Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/124

114 occur. As regards the internal factors, it clearly would not be enough to present the peculiarities of the civilized man, who inherits acquired tendencies and is to a large extent moulded by the society into which he is born; we must go back to the time at which physical forces were not controlled by intelligence, and when men lived together only in loosely-formed groups. All the world knows how Rousseau represented to himself the primitive man, and there are still, perhaps, people who affect to talk enthusiastically of the 'noble savage.' If we compare this sentimental conception with the picture drawn by Mr. Spencer, we are furnished with a tolerably accurate measure of the advance which has been made in the methods of investigating such subjects. The philosopher of to-day is not less fond of theory than his predecessor of the eighteenth century, but in his hands theory is never divorced from fact; it is incessantly brought to the test of reality, and in reality finds its only true starting-point. Hence, while Rousseau's idea could give rise only to a great many futile regrets and aspirations, Mr. Spencer's is the basis of a thoroughly scientific description of the long course through which mankind have passed from the simplest to the most complex forms of life. The primitive man is regarded in three different aspects: physical, emotional, intellectual. He is shown to have been, on the average, smaller than men now are, with limbs inferior both in size and structure, and a larger alimentary system, 'adapted to a very irregular supply of food, mostly inferior in quality, dirty, and uncooked.' Arriving early at maturity, he disliked change, and constitutional callousness made him insensible of evils which at a later stage become intolerable. The emotional characteristics of the savage are a 'wavering and inconstant disposition,' leading to an 'explosive, chaotic, incalculable behavior, which makes combined action very difficult,' extreme improvidence, selfishness modified only by a desire of admiration and by 'such fellow-feeling as results from that instinctive love of the helpless which he possesses in common with the inferior animals.' Intellectually the uncivilized man is on a level with the children of civilized parents. The perceptive faculties are keen, the reflective scarcely at all developed; like children, he has a strong mimetic tendency; he cannot concentrate attention on anything higher than simple facts; he has few general ideas, and being without any conception of natural order, he is incapable of rational curiosity or surprise. The question is sometimes asked, 'Why, if the human species has been so long in existence as the doctrine of evolution implies, did so many ages elapse before civilization arose?' No one who attentively considers these characteristics of the savage, and takes into account the outward difficulties with which he has to contend, will be surprised that man so long remained a slave to circumstances. The astonishing thing is, that any primitive tribes ever lighted upon the happy combination of conditions which enabled them to grow into progressive communities.

"In order to understand the institutions of civilized and semi-civilized societies, we must not satisfy ourselves with a general description of the faculties of the primitive man—we must investigate the ideas suggested to him by his experience. The chapters devoted to these are by far the most original and valuable in the present volume. It is common to judge savage conceptions by a reference to our more advanced knowlédge, in the light of which they, of course, excite only surprise or amusement. Mr. Spencer, guided by the statements and hints of travelers, puts himself as much as possible in the position of primitive men, and looks at the world with their eyes; and the consequence is, that he succeeds in proving almost that their ideas were not only natural, but the sole ideas to which the evidence within their reach could have conducted them. One of the earliest of their theories is that of a second self. This arises, in the first instance, from dreams, the experiences of which the savage regards as real. He has no notion corresponding to that of mind; hence, when he dreams that he has been hunting or engaged in deadly conflict with an enemy, he never doubts on awaking that the incidents actually took place. Others testify that he has not moved; but this only shows that there must be a double which is capable of going away and having adventures of its own. He is untroubled by incongruities