THE ANIMATED CREATION. 281 



comfort, he must have entertainment for his intellect, whatever 

 be its grade, objects for the domestic and social affections, 

 objects for the sentiments. He is also a progressive being, and 

 what pleases him to-day may not please him to-morrow ; but 

 in each case he demands a sphere of appropriate conditions in 

 order to be happy. By virtue of his superior organization, his 

 enjoyments are much higher and more varied than those of any 

 of the lower animals ; but the very complexity of circumstances 

 affecting him renders it at the same time unavoidable, that his 

 nature should be often inharmoniously placed and disagreeably 

 affected, and that he should therefore be unhappy. Still, 

 unhappiness amongst mankind is the exception from the rule 

 of their condition, and an exception which is capable of almost 

 infinite diminution by virtue of the improving reason of man, 

 and the experience which he acquires in working out the pro- 

 blems of society. 



To secure the immediate means of happiness, it would seem 

 to be necessary for men first to study with all care the consti- 

 tution of nature ; and, secondly,- to accommodate themselves 

 to that constitution, so as to obtain all the realizable advan- 

 tages from acting conformably to it, and to avoid all likely 

 evils from disregarding it. It will be of no use to sit down 

 and expect that things are to operate of their own accord, or 

 through the direction of a partial deity, for our benefit ; 

 equally so were it to expose ourselves to palpable dangers, 

 under the notion that we shall, for some reason, have a dispen- 

 sation or exemption from them : we must endeavour so to 

 place ourselves, and so to act, that the arrangements which 

 Providence has made impartially for all may be in our favour, 

 and not against us > such are the only means by which we can 

 obtain good and avoid evil here below. 1 And, in doing this, it 

 is especially necessary that care be taken to avoid interfering 

 with the like efforts of other men, beyond what may have 

 been agreed upon by the mass as necessary for the ^ general 

 good. Such interferences, tending in any way to injure the 

 body, property, or peace of a neighbour, or to the injury of 

 society in general, tend to reflect evil upon ourselves through 



1 The doctrine of the natural laws as affecting 1 human welfare is clearly 

 and satisfactorily explained in Mr. Combe's Essay on the Constitution of 

 Man, to which and to the excellent works of Dr. Andrew Combe, may 

 be ascribed no small share of that public movement towards improved 

 sanitary regulations which is one of the most gratifying features of our 

 age. 



