26 EXPLANATIONS. 



able treatise Sur JJHomme, et le Developjjement 

 de ses Facultes. He first shows the regularity 

 which presides over the births and deaths of a 

 community, liable to be affected in some degree 

 by accidental circumstances, but fixed again when 

 these are uniform. He then makes it clear that 

 the stature, weight, strength, and other physical 

 peculiarities of men are likewise regulated by fixed 

 principles in nature. Afterwards, the moral qua- 

 lities, — the impulses of all our various sentiments 

 and passions, — even the tendency to yield to those 

 temptations which give birth to crime, — are proved 

 to be of no less determinate character, however 

 impossible it may be to predict the conduct of 

 any single person. These are doctrines not to 

 be resisted by inconsiderate prejudices. They 

 rest on the most powerful of all evidence, that of 

 numbers. If they appear to take from the per- 

 sonal responsibility of individuals, it is merely an 

 appearance, for the doctrine immediately steps 

 forward to show that laws, education, and moral 

 influences of every kind exercise an equally deter- 

 minate control over men; so that the need for 

 their being called into use becomes even more 

 palpable than before. We are not, however, re- 

 quired at this moment to argue respecting the 



