CHAP. V. 



§ 1- 



Of the different States of Mankind. 



JriAVING thus detailed and distinctly described the 

 various pleasures and pains which mankind are capable of 

 receiving, and their various degrees, it now remains to exa- 

 mine which of these opposite perceptions, the pleasing or the 

 painful do at present, or have at any past period, as far as 

 can be known, always predominated during the whole course 

 of human existence. 



On a question of so vast an extent, to venture on such a 

 decision as the known data will permit, we must view the 

 condition of our species in each of the four different states 

 in which it anciently existed, or is at present found. These 

 are, the Patriarchal, the Barbarian, the Savage, and the 

 Civilized. 



§2. 



