l why the waters of Jordan
should be better than Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus; yet since
experience has proved them so, no reasoning can change the opinion.
Indeed, the causes of all common facts are, we think, perfectly well
known to us; and it is very probable, fifty or a hundred years hence, we
shall as well know why the Metallic Tractors should in a few minutes
remove violent pains, as we now know why cantharides and opium will
produce opposite effects, namely, we shall know very little about either
excepting facts." Fifty or a hundred years hence! if he could have
looked forward forty years, he would have seen the descendants of the
"Perkinistic" philosophers swallowing infinitesimal globules, and knowing
and caring as much about the Tractors as the people at Saratoga Springs
do about the waters of Abana and Pharpar.

I trust it will not be thought in any degree disrespectful to a
profession which we all honor, that I have mentioned the great zeal of
many clergymen in the cause of Perkinism. I hope, too, that I may
without offence suggest the causes which have often led them out of their
own province into one to which their education has no special reference.
The members of that profession ought to be, and commonly are, persons of
benevolent character. Their duties carry them into the midst of
families, and particularly at times when the members of them are
suffering from bodily illness. It is natural enough that a strong desire
should be excited to alleviate sufferings which may have defied the
efforts of professional skill; as natural that any remedy which
recommends itself to the belief or the fancy of the spiritual physician
should be applied with the hope of benefit; and perfectly certain that
the weakness of human nature, from which no profession is exempt, will
lead him to take the most flattering view of its effects upon the
patient; his own sagacity and judgment being staked upon the success of
the trial. The inventor of the Tractors was aware of these truths. He
therefore sent the Tractors gratuitously to many clergymen, accompanied
with a formal certificate that the holder had become entitled to their
possession by the payment of five guineas. This was practised in our own
neighborhood, and I remember finding one of these certificates, so
presented, which proved that amongst the risks of infancy I had to
encounter Perkins's Tractors. Two clergymen of Boston and the vicinity,
both well known to l