COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



yet become tertiary by completely fusing to- 

 gether the component roots of their words. The 

 process by which languages pass from a lower 

 stage to a higher remains none the less the fun- 

 damental phenomenon to be investigated, and 

 when we have generalized the conditions under 

 which this process takes place, we can explain 

 its absence as well as its presence. Now the 

 case is the same with progress in society that it 

 is with progress in language or in organic life. 

 Whether manifested or not manifested in any 

 particular community, progress is still the all- 

 important phenomenon to be investigated. It 

 is the one grand phenomenon, to explain the 

 presence and the absence of which is to explain 

 the phenomena of history. Just as the study 

 of the languages which have advanced furnishes 

 us the key for understanding those which have 

 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 gen- 

 eral expression, covers the phenomena presented 

 by the non-progressive communities likewise. 

 Comte 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 over 

 Europe and a portion of America. The same 

 plan will be pursued in the present chapter. Al- 

 though incidental confirmation will be sought 

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