HISTORICAL METHOD. 589 



here to be understood as synonymous with improve- 

 ment and tendency to improvement. It is con- 

 ceivable that the laws of human nature might deter- 

 mine, and even necessitate, a certain series of changes 

 in man and society, which might not in every case, 

 or which might not on the whole, be improvements. 

 It is my belief indeed that the general tendency is, 

 and will continue to be, saving occasional exceptions, 

 one of improvement ; a tendency towards a better 

 and happier state. But this is not a question of the 

 method of the social science, but an ultimate result of 

 the science itself. For our purpose it is sufficient, 

 that there is a progressive change both in the character 

 of the human race, and in their outward circumstances 

 so far as moulded by themselves: that in each succes- 

 sive age the principal phenomena of society are 

 different from what they were in the age preceding, 

 and still more different from any previous age. The 

 periods at which these successive changes are most 

 apparent (according to the judicious remark of M. 

 Comte) are intervals of one generation, during which 

 a new set of human beings have been educated, have 

 grown up from childhood, and taken possession of 

 society. 



The progressiveness of the human race is the 

 foundation on which a method of philosophizing in 

 the social science has been of late years erected, far 

 superior to either of the two modes which had pre- 

 viously been prevalent, the chemical or experimental, 

 and the geometrical modes. This method, which is 

 now generally adopted by the most advanced thinkers 

 on the Continent, and especially in France, consists 

 in attempting, by a study and analysis of the general 

 facts of history, to discover (what these philosophers 

 term) the law of progress: which law, once ascer- 



