1861,0/2, 15 ENTERED, ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1854, BY IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. NEW YORK STEREOTYPE ASSOCIATION. 201 William Street. INTRODUCTION. THE ordinary and familiar operations of the human mind are generally accepted as the measure and standard of its normal activity and capacity. Accordingly, whenever the faculties exhibit unusual intensity and power, or are exercised on subjects which far transcend the range of popular thought, even the noblest efforts are regarded as abnormal eccentricities. It was long since proved-i. e., if the vote of the majority can settle a question of this nature-that the multitudes who occupy the plane of the common mind are preeminently compos mentis. Having no decided mental and moral qualities to distinguish them one from another, they conclude that they are free from angularities, and are most symmetrically developed. Being self-constituted judges of others as well as of themselves, they assume the right to decide who is crazy and who is devilish. They seldom or never question the senses nor the judgment of those who are free from new ideas; but the man who dreamed last night of the next grand discovery, whether it be a new continent, another planet, or an additional motive power, is treated as a visionary this morning, though the day may realize all that his dream foreshadowed. The world regards its own; and in every age the man who has approved the existing government, however oppressive, who has revered the established religion, however corrupt, and defended the prevailing philosophies and customs, however superficial and absurd, has been the accredited example of human consistency, and, it may be, the oracle of the people. The most devoted worshiper at the shrine of art, the wisest philosopher, the founder of a new science, and the advocates of the latest and the noblest reforms are often treated as mere enthusiasts, and accused of profaning the altars and dishonoring the memory of the dead. Men of sense are, weary of the repetition of this solemn, |