Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1841-09-21
THE CHARACTER OF THE AGE.

THE CHARACTEk OF The AGE.
Extract from recent lecture on the
character Of the age, by Doctor Chan
ming.
% "In looking at our age, am struck,
Immediately, with one commanding char
acterislc, and that is, the tendency Of al !
its movements as to expansion, to diffu-
sion, to universally. To this, | ask your
attention. This tendency is directly Op-
- posed to the spirit of exclusiveness, re-
striction, Rarrowness, monopoly, which
has prevailed in past ages. Human acti on
Is now freer, more unconfned. All goods
advantages, helps, are more Opento ALL
The privileged, petty individual is be-
coming less, and the human race are be-
coming more. The multitude is rising
from the dust. Once we heard of the
.few,now of the manBonce of the prerog-
yatives Of par!; now Of the rights of all.
We are looking as never before, through
the DISCUSSES, developments Of rank and
classes, TO the common nature which lies
below them, and are beginning to learn
that every being who paGtakes Of it, has
noble powers to cultivate, solemn duties
10 perform, inalienable rights 10 assert,
Z vast destiny to accomplish. The grand
idea Of humanity, Of the importance of
man as man, is spreading silently, but
surely. Not that the worth of the human
being is al all understood as il should be,
but the truth is gimmering through the
darkness. A faint consciousness Of it
q, has seized on the public mind. Even the
mcstabiect portions Of society are visit
ed by some dreams OF better condition,
for which they were designed. The
grand doctrine, that every human being
should have the means of self-culture, Of
progress IN knowledge and virtue, Of
health, comfort, and happiness, of exerci-
sing the powers and affection Of man,
this is slowly taking its place as the high
est social truth. That the world was
made for all, and moi for few; that soci
ety is to care for all; that no human be-
ing shalt perish but through his own fault
that the great end Of Government is to
spread shield over the rights of all; these
propositions are growing into axioms, and
the spirit of them is coming forth in all
the departments Oflite.
If we look at the various movements Of
our age, we shall see in them this ten
dencY to universally and diffusion. Look
first at Science and Literature. Where
isScience nowS Locked up in few
colleges Of royal societies OF inaccessi-
bic volumes? Are its experiments mys.
teries for few privileged eyes? Are
its portals guarded bva dark phraseolo-
ay. which to the multitude, is a foreign
tongue? No! Science mas nowle her
% retreats, her shades, her selected Compa-
nv Of votaries, and with familiar tone, be-
gun the work of instructing the race
! Through the press, discoveries and theo-
ries, once the monopoly Of philosophers
have become the property of the multi
tnde. Its professors, heard not long ago
in the university or some narrow school,
now speak ia the Mechanic Institute
The doctrine, that the laborer should un-
derstand the principles Of his art, should
be able to explain the laws and processes
which he turns to account; that instead
of working, az machine, he should join
s, intelligence to his toll, is no longer listen
ed to as dream. Science, once the
greatest Of distinctions, is becoming pop
uIar. A lady gives US conversations on
-a chemistry, revealing to the minds Of ouT
youth vast laws Of the universe, which
fty years ago, had not dawrsd on the
greatest minds. The school books OfouI
children contain grand views Of the Gre
alton. There are parts Of our country IN
which Lycenms spring up in almost every
village, for the purpose of mutual aid il
ii the study Of natural science. The char
acteris.ic of our age then is not th
Il improvement Of science, rapid as thi
ia ", 90 much as its extentiOn to a
a men.
The same characteristic will appear,
We inquire into the use now made Of SC
ence. ls il simply matter Of specull
tiOnta topic Of discourse al emplOymer
II 6f the intelleclf Ia this case the multi
s,o tude, with all their meaHs OF insiructio
stt would End in il tonly hurried gratiic,
4ion. But one Of the distinctions Of Of
Is time is, that ! science has passed fro