SH. XV1II.1 THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY. 197 



not advanced, so the study of the progressive communities 

 furnishes us, as we shall see, the law of history ; a law which, 

 in its most general expression, covers the phenomena pre- 

 sented by the non-progressive communities likewise. Ccmte 

 was therefore right in restricting the main current of his 

 inquiry to the course of that civilization which began on the 

 eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and has extended o\'er 

 Europe and a portion of America. The same plan will be 

 pursued in the present chapter. Although incidental con- 

 firmation wiU be sought in the history of the stationary 

 communities, our main problem will be to fornmlate the law 

 of progress from a comparison of the phenomena presented 

 by the progressive communities. 



But before we can fairly enter upon our task, it will be 

 d3sirable for us to note the Factors of Progress with which 

 we shall chiefly have to deal. 



The prime factors in social progress are the Community 

 and its Environment. The environment of a community 

 comprises all the circumstances, adjacent or remote, to which 

 the community may be in any way obliged to conform its 

 actions. It comprises not only the climate of the country, 

 its soil, its flora and fauna, its perpendicular elevation, its 

 relation to mountain-chains, the length of its coast-line, the 

 character of its scenery, and its geographical position with 

 reference to other countries ; but it includes also the ideas, 

 feelings, customSj and observances of past times, so far as 

 they are preserved by literature, traditions, op monuments ; 

 as well as foreign contemporary manners and opinions, so far 

 as they are known and regarded by the community in ques- 

 tion. Thus defined, the environment may be very limited or 

 very extensive. The environment of an Eskimo tribe consists 

 of the physical circumstances of Labrador, of adjoining 

 tribes, of a few traders or travellers, and of the sum-total of 

 the traditions received from ancestral Eskimos. These make 

 up the sum of the conditions affecting the social existence ol 



