126 



ORDER BIMANA— GENUS HOMO. 



intellectual and moral attainments, of intense habits of application, 

 whether in business or study, are the usual consequences of a nervous 

 temperament, when attended by a considerable firmness of the muscular 

 fibre. Persons of delicate constitution, whose nervous system is highly 

 developed, never acquire this moral character. A morbid sentimentalism 

 occupies tlie place of energy of thought and action, the individual becomes 

 timorous, undecided, and often excessively prone to superstitious observ- 

 ances. 



The athletic temperament is most frequently accompanied by a want of 

 sensibility, of intellectual capacity, and even of real vital energy, requiring 

 some great stimulating cause before it will exert its enormous piiysical 

 power. The melancholic temperament seems to belong to a kind of mental 

 pathology. (See the Table Analytique of M. Le Comte De Tracy, pre- 

 fixed, in some editions, to Cabanis, sur les Rapports du Physique et du 

 Moral de I'Homme.) 



THE INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAN. 



The infant requires the assistance of its mother for a much longer 

 time than the nourishment of her breast, and its nature being at the 

 same time susceptible of an intellectual as well as of a physical 

 education, a durable attachment arises between them. From the 

 circumstance that the sexes are not very unequal in number, 

 and, from the difficulty of supporting more than one wife, where 

 wealth does not supply the means, we may infer thai monogamy is 

 the natural bond of union for our species. The father consequently 

 assumes a share in the education of his offspring, a circumstance 

 not peculiar to the human race, but common to all other species 

 where this kind of union is observed to prevail. The length of this 

 education permits him to have other children during the interval, 

 and hence the perpetuity of the matrimonial union seems to have a 

 real foundation in Nature. Thus, the great length of the period of 

 infancy gives rise to the paternal influence, and, indirectly, to all 

 the subordination of society, as the young people who form new 

 families will preserve for their parents the same relative feelings 

 of respect, which have so long been experienced under their mild 

 sway. 



The natural disposition of Man to social labour has multiplied, 

 without any apparent limit, those advantages which he would other- 

 wise have obtained from his personal skill and intelligence. It 

 has enabled him to tame or repel the other animals, to preserve him- 

 self from the inclemencies of the most rigorous climates, and to 

 extend his species over the face of the entire globe. 



Man does not appear to be swayed by any principle, which can 

 be compared [in intensity] to the instinct of the lower animals, to 

 that constant industry produced by an internal irresistible impulse. 

 His knowledge is the entire result of his sensations and observa- 

 tions, or of those of his predecessors. The accumulated experience 

 of ages, transmitted by word of mouth, improved by meditation, 

 and applied to the various purposes of necessity, or the enjoj'ments 

 of life, has given rise to the Useful Arts. Speech and writing, by 

 preserving the knowledge already acquired, seem to be sources of 

 an indefinite improvement of the species. It is thus that he obtains 

 all his science, and becomes entitled to occupy an important place 

 in the economy of Nature. 



The Intellectual and Moral Development of the human species 

 has proceeded, however, by very distinct gradations. 



The first hordes, reduced to live by the chase, by fishing, or on 

 wild fruits, compelled to devote their whole time in obtaining a 

 scanty subsistence, could not multiply to any great extent without 

 exhausting their resources, and consequently were incapable of mak- 

 ing any important progress. Their arts were confined to the con- 

 struction of huts and canoes ; to covering themselves with skins, 

 or to the fabrication of arrows and nets. They made no physical 

 observations, excepting, perhaps, on those more obvious stars which 

 served to guide them in their wanderings, or on a few natural objects 

 whose properties were immediately useful. They domesticated no 

 animal excepting the Dog, because it seemed to be disposed by Na- 

 ture to the same predatory mode of life. 



As soon, however, as Man succeeded in taming the larger herbi- 

 vorous animals, he found a more secure means of subsistence in the 

 possession of numerous herds, and a certain degree of leisure, which 

 enabled him to extend his knowledge. Some degree of industry 

 was bestowed upon the lubrication of dwellings and clothes, the 

 value of property became known, and consequently commerce, 

 wealth, and the inequality of conditions, — at once the incentives to 

 the noblest emulation as well as to the basest passions. Yet the 

 necessity of seeking new pasturage, and of migrating according to 

 the seasons, still retained his civilization within narrow limits. 



It was only since the invention of Agriculture, and the conse- 



quent division of the soil among hereditary proprietors, that Man 

 has really succeeded in multiplying the numbers of his species to 

 a high degree, and carried to a great extent his Science and the 

 Useful Arts. By means of Agriculture, the manual labour of a 

 part only of the members of society can produce a sufficient quan- 

 tity of food to maintain the whole. A sutincient degree of leisure 

 is thus left for other pursuits which are less necessary ; while, at the 

 same time, the hope of securing, by industry, a comfortable subsis- 

 tence for each individual and his posterity, has given a new stimulus 

 to emulation. The invention of a circulating medium for repre- 

 senting exchangeable values, raises this emulation to the highest 

 degree. By facilitating the means of intercourse, it has at once 

 rendered capital more independent and susceptible of a greater in- 

 crease ; while, by a necessary consequence, it has augmented the 

 vices of luxury and the fury of ambition. 



In all stages of social progress, the natural propensity of Man- 

 kind to reduce every thing to general laws, and to find out the 

 causes of phenomena, has given rise to men of philosophical minds, 

 wdio have added new ideas to the mass of the previously-acquired 

 knowledge. As long as the great body of the people continued un- 

 enlightened, they have sought, by exaggerating their merit, and dis- 

 guising their limited knowledge under the propagation of supersti- 

 tious notions, to make their personal abilities the means of ruling 

 over others. 



A more incurable evil is the abuse of physical force. At the pre- 

 sent day, Man is the only species capable of contesting with Man ; 

 and he is almost the only species which is continually at war with 

 his fellows. Savages dispute the possession of their forests, the wan- 

 dering shepherds their pastures, and both classes make irruptions 

 as often as they are able, in the territories of the neighbouring Agri- 

 culturists, to carry off without trouble the fruits of a labour not their 

 own. Civilized nations themselves, far from being satisfied with 

 their share of the enjoyments of life, fight for mere objects of na- 

 tional vanity, or for the monopoly of commerce. From these cir- 

 cumstances arise the necessity of Governments to direct the national 

 wars, and to suppress, or reduce to regular forms of law, the quarrels 

 of private individuals. 



Circumstances, more or less favorable, have retarded the social 

 progress of Mankind within certain limits, or have served to pro- 

 mote its development. 



The frozen climates in the North of both continents, and the im- 

 penetrable forests of America, are still inhabited by savage hunters 

 or fishermen. 



The immense plains of sand or salt in the centres of Asia and 

 Africa are covered by pastoral tribes and innumerable herds of 

 cattle. These half civilized hordes assemble together at intervals, 

 on the call of some enthusiastic chieftain, and fall upon the culti- 

 vated countries which surround them, where they establish them- 

 selves, and eventually become civilized, only to be subdued by other 

 shepherds in their turn. This is the cause of that despotism which, 

 in all ages, has served to crush the rising germs of industry and 

 science in the delightful climates of Persia, India, and China. 



Mild climates, soils naturally well-watered, and rich in vegeta- 

 tion, are the appropriate cradles of Agriculture and Civilization. 

 Wherever their geographical situation shelters them from the irrup- 

 tions of barbarians, all kinds of talent are naturally excited. Such 

 were Greece and Italy, in the early days of Europe, and such at the 

 present day is all this happy portion of the globe. 



There seem, however, to be other intrinsic obstacles which serve 

 to arrest the progress of some races of Mankind, even in the midst 

 of circumstances, apparently the most favorable to their improve- 

 ment. 



