Philosophical Treatise on the Nature and Constitution of Man, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A Philosophical Treatise on the Nature and Constitution of Man, Vol. 1 The object of the present work is to afford a comprehensive and complete survey of the nature of man as regards his intelligent being; to exhibit the direct and immediate connexion of each department in his constitution with its corresponding relation; and to demonstrate the uniform mechanism of the whole as one entire and consistent system. Such an undertaking has of course demanded considerable pains in the execution, as well as extensive research and patient inquiry in securing the information necessary to render it in any degree perfect; requiring not only close and reiterated observation of human nature, but also a fall acquaintance with the thoughts and theories of those enlightened and penetrating minds which have already laboured earnestly in the same field. If therefore the subject of this Treatise be deemed too exalted for any but the loftiest genius to attempt; - and through the wide range of topics which the mind embraces, it is impossible to name any at once more vast, more abstruse, or more important; - the author has at any rate endeavoured to make some atonement for his apparent presumption in entering upon it, by devoting to it not merely the occasional leisure of a few years, but the attention and study of the best period of his life. It was commenced during early youth, carried on through manhood, and only completed in his later days. All those literary works of man, like the living works of God, which grow up before our eyes, and are intended to endure, are produced by slow degrees, and by a gradual putting forth of shoots. The mushroom, on the other hand, which springs up in a night, fades in a day. It is, moreover, ordinarily, with literary performances as with animal life, that their existence extends to n period corresponding with that occupied in their growth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.