\nThe one has been too much flattered and applauded; the other too much\nvilified and degraded, and the clamour by which both circumstances have\nbeen effected has been equally disgusting and disgraceful to the\ncountry.\n\nI have contrasted the conduct of Whiston and Newton, and have made my\nobservations on the latter to shew that even his name carries no weight\nwith it in the support of superstition, I trust I have sufficiently\nshown that superstition and science can never amalgamate, which\nalso justifies the inference that, morality and religion never can\namalgamate. Superstition corrupts and deteriorates all the human\npassions: science alone is qualified to amend and moralize them. The Man\nof Science who knows his duty, and what is conducive to the interest of\nmankind, will ever boldly and openly set himself in opposition to the\npriest. This has not been sufficiently done hitherto, and I hope that\neven my appeal will not be altogether useless, but that, it will rouse\nsome latent spirit among the Men of Science in this island to assert\ntheir own dignity and importance; and silence the foul, the wicked, and\nthe mischievous clamour of Priestcraft.\n\nIt is beyond doubt that Locke was hostile to the system of Government,\nboth in Church and State, and the odium which he incurred from a certain\nquarter, was quite equal to that which has fallen upon Thomas Paine, or\nthose who, since the American and French revolutions, have travelled\nso much farther in their opposition. Opposition to ill-founded\nestablishments, possessing power, must necessarily be progressive. Locke\nwas thought to have gone to an extreme in his time, but I now consider\nhis writings to be scarcely-worth reading, as far as they apply to\ntoleration in matters of opinion, or to political economy and political\ngovernment. The sentiments which I have put upon paper would have\nbeen called high treason a century ago, and the author hung, beheaded,\nembowelled, and quartered, with the general approbation of the people;\nand a person of the name of Thomas, Matthews was actually hung for\nwriting and printing what was called a treasonable libel, in the reign\nof George the First; which libel, or a similar one, would not now\nbethought seditious by the Attorney General himself. Such is the effect\nof general instruction among the people--such is the progressive\npower of the printing press, that, I feel a moral conviction that\nthe sentiments which I have avowed will became general in another\ngeneration. The circumstance is as sure as that no one will now condemn\nthe political opinions of John Locke, as going too far, but rather as\nweak and insipid, and not going far enough in honest principle.\n\nThen come forward, ye Men of Science, it is reserved for you to give the\ndeath blow, or the last blow to superstition and idolatry. Now is the\ntime--you are safe even from momentary persecution, if you stand forward\nnumerously and boldly. You will have a people, an all mighty people,\nwith you, a circumstance which no philosopher could ever heretofore\ncalculate upon. You have nothing to fear, and nothing to lose, but every\nthing to gain, even that which is most dear to you, the kind reception\nof your instructions, the adoption of your principles, founded in truth\nand the nature of things.\n\nKings and Priests have, in some cases, made partial pretensions to\npatronize the Arts and Sciences, as a cloak for their enmity towards\nthem. They ever were, and ever will be, in reality, their direst\nfoes. An advanced state of Science cannot benefit them. Their present\ndistinctions, and misery-begetting splendour, could not be tolerated,\nwhen mankind shall so far be illuminated as to know the real cause and\nobject of animal-existence. Common sense teaches us that good government\nrequires none of those idle distinctions; for why should the servants,\nor the administrators of the laws of society, be distinguished above\nthose whence those laws should emanate? It is the duty of the Man of\nScience to attack those distinctions, to combat all the established\nfollies of the day, and endeavour to restore society to its natural\nstate; to that state which first principles will point out; the mutual\nsupport, the comfort, the happiness, and the protection of each other.\nAt present we are but as so many beasts of prey, each strengthening\nhimself by the destruction of his weaker fellow. The many unnatural\ndistinctions which Kingcraft and Priestcraft have brought into society,\nhave totally undermined the first object of the social state. In\naddition to this universal evil, those two crafts have set themselves up\nas a bar to all useful improvement. They countenance no change but that\nwhich swells the amount of their depredations, (for the manner in which\ntheir incomes are extorted deserves no other appellation.) Societies can\nobtain no real or lasting strength under the sway of those two crafts,\nfor every improvement that has been made in their several conditions,\nhas been evidently from the force of natural and scientific knowledge,\nand in an exact ratio with the diminution of kingly and priestly\ninfluence. This assertion is evident if we examine the decay of their\ninfluence for the last three centuries, in this or any other country.\nThe printing press has come like a true Messiah to emancipate the great\nfamily of mankind from this double yoke. This Messiah is immortal, and\nits saving powers must be universal and perpetual. By this, and by no\nother Messiah, can man be saved from ignorance and misery; the only hell\nthat he has to fear. It will prove the true Messiah of the Jew, of the\nChristian, of the Mahometan, and of the Pagan. It is a Messiah for all,\nand it will go on to unite under the name and title of Man and Citizen\nthe whole human race, or all those animals who have the gift of speech,\nand its consequent, reason. I hope to see the day, or I fear not but it\nwill arrive, when every man of property shall consider a printing-press,\na necessary piece of furniture in his house; and prize it more than our\npresent aristocrats prize their hounds and horses.\n\nIn support of my assertion, that Men of Science have hitherto crouched\ntoo much to the established impostures of the day, I have merely to\nremark, that I am not aware of any one instance in which any Chemist\nof this country has made a public attack upon them, or called them in\nquestion in any public manner. Another proof of my assertion might\nbe found in the Medical and Surgical professions. From the best\ninformation, I have learnt, that, with a very few exceptions, the whole\nbody of those gentlemen in the Metropolis, have discarded from their\nminds all the superstitious dogmas which Priestcraft hath invented, and\nthat they have adopted those principles which have a visible foundation\nin Nature, and beyond what is visible and comprehensible, their credence\ndoes not extend. Yet, when that spirited young man, Mr. Lawrence,\nhaving obtained a professor's gown in the College of Surgeons, shew a\ndisposition in his public lectures to discountenance and attack those\nestablished impostures and superstitions of Priestcraft, the whole\nprofession displayed that same cowardly and dastardly conduct, which\nhath stamped with infamy the present generation of Neapolitans, and\nsuffered the professor's gown to be stripped from this ornament of his\nprofession and his country, and every employment to be taken from him,\nwithout even a public remonstrance, or scarcely an audible murmur!\n\nIt is conduct such as this which gives courage and permanence to the\ndespots who strive to enslave both our bodies and our minds. It is this\nbase disposition of making truth crouch before established and antique\nerror, which has hitherto characterized the searchers after and lovers\nof the former, that has given force and longevity to the latter. It is\nthe bounden duty of every man openly to avow whatever his mind conceives\nto be the truth. If he shrinks from this he is a coward--a slave to the\nopinions, of other men. Shall the enemies of mankind boldly tell us that\nthey perceive truth in their mysterious and incomprehensible dogmas, and\nshall we shrink from the publication and support of those truths which\nwe perceive to have an evident foundation in Nature! Shall we shrink\nfrom the avowal of truths because despotism and ignorance have granted\nstipends to the propagators of falsehood, and because those stipends\nmight be endangered? Forbid it, Nature! Let every lover of truth and the\npeace and happiness of the human race forbid it.\n\nI may be told that the Man of Science had much better pursue his studies\nand experiments in silence and private, and not expose himself to the\npersecution of bigots. The idea is slavish--disgraceful. Science has\nmade sufficient progress in this country, and has a sufficient number of\nfollowers and admirers, to enable them by a single breath to dissipate\nall the bigotry in the country, or, at least, to silence all the idle\nclamour of the bigoted and interested about blasphemy and atheism, or\nany of their nonsense. Is the progress of Science to be submitted to\nan Excise, and are all discoveries to be treated like contraband goods,\nlest the trade and the tithes of the priest be injured? Shame on that\nman who can tacitly submit to such a system. And yet this is just what\nwe are called upon to submit to, and threatened with punishment, and\neven banishment, if we murmur. I, as an humble individual, have resolved\nto break through those trammels, to violate all those degrading and\ndisgraceful laws, and shall the Man of Science be silent, and see all\nthat he values most dear, persecuted in my person, just because he will\nnot proclaim that I am right, and that my enemies, and his enemies, are\nwrong? Now is the time for him to speak out--now is the time when he\ncan do it effectually. My humble efforts have alarmed the whole of\nCorruption and Falsehood's hosts, and half frightened them to death,\nlet but a few eminent and distinguished Men of Science stand forward\nand support me, and I have no fear of finishing well, what I have\nendeavoured well to begin. I aspire to nothing more than to become the\nhumble instrument of sounding and resounding their sentiments. I am\nanxious to sound a loud blast in the cause of Truth, of Reason, of\nNature and her laws. I will give every Man of Science an opportunity of\npublishing his sentiments without any direct danger to himself: I will\nfill the gap of persecution for him, if a victim be still necessary to\nsatisfy the revenge of dying Priestcraft.\n\nThis is an age of revolutions, and where those revolutions have not\nyet displayed themselves, it is not for want of the mind having been\nsufficiently revolutionized, but because it is kept down by a superior\nacting force in the shape of fixed bayonets and despotic laws.\nThroughout Europe the mind of the people has been long revolutionized\nfrom its wonted ignorance, and wherever it finds an opportunity, it\ndisplays itself. This march of the mind will be progressive, and it\nis evident that it has already begun to spread itself among the very\ninstruments of those despots called Kings, by which they vainly hoped\nto have checked its course. Every march of the Russian troops into the\nsouth of Europe will but tend to enlighten them, and by and bye they\nwill become wise enough to return and revolutionize their own country;\nby adopting the Representative System of Government, and by making their\npresent Emperor what he is so well adapted for--a regimental tailor.\n\nThe horror which was so lately expressed by the Emperor of Austria at\nthe progress of Science, and at the revolution which Sir Humphry Davy\nhad made in the science of Chemistry, is a specimen of that feeling\nwhich pervades all such men. This imbecile idiot quivered at\nan observation of his own physician about the state of his own\nconstitution, and forbade him ever to use the word in his presence\nagain! Yet it is by such men as this, that the inhabitants of Europe are\nheld in a state of bondage and degradation!\n\nWill ye, Men of Science, continue to truckle before such animals? Will\nye any longer bend the knee to such Baals--to such Golden Calves as\nthese? Will ye bend your aspiring minds to prop the thrones of such\ncontemptible, such ignorant, such brutish despots? Shame on you, if you\ncan so far debase yourselves! Up, and play the man, boldly avow what\nyour minds comprehend as natural truths; and all the venom of all the\nDespots and Priests on the face of the earth, shall fly before you as\nchaff before the wind.\n\nThe science of Chemistry has so far explored the properties of matter\nin all its variety, and has so far ascertained all its powers, purposes,\nand combinations, as to banish the idea of its having been formed from\nany chaotic state into its present form and fashion. The Chemist\nwould smile at such a notion in the present day, even if he feared to\nencounter the Priest and his dogmas about the world having been created\nout of nothing. Creation is an improper word when applied to matter.\nMatter never was created--matter never can be destroyed. It is eternal\nboth as to the past and future. It is subject to a continual chemical\nanalysis, and as continual a new composition. For a full comprehension\nof these assertions, it is necessary to have a knowledge of the elements\nof Chemistry: therefore, if any other person, but those to whom this\nletter is addressed, should read it, let him not hastily reject without\na full consideration and enquiry. Mr. Parke's Chemical Catechism, or\nDr. Ure's Chemical Dictionary, will explain all my assertions on the\nproperties of matter. The elements of Chemistry have been published by\na variety of other Chemists, to any of whom I would refer the reader,\nas it will not answer the purport of my address to enter into a fuller\nexplanation on this important head, or to fill these pages with an\nelemental description of Chemistry.\n\nI address myself to Men of Science, not as one of them, but as an\nindividual who has obtained a sufficient insight into the various\ndepartments of Science, through the medium of books, to convince him\nthat all the dogmas of the Priest, and of Holy Books, are false and\nwicked impostures upon mankind. He therefore calls upon Men of Science\nto stand forward and unfold their mind upon this important subject. He\noffers himself as a medium through which they might escape the fangs of\nthe Attorney General, or the Society for propagating Vice, and pledges\nhimself that there is no truth that any Man of Science will write,\nbut what he will print and publish. He has a thorough contempt and\nindifference for all existing laws and combinations to punish him upon\nthis score, and will set them all at defiance, whilst they attempt to\nrestrain any particular opinions. He will go on to show to the people of\nthis island, what one individual, and he a very obscure and bumble one,\ncan do in the cause of propagating the truth, in opposition to falsehood\nand imposture.\n\nI have now gone through the first part of my first head, and I should\nhave been happy if I could have made an exception in the general conduct\nof the Chemists of this island. I am not aware that any one of them\nhas ever made himself the public advocate of truth, of scientific\nphilosophical truth, in opposition to the false and stupifying dogmas\nof Priestcraft or Holy Books. In the Medical and Surgical professions\nI have found one exception, and but one, although I almost feel myself\njustified in calling on many by name to come forward, and among them my\nnamesake stands most conspicuous, in that cause which is nearest their\nhearts.\n\nI have introduced the names of Bacon, Newton, and Locke, under this part\nof my address, not as practical Chemists, which I believe they were not,\nor if they knew any thing of the elements of Chemistry, that knowledge\nis not now worthy of mention, but because they are now claimed as the\npatrons of Superstition. Newton certainly deserves to be called a\ngreat astronomer, but as he endeavoured to make even his knowledge in\nAstronomy subservient to his bigotry, I have thought proper to treat him\nas a wavering and dishonest fanatic, rather than as a Man of Science.\nThe theological and metaphysical writings of Bacon and Locke, are\ncompletely ambiguous, and form no key to the mind of the writer, or\nto any abstract and particular opinions. As I have said before, they\nequivocated as a matter of safety; whatever others might think of them,\nI feel no pride in saying they were Englishmen. Thomas Paine is of more\nvalue by his writings, than Bacon, Newton, and Locke together.\n\nIn calling upon the Astronomer to stand forward and avow his knowledge,\nthat all the astronomical dogmas of Holy Books are founded in error and\nignorance of the laws...\n\n====================================================\n\nPages 23 and 24 are missing from all available copies\n\n=====================================================\n\n...properly be termed a species of madness. Whatever opinions prevail in\nthe minds of men which have no foundation in Nature, or natural laws,\nthey can merit no other designation than insanity. Insanity, or madness,\nconsists in unnatural or incoherent thoughts and actions, therefore, as\nno species of religious notions have any alliance with nature, it is but\na just inference to say, that they individually or collectively comprise\nthe term _madness_. In mild dispositions it may be but a harmless\nmelancholy aberration; in the more violent it becomes a raging delirium,\nwhich destroys every thing that comes in its way, and for which it has\nsufficient strength. It destroys all moral and natural good which comes\nwithin its influence, and madly proclaims itself the _summum bonum_ for\nmankind! As yet there is scarcely sufficient reason among mankind to\nrestrain this madness. It has so mixed itself up with all political\ninstitutions that there is no separating the one without revolutionizing\nthe other. This is the chief cause of the frequent convulsions in\nsociety, as this madness cannot possibly engender any thing but\nmischief, and it is well known, that, in madness, there is no rest; it\nis always in a state of motion, unless there be a sufficient power at\nhand to curb and restrain it. Reason, or a knowledge of nature, is the\nonly specific for it, and he who can throw the greatest quantity into\nthe social system will prove the best physician. Several quacks have\nmade pretensions to give society relief from this madness but they have\nonly tortured the patient without checking the disease. Thomas Paine,\nand a few American and French physicians, have been the only ones to\ntreat it in an effectual manner, and by the use of their recipes, and\nthe assistance of Men of Science, I hope at least effectually to destroy\nthe contagious part of the disease.\n\nMathematics, magic, and witchcraft, were formerly denounced by\nsuperstition as synonymous terms, and the mathematical student has\nbeen often punished as a conjuror! Astronomy and Astrology were also\nconsidered one and the same thing. Such were the fantasies and delusions\nwhich superstition could raise in the minds of men, and such has\nbeen the wickedness of priests, who could always perceive and even\nacknowledge that human reason was inimical to their views, and whoever\npossessed or practised it ought to be destroyed as the enemy not only of\nthemselves but of their God too! As Philosophy has left us no doubt\nthat their interest was and still is their God, they have so far acted\nconsistently, but it is now high time that Philosophy should triumph\nover Priestcraft. It is now evident that Philosophy has sufficient\nstrength on her side for that purpose, as her supporters are now more\nnumerous than the supporters of Priestcraft. Let Men of Science\nstand forward and shew the remaining dupes of Priestcraft, that the\nMathematics are nothing more than a simple but important science, and\nthat Astronomy has no affinity to that bugbear called Astrology.\n\nThe Priests and Judges of the present day are men of the same\ndisposition as the Priests and Judges of the seventeenth century, who\nimprisoned Galileo for asserting the sphericity of the earth, and its\nrevolution round the sun, contrary to the tenets of the Holy Bible,\nand who burnt old women as witches because they might have had the\nmisfortune to be old, ugly, or deformed. Such is the power and progress\nof truth, that those very men are brought to confess that Galileo\nasserted nothing more than an important philosophical fact. On this\npoint I will briefly notice the misgivings of one of our living judges.\nMr. Justice Best in his judicial circuit through the northern district,\nat the late Lent assizes for Cumberland, on a trial for libel, made the\nfollowing assertion, after attempting to contrast the state of freedom\nin this country at this time, with what existed at Rome when Galileo\nwas imprisoned in the Inquisition, for stating \"a great philosophical\ntruth,\" his Judgeship observed: \"now in this country any philosophical\ntruth, or opinion, might be stated and supported without its being\nconsidered libellous.\"\n\nThis is a most glaring and a most abominable falsehood, when the quarter\nfrom which it came is considered.\n\nMr. Justice Best in the month of November 1819, sat as a judge in\nthe Court of King's Bench, and advised the sending me to the gaol of\nDorchester for three years and the imposing a fine upon me of fifteen\nhundred pounds for stating and supporting a great philosophical truth.\nNot content with the imposition of this enormous fine and tremendous\nimprisonment, he also immediately sanctioned the issuing of a writ of\n_levari facias_, on the very same day, by which my business and my\nproperty was destroyed, and by which: cause I am at present deprived of\nall visible means of making up that fine. Yet, Mr. Justice Best, had the\neffrontery to say from the bench, which should ever be sacred to truth\nand justice, that no philosophical truth stated and supported in this\ncountry, would be considered libelous! I do aver, and I challenge any\nMan of Science to contradict me publicly, if he dares, that the two\nvolumes, for the publication of which I am now suffering imprisonment,\nand for which I have been so excessively fined and robbed, contain\nnothing more than philosophical truths, as plain, as, simple and as\nimportant, as those for which Galileo was imprisoned by the Christian\nInquisition, about two hundred years since. I appeal to Mr. Justice\nBest himself--he knows the truth of what I now write--yet he has had the\neffrontery, in contempt of the good sense and discernment of the whole\ncountry, to put forth this vile falsehood--still more vile, because he\nhimself partook in the order for my punishment, Galileo was told in\nthe seventeenth century by the Magnificent Inquisitor General that, his\nastronomical ideas were not in unison with the Holy Scriptures, and that\nhe must not promulgate them. Mr Justice Best told me in November 1819,\nthat he would not sit on the bench as a judge and hear a particle of the\nBible called in question. Then where is the difference in the conduct of\nthose two Magnificent Inquisitors General, and between my case and that\nof Galileo? The Judges who condemned Galileo were quite mild and humane\nwhen compared with mine, they did not rob him of all his property and\nfix a fine with a hope that he would never be able to pay it: they\nmerely, in addition to his imprisonment, ordered him to repeat, aloud\nthe seven penitential psalms once a week! Canst thou Mr. Justice Best\nread this statement and these observations, and again take thy seat as\na judge in a Court of law or what ought to be a Court of Justice? Blush!\nBest! blush! Every Man of Science--every lover of great philosophical\ntruths, will proclaim thee a liar for thy assertion on the bench at\nCarlisle in Cumberland. The very name of the place might have reminded\nthee of the grossness of that assertion!\n\nNeither will it become me here to lay down the elements of Astronomy, my\nappeal is to the Astronomer, and I have merely to remind him, that, if\nhe supports the dogmas of the Priest, or the astronomical blunders of\nany holy book, he is a corrupt and wicked hypocrite, and a disgrace to\nthe science which he studies, practises, or teaches. Science and truth\nought to be synonymous terms, and neither the one or the other ought,\nupon any consideration whatever, to pay the least respect or deference\nto established error. To those same persons whom I have given a\nreference for the elements of Chemistry, I would also refer to other\nworks for the elements of Astronomy. They are now published in a variety\nof shapes and forms, and I am much pleased to see that a number of\ngentlemen are giving lectures on Astronomy in all our towns and cities\nof any note. Such men are worthy of support in preference to the Priest,\nand although they may jointly, from fear, or other motives, attempt to\nmix up religious dogmas with their scientific lectures, I know that it\nmust tend to a due enlightenment of the public mind. An Eidouranion or\nOrrery to have been displayed a few centuries ago would have gathered\na pile of faggots for the lecturer, and he would have been burnt as a\ndaring blasphemer, and his machine with him, as the devil's workmanship.\nSuch is the rapid progress of natural knowledge, that I almost doubt\nwhether the person, that shall now stand forward and publish Thomas\nPaine's Age of Reason, and Elihu Palmer's Principles of Nature, in the\nsame open and determined manner as I published them, would find even\nimprisonment for it, let him do it openly and I will commend him, and be\nalmost answerable for him in point of loss or suffering.\n\nIt is not a sufficient excuse for Men of Science to plead established\ninstitutions, or to say that Priestcraft is powerful because six\nmillions of money is wrung from the people in the shape of direct taxes\nto support it, and about as much more levied in the shape of voluntary\ncontributions upon that class of people called Dissenters. Shew the\npeople that they are imposed upon, and they will no longer be robbed\nand laughed at, they will soon perceive that the money which this\nPriestcraft takes from their pockets would be sufficient for a splendid\nexecution and administration of the laws and government of the country.\nAbolish Priestcraft, and the expense which now attends it will cover all\nthe other necessary expences of the state. This twelve millions of\nmoney is spent for the very worst of purposes, for it does not civilize\nsociety, but rather brutalizes it, by setting its members one against\nthe other, upon different points of belief, all of which are proved to\nbe erroneous and to have no foundation in Nature.\n\nThe Man of Science ought not to look at, or respect, any thing but the\ndiscovery and propagation of truth. Instead of respecting mischievous\nand erroneous establishments, he, of all men, is bound, by every\nhonourable tie, to make an exposure of them, and to teach the people\nright from wrong. His knowledge and discoveries should be like the\nbenefits of Nature dispensed alike to all without price or reward. He\nought to be the patron of truth, and the enemy of error, in whatever\nshape it might appear, or whatever effect it might produce. Like Nature\nherself, he should be no respecter of persons or of things individually\nbut collectively.\n\nI have now gone through the first head of this Address, and I trust\nthat I have performed what I promised under it. I have shewn that Men\nof Science, either from having their minds tinged with superstition,\nor from the fear of offending those who might labour under that malady,\nhave deprived society of many of those benefits which it was their\nbounden duty to have conferred upon it. They have withheld from the\npublic the most important discoveries, because, as the Christian\nInquisition said to Galileo, such discoveries, or such doctrines,\nwere contrary to those of the Holy Bible. Shame upon such dastardly\nprinciples, say I--they are a disgrace to mankind, which assumes a\nsuperiority over all other animals. We had better never have possessed\nthe gift of speech, and its consequent reason, if we are only to use it\nfor the propagation of falsehood, and the production of misery, to\nthe majority of the species. I have broken through the trammels of\nPriestcraft publicly, I bid defiance to all the persecution it can\ninflict upon me, and I now call upon the Men of Science in this island\nto stand forward and support me. However it might affect the momentary\ninterest of individuals, ought not to be a question, it is certain that\nsuperstition would not linger another year, if the Philosophers of the\ncountry would stand forward and make war upon it: they would then find\nthat the extortions of the Priesthood would be willingly given for the\nerection of Temples of Science, and the support of competent professors\nin the Arts and Sciences; and that a mutual instruction in every thing\nthat can benefit a society would be the first and last object in view,\nboth individually and generally.\n\nI come now to the second head of my address, in which I have undertaken\nto shew, that, all existing systems of education are imperfect and\nimproper, and further, to give a sketch of a system that shall be more\nproper. In the first place I would remark that, in all the schools of\nthis country, or with scarce an exception worthy of mention, the youth\nare subjected to a certain system of religious study and exercise. They\nhave to attend certain ceremonies called public worship or prayers--they\nhave to get those prayers by heart, and also a catechism of religious\nbelief, or I should rather say religious dogmas, as there can be no real\nbelief where there is no comprehension of the object in contemplation or\ndiscussion; however, altogether, about these religious ceremonies, one\nhalf of the time of youth is wasted; for the lessons in reading, lessons\nin grammar, copies for writing, and even those lessons in which foreign\nlanguages are taught, have their subject matter founded upon religious\ndogmas, either ancient or modern. Here and there a moral precept is\nthrown in, but the dogmas of religion have a decided preponderance, and\nmore than half of the time of youth is wasted upon them. It is evident\nthat these religious dogmas make not the least impression upon the minds\nof youth, further than to stupify them by so dull and so constant a\nrepetition, and the reason of this is, that these religious dogmas\nhave no foundation whatever in Nature. They neither instruct, amuse,\ninterest, or delight, because the youthful mind has no comprehension of\ntheir object, and can perceive no real utility arising from them. They\nare viewed but as a matter of school discipline, and the youth returns\nto them with a loathing. Still they are continually pressed upon him as\nlong as he remains under parent or tutor, and he grows up with a mind\nsoured by an habitual distaste of that which he is told to venerate.\nIf you were to instruct a child in the elements of Chemistry, you\nwould find that it would be constantly amusing itself with such simple\nchemical experiments as its childhood could practise and comprehend: it\nwould feel an interest in all the little experiments it could make,\nand that interest would lead on to a self-importance, to industry, to\na knowledge and due comprehension of the value of time, about which\nchildren think so little, or rather think nothing at all, under the\npresent system of education. They are exhorted to set a value on their\ntime by written precepts, but they have no inducements to that object,\nowing to their system of education being one dreary monotony. No part\nof it is calculated to kindle the fire of genius, or to cherish the\naspiring spirit of youth. It is from such a system of education that\ntrue genius has become so very scarce, and is so seldom seen: it blunts\nand stupifies the mind, and obscures that radiance to which the system\nI now propose would have given energy and opportunity to display itself.\nMany of Nature's Nobles have passed through life unknown and unheeded\nentirely from the influence of a superstitious and genius-destroying\neducation!\n\nFrom the evident disposition of children to imitate all the actions of\ngrown persons, from their little scientific propensities to produce in\nminiature what they see in magnitude, from the delight which they feel,\nand the deep interest which they take in all their little works and\nplayful amusements, it is certain that nothing more is required to put\nthem in the channel of correct ideas than to give them such instruction,\nand to bend their minds to such objects as shall at once employ, amuse,\nand delight, and at the same time form a playful and healthful exercise\nfor them; whilst it is calculated to expand their minds in the knowledge\nand comprehension of those objects which are above all things conducive\nto the interests of society, and which relate to the progressive\nimprovement and advancing state of the Arts and Sciences.\n\nThe objects to which I allude, are chemical experiments, and experiments\nin every other branch of Natural Philosophy: and a study of Natural\nHistory by observation and examination of natural subjects. I need not\nenumerate the various branches of Natural History, suffice it to say,\nthat I would have a system of education that should embrace the whole\nsuccessively; and here a wide field would be open for the conversion of\npriests to professors in the various departments of this science; and\nthis science alone is so far infinite as to make the life of man a\ncontinual system of education and research. Independent of the foregoing\nsciences there are Geography, Astronomy, Mechanics, and all the lesser\nbranches which are commonly and necessarily taught to youth in the\npresent system of education. This I consider would be a natural and\nproper system for the education of youth, and this system has all the\ndegrees which are as well adapted to the comprehension of infants or\nchildren of three and four years old, as to the most mature age and\nknowledge.\n\nThe beauty of scientific pursuits is, that there is always a novelty\nin them--that discoveries in them will ever be infinite, and that the\nfurther you proceed the more you see before you, and the more ardour\nyou feel in those pursuits. It is the best of all amusement and pastime,\nbecause, it produces universal advantage and universal satisfaction,\nwhilst it neither fatigues the follower nor injures his neighbour. Other\namusements and pastimes are apt to occasion individual injury and even\nmisery, but this cannot. The sportsmen cannot hunt or shoot, without\ndamaging the cultivated property of others, and whilst in the pursuit\nof his game his mind allows no obstacles to be just. With the Man of\nScience the case is different, his amusements and experiments are made\nwithin a narrow sphere, and the result is calculated to benefit all\nwithout injury to any.\n\nChemistry I deem to be the foundation of all other science, and in a\nmanner pf speaking to comprise all other branches of science. As\nmatter and motion comprise everything we can behold or conceive, and\nas Chemistry is an investigation of the properties of matter, with the\ncauses and effects of its various combinations, it is evidently the most\nimportant part of science, or rather, the first and last part of it.\nThe cultivation of the earth--the cookery of our food--its quantity\nand quality, and every thing connected with feeding the body--the\npreservation of our health, and the very preparation of our clothing,\nmay be said to be comprised in the terms chemical analysis and\ncomposition. There is no one part of the Arts and Sciences, but to which\nChemistry has relation, and even the most important relation. In all\nmanufactures, whether wood or metal--clay or stone--wax or glass--paper\nor cloth, or what not, the knowledge of Chemistry is essential. It is to\nthe science of Chemistry that we owe all our artificial productions,\nit is to the science of Chemistry that we owe all our knowledge and\ncomprehension of natural productions, and their adaption to our several\nuses. It is therefore of the first consequence that we should commence\nour studies in this all important science, even in our infancy. As the\nScience of Chemistry embraces so extensive a variety of objects, it is\nnot without a class simple enough for the comprehension of children.\nThe burning of a candle is a chemical experiment for the production\nof light--the burning of the fuel which keeps up our fires, is but a\nchemical experiment for the production of heat; to which a thousand\nmight be added equally simple, a definition of which could not fail\nto be of the greatest importance in the education of children. And why\nmight not even the first lessons of children be comprised of these and\nsimilar simple chemical experiments, which beyond every other subject\nmust instruct and amuse, attract the child's particular attention, and\nexpand its mind by filling it with correct ideas?\n\nI would banish from our school-books every word about God or\nDevil--Heaven or Hell, as hypocritical and unmeaning words, mere words\nof sound, and confine the attention of children and youth to such\nsubjects, as an every day's experience shall evince to them to have a\nfoundation in Nature. Moral precepts might, be necessary and useful but\neven morality might, in my opinion, be taught much better by example\nthan by precept. Therefore, I would say, that the books of children had\nbetter be filled with scientific subjects than with moral precepts, as\nthe former are infinite and cannot be too early entered upon, or\ntoo closely studied, whilst the latter might be comprised in a few\nexpressions, and taught better, and with more impression by colloquy and\nexample, than in lessons for reading and writing. However, lessons\non moral virtue might be most appropriately mixed up with lessons on\nscientific subjects. They lead to one common end--the happiness and\nwelfare of the human race in society.\n\nLet no one imagine that I hold moral virtue in light esteem, or that I\ndeem it a secondary object, No, the possession of moral virtue with the\ngrossest ignorance on every other subject, is preferable to the most\nextensive knowledge connected with an immoral and vicious character.\nMoral virtue should form the foundation of every motive, and every\naction in life. It is from the conviction that scientific pursuits, or\na scientific education, must naturally lead to the extension of moral\nvirtue, that I have been induced to submit this sketch to Men of\nScience. Moral virtue is with me a _primum mobile_ in all things. It\nforms the beginning and the end of all my views, and, according to my\nconceptions, of all the principles I advocate and teach. But I would\nmost strenuously exhort the reader to abandon the idea, if he does hold\nit, that morality is dependent on religion, or that the former cannot\nexist without the latter. I solemnly and deliberately assert, that\nreligion is rather the bane than the nurse of morality. I have imbibed\nthis impression from the deepest reflection and the closest observation\nof mankind. To those who think Lord Bacon an authority worth notice, for\nwhat I assert, I would refer them to a quotation from his writings on\na former page. However, I want no written authority, nor no name, to\nconvince me of the truth of my assertion; we have but to look around us\nwith an impartial eye, and we might read it in the every day actions of\nthe majority of mankind.\n\nI would also banish from our schools Homer, Hesiod, Horace, Ovid,\nand Virgil, and every volume that makes the least allusion to the\nmythologies of Greece or Rome, or any-other part of what have been\ncalled the Pagan mythologies. If such books are amusing or instructive\nin ancient history, it will be time enough to read them after having\ngone through a scholastic education. They should make, no part of the\nschool routine. I do not here mean to dispute the propriety of children\nbeen taught the dead languages, although I must confess, that I consider\nthem no farther useful than to teach the etymology of our own language.\nPaine, Franklin, and Cobbett, are powerful instances that they are by\nno means essential to an enlarged mind. However, if the dead languages\ncontinue to be taught in our schools, I could wish them to be taught\nthrough a different medium than at present. Those languages might be\ntaught on other subjects than wars, famines, and massacres, immoral\nmythologies and the history of base and vicious characters. It has been\nthe common misfortune of historians to take especial notice of base and\nvicious characters. Hitherto profligacy has been the chief passport\nto immortality, and the virtuous few have passed through life unheeded\nbefore or after death with but very few exceptions. The very books\nwhich are called holy and divine are filled with descriptions of human\nmonsters, and scarce any set off or contrast to exhibit the benefits and\nbeauties of moral virtue among mankind.\n\nI am sensible that at present no books exist, such as I point out for\nthe use of schools, embracing the elements of the Arts and Sciences,\nand free from allusion to all kinds of mythology and superstition,\namong which I wish to be understood as including the mythology and\nsuperstition of the Christians, but no task can be more simple than for\na few Men of Science to compile them. Of late some brief and partial\ndescriptions of the Arts and Sciences have been introduced into\nschool-books, but it has been mingled with so much trash about religion\nand superstition, as to render it of no avail, and but as a secondary\nor useless object. It is high time that the subject was taken in hand\nby Men of Science, and that such books, in the various departments of\nscience, should be compiled, as to be adapted for all the different\nstages of education. None but he who is skilled in any particular\nscience can be equal to the task of compilation. He alone can judge of\nthe best method of introducing that particular science to the youthful\nmind. It will not be necessary that I should here draw out any specific\nplan for this system of education; I submit the outline to the judgment\nof Men of Science. My meaning is too clearly stated to be misunderstood\nor cavilled with. The subject is a proper one to attract the attention\nof any legislature that emanates from, and legislates for, the benefit\nof the people, and he that shall move it as an amendment to Mr.\nBrougham's proposed system, which has no other object than to become a\nnew prop for decaying superstition, will at least deserve well of his\ncountry and every lover of science and real liberty, whether he succeeds\nor not. It is a subject that no honest man need be ashamed of. It is\nby no means a theoretical subject; if it be a novel one, its\npracticability, and its importance, must reach every mind that has the\nleast idea about Science, and its utility. I break in upon the present\nsystem of education no further than that I would change the medium\nthrough which the lessons for reading, exercises in grammar, copies for\nwriting, and that in which the dead, or even living foreign languages\nare taught: the medium which I would substitute, should treat\nexclusively of scientific subjects, so as to leave the mind in a\ncontinual state of exercise upon the subject of Science, and that alone.\nUnlike religion, Science can never weary the mind: the dreary monotony\nof the former is a perfect contrast to the life-inspiring power of\nthe latter. Every step you take in Science, stimulates you to further\npursuit. The vast volume of nature, that book of books, that only\nrevelation worthy the attention of man, is always open to the Man of\nScience; and in this book the child can find a language that shall be\nintelligible, and adapted to his youthful capacity. He can read here\nwithout stupifying his senses, and gain useful information without\ncorrupting his manners.\n\nI would even exclude all historical subjects from our schools, as very\nlittle of what is left us can be relied on as true, and such as is true,\nis of very little consequence to a rising generation. However far it\nmight be useful in the shape of example, or amusing and instructive to\ngrown persons, it forms but a waste of time with children at school.\nGeneral History is but ill adapted to correct the bad or stimulate\nthe better passions of mankind. It displays scarce any thing but the\nignorance and brutality, the massacres and superstitions, which have\nbeen so common to mankind hitherto. It is rare indeed to find a sketch\nof a virtuous character. I am of opinion that we could not do better\nthan draw a veil as close as possible over the past, and endeavour to\nstart upon a system that our posterity shall not blush to read when\nimpartially stated. Who can read the history of the past, without\nblushing and pitying the madness of that animal man, for making so bad a\nuse of his gift of speech and its consequent reason? I must confess that\nI cannot.\n\nIn teaching Geography it is by no means necessary to describe the\nancient division of the earth into Empires, Kingdoms, Principalities,\n&c, or the customs of their former several inhabitants, as they have\nbeen subject to a continual change, to trace which, serves but to\ndistract the mind without filling it with any useful information: it\nwould be sufficient for all purposes in studying this science, to become\nacquainted with the present divisions of the earth, and the present\ncustoms, manners, and distinctions of its inhabitants. The same rule\napplies to Astronomy, it is by no means necessary, but as a matter of\ncuriosity, to trace and study its history: it is sufficient to acquire\nall the present information that can be obtained in that science, and to\nstand prepared to make further discoveries or to receive the discoveries\nof others. By cutting off all that part of the present system of\neducation which forms but a waste of time, you will gain so much the\nmore time for making fresh advances in the various Arts and Sciences.\nOf course, I do not expect that under my proposed system, one\nindividual can become an adept in all the various branches of all the\nsciences--no--it would be still necessary that some individuals should\nconfine themselves to one particular science, and some to another, as\ntheir peculiar abilities and dispositions might suggest, as the best\nmeans for a further and a quicker improvement and advance in the whole.\nIt is sufficient that they all begin right, and waste no time about\nunmeaning and useless trash; but, by an assiduous application to their\nseveral branches, make the farthest possible progress.\n\nThat infinity of experiments which Chemistry opens to our view, and\nthat infinity of subjects for examination in Natural History, makes\nit necessary to begin at those two sciences as early as possible. The\nelements of Chemistry, a knowledge of which is so essential in all the\nrelations of life, might be simplified for an adaption to the meanest\ncapacity, and even to that of children beginning to read, of which\nI have before pointed out two familiar instances, upon which a more\nenlarged explanation might be made, and to which a thousand others\nequally simple and instructive might be added. In Natural History what a\nvast field is open? wherein\n\n     \"To teach the young idea how to shoot.\"\n\nHere every thing both in the animal and vegetable world, which comes\nunder the every day observation of the child, or even the grown person,\nmight be familiarly described and explained in our school-books by a\nregular classification and arrangement. By such a system of education as\nthis, the youth would instinctly and involuntarily read a useful lesson\nin every object that came within his view; his mind would be incessantly\nled to a contemplation of Nature, a knowledge of which can alone lead\na man to true and substantial happiness. No part of matter would then\nescape the scrutinizing disposition of man, he would explore the ocean\nand the rivers, the mountain and the valley, the forest and the plain,\nthe bowels of the earth and its atmosphere, and even the surface\nand atmosphere of other orbs to gratify his scientific and laudably\ninsatiate curiosity. The blade of grass, the leaf, the tree, its fruit,\nthe flower-bed with all its vivid tints and animating effluvia, with all\nthe infinite variety both in the vegetable and animal world, would alike\nform matter for his scientific research, and objects for him to explore.\nHere in contemplating the stupenduous organization which constitutes\nanimal and vegetable life in Nature's infinite variety, all varying, yet\nall connected by one common link, operating by one common cause, and to\none common end, a successive production and decay, decay and production,\nthe human mind might find an exercise as infinite, and have ideas\nstirred up equally stupendous. I cannot help exclaiming: This is the\npath of Nature: tread here, O Man! and be happy.\n\nThe works of Nature though infinite are strictly analogous, and human\nreason is produced by the same laws as every other natural product. The\nculture of the mind, by which human reason is produced, bears a strict\nanalogy to the culture of the soil, by which we subsist In each Nature\nwill produce to a certain degree, but the aid of art is necessary to\nproduce a sufficiency, and to reach refinement and perfection. It is\ntherefore of the utmost importance that we begin right, that all the\nideas of our infancy and youth be founded in Nature, and that the\npoisonous effusions of Priestcraft be carefully weeded, and kept from\nour minds. We should guard our minds against those destructive enemies\nof human reason, the priests, as we would our fields and gardens against\nthe destructive powers of the locusts, or similarly destructive insects\nand animals. Our interest and happiness is as much at stake in the one\ninstance as the other, for the Priest is not content with destroying our\nhappiness, but he must be also fed by our labour. He takes on an average\nan eighth of all our produce.\n\nThe children or the man might here learn that the organization of the\nvegetable is not less stupendous than that of the animal--that the life\nand the death of the vegetable is as near alike the life and the death\nof the animal as that the life and the death of any two animals of a\ndifferent species are alike each other--that there are animal-vegetables\nand vegetable-animals, or living substances, in life and vegetation,\nthat partake both of the properties of animals, and vegetables--that\nthis is an evident link between animals and vegetables which unites them\nin the great chain of nature--that they exist by the same cause, for\nthe same purpose, and to the same effect, He might also learn, that the\norganization of the smallest insect and animalcule is equally stupendous\nwith the organization of man himself; that it is alone from a peculiar\norganization that the different animals have the power of uttering so\nmany different sounds, and that man is indebted to the power of uttering\na greater variety of sounds for his gift of speech, and for a greater\ndegree of reason, than any other animal possesses, as its consequent.\nLet the child, or the man even, be taught to reason in this manner, and\nhe will soon feel himself humbled down into his proper sphere in the\nscale of Nature. He will leave off all the mad tricks which now daily\nand hourly occupy his time, he will occupy his time by a self and social\nimprovement, and will perceive that a study of Science can alone lead\nhim to true happiness.\n\nWhy might not the Linuean system of classification, arrangement, and\ndescription, both of animals and vegetables, with all the improvement\nwhich has already been made, or which might be made in future, upon that\nsystem, be taught in our schools to children? What can be more simple,\nmore amusing, or more useful, and more instructive? What other system\nof education can be so well calculated for a proper expansion of the\njuvenile mind? How much more advantageous to society would such a system\nof education be, connected with a knowledge of Chemistry, Astronomy,\nGeography, Geometry, and the Mathematics, than all that lying and\nstupifying lore about religion and its offspring; for the support of\nwhich mankind are so excessively robbed? If religion be a word that has\nany substantial definition, or if it be a proper word, and can be made\napplicable to Nature in its meaning, or the action it indicates, I have\nno hesitation to say, that the System of Education which I now propose\nforms the basis of the only true, the only rational religion. The word\nreligion implying a fixed faith or belief, and having its etymology in\nthe Latin verb _religo_, to bind fast, there can be no true, no just,\nno rational religion, but that which applies to something we can\ncomprehend, and which has its foundation in Nature and her laws. We\ncannot strictly speaking fix our faith on a phantom, unless we admit\nfaith itself to be but a phantom of the mind, yet such is the pretence\nof all those who make so much clamour about the word religion. A study\nof Nature and her laws, alone forms any substantial faith or religion.\nThis study I would make the basis of all education, to the exclusion, or\nexplosion, of all the remaining mythological nonsense of the day.\n\nArithmetic, Geometry, and the Mathematics, being taught in figures,\nadmit no change in the system of teaching, or at least in the medium:\nthe same might be said of Algebra, which has the simplicity of the\nalphabet for its medium for instruction and practice. This forms the\nonly part of education that the priests have not corrupted, and the\nreason is because they could not; and these figures being above their\nreach to corrupt or destroy will prove their overthrow. The science of\nthe Mathematics has given a fatal blow to Priestcraft, and this science,\nconnected with Astronomy, was the first which, began to undermine the\ndogmas of all priests. The science of Chemistry has come to its aid, by\nproving that matter is indestructible and imperishable, and must have\nexisted as it now is, to all eternity as to the past, and will exist as\nit now is, to all eternity as to the future. The sciences of Physiology\nand Zoology have convinced us that the organization of the animal\ncalled man, is not more wonderful than that of every other animal and\nvegetable, nor is he of more importance in the scale of Nature. All that\ncan be said of him is, that he is superior in mental strength to any\nother animal, and his superiority over the lion, the tiger, or the\nelephant, is not more than the superiority of those animals over the\nlesser beasts of the forest. Man only possesses the highest degree in\nthe rank of animals. It is high time to teach man what he really is\nin the scale of Nature, and no longer allow him to play such fantastic\ntricks as he does play, by pretending to be something beyond other\nanimals, and to possess supernatural and immortal powers of existence.\nMan has nothing but the dogmas of superstition in support of his future\nsensible existence--these dogmas are false and wicked impostures. No\nappeal can be made to Nature in support of them. Man, as a part of a\nwhole, or as an atom of matter, is immortal, but with whatever he\nmight amalgamate after his frame has passed its dissolution, and has\nevaporated like a dunghill, or a bed of rotten vegetables, that atom can\nretain no sense of a former existence. The system of Pythagoras would\nhave been strictly true and rational, if he or his disciples had not\nimagined a sense of former existence, or that an animal under one shape\ncould retain a sense of his existence under a former shape, although the\ntwo might form two distinct animals of a different species. Pythagoras,\nand his followers, have erred only on this point. I would bring the\nwhole race of mankind back to a conviction that they exist to no other\npurpose, and by no other cause than every other animal and vegetable.\nLet mankind be once sensible of this important fact, and they will cease\nto persecute, to harass, to rob, and to destroy each other. They would\nthen make the best use of their time, and view their animal existence\nbut as a moment in the space of eternity. They would sedulously\nendeavour to increase the sum of human happiness, and lessen the sum of\nhuman misery, and this alone would form the first and the last object of\ntheir wish and existence Let our youth be educated upon this basis, and\nlet even grown persons, re-educate themselves in the same manner, and we\nshall soon see mankind in its proper character. That character will\nbe the opposite of what it is at present. The representative system of\ngovernment will be found to be the only necessary government amongst\nthem, and the chief part of legislation will consist in an advancement\nof the Arts and Sciences.\n\nI have now completed the task which I set out by promising, and whatever\nreception my address might find among Men of Science, I feel assured\nthat I have misstated nothing, and that nothing which it contains can\nbear contradiction. I neither fear the critic or the caviller upon the\nground-work of my address. I have performed a task which I have many\nmonths had in view, and the more I have considered the subject, the more\nI have felt its importance. I submit the whole, not to the prejudices of\nthe bigot or the priest, but to the clear impartial judgment of Men of\nScience. I have kept much within bounds in noticing the advanced state\nof Science, and I feel assured that what I have recommended can be\neasily and immediately reduced to practice. The breath of Philosophy\nis now sufficiently strong to puff out the glimmering superstition of\nPriestcraft. The Philosopher should no longer bend the knee to this\nor any other corrupt power. There is a keen public appetite for\nphilosophical truths. I feel satisfied that I have the daily thanks\nof thousands for rescuing their minds from the horrible dogmas of\nSuperstition and Priestcraft. I have so strong an assurance of the\nrapid decay of superstition, and the powerful effect of the books\nand pamphlets which I have thrown into the social system, that no\npersecution, no punishment, no fines, shall deter me from proceeding to\nthe utmost of my power and abilities. I am happy to see others following\nin the same path, as I rather court assistance and emulation than dread\nit. I am ever pleased at the extensive circulation of those publications\nto which mine are exposed, as it is of the first consequence to\nstimulate mankind to read, to examine, and to discuss the pretensions of\nall principles. The Bible Society might circulate its millions of\nbooks, and not a member of that society shall feel more pleasure at\nthe circumstance than myself. I do not wish that any of my publications\nshould fall into the hands of any individual, but he who can read the\nBible, and who is fully acquainted with its contents, and all the dogmas\nwhich the priests of this country teach. It is on this ground that I\nwish to try the force of those principles which I advocate and no other.\nI feel assured that no impartial and disinterested man ever read a copy\nof\n\nThomas Paine's Age of Reason without having his faith shaken in the\nChristian religion, and if ever he has read Mirabaud's System of Nature\nhe will find his faith shaken on the subject of all religion. He will\nsee that the whole has arisen from one common fault--the ignorance and\ncredulity of mankind.\n\nFor instance, when the use of the telescope and the advanced state\nof the science of Astronomy has given us ocular and mathematical\ndemonstration, that every orb we see revolving in the wide and infinite\nexpanse of space, and that each of that infinite number of orbs,\nwhich something more than hypothesis convinces us do revolve in space,\ncorresponds with a portion of that solar system, of which our parent\nearth is a part, that they are guided by the same laws and composed of\nthe same species of matter, by which we infer that they bear the\nsame productions, does not the query arise in our minds, which must\ninevitably strike down the fabric of the Christian religion, that if it\nwas essential for a Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, as\nold as his father, to pass through the virgin-womb of a woman, to\nbe buffeted, scourged, and put to an ignominious death by a sect of\nsuperstitious bigots, who have constantly for the space of eighteen\nhundred years denied all knowledge of such a person, for the purpose of\nprocuring the future happiness of those animals on this orb whom we call\nhuman, and their salvation from the eternal torments which he and his\nfather had prepared for those who should reject them; was it not also\nessential, that this same Jesus Christ, this only begotten son of God,\nas old his father, should have submitted to a similar incarnation in\na virgin-womb, and have been buffeted, scourged, and executed, as a\ncriminal malefactor, according to the respective customs of treating\nsuch characters on the several orbs, or the peculiar part of them on\nwhich he might chance or choose to inhabit; was it not essential that\nhe should have performed a similar mission for the similar salvation and\nfuture happiness of the several inhabitants or animals denominated\nhuman on each and every one of those orbs? Can any priest answer this\nquestion? The Man of Science I know will smile at it, and pity the\ncredulity and ignorance of all who have believed, who do believe, or\nwho may believe, such ridiculous nonsense. Then let him come forward\nand preach up his scientific knowledge, and silence the dogmas of the\npriest. It is reserved for the Man of Science to rid mankind of this\nhorrid ignorance and credulity, and to impress upon their minds the\nall-important subject of scientific knowledge. Man does not naturally\ndelight in ignorance and credulity, but he naturally strives to free\nhimself from those vices. There is no truth that you can impress upon\nthe mind of man, but what he will rejoice at feeling it to be truth, and\nhimself undeceived as to former error. It is the interested hypocrite\nalone, that is alarmed at the progress and power of truth, he whose very\ntrade is the known propagation of falsehood and delusion, the tyrants\ntool and scourge. All tyranny, oppression, and delusion, have been\nfounded upon the ignorance and credulity of mankind. Knowledge,\nscientific knowledge, is the power that must be opposed to those evils,\nand be made to destroy them. Come forward, ye Men of Science, ye must no\nlonger remain in the back ground as trembling cowards, ye must no longer\ncrave protection from, and creep at the pleasure of, your direst foes;\ngrasp at tyranny, at oppression, at delusion, at ignorance, and at\ncredulity, and you shall find yourselves sufficiently powerful to\ndestroy the whole, and emancipate both the mind and the body of man from\nthe slavery of his joint oppressors.\n\nThe latter of the before-mentioned works is a most important one, and\nhas hitherto passed through several editions without molestation by the\nAttorney General, or the Society for propagating Vice. Whatever they may\nattempt, it will defy the malice of either. Many other very important\npublications are now in full sale, and from the appetite which I find\nstill exists for them, I have been induced to make this bold appeal to\nMen of Science, calling upon them to stand forward and vindicate the\ntruth, from the foul grasp and persecution of Superstition; and obtain\nfor the island of Great Britain, the noble appellation of the focus\nof truth; whence mankind shall be illuminated, and the black and\npestiferous clouds of persecution and superstition be banished from\nthe face of the earth; as the only sure prelude to universal peace and\nharmony among the human race.\n\nDORCHESTER GAOL, MAY 1821.\n\nEighteenth Month of the Author's Imprisonment, and the Fourth Month of\nthe Imprisonment of his Wife.","title":"An Address to Men of Science: Calling Upon Them to Stand Forward and Vindicate the Truth....","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":15787}