Page:A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind (IA discourseuponori00rous).pdf/55

but none will find it an eaſy Matter to get to the end of it. For it is no ſuch eaſy taſk to diſtinguiſh between what is natural, and what is artificial in the actual Conſtitution of Man, and to make one's ſelf well acquainted with a State which, if ever it did, does not now, and in all probability never will exiſt, and of which, notwithſtanding, it is abſolutely neceſſary to have juſt Notions to judge properly of our preſent State. Nay, a Man muſt be more a Philoſopher than moſt people think to take upon him to determine exactly, what Precautions are requiſite to make ſolid Obſervations upon this Subject; and, in my Opinion, a good Solution of the following Problem would not be unworthy of the Ariſtotles and Plinies of our Age: What Experiments are requiſite to know Man as conſtituted by Nature, and which are the beſt Methods of making theſe Experiments in the boſom of Society? For my own Part, I am ſo far from pretending to ſolve this Problem,