es--here the restless
civilization of France and England, there the contentment and
inferiority of Lapland. This commingling might seem to render it
difficult to ascertain the true movement of the whole continent, and
still more so for distant and successive periods of time. In each
nation, moreover, the contemporaneously different classes, the educated
and illiterate, the idle and industrious, the rich and poor, the
intelligent and superstitious, represent different contemporaneous
stages of advancement. One may have made a great progress, another
scarcely have advanced at all. How shall we ascertain the real state of
the case? Which of these classes shall we regard as the truest and most
perfect type?

Though difficult, this ascertainment is not impossible. The problem is
to be dealt with in the same manner that we should estimate a family in
which there are persons of every condition from infancy to old age. Each
member of it tends to pursue a definite course, though some, cut off in
an untimely manner, may not complete it. One may be enfeebled by
accident, another by disease; but each, if his past and present
circumstances be fully considered, will illustrate the nature of the
general movement that all are making. To demonstrate that movement most
satisfactorily, certain members of such a family suit our purpose better
than others, because they more closely represent its type, or have
advanced farthest in their career.

[Sidenote: The intellectual class the true representative of a
community.]

So in a family of many nations, some are more mature, some less
advanced, some die in early life, some are worn out by extreme old age;
all show special peculiarities. There are distinctions among kinsmen,
whether we consider them intellectually or corporeally. Every one,
nevertheless, illustrates in his own degree the march that all are
making, but some do it more, some less completely. The leading, the
intellectual class, is hence always the true representative of a state.
It has passed step by step through the lower stages, and has made the
greatest advance.

[Sidenote: Interstitial change and death the condition of individual
life.]

In an individual, life is maintained only by the production and
destruction of organic particles, no portion of the system being in a
state of immobility, but each displaying incessant change. Death is,
therefore, necessarily the condition of life, and the more energetic the
function