One of the ends for which man was formed, is to correct appearances and errors, by the investigation of truth; whoever considers him attentively, from infancy to manhood, and from manhood to old age, will find him ever busy in endeavoring to find some reality, to supply the place of the false appearances, by which he has hitherto been deceived.

Astronomical and Geographical Essays (6th edition), Essay I, Part III (p. 25)