Page:A Dissertation on the Construction of Locks (1785).pdf/11



HE protection and preſervation of life, and property, are objects which have been anxiouſly, and neceſſarily attended to in the moſt harmleſs ſtates of ſociety. The art and invention of ingenious men have in all times been applied to contrive means of ſecurity adapted to the particular dangers to which either life or property were expoſed, from the nefarious practices of the day. A review of their productions, which we muſt preſume to have been effectual to their purpoſe, ſuggeſts a concluſion, that the morals of former times, were as much leſs depraved than