aid in so far as it gives that fixity to the social
organization without which a society cannot survive; a hindrance in so
far as it offers resistance to changes of social organization that have
become desirable.

2. _Incuriosity._--Projecting our own natures into the circumstances of
the savage, we imagine ourselves as marvelling greatly on first seeing
the products and appliances of civilized life. But we err in supposing
that the savage has feelings such as we should have in his place. Want
of rational curiosity respecting these incomprehensible novelties, is a
trait remarked of the lowest races wherever found; and the
partially-civilized races are distinguished from them as exhibiting
rational curiosity. The relation of this trait to the intellectual
nature, to the emotional nature, and to the social state, should be
studied.

3. _Quality of thought._--Under this vague head may be placed many sets
of inquiries, each of them extensive--(_a_) The degree of generality of
the ideas; (_b_) the degree of abstractness of the ideas; (_c_) the
degree of definiteness of the ideas; (_d_) the degree of coherence of
the ideas; (_e_) the extent to which there have been developed such
notions as those of _class_, of _cause_, of _uniformity_, of _law_, of
_truth_. Many conceptions which have become so familiar to us that we
assume them to be the common property of all minds, are no more
possessed by the lowest savages than they are by our own children; and
comparisons of types should be so made as to elucidate the processes by
which such conceptions are reached. The development under each head has
to be observed--(_a_) independently in its successive stages; (_b_) in
connexion with the co-operative intellectual conceptions; (_c_) in
connexion with the progress of language, of the arts, and of social
organization. Already linguistic phenomena have been used in aid of such
inquiries; and more systematic use of them should be made. Not only the
number of general words, and the number of abstract words, in a people's
vocabulary should be taken as evidence, but also their _degrees_ of
generality and abstractness; for there are generalities of the first,
second, third, &c., orders, and abstractions similarly ascending. _Blue_
is an abstraction referring to one class of impressions derived from
visible objects; _colour_ is a higher abstraction referring to many such
classes of visual impressions; _property_ is a still higher
abstraction