264 ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE 



customs, sentiments, ideas, and language. But, as before 

 said, they all agree in possessing a closely similar bodily 

 structure. 



All existing men supplement their natural bodily 

 powers by the use of tools and weapons. The weapons 

 of even very rude savages are commonly ornamented, and 

 art in a rudimentary form may be said to be universally 

 diffused. All tribes of mankind, without exception, 

 possess the faculty of rational speech, and the language 

 of gesture is very similar amongst savage tribes all over 

 the world. A great deal has sometimes been made of 

 the alleged inability of some savages to count more than 

 five, or even three. The asserted facts are doubtful, 

 but anyhow no one pretends that there are savages who 

 cannot count as much as that. But to really count at 

 all implies the possession of the idea of number, which 

 is a highly abstract idea in itself and implies* much 

 else. 



For the idea " number " implies comparison, with 

 a simultaneous recognition of both distinctness and 

 similarity, although, of course, it is not necessary that 

 the fact of possessing such apprehensions should be 

 expressly adverted to. No two things could be known 

 to be "two," unless we apprehended that they had 

 " existence," and that while they were numerically 

 distinct, they agreed in possessing a certain degree of 

 similarity that they were things which belong to the 

 same order. 



That many savages are frequent or habitual liars is an 

 assertion which has been often made by travellers, while 

 individuals, or exceptioral tribes, have sometimes been 

 praised for truthfulness. There can be no question, 



. * See k< The Origin of Human Reason," pp. 81-91. 



