MAN NATURALLY OMNIVOROUS. 183 



rial every day. The only addition, which they occasionally 

 make to this unnatural fare, consists in small fish, liztirds, 

 and fern-roots. The quantity of clay that the Ottomaques 

 consume, and the greediness with which they devour it, 

 seem to prove that it does more than merely distend their 

 hungry stomachs, and that the organs of digestion have the 

 power of extracting from it something convertible into 

 animal subsistence." 



The same practice has been observed in other places *. 



Is it a just point of view to regard the savage state exclu- 

 sively as the state of nature ? Is civilization to be considered 

 as opposed to and incompatible with the nature of man ? 



A power of improvement, of advancement in arts and 

 sciences, that is, the capability of civilization, or perfectibi- 

 lity, as it has sometimes been called, is recognized in all hu- 

 man beings; its degree is very various in individuals and races. 

 All have lived in society, which strongly tends to promote 

 and assist the developement of this power. Social life and 

 progressive civilization, instead of being unnatural to man, 

 are therefore parts, and very valuable parts of his nature, as 

 much as the erect stature and speech ; as much as ferocity 

 and solitary life are the nature of predacious animals, or mild- 

 ness and herding together are of many herbivorous ones. It 

 is as much the nature of man to form societies, to build up 

 political associations, to cultivate arts and sciences, to spread 

 himself over the globe, and avail himself of both organized 

 kingdoms for his support, as it is that of the bee and ant 

 to establish their communities, to gather honey and lay up 

 provisions, or that of any other animals to perform the 

 actions by which they are respectively characterized. 



These considerations lead to the conclusion, that pro- 

 gressive advance and develo])ement, and the employment 

 of all kinds of food, are as natural to man, as stationary 



* " I saw one man, whose stomach was already well lined, but who, in 

 our presence, ate a piece of steatite, which was very soft, of a greenish colour, 

 and twice as large as a man's fist. We afterwards saw a number of others 

 eat of the same earth, which serves to allay the sensation of hunger by filling 

 the stomach." Labillardiere, Voyage in search o/La Perdu se, v. 2, 214. 



