234 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IP. 



This queftion naturally divides itfelf into two. Firft, Whether, 

 in this animal ftate of* man, there be any difference at all among in- 

 dividuals ? And, lecondly. Whether that difference goes to the 

 race ? 



That, in the ftate in which we live in Europe, there is a very great dif- 

 ference among individuals, from the moment of their birth, in their bo- 

 dies at leaf!, is a fad that cannot be difputed ; forfome are born weakly 

 and delicate, others ftrong and healthy ; fome big and lufty, others 

 fmall and puny : And this difference continues through life ; fo that, 

 in civilized nations, there is a very great difference in fize and 

 flrength. The only queffion, therefore, that can be in this matter, 

 with refped to the civilized ftate, is. Whether there be not likewife 

 a difference in Mind ? Thofe, who maintain that Mind and Body 

 are the fame, and that we think and reafon, have inclinations and 

 difpofitions, by a %fis infita in our bodies, in the fame manner as they 

 fay the planets are moved, will certainly admit that the bodies being 

 fo different, this vis infita^ being an effential property of them, will 

 be different alfo ; or, fuppofe they ftiould admit that the Mind was 

 a thing fomewhat different from the Body, but entirely dependent 

 for its operations upon the organization of the Body, they will furely 

 not maintain, that, Bodies being fo very different, the Minds alfo will 

 not be different. The only queftion, therefore, in this matter, muft be 

 among thofe who maintain that the Mind is a fubftance perfectly diftindt 

 from the Body, and that the Body is not the efficient caufe of any 

 of the operations of the Mind, though it may be that without which 

 the Mind, in this ftate of our exiftence, cannot operate. Now, 

 I hold the natural difference of Minds, in the civilized ftate, to be a 

 matter of fad, as clear and indifputable as the difference of Bodies. 

 It is obfervable in children, in their earlieft years, and w^hen they are 

 grown up, the difference of propenfities and inclinations is fo well 



marked. 



