A treatise on man and the development of his faculties / by A. Quetelet ; now first translated into English.

Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on man and the development of his faculties / by A. Quetelet ; now first translated into English. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    21/158 (page 9)
    forces • what have been their effects for such and such a period; and what the social elements chiefly affected by them. • i., j. 3 I'inall}^ can human forces compromise the sta- biUty of tbe social system? I am not sure if these questions may over be answered; but to me it seems that their solution would form some of the noblest and most interesting results of human research. Con- vinced of this truth, I have already made some efforts to reply to the first series of these questions; and still more, to make my ideas imderstood, and to point out the route which ought to be followed, I have endeavoured also to demonstrate how to detect the influencing causes, and to determine the degree of their respective actions. ^V^latever idea may be formed of these researches, I trust it will stiU be ad- mitted, that in respect to the development of the human faculties, a great number of observations and residts have been accumidated wliicli science did not previously possess. I wish it also to be understood, that I consider this work as but a sketch of a vast plan, to be completed only by infinite care and immense researches. I have room, therefore, for hope that the leading idea, as to the composition of the work, may be alone criticised; and that, in respect to the filling up of the details, necessarily very incomplete in some parts, from want of materials, a lenient criticism may also be vouch- safed. I have thought it my duty, however, in the suitable place, to point out these deficiencies. On the Importance or Dignity of the Inquiries Relative to Man. The nature of the researches in this work, and the view which I have taken of tlie social system, have in them a something positive, which at first sight may startle some minds. Some may be disposed to see in it a tendency to materialism ; others, misunderstanding my ideas, may view them as an attempt to exagge- rate the field of the exact sciences, and to place the geometrician upon grormd Avhich does not belong to liim; they may reproach me for engaging in absurd speculations, and Avith inquiring into measures where things do not admit of being measured. In respect to the charge of materialism, it has been reproduced so often and so regularly on every occasion Avhen science attempted to make a neAv step, and Aidien the spirit of philosophy, breaking through its ancient barriers, attempted a neAv road, that it seems almost superfluous at tlie present day to reply to it, the more especially that the fanatical spirit is no longer backed Avith chains and tortures. It can scarcely noAv be esteemed an insult to the Divinity, that man exercises the noblest of his facilities by directing his medita- tions toAvards the sublimest laws of the universe, by endeavoming to explain the admirable economy and the uifinite Avisdom Avhich presided at its formation. Who Avould venture to accuse of dryness those pliilo- sophic minds, Avhich liaA-e substituted for the narrow and paltry Avorld, as knoAvn to the ancients, the know- ledge of our magnificent solar system, and haA'e so vastly remoA'ed the limits of our starry lieaA'en, that genius can no longer guess its extent but Avith reli- gious aAve? Certainly, the knoAvledgo of the Avon- derful laAvs Avhich regidate the system of the Avorld, gives us a much nobler idea of the poAver of the Divi- nity, than that of the Avorld Avhich sublime supersti- tion Avished to impose upon us. If the animal pride of man be loivered, on observing hoAV small the spot is Avhich he occupies upon the grain of dust of Avhich he at one time made his universe, how much, on the other hand, ought his intelligence to be pleased at the extent of its poAver, shoAvn in investigating so deeply the secrets of the heavens! Having thus observed the progress made by astro- nomical science in regard to Avorlds, Avhy should not we endeavour to folloiv the same course in respect to man ? Would it not be an absurdity to suppose, that. Avhilst all is regulated by such admirable laAvs, man’s existence alone should be capricious, and possessed of no conservative principle ? We need not hesitate in asserting, that such a supposition, and not the re- searches Ave propose making, Avould be injustice to tbe Creative PoAver, In respect to the second objection, I shall endeavour to ansAver it Avhen estimating the moral and intellec- tual faculties of man. BOOK FIRST. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PDY.SICAL QUALIT1E.S OP MAN. 1. TJio Determination of tlio Average Jlan In Oeneral. We haA^e said that, in the course of our researches, the first step to be made would be to determine the aA^erage man, amongst different nations, both physical and moral. Perhaps the possibility of such an appre- ciation of physical qualities, which admit of direct measurement, Avill be granted us: but Avhat is the course to be pursued in regard of the moral qualities ? How can Ave ever maintain, Avithout absurdity, that the courage of one man is to that of another ns five is to six, for example, almost as Ave should speak of their stature ? Should Ave not laugh at the pretension of a geometrician, Avho seriously maintained that he had calculated that the genius of Homer is to that of Virgil as three to two ? Certainly, such pretensions Avould be absurd and ridiculous. It is proper, then, first of all, to agree upon the meaning of Avords, and to examine if that which we aim at is possible, not in the actual state of science, but in such a state as science avUI some day arrive at. We cannot, indeed, demand from those who employ themselves AAdth social physics, more than Ave should have done from those Avho foresaAv the possibility of forming an astronomical theory, at a period Avhen defectWe astronomical obser- vations and false theories, or their total absence, Avith insufiicient means of calculation, only existed. It AA-as especially necessary to be certain of the means of performing such a task; it Aims afterwards necessary to collect precise observations Arith zeal and perseve- rance, to create and render perfect the methods for using them, and thus to prepare all the necessarj’-ele- ments of the edifice to be erected. Noav, this is the course which I tliink it proper to pm-sue in fonning a system of social physics. I hold that Ave should ex- amine if it is possible to obtain the means of per- forming the desired task, and, firstly, if it is possible to determine the average man. This determination Avill be the subject of the three first books of this Avork. We shall, first of all, con- sider man in a physical relation; then Ave shall con- sider him with respect to his moral and intellectual qualities. 2. Of Iho Determination of tlio Piiysioai Quniities of tUo Avcnigo Jlim. Amongst the elements pertaining to m.an, some arc susceptible of a direct appreciation, and the numbers Avliich represent them are true mathematical quan- tities : such are, in general, the physical qualities. Thus the Aveight and stature of a man may be mea- sured directly, and Ave may aftenvards compare them Avith the Avcight and stature of another man. In com- paring the different men of a nation in this manner, Ave arriA'c at average values, Avhich arc the Avcight and stature proper to be assigned to the .average man of this nation: as a sequel to such an inquiry', Ave might then say that the Englishman is of greater height and larger size than the Frenchman or Italian. This mode of proceeding is analogous to that pursued