VIEWS ON THE EVOLUTION' OF MAN 359 



that he looks upon it almost in the same way as do 

 the beasts, and that all that surrounds him is noth- 

 ing to him: compare, I say, the intelligence of this 

 individual with that of the man who, prepared at 

 the outset by education, has contracted the useful 

 practice of exercising the organ of his thought in de- 

 voting himself to the study of the principal branches 

 of knowledge; who observes and compares every- 

 thing he sees and which affects him; who forgets 

 himself in examining everything he can see, who in- 

 sensibly accustoms himself to judge of everything 

 for himself, instead of giving a blind assent to the 

 authority of others; finally, who, stimulated by re- 

 verses and especially by injustice, quietly rises by 

 reflection to the causes which have produced all that 

 we observe both in nature and in human society; 

 then you will appreciate how enormous is the dif- 

 ference between the intelligence of the two men in 

 question. 



" If Newton, Bacon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and 

 so many other men have done honor to the human 

 species by the extent of their intelligence and their 

 genius, how nearly does the mass of brutish, igno- 

 rant men approach the animal, becoming a prey to 

 the most absurd prejudices and constantly enslaved 

 by their habits, this_^mass forming the majority of 

 all nations ? '^ 



~ " Search deeply tiie fads in the comparison I have 

 just made, you will see how in one part the organ 

 which serves for acts of thought is perfected and 

 acquires greater size and power, owing to sustained 

 and varied exercise, especially if this exercise offers 

 no more interruptions tlian are necessary to prevent 

 the exhaustion of its powers; and, on the other 

 hand, you will perceive how the circumstances which 

 prevent an individual from exercising this organ, or 

 from exercising it habitually only while considering 

 a small number of objects which are always of the 



