334 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



band will coo2:)erate in pursuing a herd of buffalo ; even one nation 

 will sometimes unite with anotlicr nation against a third, but such 

 combinations are temporary, and no sooner is the particular object 

 accomplislied than the confederation disbands, and every man is again 

 his own master. The moment two or more persons unite for the ac- 

 complishment of some purpose which shall tend permanently to meli- 

 orate the condition of themselves and others, that moment progress 

 begins. The wild beasts of the forest, acting in unison, were physi- 

 cally able to rise up and extirpate primitive man ; but, could beasts in 

 reality confederate and do this, such confederation of wild beasts could 

 become civilized. 



But why does primitive man desire to abandon his original state 

 and set out upon an arduous, never-ending journey ? Why does he 

 wish to change his mild, paternal government, to relinquish his title 

 to lands as broad as his arm can defend, with all therein contained, 

 the common property of his people ? Why does he wish to give up 

 his wild freedom, his native independence, and place upon his limbs 

 the fetters of a social and political despotism? He does not, Tlie 

 savage hates civilization as he hates his deadliest foe; its clioicest 

 benefits he hates more tiian the direst ills of his own u'lfettered life. 

 He is driven to it driven to it by extraneous influences, without his 

 knowledge and against his will ; he is driven to it by this Soul of 

 Progress. It is here that this progressional phenomenon again ap- 

 pears outside of man and in direct opposition to the will of man ; it is 

 here that the principle of evil again comes in and stirs men up to the 

 accomplishment of a higher destiny. By it Adam, the first of re- 

 corded savages, was driven from Eden, where otherwise he would 

 have remained forever, and remained uncivilized. By it our ances- 

 tors were impelled to abandon their simple state, and organize more 

 heterogeneous complex forms of social life. And it is a problem, for 

 each nation to work out for itself. Millions of money are vainly spent 

 by benevolent people for proselyting purposes, when, if the first prin- 

 ciples of civilization were understood, a far diflerent course would be 

 pursued. 



Every civilization has its peculiarities, its idiosyncrasies. Two 

 individuals attempting the same thing differ in the performance ; so 

 civilization evolving under incidental and extraneous causes takes an 

 individuality in every instance. This is why civilizations will not 

 coalesce; this is why the Spaniards could make the Aztecs accept 

 their civilization only at the point of the sword. Development en- 

 gendered by one set of phenomena will not suit the developments of 

 other circumstances. The government, religion, and customs of one 

 people will not fit another people any more than the coat of one person 

 will suit the form of another. Thought runs in difiTerent channels ; the 

 happiness of one is not the happiness of another; development springs 

 from inherent necessity, and one species cannot be engrafted on another. 



