assigned to himself by the great positive philosopher may, therefore, be illustrated by that of him who should undertake to collect from the reports of the English and American courts a philosophical exposition of the common law. Thousands of volumes of reports are to be gathered together, embracing hundreds of thousands of cases. From each the correct points are to be first extracted and then arranged, and then exhibited as a complete and philosophical whole. So it was that Comte attempted to extract from the book of physical nature the grand common law that regulates humanity.

§ 180. It is by use of this analogy that we are able to detect two of the main defects in Comte's basis of induction— defects which fatally affect his system of philosophy. Let it be supposed that in such pretended summary of the common law there should be an entire exclusion of: (1) all cases involving mental conditions, e.g. insanity in its relations to crime, to wills, and to contracts; and (2) all cases decided in a particular locality, though to this excluded locality such treatise afterwards is claimed to apply. However interesting a treatise thus constructed might be, it would neither be complete nor authoritative. And yet, these omissions are, in fact, made by Comte in the collection of his primary phenomena. He excludes entirely the result of all psychological observation. He abhors metaphysics. That vast mass of phenomena which are connected with our intellectual and moral natures form no part of the materials on which his induction acts. Objective conditions alone, he condescends to notice.

On the other hand, he formally excludes from the range

of his observation all social history except that of Europe. Thus he himself tells us that "we must study the development of the most advanced nations, not allowing our attention to be drawn off to other centres. ** It is the selectest part, the vanguard of the human race that we have to study; the greater part of the white race, or the European nations, even restricting ourselves to those of Western Europe."* And afterwards he specifies the countries to be thus examined, as follows: "It must be our rule to study the civilization, not of any nation, however important, but of the whole portion of mankind involved in the movement of Western Europe; that is, (specifying the nations once for all,) Italy, France, England, Germany, and Spain." It is observed, that this excludes Asia, the birth-place of civilization, North Africa, the theatre of her most luxuriant youthful growth, and America, the scene of her present greatest activity.

Having thus noticed the nature of the philosophy of Comte and the subject-matter from which his induction is drawn, let us proceed to consider what are the principles stated by him, so far, at least, as they concern the theistic argument. These principles converge to a single proposition, viz., that the highest order of civilization, and the truest philosophy, lead to the establishment of a code of positive laws, susceptible of as definite ascertainment as the courses of the stars, which laws are capable, if obeyed, of producing the highest degree of happiness as well as

Pos. Phil. English ed., vol. i. p. 181; Am. ed., vol. i. p. 541; Martineau's translation.

the greatest amount of morality, and to which laws, therefore, it is the duty of each individual to submit.*

b. BY WHAT IT IS SUSTAINED.

§ 181. The induction by which this proposition is sought to be proved, falls under three heads: (a1) historical, or that drawn from the history of the countries selected for examination; (b1) personal, or that drawn from individual history; and (c) phrenological, or that drawn from the structure of the human brain. These will be now briefly considered.

§ 182. a1. Historical.

It is assumed by Comte that history, within the limits he prescribes to himself, shows three distinct stages of development: (a) the theological, which is the original, which is again divided into (a) fetichism, (b) polytheism, and (c1) monotheism; (b) the metaphysical, or the period of doubt; and (c) the positive, or the period of definite law. These stages are treated by Comte substantially as follows:

The savage, who is assumed to be the first form of

* Observe, in connection with Comte's classification, that of Schelling, as the contribution of one who, like Comte, is seeking the material for a skeptical philosophy, but who, with equal ability, occupies an independent stand-point. Schelling lays down three great periods : first, that of fate, when history exhibits the working of mere arbitrary dynamical energy; second, that of nature, which is one of equal but absolute development; third, that of Providence, when we are to recognize the Absolute and Universal, as an aggregate divinity. See Transcend. Idealismus, part iv. prop. 4. See also Morell's Hist. Phil., pp. 440-450.

humanity, looks with wondering awe upon the objects. around him and pays to each a specific homage. This is Fetich-worship. The term, not very accurately, as will be presently shown, is taken by Comte from Mosheim, who, when examining the intellectual system of Cudworth, tells us that "the sacred animals of the Egyptians were originally Fetissos. This phrase, which the French language has converted into Fetiches, is Portuguese, and signifies a divine agent that communicates oracles. A Fetich is therefore matter, in some form or other, in which a God resides." Strictly speaking, however, the Fetich is regarded by Comte as worshiped, not as the embodiment of a Deity, but rather as in itself, from its own properties, the subject of a gross and dull adoration. In fact, Fetich-worship is held by Comte as requiring so small a degree of intelligence, that he announces that it is engaged in by the higher branches of the brute creation. "Several species of animals," he tells us, “afford clear evidence of speculative activity; and those which are endowed with it certainly attain a kind of gross fetichism as man does. The difference in the case is, that man has ability to raise himself out of this primitive darkness, and that the brutes have not; except some few select animals, in which a beginning to polytheism may be observed, obtained no doubt by association with man. If, for instance, we exhibit a watch to a child or a savage, on the one hand, and a dog or a monkey, on the other, there will be no great difference in their way of regarding the new object, further than their form of expression."* And,

* Pos. Phil., Eng. ed., vol. ii. p. 187; Am. ed., p. 546.

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to make this still more plain, we are told, something in the style of Lord Monboddo, that it was reserved to subsequent eras to develop men, in this light, at least, from the condition of "monkeys."

§ 183. If this be true, Fetich-worship, in the Positive sense, is nothing more than a mere stupid gaze. This is followed, in gradual ascent, by Polytheism, in which certain members or heads of specific tribes are invested with supernatural attributes, and worshiped as such.

The mythology, both of the subtle Greek and the imperial Roman, may come next. The trees and the waters are represented by dryads and naiads, who are treated either as the divine embodiment of the entire classes, or as special supernatural agencies residing in individuals. With this may arise hero-worship; and these two elements, involving the adoration either of divinities residing in matter or brutes, or of divinities as the shades of departed great men, form polytheism. This, again, as human intellect develops, is narrowed into monotheism. Men become weary of worshiping gods who are either the ideal representations of brutes or stones, or at the best, of fellow-creatures with like passions with themselves. Hence arises the idea of a Jehovah, or supreme and single God. This idea, however, according to the Positive faith, is revealed neither by oracle nor instinct, but is a myth, for its own period beneficial enough, but at the same time the mere creature of human speculation. Soon, however, "the forces that caused this idea, dissipate it." Men begin to discover that organic creation is governed by certain eternal and inflexible laws. These laws enter so closely into the moral as well into the