conduct in given circumstances will be? Mr. Buckle thinks we can. Not that he ever hopes to be able to predict the actions of individual men ; but for men in masses, for humanity in general, for large races, for nations, he supposes that pretty close approximations may be arrived at.
The "history" which Mr. Buckle proposed to write is not history in general, nor history of such kind as biography, or accounts of families, but the special history of civilisation. Now, what is civilisation ? It is the progress of mankind measured by "the triumph of mind over external agents." It is the conquest of nature by man. In thought, it is the gradual weaning of the mind from a superstitious veneration for, and deification of, nature ; in action, it is the use of nature, the making matter and its forces obedient to our behests, and using them for our needs and convenience.
It is important to settle that this is all that Mr. Buckle means by civilisation ; for on this definition depends the whole logical value and consistency of his book. Among many passages that might be selected, the following, from p. 205, where he announces the plan of his future volumes, includes all that we want to show : —
In a great and comprehensive view, the changes in every civilised people are in their aggregate dependent solely on three things : first, on the amount of knowledge possessed by their ablest men ; secondly, on the direction which that knowledge takes, that is to say, the sort of subjects to which it refers ; thirdly, and above all, on the extent to which the knowledge is diffused and the freedom with which it pervades all classes of society.
The word changes indicates that the fundamental idea in the writer's mind is that of progress. The knowledge which he requires for this progress must be either religious, moral, or scientific. He proves, with great care, that it is neither of the two former ; it must, therefore, be the last. Not that he denies the power of religious and moral convictions, but he says that their action ceases with individuals, and leaves no permanent result on society. Vices and virtues, like plus and minus quantities in an
