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pends upon the character of those composing it, so 

 the advancement of a race must depend upon the 

 progressive efforts of its component members ; and 

 under this view the functional relations of every man — 

 that is, his relations to external nature, to his God, and 

 to his neighbour — ^take a higher aim and assume a 

 wider significance. It is something for the individual 

 mind to be conscious of its own attainments ; it is 

 something more to have the feeling that it is contri- 

 buting — not negatively by refrainment from evU, but 

 positively by the performance of good — to the general 

 advancement of the species. 



And this, be it remembered, is always best accom- 

 plished by every one manifesting to the utmost of his 

 power the gifts of Ms own individual nature. Phy- 

 sically and mentally, we have much — indeed the most 

 of what we possess— 4a common with our fellow-men ; 

 but beyond this every one has his own individuahty 

 — something that distinguishes him from other men, 

 and which, as a special endowment, was clearly de- 

 signed to subserve some important purpose; and it is 

 for the maintenance and manifestation of this indi- 

 viduality in our functional relations that philosophy 

 contends. For, as in the material world all growth 

 and movement take place through the action and 

 reaction of dissimUars ; so in the moral and intellec- 

 tual there can be no advancement save through the 



