l88 PRIMEVAL MAN. 



cording to their beauty, or according to their 

 power of comforting. Among the causes 

 which have determined their form and cha- 

 racter in different nations we must reckon 

 the moral corruption of human nature. I 

 am not speaking of this corruption in a 

 dogmatic and theological sense ; I speak of 

 it as an unquestionable fact, whatever be the 

 history of its origin. By the corruption of 

 human nature, I mean the undeniable fact 

 that Man has a constant tendency to abuse his 

 powers, to do what according even to his 

 own standard of right or wrong he knows 

 he ought not to do ; to be unjust and 

 cruel towards others, and to fall into horrible 

 and degrading superstitions. Human corrup- 

 tion in this sense is as much a fact in the 



