514 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



could say, in the name of science, whence he did not come ; I could 

 affirm that our ancestor was not an animal — neither a monkey, nor a 

 seal, nor any other animal whatever. 



At our last meeting we commenced the study of the general char- 

 acters presented by the human species, and we examined its physical 

 characUrs ; that is, those which may be drawn from the body studied 

 in a state of health and of disease. We were led also to pass in re- 

 view its exterior characters, its anatomic characters, physiological and 

 pathological. We thus obtained an idea of the general nature of man, 

 considered exclusively from an organic point of view. Well, this 

 study of man, in his material relations, led us to the conclusion that 

 there is but one human species, so that it confirmed the results at 

 which we arrived in our first lectures. 



But is the body all of man ? And, after studying the material 

 being that strikes our senses, is there nothing more to study ? Science 

 will answer. 



When a naturalist studies ants, he is not content with describing 

 the thorax, the abdomen, the jaws, and the legs. He shows also how 

 they construct their ant-hill, and to what use its chambers are des- 

 tined ; its galleries, where so many and such divers things are stored ; 

 he shows, further, how they raise their larvae and their young ones ; 

 how they hold in captivity the plant-lice destined to furnish an ali- 

 ment which they secrete, as do the cows and sheep we keep in our 

 stables. 



When a naturalist gives the history of bees, he does not limit him- 

 self to a description of their body and wings ; he is careful to show 

 how they build their hives^ gather and knead the wax to construct the 

 comb in which they deposit honey, the first sweet known to man. 

 He calls the attention of the reader or listener to that unique female, 

 always alone in each hive; he shows the respect and care that all the 

 bee-workers have for this female, who is at once their queen and their 

 mother. 



In other words, the naturalist studies the instincts of the ants and 

 the bees. 



When he attempts the history of man, shall he put aside that 

 which in him represents these instincts ? Evidently not. 



Consequently he must not stop wdth the body. He must consider 

 the intelligence which is in us, and which, up to a certain point, we 

 have in common with animals ; he must show that it is this element 

 of our being which recognizes the outer w^orld, which judges, which 

 aspires. His work will be very imperfect, if he neglects this some- 

 thing of w^hich the nature escapes us, but of which the power is such, 

 that through it man has not only vanquished all animals, whatever 

 their defenses, their size, or their strength, but he has overcome and 

 made to work, as his servants, even the immutable forces of the inani- 

 mate world, achieving all distances, thanks to the railroad ! outstrip- 



