Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. j 



As there is a progreffion of man in all the ftates in which he has 

 exifted, fo there is alfo a progreffion in his natural ftate as well as 

 his civilifed. He was at firft a quadruped, as I think, I have prov- 

 ed very clearly in the preceding volume * : And if there were any 

 doubt in the matter, the progrefs from the quadruped to the biped, 

 which is yet to be feen among fome people, who, having been but 

 lately erected, go ftill at times upon all four, puts the matter out of 

 all doubt f. This firft ftate of man I call the animal Hate; for, in 

 that ftate, I confider him as a mere animal, with only the capaciiy 

 of intelled:, but not the ufe of it. And, in that ftate, he does not 

 appear to be a gregarious or focial animal, but of that clafs of ani- 

 mals, who do not affociate, and whom we call wild, AnJ, accor- 

 dingly, all men that have been difcovered in that ftate, were found 

 folitary: And particularly one of them, who was found in the Py- 

 renees, as late as 1774, appeared to fhun all communication with 

 men, and fled from thofe who wanted to lay hold of him ; and was 

 fo fvvift of foot, that even their dogs could not come up with him J. 

 It appears, therefore, that it is only the ufe of intelled, which makes 

 man focial ; and it is natural that it fhould be fo, as he is not ac- 

 tually a man till he has the exercife of that faculty. But, when he 

 has got that, he is by nature prompted to affociate with his fellow 

 creatures, by which only he could improve his intelled:, and fo make 

 fome progrefs, in this life, towards recovering from his fallen ftate. 



The next ftep of man's progrefs is to the herding life§, when he 



has got fo much of the ufe of intelledl as direcSts him to affociate 



wuth creatures of his own fpecies %. But ftill, I fay, he is in the 



A 2 natural 



* See Vol. IV. p. 21. and the paflages there referred to. 

 f Ibid. p. 31. 



:j: See Vol. III. of this work, p. 46. and the Annual Reg'iA^er for 1778. 

 § See what I have faid of the progrefs of man from the folitary flate to the gregari- 

 ous, p. 62. of the preceding volume. 



^ See with refpcdl to the herding (late, ibid. 



