180 EULOGY ON QUETELET. 



some extent, modify the laws of nature. These perturbing forces act so 

 slowly that the modilicatious they produce may be called secular per- 

 turbations, since they are analogous to those astronomical variations in 

 the systems of the world which require centuries for their investiga- 

 tion. The study of the natural and perturbing forces of man, in other 

 M'ords, .social mechanics, would develop laws as admirable as those which 

 govern celestial and inanimate bodies. As to the accusation of materi- 

 alism, to which these results are said to lead, it has been made so often 

 whenever science has essayed a new stei) into the unknown regions of 

 nature, that it is not worth while to answer it ; especially' at the pres- 

 ent day, when it can no longer be followed by the rack or imprison- 

 ment. Who can justly accuse us of insulting the Divinity, when we 

 exercise the most noble faculties He has given us in meditating upon 

 the sublime laws of the universe, or in endeavoring to make manifest 

 the admirable economy and infinite wisdom which presided over their 

 formation ? Or who can regard with indifference the sciences which 

 have substituted for the narrow, insignificant world of the ancients, our 

 magnificent solar system, and so extended our starry vault that we can- 

 not attempt to fathom its depths without a feeling of religious awe"? 

 Certainly a knowledge of the marvelous laws which govern the universe 

 gives a much grander idea of the power of the Divinity than that which 

 blind superstition would impose upon us. If the material pride of man 

 is humbled by the thought of the small space he occupies even upon 

 the grain of dust he calls his world, how much he should rejoice in his 

 intelligence, which allows him to penetrate so far into the secrets of the 

 heavens. If science has advanced thus in the study of worlds, may we 

 not look for equal progress in the study of man ? Is it not absurd to 

 suppose that, while all else is controlled by admirable laws, the human 

 race alone is abandoned to blind chance, and possesses no principle of 

 conservation ? Such a belief is surely more injurious to the Divinity 

 than the research we propose. 



In 1832-'33 appeared an article '■'■TJpon the possihUity of measuring the 

 influence of the causes which modify social elements,''^ and one '■''Upon the 

 influence of the seasons ivpoyi the faculties of man.^' As soon as Quetelet 

 obtained a new result he hastened to make it known, often before his 

 idea was sufficiently matured or the fact at all certain, which accounts 

 for the repetition in his articles. This mode of working has some ad- 

 vantages ; it excites interest and parallel efforts, but it occasions loss of 

 time, and renders the coordination of the researches more difficult. In 

 1835 appeared the admirable work, ".l/on and the development of .his 

 facidiicHf or, '■'■An essay upon social j>//j/.s/c6'." It is a review of all his 

 previous works on statistics; "a sketch," he calls it, "of a vast picture, 

 the details of which can only be sui)plied by patient investigation." It 

 is divided into four volumes : the first two are devoted to the physical 

 qualities of man, the third to his moral and intellectual qualities, and 

 the fourth treats of the properties of the average man, and of the social 

 system. The author considers, first, the determination of the average 



