PT. m. Progress and Civilisation. 125 



and when the latter became the governing principle 

 of his nature. Whenever that first step was made, 

 the seed of Civilisation was planted. 



It is a distinguishing characteristic of Man that 

 the child can receive new impressions from the 

 parent ; ideas not originally innate are formed in one 

 generation ; inventions are made, human ingenuity 

 finds means to add to Man's command over some 

 portion of the material world, and the power which 

 Reason gives the parent of transmitting to his 

 offspring any such new acquirements constitutes the 

 first step in the Progress of Civilisation. It is 

 worthy of remark, that no animal possesses in the 

 remotest degree this power of grafting by an 

 intellectual process any improved methods of dealing 

 with the material world which did not form a part 

 of its original nature, and which were not prompted 

 by an unvarying instinct. 



There is a sect of philosophers always desirous of 

 assimilating Man to the brute creation, and of iden- 

 tifying him with it by dwelling upon all those parts 

 of his nature which he has in common with it. But 

 this faculty of change, this gift of appropriating to 

 himself new powers, and of extending his command 

 over inanimate nature by fresh contrivances, and of 



