VIEWS ON THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 359 
that he looks upon it almost in the same way as do 
the beasts, and that all that surrounds him is noth- 
ing to him: compare, I say, the intelligence of this 
individual with that of the man who, prepared at 
the outset by education, has contracted the useful 
practice of exercising the organ of his thought in de- 
voting himself to the study of the principal “branches 
of knowledge; who observes and compares every- 
thing he sees and which affects him; who forgets 
himself in examining everything he can see, who in- 
sensibly accustoms ‘himself to “judge of everything 
for himself, instead of giving a blind assent to the 
authority of others; finally, who, stimulated by re- 
verses and especially by injustice, quietly rises by 
reflection to the causes which have produced all that 
we observe both in nature and in human society; 
then you will appreciate how enormous is the dif- 
ference between the intelligence of the two men in 
question. 
““If Newton, Bacon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and 
so many other men have done honor to the human 
species by the extent of their intelligence and their 
genius, how nearly does the mass of brutish, igno- 
rant men approach the animal, becoming a prey to 
the most absurd prejudices and constantly enslaved 
by their habits, this mass forming the majority of 
all nations ? 
““ Search deeply the facts in the comparison I have 
just made, you will see how in one part the organ 
which serves for acts of thought is perfected and 
acquires greater size and power, owing to sustained 
and varied exercise, especially if this exercise offers 
no more interruptions than are necessary to prevent 
the exhaustion of its powers; and, on the other 
hand, you will perceive how the circumstances which 
prevent an individual from exercising this organ, or 
from exercising it habitually only while considering 
a small number of objects which are always of the 
