Essay on instinct, and its physical and moral relations / By Thomas Hancock.

  • Thomas Hancock
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essay on instinct, and its physical and moral relations / By Thomas Hancock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    wther, or impalpable aerial fluid, or by some other subtile medium. And, in the same way, we may reasonably conclude that it will’ ever be fruitless to inquire whether, in the human body, a nervous fluid or a mere vibration conveys the impulse of the will to the voluntary muscles, or the impression of the senses to the brain. ‘The profoundest researches of the physiologist cannot explain how a man performs the simple act of raising his arm, nor how the eye and ear transmit their respective sensations to the mind. In every department of human knowledge, there- fore, there is a point where inquiry must rest; and where it becomes the true philosopher to contemplate in awiul humility the wonders of Almighty Power, adoring in silent reverence that infinite wisdom, which las only unlocked, as it were, to man, the ves- tibule of the great Temple, that contains thousands of Nature’s secrets yet unopened, and thousands more, perhaps, never to be revealed. Now, in this view, it must be considered highly incumbent upon all, whe prosecute physical or moral inquiries, to direct them in the plain and simple path of observation, which may lead to profitable results ; and equally incumbent to avoid the giddy heights of speculation, where the mind is too much disposed to look down upon the laborious inquirer, and to in- dulge in vain conceits of superior intelligence. For, hence arise the evils.of a wild untutored imagination, —that roving faculty of the mind, which is to be found