598 The Races of Man. 



sordid feeling and so many fierce passions, that it may well 

 be questioned, whether the mental and moral status of our 

 population has not on the average been lowered, and wheth- 

 er the evil has not overbalanced the good. Compared with 

 our wondrous progress in physical science and its practical 

 applications, our system of government, of administering jus- 

 tice, of national education, and our whole social and moral 

 organization, remains in a state of barbarism.* And if we 

 continue to devote our chief energies to the utilizing of our 

 knowledge of the laws of nature with the view of still fur- 

 ther extending our commerce and our wealth, the evils which 

 necessarily accomj)any these when too eagerly pursued, may 

 increase to such gigantic dimensions as to be beyond our 

 power to alleviate. 



We should now clearly recognize the fact, that the wealth 

 and knowledge and culture oithefeio do not constitute civil- 

 ization, and do not of themselves advance us toward the 

 "perfect social state," Our vast manufacturing system, our 

 gigantic commerce, our crowded towns and cities, support 

 and continually renew a mass of human misery and crime 

 absolutely greater than has ever existed before. They create 

 and maintain in life -long labor an ever -increasing army, 

 whose lot is the more hard to bear, by contrast with the 

 pleasures, the comforts, and the luxury which they see every- 

 where around them, but which they can never hope to enjoy ; 

 and who, in this respect, are worse off than the savage in the 

 midst of his tribe. 



This is not a result to boast of, or to be satisfied with ; 

 and, until there is a more general recognition of this failure 

 of our civilization — resulting mainly from our neglect to 

 train and develop more thoroughly the sympathetic feelings 

 and moral faculties of our nature, and to allow them a larger 

 share of influence in our legislation, our commerce, and our 

 whole social organization — we shall never, as regards the 

 whole community, attain to any real or important superiority 

 over the better class of savages. 



This is the lesson I have been taught by my observations 

 of uncivilized man. I now bid my readers — Farewell ! 



* See note next page. 



