The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 2, by Hubert Howe Bancroft This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 2 The Native Races, Volume 2, Civilized Nations Author: Hubert Howe Bancroft Release Date: May 25, 2013 [EBook #42808] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF HUBERT BANCROFT, VOL 2 *** Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (1st-hand-history.org) Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document have been preserved. Italics in the footnote citations were inconsistently applied by the typesetter. The following changes were made or suggested: On page 43, a word is possibly missing in the phrase "we will pass over third force, 'la race';" On the fold-out chart between pages 509 and 510, Clavigero, Month 10 may be "Xocohuetzl". In footnote 95, the citation for Herrera is missing a book name. In footnote 638, a reference to Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, is incomplete. THE WORKS OF HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT. VOLUME II. THE NATIVE RACES. VOL. II. CIVILIZED NATIONS. SAN FRANCISCO: A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1883. Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1882, by HUBERT H. BANCROFT, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All Rights Reserved. CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME. CHAPTER I. SAVAGISM AND CIVILIZATION. Definition of the Terms—The Universal Soul of Progress—Man the Instrument and not the Element of Progress—Origin of Progressional Phenomena—The Agency of Evil—Is Civilization Conducive to Happiness?—Objective and Subjective Humanity—Conditions Essential to Progress—Continental Configurations—Food and Climate—Wealth and Leisure—Association—War, Slavery, Religion, and Government—The Development of Progressional Law CHAPTER II. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CIVILIZED NATIONS. The American Civilization of the Sixteenth Century—Its Disappearance—The Past, a New Element—Dividing line between Savage and Civilized Tribes—Bounds of American Civilization—Physical Features of the Country—Maya and Nahua Branches of Aboriginal Culture—The Nahua Civilization—The Aztecs its Representatives—Limits of the Aztec Empire—Ancient History of Anáhuac in Outline—The Toltec Era—The Chichimec Era— The Aztec Era—Extent of the Aztec Language—Civilized Peoples outside of Anáhuac— Central American Nations—The Maya Culture—The Primitive Maya Empire—Nahua Influence in the South—Yucatan and the Mayas—The Nations of Chiapas—The Quiché Empire in Guatemala—The Nahuas in Nicaragua and Salvador—Etymology of Names CHAPTER III. GOVERNMENT OF THE NAHUA NATIONS. PAGE. 1 81 System of Government—The Aztec Confederacy—Order of Succession—Election of Kings among the Mexicans—Royal Prerogatives—Government and Laws of Succession among the Toltecs, and in Michoacan, Tlascala, Cholula, Huexotzinco, and Oajaca— Magnificence of the Nahua Monarchs—Ceremony of Anointment—Ascent to the Temple —The Holy Unction—Address of the High-Priest to the King—Penance and Fasting in the House called Tlacatecco—Homage of the Nobles—General Rejoicing throughout the Kingdom—Ceremony of Coronation—The Procuring of Sacrifices—Description of the Crown—Coronation Feasts and Entertainments—Hospitality extended to Enemies— Coronation Speech of Nezahualpilli, King of Tezcuco, to Montezuma II. of Mexico— Oration of a Noble to a Newly elected King CHAPTER IV. PALACES AND HOUSEHOLDS OF THE NAHUA KINGS. Extent and Interior of the Great Palace in Mexico—The Palace of Nezahualcoyotl, King of Tezcuco—The Zoölogical Collections of the Nahua Monarchs—Montezuma's Oratory— Royal Gardens and Pleasure-Grounds—The Hill of Chapultepec—Nezahualcoyotl's Country Residence at Tezcozinco—Toltec Palaces—The Royal Guard—The King's Meals—An Aztec Cuisine—The Audience Chamber—After-dinner Amusements—The Royal Wardrobe—The King Among his People—Meeting of Montezuma II. and Cortés —The King's Harem—Revenues of the Royal Household—Policy of Aztec Kings CHAPTER V. THE PRIVILEGED CLASSES AMONG THE NAHUAS. Titles of the Nobility and Gentry—The Power of the Nobles—The Aristocracy of Tezcuco —The Policy of King Techotlalatzin—Privileges of the Nobles—Montezuma's Policy— Rivalry between Nobles and Commons—The Knightly Order of Tecuhtli—Ceremony of Initiation—Origin of the Order—The Nahua Priesthood—The Priests of Mexico— Dedication of Children—Priestesses—Priesthood of Miztecapan—The Pontiff of Yopaa —Tradition of Wixipecocha—The Cave of Yopaa—The Zapotec Priests—Toltec Priests —Totonac Priests—Priests of Michoacan, Puebla, and Tlascala CHAPTER VI. PLEBEIANS, SLAVES, TENURE OF LANDS, AND TAXATION. Influence of the Commoners—Oppression by Nobles—Deprived of Office by Montezuma II.—Classes of Slaves—Penal Slaves—Voluntary Slavery—Slave Market at Azcapuzalco —Punishment and Privileges of Slaves—Division of Lands—Crown Lands—Lands of the Nobles—Municipal Property—Property of the Temples—Tenure of Lands in Zapotecapan, Miztecapan, Michoacan, Tlascala, Cholula, and Huexotzinco—Similarity to Feudal System of Europe—System of Taxation—Municipal Taxes—Lice Tribute— Tribute from Conquered Provinces—Revenue Officers—Injustice of Montezuma II. 216 CHAPTER VII. EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, CONCUBINAGE, CHILDBIRTH, AND BAPTISM. Education of the Nahua Youth—Manner of Punishment—Marriage Preliminaries—Nuptial Ceremony—Observance after Marriage—Mazatec, Otomí, Chichimec, and Toltec Marriages—Divorce—Concubinage—Ceremonies Preliminary to Childbirth—Treatment of Pregnant Women—Proceedings of Midwife—Superstitions with regard to Women who Died in Childbed—Abortion—Baptism—Speeches of Midwife—Naming of Children— Baptism among the Tlascaltecs, Mixtecs, and Zapotecs—Circumcision and Scarification of Infants CHAPTER VIII. NAHUA FEASTS AND AMUSEMENTS. Excessive Fondness for Feasts—Manner of Giving Feasts—Serving the Meal—Professional Jesters—Parting Presents to Guests—Royal Banquets—Tobacco Smoking—Public Dances—Manner of Singing and Dancing—The Neteteliztli—The Drama among the iv 133 158 186 v 240 Nahuas—Music and Musical Instruments—Nahua Poetry—Acrobatic Feats—The Netololiztli, or 'Bird Dance'—Professional Runners—The Game of Tlactli—Games of Chance—The Patoliztli, or 'Bean Game'—Totoloque, Montezuma's Favorite Game CHAPTER IX. PUBLIC FESTIVALS. Frequent Occurrence of Religious Feasts—Human Sacrifices—Feasts of the Fourth Year— Monthly Festivals—Sacrifice of Children—Feast of Xipe—Manner of Sacrifice—Feasts of Camaxtli, of the Flower Dealers, of Centeotl, of Tezcatlipoca, and of Huitzilopochtli— Festival of the Salt Makers—The Sacrifice by Fire—Feast of the Dead—The Coming of the Gods—The Footprints on the Mat—Hunting Feast—The Month of Love—Hard Times—Nahua Lupercalia—Feasts of the Sun, of the Winter Solstice—Harvest and Eight-Year Festivals—The Binding of the Sheaf CHAPTER X. FOOD OF THE NAHUA NATIONS. Origin of Agriculture—Floating Gardens—Agricultural Products—Manner of preparing the Soil—Description of Agricultural Implements—Irrigation—Granaries—Gardens—The Harvest Feast—Manner of Hunting—Fishing—Methods of procuring Salt—Nahua Cookery—Various kinds of Bread—Beans—Pepper—Fruit—Tamales—Miscellaneous Articles of Food—Eating of Human Flesh—Manufacture of Pulque—Preparation of Chocolatl—Other Beverages—Intoxicating Drinks—Drunkenness—Time and Manner of Taking Meals CHAPTER XI. DRESS OF THE NAHUA NATIONS. Progress in Dress—Dress of the Pre-Aztec Nations—Garments of the Chichimecs and Toltecs—Introduction of Cotton—The Maxtli—The Tilmatli—Dress of the Acolhuas— Origin of the Tarascan Costume—Dress of the Zapotecs and Tabascans—Dress of Women—The Huipil and Cueitl—Sandals—Manner of Wearing the Hair—Painting and Tattooing—Ornaments used by the Nahuas—Gorgeous Dress of the Nobles—Dress of the Royal Attendants—Names of the Various Mantles—The Royal Diadem—The Royal Wardrobe—Costly Decorations CHAPTER XII. COMMERCE OF THE NAHUA NATIONS. The Main Features of Nahua Commerce—Commerce in Pre-Aztec Times—Outrages Committed by Aztec Merchants—Privileges of the Merchants of Tlatelulco—Jealousy between Merchants and Nobles—Articles used as Currency—The Markets of Anáhuac —Arrangement and Regulations of the Market-Places—Number of Buyers and Sellers— Transportation of Wares—Traveling Merchants—Commercial Routes—Setting out on a Journey—Caravans of Traders—The Return—Customs and Feasts of the Merchants— Nahua Boats and Navigation CHAPTER XIII. WAR-CUSTOMS OF THE NAHUAS. Importance of the Military Profession—Indications of Rank—Education of Warriors— Rewards for Valor—Military Orders and their Dress—Gorgeous War-Dresses of Montezuma and the Aztec Nobility—Dress of the Common Soldiers—Armor and Defensive Weapons—Offensive Weapons—Standards—Ambassadors and Couriers— Fortifications—The Military Council—Articles of War—Declaration of War—Spies— Order of March and Battle—War Customs of the Tlascaltecs and Tarascos—Return of the Conquering Army—Celebration of Feats of Arms CHAPTER XIV. NAHUA LAWS AND LAW COURTS. 283 302 vi 342 363 378 400 General Remarks—the Cihuacoatl, or Supreme Judge—the Court of the Tlacatecatl— Jurisdiction of the Tecuhtlis—the Centectlapixques and Topillis—Law Courts and Judges of Tezcuco—Eighty-Day Council—Tribunal of the King—Court Proceedings—Lawyers —Witnesses—Remuneration of Judges—Justice of King Nezahualpilli—He orders his Son's Execution—Montezuma and the Farmer—Jails—Laws against Theft, Murder, Treason, Kidnapping, Drunkenness, Witchcraft, Adultery, Incest, Sodomy, Fornication, and other Crimes—Story of Nezahualcoyotl and the Boy CHAPTER XV. NAHUA ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. Metals Used and Manner of Obtaining Them—Working of Gold and Silver—Wonderful Skill in Imitating Gilding and Plating—Working in Stone—Lapidary Work—Wood Carving—Manufacture of Pottery—Various Kinds of Cloth—Manufacture of Paper and Leather—Preparation of Dyes and Paints—The Art of Painting—Feather Mosaic Work —Leaf-Mats—Manner of Kindling Fire—Torches—Soap—Council of Arts in Tezcuco —Oratory and Poetry—Nezahualcoyotl's Odes on the Mutability of Life, and the Tyrant Tezozomoc—Aztec Arithmetical System CHAPTER XVI. THE AZTEC CALENDAR. Astronomical Knowledge of the Aztecs—Contradictions of Authors respecting the Calendar —Value of the Researches of Various Writers—The First Regular Calendar—The Mexican Cycle—The Civil Year—The Aztec Months—Names of the Days and their Signification—The Commencement of the Aztec Year—The Ritual Calendar—Gama's Arrangement of the Months—The Calendar-Stone—The Four Destructions of the World —The Calendar of Michoacan—Reckoning of the Zapotecs CHAPTER XVII. THE AZTEC PICTURE-WRITING. Hieroglyphic Records—The Native Books—Authorities—Destruction of the Native Archives by Zumárraga and his Confrères—Picture-Writings used after the Conquest for Confession and Law-Suits—Value of the Records—Documents sent to Spain in the Sixteenth Century—European Collections—Lord Kingsborough's Work—Picture- Writings retained in Mexico—Collections of Ixtlilxochitl, Sigüenza, Gemelli Careri, Boturini, Veytia, Leon y Gama, Pichardo, Aubin, and the National Museum of Mexico— Process of Hieroglyphic Development—Representative, Symbolic, and Phonetic Picture- Writing—Origin of Modern Alphabets—The Aztec System—Specimen from the Codex Mendoza—Specimen from Gemelli Careri—Specimen from the Boturini Collection— Probable future Success of Interpreters—The Nepohualtzitzin CHAPTER XVIII. ARCHITECTURE AND DWELLINGS OF THE NAHUAS. Architecture of the Ancient Nations—General Features of Nahua Architecture—The Arch— Exterior and Interior Decorations—Method of Building—Inclined Planes—Scaffolds— The use of the Plummet—Building Materials—Position and Fortification of Towns— Mexico Tenochtitlan—The Great Causeways—Quarters and Wards of Mexico—The Market Place—Fountains and Aqueducts—Light-houses and Street-work—City of Tezcuco—Dwellings—Aztec Gardens—Temple of Huitzilopochtli—Temple of Mexico— Other Temples—Teocalli at Cholula and Tezcuco CHAPTER XIX. MEDICINE AND FUNERAL RITES AMONG THE NAHUAS. Mexican Contributions to Medical Science—The Botanical Gardens—Longevity—Prevalent Diseases—Introduction of Small-Pox and Syphilis—Medical Treatment—The Temazcalli —Aboriginal Physicians—The Aztec Faculty—Standard Remedies—Surgery— Superstitious Ceremonies in Healing—Funeral Rites of Aztecs—Cremation—Royal vii 433 473 502 523viii 553 Obsequies—Embalming—The Funeral Pyre—Human Sacrifice—Disposal of the Ashes and Ornaments—Mourners—Funeral Ceremonies of the People—Certain Classes Buried —Rites for the Slain in Battle—Burial among the Teo-Chichimecs and Tabascans— Cremation Ceremonies in Michoacan—Burial by the Miztecs in Oajaca CHAPTER XX. GOVERNMENT, SOCIAL CLASSES, PROPERTY, AND LAWS OF THE MAYA NATIONS. Introductory Remarks—Votan's Empire—Zamná's Reign—The Royal Families of Yucatan, Cocomes, Tutul Xius, Itzas, and Cheles—Titles and Order of Succession—Classes of Nobles—The Quiché-Cakchiquel Empire in Guatemala—The Ahau Ahpop and Succession to the Throne—Privileged Classes—Government of the Provinces—The Royal Council—The Chiapanecs—The Pipiles—Nations of Nicaragua—The Maya Priesthood—Plebeian Classes—Slaves—Tenure of Lands—Inheritance of Property— Taxation—Debtors and Creditor—Laws and the Administration of Justice CHAPTER XXI. EDUCATION AND FAMILY MATTERS AMONG THE MAYAS. Education of Youth—Public Schools of Guatemala—Branches of Study in Yucatan— Marrying-Age—Degrees of Consanguinity allowed in Marriage—Preliminaries of Marriage—Marriage Ceremonies—The Custom of the Droit du Seigneur in Nicaragua— Widows—Monogamy—Concubinage—Divorce—Laws Concerning Adultery— Fornication—Rape—Prostitution—Unnatural Crimes—Desire for Children—Childbirth Ceremonies—Rite of Circumcision—Manner of Naming Children—Baptismal Ceremonies CHAPTER XXII. FEASTS AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE MAYAS. Special Observances—Fixed Feasts—Sacrifice of Slaves—Monthly Feasts of the Yucatecs —Renewal of the Idols—Feast of the Chacs—Hunting Festival—The Tuppkak—Feast of the Cacao-Planters—War Feast—The Maya New Year's Day—Feasts of the Hunters, Fishers, and Apiarists—Ceremonies in honor of Cukulcan—Feast of the Month of Mol— Feasts of the Years Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac—Yucatec Sacrifices—The Pit of Chichen —Sacrifices of the Pipiles—Feast of Victory—Feasts and Sacrifices in Nicaragua— Banquets—Dances—Musical Instruments—Games CHAPTER XXIII. FOOD, DRESS, COMMERCE, AND WAR CUSTOMS OF THE MAYAS. Introduction of Agriculture—Quiché Tradition of the Discovery of Maize—Maize Culture— Superstitions of Farmers—Hunting and Fishing—Domestic Animals, Fowl, and Bees— Preservation and Cooking of Food—Meals—Drinks and Drinking—Habits—Cannibalism —Dress of the Mayas—Maxtlis, Mantles, and Sandals—Dress of Kings and Priests— Women's Dress—Hair and Beard—Personal Decoration—Head-Flattening, Perforation, Tattooing, and Painting—Personal Habits—Commerce—Currency—Markets— Superstitions of Travelers—Canoes and Balsas—War—Military Leaders—Insignia— Armor—Weapons—Fortifications—Battles—Treatment of Captives CHAPTER XXIV. MAYA ARTS, CALENDAR, AND HIEROGLYPHICS. Scarcity of Information—Use of Metals—Gold and Precious Stones—Implements of Stone —Sculpture—Pottery—Manufacture of Cloth—Dyeing—System of Numeration—Maya Calendar in Yucatan—Days, Weeks, Months, and Years—Indictions and Katunes— Perez' System of Ahau Katunes—Statements of Landa and Cogolludo—Intercalary Days and Years—Days and Months in Guatemala, Chiapas, and Soconusco—Maya Hieroglyphic System—Testimony of Early Writers on the Use of Picture-Writing— Destruction of Documents—Specimens which have Survived—The Dresden Codex— 591 630 ix 661 687 715 Manuscript Troano—Tablets of Palenque, Copan, and Yucatan—Bishop Landa's Key— Brasseur de Bourbourg's Interpretation CHAPTER XXV. BUILDINGS, MEDICINE, BURIAL, PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES, AND CHARACTER OF THE MAYAS. Scanty Information given by the Early Voyagers—Private Houses of the Mayas—Interior Arrangement, Decoration, and Furniture—Maya Cities—Description of Utatlan— Patinamit, the Cakchiquel Capital—Cities of Nicaragua—Maya Roads—Temples at Chichen Itza and Cozumel—Temples of Nicaragua and Guatemala—Diseases of the Mayas—Medicines used—Treatment of the Sick—Propitiatory Offerings and Vows— Superstitions—Dreams—Omens—Witchcraft—Snake-Charmers—Funeral Rites and Ceremonies—Physical Peculiarities—Character NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES showing the location of THE CIVILIZED NATIONS View larger map. THE NATIVE RACES OF THE PACIFIC STATES. CIVILIZED NATIONS. CHAPTER I. SAVAGISM AND CIVILIZATION. DEFINITION OF THE TERMS—FORCE AND NATURE—THE UNIVERSAL SOUL OF PROGRESS—MAN THE INSTRUMENT AND NOT THE ELEMENT OF PROGRESS—ORIGIN OF PROGRESSIONAL PHENOMENA—THE AGENCY OF EVIL—IS CIVILIZATION CONDUCIVE TO HAPPINESS?—OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE HUMANITY—CONDITIONS ESSENTIAL TO PROGRESS—CONTINENTAL CONFIGURATIONS—FOOD AND CLIMATE—WEALTH AND LEISURE—ASSOCIATION—WAR, SLAVERY, RELIGION, AND GOVERNMENT—MORALITY AND FASHION—THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRESSIONAL LAW. The terms Savage and Civilized, as applied to races of men, are relative and not absolute terms. At best these words mark only broad shifting stages in human progress; the one near the point of departure, the other farther 748 x 783 1 on toward the unattainable end. This progress is one and universal, though of varying rapidity and extent; there are degrees in savagism and there are degrees in civilization; indeed, though placed in opposition, the one is but a degree of the other. The Haidah, whom we call savage, is as much superior to the Shoshone, the lowest of Americans, as the Aztec is superior to the Haidah, or the European to the Aztec. Looking back some thousands of ages, we of to-day are civilized; looking forward through the same duration of time, we are savages. Nor is it, in the absence of fixed conditions, and amidst the many shades of difference presented by the nations along our western seaboard, an easy matter to tell where even comparative savagism ends and civilization begins. In the common acceptation of these terms, we may safely call the Central Californians savage, and the Quichés of Guatemala civilized; but between these two extremes are hundreds of peoples, each of which presents some claim for both distinctions. Thus, if the domestication of ruminants, or some knowledge of arts and metals, constitute civilization, then are the ingenious but half-torpid Hyperboreans civilized, for the Eskimos tame reindeer, and the Thlinkeets are skillful carvers and make use of copper; if the cultivation of the soil, the building of substantial houses of adobe, wood, and stone, with the manufacture of cloth and pottery, denote an exodus from savagism, then are the Pueblos of New Mexico no longer savages; yet in both these instances enough may be seen, either of stupidity or brutishness, to forbid our ranking them with the more advanced Aztecs, Mayas, and Quichés. We know what savages are; how, like wild animals, they depend for food and raiment upon the spontaneous products of nature, migrating with the beasts and birds and fishes, burrowing beneath the ground, hiding in caves, or throwing over themselves a shelter of bark or skins or branches or boards, eating or starving as food is abundant or scarce; nevertheless, all of them have made some advancement from their original naked, helpless condition, and have acquired some aids in the procurement of their poor necessities. Primeval man, the only real point of departure, and hence the only true savage, nowhere exists on the globe to-day. Be the animal man never so low—lower in skill and wisdom than the brute, less active in obtaining food, less ingenious in building his den—the first step out of his houseless, comfortless condition, the first fashioning of a tool, the first attempt to cover nakedness and wall out the wind, if this endeavor spring from intellect and not from instinct, is the first step toward civilization. Hence the modern savage is not the pre-historic or primitive man; nor is it among the barbarous nations of to-day that we must look for the rudest barbarism. Often is the question asked, What is civilization? and the answer comes, The act of civilizing; the state of being civilized. What is the act of civilizing? To reclaim from a savage or barbarous state; to educate; to refine. What is a savage or barbarous state? A wild uncultivated state; a state of nature. Thus far the dictionaries. The term civilization, then, popularly implies both the transition from a natural to an artificial state, and the artificial condition attained. The derivation of the word civilization, from civis, citizen, civitas, city, and originally from cœtus, union, seems to indicate that culture which, in feudal times, distinguished the occupants of cities from the ill-mannered boors of the country. The word savage, on the other hand, from silva, a wood, points to man primeval; silvestres homines, men of the forest, not necessarily ferocious or brutal, but children of nature. From these simple beginnings both words have gradually acquired a broader significance, until by one is understood a state of comfort, intelligence, and refinement; and by the other, humanity wild and bestial. Guizot defines civilization as an "improved condition of man resulting from the establishment of social order in place of the individual independence and lawlessness of the savage or barbarous life;" Buckle as "the triumph of mind over external agents;" Virey as "the development more or less absolute of the moral and intellectual faculties of man united in society;" Burke as the exponent of two principles, "the spirit of a gentleman and the spirit of religion." "Whatever be the characteristics of what we call savage life," says John Stuart Mill, "the contrary of these, or the qualities which society puts on as it throws off these, constitute civilization;" and, remarks Emerson, "a nation that has no clothing, no iron, no alphabet, no marriage, no arts of peace, no abstract thought, we call barbarous." Men talk of civilization and call it liberty, religion, government, morality. Now liberty is no more a sign of civilization than tyranny; for the lowest savages are the least governed of all people. Civilized liberty, it is true, marks a more advanced stage than savage liberty, but between these two extremes of liberty there is a necessary age of tyranny, no less significant of an advance on primitive liberty than is constitutional liberty an advance on tyranny. Nor is religion civilization, except in so far as the form and machinery of sacerdotal rites, and the abandonment of fetichism for monotheism become significant of intenser thought and expansion of intellect. No nation ever practiced grosser immorality, or what we of the present day hold to be immorality, than Greece during the height of her intellectual refinement. Peace is no more civilization than war, virtue than vice, good than evil. All these are the incidents, not the essence, of civilization. That which we commonly call civilization is not an adjunct nor an acquirement of man; it is neither a creed nor a polity, neither science nor philosophy nor industry; it is rather the measure of progressional force implanted in man, the general fund of the nation's wealth, learning, and refinement, the storehouse of accumulated results, the essence of all best worth preserving from the distillations of good and the distillations of evil. It is a something between men, no less than a something within them; for neither an isolated man nor an association of brutes can by any possibility become civilized. Further than this, civilization is not only the measure of aggregated human experiences, but it is a living working 2 3 DEFINITION OF THE TERMS. 4 5 principle. It is a social transition; a moving forward rather than an end attained; a developing vitality rather than a fixed entity; it is the effort or aim at refinement rather than refinement itself; it is labor with a view to improvement and not improvement consummated, although it may be and is the metre of such improvement. And this accords with latter-day teachings. Although in its infancy, and, moreover, unable to explain things unexplainable, the science of evolution thus far has proved that the normal condition of the human race, as well as that of physical nature, is progressional; that the plant in a congenial soil is not more sure to grow than is humanity with favorable surroundings certain to advance. Nay, more, we speak of the progress of civilization as of something that moves on of its own accord; we may, if we will, recognize in this onward movement, the same principle of life manifest in nature and in the individual man. To things we do not understand we give names, with which by frequent use we become familiar, when we fancy that we know all about the things themselves. At the first glance civilization appears to be a simple matter; to be well clad, well housed, and well fed, to be intelligent and cultured are better than nakedness and ignorance; therefore it is a good thing, a thing that men do well to strive for,—and that is all. But once attempt to go below this placid surface, and investigate the nature of progressional phenomena, and we find ourselves launched upon an eternity of ocean, and in pursuit of the same occult Cause, which has been sought alike by philosophic and barbaric of every age and nation; we find ourselves face to face with a great mystery, to which we stand in the same relation as to other great mysteries, such as the origin of things, the principle of life, the soul-nature. When such questions are answered as What is attraction, heat, electricity; what instinct, intellect, soul? Why are plants forced to grow and molecules to conglomerate and go whirling in huge masses through space?—then we may know why society moves ever onward like a river in channels predetermined. At present, these phenomena we may understand in their action partially, in their essence not at all; we may mark effects, we may recognize the same principle under widely different conditions though we may not be able to discover what that principle is. Science tells us that these things are so; that certain combinations of certain elements are inevitably followed by certain results, but science does not attempt to explain why they are so. Nevertheless, a summary of such few simple thoughts as I have been able to gather upon the subject, may be not wholly valueless. And first, to assist our reflections, let us look for a moment at some of the primal principles in nature, not with a view to instruct in that direction, but rather to compare some of the energies of the material world with the intellectual or progressional energy in man; and of these I will mention such only as are currently accepted by latter-day science. Within the confines of the conceivable universe one element alone is all-potential, all-pervading,—Force. Throughout the realms of space, in and round all forms of matter, binding minutest atoms, balancing systems of worlds, rioting in life, rotting in death, under its various aspects mechanical and chemical, attractive and repulsive, this mighty power is manifest; a unifying, coalescing, and flowing power, older than time, quicker than thought, saturating all suns and planets and filling to repletion all molecules and masses. Worlds and systems of worlds are sent whirling, worlds round worlds and systems round systems, in a mazy planetary dance, wherein the slightest tripping, the least excess of momentum or inertia, of tension or traction, in any part, and chaos were come again. Every conceivable entity, ponderable and imponderable, material and immaterial, is replete with force. By it all moving bodies are set in motion, all motionless bodies held at rest; by it the infinitesimal atom is held an atom and the mass is held concrete, vapory moisture overspreads the land, light and heat animate senseless substance; by it forms of matter change, rocks grow and dissolve, mountains are made and unmade, the ocean heaves and swells, the eternal hills pulsate, the foundations of the deep rise up, and seas displace continents. One other thing we know, which with the first comprises all our knowledge,—Matter. Now force and matter are interdependent, one cannot exist without the other; as for example, all substance, unless held together— which term obviously implies force—would speedily dissolve into inconceivable nothingness. But no less force is required to annihilate substance than to create it; force, therefore, is alike necessary to the existence or non- existence of matter, which reduces the idea of a possible absence of either force or matter to an absurdity; or, in other words, it is impossible for the human mind to conceive of a state of things wherein there is no matter, and consequently no force. Force has been called the soul of nature, and matter the body, for by force matter lives and moves and has its being. Force like matter, is divisible, infinitely so, as far as human experience goes; for, though ultimates may exist, they have never yet been reached; and it would seem that all physical phenomena, endlessly varied and bewildering as they may appear, spring from a few simple incomprehensible forces, the bases of which are attraction and repulsion; which may yet, indeed, derive their origin from One Only Source. In the morphological and geometrical displays of matter these phenomena assume a multitude of phases; all are interactive and interdependent, few are original or primary,—for example, heat and electricity are the offspring of motion which is the result of attractive and repulsive force. What is force and what matter, whether the one is the essence of a self-conscious Creator and the other his handiwork, or whether both are the offspring of a blind chance or fate—which latter hypothesis is simply CIVILIZATION A WORKING PRINCIPLE. 6 FORCE AND MATTER. 7 8 unthinkable—it is not my purpose here to consider. I propose in this analysis to take things as I find them, to study the operations rather than the origin of phenomena, to determine what man does rather than what he ought to do, and to drop the subject at the confines of transcendentalism. When, therefore, I speak of force as the life of matter, it no more implies a self-existant materialism in man, than the soul of man implies a pantheistic self- existant soul in nature. Omnipotence can as easily create and sustain a universe through the media of antagonistic and interdependent forces as through any other means, can as easily place nature and man under the governance of fixed laws as to hold all under varying arbitrary dispensations, and can reconcile these laws with man's volition. Wells of bitterness are dug by disputants under meaningless words; scientists are charged with materialism and religionists with fanaticism, in their vain attempts to fathom the ways of the Almighty and restrict his powers to the limits of our weak understanding. It has been said that, in the beginning, the sixty and odd supposed several elements of matter were in a chaotic state; that matter and force were poised in equilibrium or rioted at random throughout space, that out of this condition of things sprang form and development; regular motion and time began; matter condensed into revolving masses and marked off the days, and months, and years; organization and organisms were initiated and intellectual design became manifest. The infinitesimal molecules, balanced by universal equilibrium of forces, which before motion and time were but chaotic matter and force, were finally supposed to have been each endowed with an innate individuality. However this may be, we now see every atom in the universe athrill with force, and possessed of chemical virtues, and, under conditions, with the faculty of activity. As to the Force behind force, or how or by what means this innate energy was or is implanted in molecules, we have here nothing to do. It is sufficient for our purpose that we find it there; yet, the teachings of philosophy imply that this innate force is neither self-implanted nor self-operative; that whether, in pre-stellar times, infinitesimal particles of matter floated in space as nebulous fluid or objectless vapor without form or consistence, or whether all matter was united in one mass which was set revolving, and became broken into fragments, which were sent whirling as suns and planets in every direction; that in either case, or in any other conceivable case, matter, whether as molecules or masses, was primordially, and is, endowed and actuated by a Creative Intelligence, which implanting force, vitality, intellect, soul, progress, is ever acting, moving, mixing, unfolding, and this in every part and in all the multitudinous combinations of matter; and that all forces and vitalities must have co-existed in the mass, innate in and around every atom. Thus, in his great theory of the projectile impulse given to heavenly bodies in counteraction of the attractive impulse, Sir Isaac Newton assumes that both impulses were given from without; that some power foreign to themselves projected into space these heavenly bodies and holds them there. So, too, when Laplace promulgated the idea that in pre-planetary times space was filled with particles and vapors, solar systems existing only in a nebulous state and this nebula set revolving in one mass upon its own axis from west to east, and that as the velocity of this mass increased suns and planets were, by centrifugal force, thrown off and condensed into habitable but still whirling worlds, some impulse foreign to the revolving mass setting it in motion is implied. With organization and motion, the phases of force, called heat, light, electricity and magnetism, hitherto held dormant in molecules are engendered; composition and decomposition ensue; matter assumes new and varying forms; a progressional development, which is nothing but intelligently directed motion, is initiated, and motion becomes eternal. It is a well-established principle of physics that force cannot be created or lost. The conservation of force is not affected by the action or energies of moving bodies. Force is not created to set a body in motion, nor when expended, as we say, is it lost. The sum of all potential energies throughout the universe is always the same, whether matter is at rest or in motion. It is evident that so long as every molecule is charged with attractive force no atom can drop out into the depths of unoccupied and absolute space and become lost or annihilated; and so long as force is dependent on matter for its perceivable existence, force cannot escape beyond the confines of space and become lost in absolute void. Not only are forces interdependent, but they are capable of being metamorphosed one into another. Thus intellectual energy invents a machine which drives a steamship across the ocean. This invention or creation of the mind is nothing else than a vitalization or setting at liberty of mechanical forces, and without this vitalization or applied intellectual force such mechanical force lies dormant as in so-called dead matter. Gravitation is employed to turn a water-wheel, caloric to drive a steam-engine, by means of either of which weights may be raised, heat, electricity, and light produced, and these new-created forces husbanded and made to produce still other forces or turned back into their original channels. And so in chemical and capillary action, the correlation of forces everywhere is found. Between mind and matter there exists the most intimate relationship. Immateriality, in its various phases of force, life, intellect, so far as human consciousness can grasp it, is inseparable from materiality. The body is but part of the soil on which it treads, and the mind can receive no impressions except through the organs of the body. The brain is the seat of thought and the organ of thought; neither can exist in a normal state apart from the other. As a rule, the power of the intellect is in proportion to the size and quality of the brain. Among animals, those of lowest order have the least brains; man, the most intellectual of animals, has relatively, if not absolutely, the 9 THEORIES OF NEWTON AND LAPLACE. 10 INTIMACY OF MIND AND MATTER. 11 largest brain. True, in some of the largest animals the cerebral mass is larger than in man, but, in its chemical composition, its convolutions, shape, and quality, that in man is superior; and it is in the quality, rather than in the quantity of the nervous tissues, that their superiority consists. Intelligence enters the brain by the organs of the senses, and through the nervous system its subtle influence radiates to every part of the body. All human activities are either mental or mechanical; nor will it be denied that mental activity is produced by mechanical means, or, that mechanical activity is the result of mental force. Corporeal motion is mental force distributed to the various parts of the body. The action of immaterial forces on the material substances of the human body manifestly accords with the action of immaterial forces elsewhere. All the physical and mechanical actions of the human body accord with the physical and mechanical forces elsewhere displayed. Man, we are told, was the last of all created things, but in the making of man no new matter was employed; nor in setting the body in motion can we discover that any new force was invented. Thus the heart beats upon mechanical principles; the eye sees, and the voice speaks in accordance with the general laws of optics and acoustics. To the observer, organic activity is but the product of combined inorganic forces. The same processes are at work, and in the same manner, in living and in so-called dead matter. Life, to all appearance, is but the result of combined chemical and mechanical processes. Assimilation, digestion, secretion, are explainable by chemistry, and by chemistry alone. The stomach is a chemical retort, the body a chemical laboratory. Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, combine and separate in the body as out of the body. The blood circulates upon purely mechanical principles; all muscular action is mechanical. In the phenomena of life, the only perceptible difference is in the combinations of fundamental elements; yet chemistry and mechanics cannot produce a live body. With the foregoing well-recognized principles before us, let us now notice some few parallelisms between mechanical and social energetics. Man, like every other natural substance, is a compound of force and matter. "Respiration," says Liebig, "is the falling weight, the bent spring, which keeps the clock in motion; the inspirations and respirations are the strokes of the pendulum which regulates." Atoms of matter, through the instrumentality of living force, cohere and coalesce under endless complex conditions into endless varieties of form and substance; so also the activities of man, corporeal and intellectual, result in vast accumulations of experiences, which accumulations become the property of the whole society. Society, like matter, is composed of units, each possessing certain forces, attractive and repulsive; societies act upon each other, like celestial bodies, in proportion to their volume and proximity, and the power of the unit increases with the increase of the mass. In association there is a force as silent and as subtle as that which governs atoms and holds worlds in equipoise; its grosser forms are known as government, worship, fashion, and the like; its finer essence is more delicate than thought. It is this social force, attractive and repulsive, that binds men together, tears them asunder, kneads, and knits, and shapes, and evolves; it is the origin of every birth, the ultimate of every activity. Mechanical forces are manifest in machines, as the lever, the wheel, the inclined plane; professional force is manifest in intellectual ingenuity, literature, art, science, which are the machines of human progress. How many of all our joys and sorrows, our loves and hates, our good and evil actions, spring from physical causes only? Even material substances display moods and affections, as when heated, electrified, decomposed, or set in motion; the sea at rest presents a different mood from the sea raging. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea that the soul might be governed for its good by material things working through the media of the senses, is not so extravagant after all. "The gospel according to Jean-Jacques," as Carlyle puts it, runs as follows on this point— and, indeed, the great Genevan evangelist at one time intended to devote a book to the subject under the title of La Morale Sensitive:—"The striking and numerous observations that I had collected were beyond all dispute; and, in their physical origin, they appeared to me proper for furnishing an exterior regimen, which, varied according to circumstances, should be able to place or maintain the soul in the state most favorable to virtue. How many wanderings one might save the reason, how many vices might be hindered birth, if one could but force the animal economy to favor the moral order that it troubles so often. Climates, seasons, sounds, colors, darkness, light, the elements, food, noise, silence, movement, repose, all act on our bodily frame, and, by consequence, on our soul; all offer us a thousand firm holds to govern, in their origin, those sentiments by which we allow ourselves to be dominated." In contemplating the numerous activities by which we are surrounded, again and again we are called upon to wonder at the marvelous regularity which characterizes all their movements. So regular are these movements, so sure are certain conditions to accompany certain results, that in physics, in chemistry, in physiology, and even in society, facts are collected and classified, and from them laws are discovered as fixed and irrevocable as the facts themselves, which laws, indeed, are themselves facts, no less than the facts from which they are deduced. Highly cultivated nations frame laws that provide for many contingencies, but the code of nature has yet finer provisions. There are conditions that neither political nor social laws reach, there are none not reached by physical law; in society, criminals sometimes evade the law; in nature, never. So subtle are the laws of nature, that even thought cannot follow them; when we see that every molecule, by virtue of its own hidden force, attracts every other molecule, up to a certain point, and then from the same inherent influence every atom repels every other atom; when by experiments of physicists it has been proved that in polarization, crystallization, and 12 13 MATERIALITY ACTING ON THE MIND. 14 chemical action, there is not the slightest deviation from an almost startling regularity, with many other facts of like import, how many natural laws do we feel to be yet unrevealed and, from the exquisite delicacy of their nature, unrevealable to our present coarse understanding. It would be indeed strange, if, when all the universe is under the governance of fixed laws—laws which regulate the motion of every molecule, no less than the revolutions of suns—laws of such subtle import, as for instance, regulate the transformations of heat, the convertibility and correlation of force; it would be strange, I say, if such laws as these, when they reached the domain of human affairs should pause and leave the world of man alone in purposeless wanderings. To continue our analogies. As, latent in the atom, or in the mass, there are energies releasable only by heat or friction,—as in charcoal, which holds, locked up, muriatic acid gas equivalent to ninety times its volume; or in spongy platinum, which holds in like manner oxygen, equal to eight hundred times its volume; so, latent in every individual, are numberless energies, which demand the friction of society to call them out. Force comprises two elements, attraction and repulsion, analagous to the principles commonly called good and evil in the affairs of human society; take away from mechanical force either of these two oppugnant elements, and there could be neither organism nor life, so without both good and evil in human affairs there could be no progress. If none of the forces of nature are dissipated or lost, and if force can no more be extinguished than matter, and like matter passes from one form into another, we may conclude that intellectual force is never dissipated or lost, but that the potential energies of mind and soul perpetually vibrate between man and nature. Or, again, if, as we have seen, energy of every kind is clothed in matter, and when employed and expended returns again to its place in matter; and if the mind draws its forces from the body, as it appears to do, both growing, acting, and declining simultaneously; and if the body draws its energy from the earth, which is no less possible; then may not intellectual and progressional force be derived from man's environment, and return thither when expended? Every created being borrows its material from the storehouse of matter, and when uncreated restores it again; so every individual born into society becomes charged with social force, with progressional energy, which, when expended, rests with society. Winslow's opinion on this subject is, that "all electric and magnetic currents originate in—are inducted from—and radiate either directly or indirectly out of the globe as the fountain of every form and constituency of mechanical force, and that abstract immaterial mechanical energy, as we have thus far discussed and developed its dual principles, is absolutely convertible through molecular motion into every form and expansion of secondary force, passing successively from heat through electricity, magnetism, etc., and vice versa, it follows that this same mechanical energy itself, as hypostatical motive power, must proceed out of the globe also." Thus is loaded with potential energy the universe of matter, generating life, mind, civilization, and hence we may conclude that whatever else it is, civilization is a force; that it is the sum of all the forces employed to drive humanity onward; that it acts on man as mechanical force acts on matter, attracting, repelling, pressing forward yet holding in equilibrium, and all under fixed and determined laws. From all which it would appear that nothing is found in man that has not its counterpart in nature, and that all things that are related to man are related to each other; even immortal mind itself is not unlike that subtle force, inherent in, and working round every atom. In this respect physical science is the precursor of social science. Nature produces man; man in his earlier conception of nature, that is in his gods, reproduces himself; and later, his knowledge of intrinsic self depends upon his knowledge of extrinsic agencies, so that as the laws that govern external nature are better understood, the laws that govern society are more definitely determined. The conditions of human progress can be wrought into a science only by pursuing the same course that raises into a science any branch of knowledge; that is, by collecting, classifying, and comparing facts, and therefrom discovering laws. Society must be studied as chemistry is studied; it must be analyzed, and its component parts—the solubilities, interactions, and crystallizations of religions, governments and fashions, ascertained. As in the earlier contemplations of physical nature, the action of the elements was deemed fortuitous, so in a superficial survey of society, all events appear to happen by chance; but on deeper investigation, in society as in physics, events apparently fortuitous, may be reduced to immutable law. To this end the life of mankind on the globe must be regarded as the life of one man, successions of societies as successions of days in that life; for the activities of nations are but the sum of the activities of the individual members thereof. We have seen that man's organism, as far as it may be brought under exact observation, is governed by the same processes that govern elemental principles in inorganic nature. The will of man attempting to exert itself in antagonism to these laws of nature is wholly ineffectual. We are all conscious of a will, conscious of a certain freedom in the exercise of our will, but wholly unconscious as to the line of separation between volition and environment. Part of our actions arise from fixed necessity, part are the result of free will. Statistics, as they are accumulated and arranged, tend more and more to show that by far the greater part of human actions are not under individual control, and that the actions of masses are, in the main, wholly beyond the province of the ANALOGIES BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE. 15 16 17 PHYSICAL LAWS AND SOCIAL LAWS. human will. Take the weather for a single day, and note the effect on the will. The direction of the wind not unfrequently governs one's train of thought; resolution often depends upon the dryness of the atmosphere, benevolence upon the state of the stomach; misfortunes, arising from physical causes, have ere now changed the character of a ruler from one of lofty self-sacrifice, to one of peevish fretfulness...