422 THE PHILOSOPHY 



which have been called proper, and improper. 1 . Proper Sscietiei^ 

 comprehend all thofe animals who not only live together in 

 numbers, but carry on certain operations which have a diredl 

 tendency to promote the welfare and happinefs of the com- 

 munity. 2. Improper Societies, include all thofe animals wha 

 herd together, and love the company of each other, without 

 carrying on any common operations. 



1. Proper Societies, — It is almoft needlefs to remark that 

 man holds the firft rank in animal aflbciations of this kind'. 

 If men did not allift each other, no operation of any magni- 

 tude, or which could fliow any great fuperiority of talents 

 above thofe of the brute creation, could poffibly be efFe^led. 

 A fingle family, or even a few families united, like other car- 

 nivorous animals, might hunt their prey, and procure a fuf- 

 ficient quantity of food. They might like the bear, lodge in 

 the cavities of trees -, they might occupy natural caves m the 

 rocks ; they might even build huts with branches of trees 

 and with turf, and cement thefe grofs materials with clay,^ 

 This lowefl: and mofl: abject view of human nature is not ex- 

 aggerated. It were to be wifhed that this grovelling condi- 

 tion of mankind were fidlitious, and that, in many regions Of 

 the globe, it did not, at this moment, exift. Thefe opera- 

 tions of men, when only acquainted with the mere rudiments 

 of fociety, indicate parts little fuperior to thofe of the brutes. 

 Man, even in his moft uninformed ftate, poflefTes the in- 

 ftindls, or the germs, of every fpecies of knowledge and of 

 genius. But they muft be cherifhed, expanded, and brought 

 gradually to perfection. It is by numerous and regularly 

 eftablifhed focieties alone that fuch glorious exhibitions of 

 human intellecl can he produced. What is the hut of a 

 favage when compared to the palace of a prince ? or what his 

 canoe when compared to a firft rate fhip of war ? 



.Next to the intelligence exhibited in human fociety, that 

 of the beavers Is the moft confpicuous. Their operations in 



