2 Experiment, as an organ of reason, not less distinguished from the
blind or dreaming industry of the alchemists, than it was
successfully opposed to the barren subtleties of the schoolmen.
3 Whose own mind, however, was not comprehended in the vortex; where
Kepler erred it was in the other extreme.
4 But still less would I avail myself of its acknowledged
inappropriateness to the purposes of physiology, in order to cast a
self-complacent sneer on the soul itself, and on all who believe in
its existence. First, because in my opinion it would be impertinent;
secondly, because it would be imprudent and injurious to the
character of my profession; and, lastly, because it would argue an
irreverence to the feelings of mankind, which I deem scarcely
compatible with a good heart, and a degree of arrogance and
presumption which I have never found, except in company with a
corrupt taste and a shallow capacity.