In treating of profitable industry, we must not pretermit mental labor, which contributes so largely to all the higher interests of the State. Intellectual industry may be classed under the higher public functionaries: the three professions of law, physic, and divinity; instructors of youth; cultivators of practical science, such as engineers, chemists, astronomical observers; and authors. Though the public functionaries all receive pecuniary compensation, yet a considerable part of their remuneration consists in the honor conferred by the office, it being an evidence of merit in the officer, and of the favor of those who appointed him.

The profession of the law, in countries where the knowledge of civil and political rights is much cultivated, especially fits men for public employments. Accordingly, a very large majority of the higher civil functionaries, both in the General and State Governments, have been taken from this profession. The judges, a corps of great power and influence, can be taken from no other. Of the fifteen Presidents of the United States, all but General Washington, General Taylor, and Mr. Madison (who was educated for the bar), had been practising lawyers.

A consequence of this success of the legal profession is, that the honors and emoluments obtained by it constitute a part of its recommendation, and swell the list of its competitors, so as to reduce the average remuneration received by this class to the level of that received by other classes, in proportion to the intellectual and moral qualities which they put in requisition. These, however, it must be remembered, are very high. To be an eminent and successful lawyer requires the gift of unwonted powers of speech, either for reasoning or persuasion, and the moral qualities of integrity and discretion. He must be faithful, not only to the interests, but often also to the secrets of his client; and he must be superior to the temptation of taking advantage of that client's necessities or difficulties. These species of moral worth they rarely fail to possess; and, in the higher departments of the profession, no class of men have a more exalted sense of honor, or the obligations of conscience.

In the practice of medicine, high intellectual and moral qualities are also required, and are also frequently found; but, as the merits of a practitioner in this profession cannot be brought to the same ready and easy test as those of a clergyman or lawyer, there is in it a greater number of unworthy pretenders, who profit by the general desire of health or relief from disease, as well as by the credulity of ignorance, to vend quack medicines, sometimes merely worthless, and sometimes injurious, from which they occasionally derive great gains, as are indicated by the liberal sums paid for advertising their remedies, and by the large fortunes they are known to amass. The secret of a celebrated panacea was obtained from a German soldier, in discharge of a debt of twenty dollars, and remained for several years unused by its possessor; but when at length put into operation, and managed with great industry and address, it proved the means of acquiring a fortune of near, or quite, half a million of dollars.

Of the different branches of the healing art, surgery commonly receives the highest rewards, partly on account of the unequivocal relief from great suffering which it often affords, and partly because there is but a small proportion of the medical profession who possess at once the knowledge, the self-command, and the practical skill required in surgery.

Nearly akin to this art, but of an humbler character, is that of the dentist, which, though comparatively of recent origin,* may be regarded as among the most useful of human arts. It is favorable to health by assisting mastication; it aids men in the noble office of speech; and it contributes to make them more agreeable to others. Its followers have, therefore, in half a century, been multiplied more than fifty fold, and most of them receive a very liberal compensation.

* I can remember when there was but one dentist in the State of Virginia. He was a German, and his original occupation was that of a farrier.

In the clerical profession, as has been mentioned, a part of the remuneration, besides the gratification of the religious instinct, being the high respect in which it is held, the pecuniary compensation is thereby greatly diminished. The rewards, however, of this description, are often very liberal, and are in proportion to the intellectual and moral qualities, and especially oratorical talents which its followers possess.

The scientific class, comprehending instructors of youth, engineers, and practical chemists and metallurgists, are variously remunerated. The humblest description of teachers commonly obtain a very moderate compensation, partly by reason of the comparative ease of the employment. The irksomeness of bodily labor to those not accustomed to it, will commonly induce a young man to prefer two hundred dollars for keeping a school, to three hundred dollars for cutting down trees or ploughing. Besides, the former occupation has more dignity from its intellectual character. This fact, by recommending the business of teaching, tends to lessen its pecuniary rewards; while, on the other hand, its demand for qualifications above the average required for common laborers, tends to raise them.

Professorships in universities and colleges, requiring both intellectual accomplishments and elevation of moral character, are generally well remunerated. But as their incomes are certain, they are less than those of successful practitioners of law or medicine.

Civil engineers, being employed in the construction of public works of great cost and of national importance, commonly receive a remuneration in proportion to their responsibility. It can easily happen that a difference in the science and sound judgment of two engineers may, in such costly and often difficult enterprises, be equal to one or more hundred thousand dollars. Those, then, who are at the head of the profession, generally obtain very high rewards for their services. Labor of this rank, in fact, is at a monopoly price.