NATURE OF MAN. 611 



varies. In a state of nature, his mental powers are in close relation with 

 the climate in which he lives, attaining their greatest perfection in the 

 wanner portion of the temperate zone ; but under the artificial condition 

 of civilization, in which the vicissitudes of the seasons are compensated 

 for by food, fire, shelter, and clothing, properly adjusted, he gains his 

 maximum development in a somewhat higher latitude. 



After what has been said in the last chapter respecting the influence 

 of physical circumstances on the structure of man, producing modified 

 development in our typical form, and thereby giving rise to many dis- 

 tinct families, it will be anticipated that those circumstances must con- 

 sequently modify our mental operations, our manner of thinking and act- 

 ing, that is to say, must leave their marks on our history as nations. 

 For a long time this has been recognized in a general manner : the mount- 

 aineer thinks differently and acts differently to the native of the low- 

 lands ; he whose life is spent on the borders of the sea to him who lives 

 in the great plains in the interior of continents. But it is not to these 

 influences as operating by association on the individual that I now refer ; 

 it is rather to the profound effect they have had in producing a special 

 cerebral, and, therefore, mental organization in the course of many gen- 

 erations on races and nations. 



Let us always remember that there is a common principle which un- 

 derlies the varied movements and determinations of men every where a 

 principle from which no one can disentangle himself. At the bottom of 

 even the most diverse actions it may be discerned, just as we can detect 

 the fundamental type of our organization under the most varied forms. 



As from the physical point of view there is a standard man who, in 

 weight, height, strength, and other such like particulars, rep- 



, 5 , r Nature of man. 



resents the entire human family, so, in an intellectual point 

 of view, there is a standard man who, in mental progress, manner of 

 thinking and of acting, represents the whole race. There are also sub- 

 ordinate standards, the representatives of particular groups or nations. 

 It is to these standards that we are continually appealing in arriving at 

 a judgment of the acts of individuals. The special history of these 

 phases constitutes, in a philosophical sense, national history. The rec- 

 ord of the development of the fundamental type constitutes universal 

 history. 



I have already remarked that universal history is only a chapter in 

 physiology. Since, by reason of the similarity of construction of the 

 cerebral apparatus, the actions of men will present a uniformity when 

 under the influence of similar motives or impulses, there is not only a 

 resemblance between such actions among different persons, influence of 

 but also it may be discerned when nation is compared with 

 nation, and race with race ; for the movements of communi- on him. 



