THE HUMAN KINGDOM. 23 



tended universality among mankind, of certain thoughts, cer- 

 tain sentiments, and certain aspirations.* 



We shall see, farther on, that the community of some of 

 those intellectual manifestations, which many have wished to 

 regard as general, is often restricted to one race alone amongst 

 mankind, and limited in space by the boundaries of the con- 

 tinent occupied by this race. And now we see how anthropo- 

 logy in her turn, can, in all these points, assist even philosophy 

 itself. For example, do we not feel that, from henceforward, 

 the words beautiful and right can mean nothing absolute ; since 

 whatever is beautiful and right upon a hemisphere, for any 

 given intelligence, cannot be so in an opposite hemisphere, 

 cannot possibly be so in a mind otherwise formed and belonging 

 to another race. To these two words we must, by means of 

 anthropology, restore an exclusively relative value, f The True 

 alone is absolute, unchangeable in both time and space. That 

 alone reigns universally, and let us not forget this, it flourishes 

 in science alone, it is only to be found there. J 



* After having said that the idea of good and evil (moralite) exists among 

 all men, M. de Quatrefages adds, that " the notion of the Divinity and that 

 of another life are also generally diffused" (UniU de I'Espece Humaine, p. 23). 

 We shall demonstrate further on (chap, v) that this statement is incorrect, 

 and how fragile the bases are upon which M. de Quatrefages rests the funda- 

 mental characteristics which, according to him, distinguish the human 

 kingdom. 



f M. Chevreul has already defined the " Beautiful" as " the expression of 

 causes whose influence has most force in moving mankind by appealing to 

 their senses" (Lettres d M. Villemain sur la Methode, 1856, p. 169). 



j- |- Truth lies at the bottom of a well," is an old saying, but our author 

 does not seem to agree with it. We should be very sorry to think that truth 

 was only to be found in science. This is, doubtless, the opinion of a great 

 many learned men at the present day ; but we must candidly own we do not 

 agree with it, and certainly are not able to endorse M. Pouchet's sentiment. 

 We have ourselves not arrived at the point, and in this we are, doubtless, 

 old-fashioned, of referring everything to "reason,," as opposed to faith. 

 EDITOR.] 



