362 PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART II. 



been pointed out how great is this influence upon the physical 

 peculiarities of mankind, and it needs no proof that they are 

 equally potent as regards psychical life. We can hardly err in 

 considering the development of the above social contrasts as 

 the chief cause of the known phenomenon that, with the pro- 

 gress of civilization, the differences of individual capacities, 

 physically and intellectually, become more striking in society. 

 Among rude nations, the contrasts between master and ser- 

 vant, rich and poor, high and low, are usually connected with 

 birth, and are commonly maintained with such strictness that the 

 transition from one caste to another is forbidden. It is rare, 

 however, that this exclusiveness is maintained in its original 

 rigour. External and internal commotions produce a greater 

 variety in the condition of individuals, the distinctions become 

 gradually obliterated, and in course of time the various classes 

 become intermixed. 



It has been said that, " the more nature, the greater the pecu- 

 liarity of character ; the more art and culture, the greater the 

 resemblance of character." 1 This, however, applies only to the 

 civilized world, and even here only under certain limitations ; 

 with regard to the comparison of primitive with civilized 

 nations, it is entirely erroneous. Hale 2 also maintains that it 

 is a mistake to attribute to savage nations a certain uniformity 

 of character, of feelings, and passions, but that it was civiliza- 

 tion which produced that uniformity; and he adduces as a 

 proof, that the yellow and the black races of the Pacific, who 

 live close to each other, differ more from each other than any 

 two European nations. Though this may be admitted as re- 

 gards peoples, it does not apply to the characters of indivi- 

 duals ; the latter invariably more resemble each other among 

 savage than among the cultivated nations, as the comparison 

 of the native Americans with the more advanced Polynesians 

 plainly shows. But this increasing individual dissimilarity, 

 which seems to extend amongst civilized nations, which is a 

 natural consequence of the differences of social condition and 



1 " Schmid. Einl. z. de la Chambre's Anleitung z. Menschenk." p. 62, 1794. 



2 Ethnogr. and Philol. of the U. S. Expl. Exp./' p. 13, Philad., 1846. 



