38 MYTH AND SCIENCE. 



dt rived from and is based upon the order of nature. 

 Although savage passions, excited by an imperfect 

 understanding of the truth, do from time to time 

 cause the overthrow of given societies, and arouse 

 the horror and alarm of pessimist votaries of myth, 

 nature is not thereby overcome ; she still triumphs, 

 and restores the order which has been interrupted, 

 so far as the instinct of conservatism and the here- 

 ditary impulse to that special form of association to 

 which each people are accustomed are opposed to the 

 revolutionary spirit, and in this way the balance 

 which has been disturbed is re-established. 



"When men, having brought their intellectual, and 

 consequently their moral sense to perfection, are 

 enabled to understand this natural order of laws 

 and social facts, divested of extrinsic mythical beliefs, 

 they will find in it so much reciprocal benefit, and 

 will have such a deep sense of their personal dignity, 

 since they are intellectually their own artificers, that 

 they will be able to understand how the highest good 

 has ensued and will ensue from the sacrifices or 

 achievements made by a few for the benefit of all. 

 \Ve are undoubtedly still a long way from such happy 

 conditions, either socially or as individuals, but every 

 day brings them, nearer, and it is to this end that 

 our civilization plainly tends, in spite of all the com- 

 plaints, the fears, and sometimes even the malevolence 

 of men. 



As I have already said, the study of the beginnings 



