169 



PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN. 



AMONG the many questions as to the origin and des- 

 tinies of man upon the earth none is of deeper 

 import than this : what, if any, higher elevation may 

 be attained by our species in its totality from causes, 

 physical or moral, operating through time, with or 

 without design, on the communities and races of man- 

 kind ? The problem is a difficult one in its simplest 

 shape. It is made more so by the ambiguities of lan- 

 guage, as well as by imperfect knowledge of the actual 

 characters and conditions of mankind at large over the 

 globe. Within the walls of a well-endowed college, or 

 amidst the luxurious refinements of a modern capital, 

 the argument will be handled in a very different way 

 from that suggested by a familiarity with savage or 

 nomadic life with the vast half-civilised races peopling, 

 under one name or other, the whole of Asia or even 

 with the mass of those who tenant our great cities, or 

 toil with their hands in our fields, factories, and mines. 

 All these and other forms and attributes of humanity 

 enter into the question. The very term Civilisation is 

 of vague import, and difficult to apply either chrono- 

 logically or geographically. What we call such has 

 no permanence in place or time, but has burst forth 

 at different periods in certain countries and communi- 



