Page:The Hunterian Oration, delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons ... February 14, 1817 (IA b22009358).pdf/30

22 abject state of the art, it is no cause for surprise that the persons who exercised it were held in little estimation, and that they occupied a rank in society but one degree above the lowest mechanics. But, as in the course of the preceding century, men began to reason upon and to assert their cwwil rights; as laws were enacted for the more perfect security of the lives, the property, and the freedom of the people; so, as a natural consequence, the energy of the human mind began to display itself upon all those subjects that are interesting to man. The Royal Society was established, under the immediate patronage of the king, for the promotion of natural knowledge; and genius and talents being thus not only protected but fostered and encouraged, a multitude of learned men �