708 MEMOIK OF GUYOT. 



with which I have become acquainted, say to me that the species do not 

 pas« gradually from one to the other, but appear and disappear sud- 

 denly, without direct relations with their predecessors." To each the 

 system of progress was as orderly a system as that which evolutionists 

 now recognize. The successional relations made known by paleontology 

 were welcomed for the same reason as now — because they illustrated 

 the true system of progress. The difference was not as to these rela- 

 tions, or the system of progress, but as to the means of carrying for- 

 ward the development. 



Guyot also gives a brief explanation of his views with regard to the 

 Geographical March of Human History, and this is all he ever published 

 of his historical course. In the expression " geographical march " he 

 refers to the fact that human progress took place not by gradual eleva- 

 tion at one center of civilization, but by successive transfers from one 

 nation or center to another. He points out and illustrates three stages 

 in the progress : 



First. The stage characteristic of the old Orient — that of subjection; 

 Subjection not only to the despotism of rulers and of society through 

 castes, but also to that of nature's forces through fear and superstition, 

 and to the despotism of priests, exerted over both people and rulers 

 through the superstitious element, and to priests and rulers conjoined, 

 making the subjection complete. It was " the subjection of human lib- 

 erty to the yoke of nature," " to the immutable, blind laws of necessity, 

 which regulate the courses of the celestial bodies and the life of nature;" 

 to the " inflexible, unloving, inexorable gods of the early East." 



Secondly. The stage of growth in individual freedom, worked out in 

 and characterizing Greece — a land <' neighboring still the East," but ad- 

 mirably organized by its very features, by the combination within it of 

 all the contrasts of the continent for the development of individuality ; 

 a free people full of the energy of youth and the conscious strength of 

 freemen, converting "the world of nature" into "that of the human 

 soul," where " all the riches of i)oetry, of intellect, of reason, which are 

 the heritage of the human mind, display themselves without obstacle 

 and expand in the sun of liberty "; where " religion is a deification of 

 the faculties and affections of man"; where " the forces of nature, the 

 trees of the forests, the mountains, the springs, and the rivers appear 

 as objects of worship," " under the form of gods, of goddesses, and of 

 nymphs, endowed with all the affections and subject to all the weak- 

 nesses of common mortals." 



But, he says, the Empire of Alexander, and of individuality, and of 

 fratricidal wars was not for the future. The Greek principle wanted 

 the addition of association, " a i)rinciple determined by nature and not 

 by voluntary agreement." 



Thirdly. The third stage was that of Rome, its center a little farther 

 toward thewest, which, through the spirit of «,ssoc?flf«m, became the great 

 empire and law-giver for the world. But selfish and corrupt, " one-half 



