Page:Hunterian oration, delivered in the theatre of the Royal College of Surgeons in London on February 14th 1829 (electronic resource) (IA b2148305x).pdf/11

Rh gree the qualities necessary for the investigation, and the energy to employ them, is the best and soundest philosopher. It is the love of truth and the endeavour to acquire it, that marks the philosopher, and forms a necessary condition in the character of the man of science. Is truth the bold, the significant lineament, of the age? Does truth preside at the balance, by which men are appreciated? Is not the estimation of men rather formed by the station they occupy, than by the qualities of those influences which have placed them in it? How often does the passion for effect obscure the splendor of truth!

he most ennobling occupation of man is the research into first truths. And for this enquiry the philosophy of the mind will make known the compass of his ability, and the estimate of his means, for conducting the investigation to that point where certainty commences, and immutable truths, or