Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Obituary.
OBITUARY .
LATELY , m the 87 th year of his age , Thomas' Reid , D . D . professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow . ' His ingenious and elaborate works , especially his " Inquiry into the Human Mind , " and his " Essays oh the Intellectual , " and the- " Active Powers of Man , " are noble and
lasting monuments' of his ' eriiin ' ent abilities ] his deep penetration , and his extensive learning . Dr . Reid-s merit as a teacher and an ' author is very generally known . He was unquestionably one of the profoundest philosophers of the age , and although some , who think it a' proof of weakness to differ from Mr . Hume ;
have slighted the speculations of Dr . Reid , and undervalued the ' mathematical-precision" which lie laboured to introduce , ' his Enquiry into the Senses will , probably , be coeval with our language . It-is founded on facts , which must' continue to interest men while their constitution continues unchanged . —If ' any p ' aFtbf this admirable work were to be selected as the most ingenious , the inquiry into the eve , into '
single and double vision , might be quoted . His other works are of a more popular cast : In all of them , however , ' there appears , accurate arrangement , and candid argument , with illustrations So clear anil copious , as . evince a correct knowledge of the . subject . Neither'his great acquirements , nor the success of his works ,
slackened his pursuit o'f hew knowledge . He studied the late improvements'in Chemistry , he observed the ' great political events which have happened , and contemplated those with which the time seems pregnant , with-the keen interest of one-just entering on life . Age , indeed , and a native love of-truth ; gave
him' a degree of impartiality , which is now as rare in politics as it has always been in theology ; so that hs spoke of every thing like a superior being who had purified his perceptions without impairing hi ; humanity . Pie venerated Religion ; not the noisy contentious systems which , lead itren to hate and persecute each other , but that sublime principle which regulates the
conduct by conirouling the selfish , pint animating ' the benevolent ' affections ! When vilified by intemperate Philosophers ' , | ie' made no reply , being satisfied with baying stated what he thoughf the truth ' ; and when , outraged by zealots who most falsely call'themselves Christians , he bore the outrage meekly ,
using ho terms either of complaint or reproach . He was , to ' the last mo i nient , ' free from that morose , ' querulous temper , which has ' been deemed inseparable from' age . ' Instead of repining at the prosperity o'f enjoyments bf the young , he delighted in promoting them ; ' and , after having lost all
his own family except one daughter , he continued to treat ' children with such condescension and benignity , that some very young one ' s noticed the peculiar kindness of his eye . ' Every scheme , which promised to improve'human nature , or to alleviate Human misery , found in him the most ardent support . He' was uncommonly active in establishing ' the irifirmarv at Aberdeen ; and
he was an early , vigorous , uniform promoter of that in' Glasgow . —Besides a very liberal subscription , he seldom visited the infirmary ' without leaving ' a new mark o'f his ' good will . His end accorded with the wisdom and goodness of his former fife . He used sometimes to say , ' ' ' I aiu ashamed of living
so long- after having ceased to be useful , " though at that very ' finie , he was acquiring orcdmmunicatingt . ' sefu ! knowledge . During his last' i . lm-ss , ' which was severe , he complained' of nothingbut the trouble that Wg ' ate his ' aflec ^ tionnte family ; and he looked to the grave as a place not of rest merely , but
of triumph . His late compositions contained allusions to his cwn decay ; allusions the rr . ore a / . ' ectii . g ' to Ji . S friends , because ' they seemed lhe genuine offspring of his feeli ' ngsj and were expressed 'with all tlie'dignitv of virtue . Last winter , in the Literary Society of Glasgowj he rend an ingenious discourse on lhe Muscles ; and after stating , fronh his own ' experience , the effects produced on them by age , he con-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Obituary.
OBITUARY .
LATELY , m the 87 th year of his age , Thomas' Reid , D . D . professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow . ' His ingenious and elaborate works , especially his " Inquiry into the Human Mind , " and his " Essays oh the Intellectual , " and the- " Active Powers of Man , " are noble and
lasting monuments' of his ' eriiin ' ent abilities ] his deep penetration , and his extensive learning . Dr . Reid-s merit as a teacher and an ' author is very generally known . He was unquestionably one of the profoundest philosophers of the age , and although some , who think it a' proof of weakness to differ from Mr . Hume ;
have slighted the speculations of Dr . Reid , and undervalued the ' mathematical-precision" which lie laboured to introduce , ' his Enquiry into the Senses will , probably , be coeval with our language . It-is founded on facts , which must' continue to interest men while their constitution continues unchanged . —If ' any p ' aFtbf this admirable work were to be selected as the most ingenious , the inquiry into the eve , into '
single and double vision , might be quoted . His other works are of a more popular cast : In all of them , however , ' there appears , accurate arrangement , and candid argument , with illustrations So clear anil copious , as . evince a correct knowledge of the . subject . Neither'his great acquirements , nor the success of his works ,
slackened his pursuit o'f hew knowledge . He studied the late improvements'in Chemistry , he observed the ' great political events which have happened , and contemplated those with which the time seems pregnant , with-the keen interest of one-just entering on life . Age , indeed , and a native love of-truth ; gave
him' a degree of impartiality , which is now as rare in politics as it has always been in theology ; so that hs spoke of every thing like a superior being who had purified his perceptions without impairing hi ; humanity . Pie venerated Religion ; not the noisy contentious systems which , lead itren to hate and persecute each other , but that sublime principle which regulates the
conduct by conirouling the selfish , pint animating ' the benevolent ' affections ! When vilified by intemperate Philosophers ' , | ie' made no reply , being satisfied with baying stated what he thoughf the truth ' ; and when , outraged by zealots who most falsely call'themselves Christians , he bore the outrage meekly ,
using ho terms either of complaint or reproach . He was , to ' the last mo i nient , ' free from that morose , ' querulous temper , which has ' been deemed inseparable from' age . ' Instead of repining at the prosperity o'f enjoyments bf the young , he delighted in promoting them ; ' and , after having lost all
his own family except one daughter , he continued to treat ' children with such condescension and benignity , that some very young one ' s noticed the peculiar kindness of his eye . ' Every scheme , which promised to improve'human nature , or to alleviate Human misery , found in him the most ardent support . He' was uncommonly active in establishing ' the irifirmarv at Aberdeen ; and
he was an early , vigorous , uniform promoter of that in' Glasgow . —Besides a very liberal subscription , he seldom visited the infirmary ' without leaving ' a new mark o'f his ' good will . His end accorded with the wisdom and goodness of his former fife . He used sometimes to say , ' ' ' I aiu ashamed of living
so long- after having ceased to be useful , " though at that very ' finie , he was acquiring orcdmmunicatingt . ' sefu ! knowledge . During his last' i . lm-ss , ' which was severe , he complained' of nothingbut the trouble that Wg ' ate his ' aflec ^ tionnte family ; and he looked to the grave as a place not of rest merely , but
of triumph . His late compositions contained allusions to his cwn decay ; allusions the rr . ore a / . ' ectii . g ' to Ji . S friends , because ' they seemed lhe genuine offspring of his feeli ' ngsj and were expressed 'with all tlie'dignitv of virtue . Last winter , in the Literary Society of Glasgowj he rend an ingenious discourse on lhe Muscles ; and after stating , fronh his own ' experience , the effects produced on them by age , he con-