NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



least remarkable achievements in the progress of positive philosophy 

 that has yet been made in the English tongue a noble and even 

 magnificent attempt to frame an induction of all the recorded phe- 

 nomena of European, Asiatic, and North African history. Unaccus- 

 tomed though a reader might be to scientific habits of thought or 

 uninterested in the gradual elaboration of eternal rules and princi- 

 ples, here he can at least disport himself amid noble galleries of 

 historic paintings and thrill again at the visions of the touching 

 epochs that go to fomi the drama of the mighty European past. 

 What Comte showed might and ought to be done for the whole world 

 of man; what Buckle commenced for England, Scotland, France 

 and Spain, Draper has effected for the whole of Europe. The 

 gigantic vastness of the task is almost paralyzing." So too the 

 Athenaeum : " It is no light commendation to say that its execution 

 is not altogether unequal to its magnitude. If it were equal the 

 world would place Dr. Draper on one of the very highest pinnacles of 

 intellectual achievements. His tenacity and completeness of grasp 

 makes itself felt for the most part on every page." 



In 1864 the Historical Society of New York invited Dr. Draper 

 to deliver a course of four lectures upon some subject in gen- 

 eral political economy. These lectures were afterward expanded 

 and published the following year under the title, " Thoughts on the 

 Future Civil Policy of America." They treated : (1) on the influ- 

 ence of climate upon man ; (2) on the effects of emigration; (3) on 

 the political force of ideas, and (4) on the natural course of national 

 development. These lectures " contained discussions of several 

 interesting points which since that time have largely occupied pub- 

 lic attention, such as the internal emigration from the Atlantic 

 States to the West, the Asiatic emigration to the Pacific States, the 

 political effects of polygamy in Utah, the tendency of democratic 

 institutions to centralization, and a comparison of the European 

 with the American method of government." 



The line of investigation thus entered upon resulted in his under- 

 taking a far more serious labor, the preparation of a " History of 

 the American Civil War," a work upon which he was almost con- 

 tinuously engaged for several years immediately following the close 

 of this war, and which appeared in three large volumes during the 

 years between 1867 and 1870. He had been urged to enter upon 

 this work by the earnest request of persons who had been chief 

 actors in the events described and who rendered him effective aid. 



374 



