'I am reading for the second [time] "The System of Nature", by Holbach and Diderot, if every one would read it, they would soon discover, by reasoning the most correct & conclusive that man has hitherto been taught nothing but the most pernicious [underlined] errors - the consequence of which is his present moral [underlined] degradation & deplorable wretchedness [underlined], alas! that the bandage cannot be torn from his eyes but by slow degrees - ~"bit-by-bit" reforms. It would seem that his prejudices [underlined] were his only sores [underlined] - & that he is willing to endure all that sensation can endure rather than have these sores touched'