Page:Hunterian oration, delivered in the theatre of the Royal College of Surgeons in London on February 14th 1829 (electronic resource) (IA b2148305x).pdf/33

Rh in the desire of acquiring first truths, and of knowing generally, the laws by which the phenomena of nature are regulated. This desire of acquiring real truths, leads on the mind to ascertain, by observation and experiment, all the conditions under which facts exist. At this point it would naturally happen that enquiry should go yet further, and that there should be a solicitude to unfold the powers of the mind capable of carrying investigation to the perfection of truth. And thus that gleam which had only occasionally broke in upon mankind, to give a glimpse of the beauty of order, and of the perfection of the creation, might be made to burst into the steady light of day.

Many have exalted their names, and conferred the greatest benefits on posterity, by laying open the principles on which the philosophy of the mind is to be expounded the only way by which the knowledge of nature can be established on a sure founda-