A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE
WORKS OF CHARLES FOURIER.
BY TERENCE
-------------------------------------------------
“In Nature and in State, it is easier to change many things than
one.” BACON.—Essay on Health.
“Entertain variety of delights rather than surfeit of them.—Idem.
“ And let the main portion of the lands employed to gardens or
to corn be to a common stock, and to be laid in, and stored up, and then delivered out in proportion.” BACON.—On Plantations.
“Fourierism, which is diametrically opposed to Communism.”—Morning Chronicle, March, 1848.
-------------------------------------------------
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY THE PHALANSTERIAN ASSOCIATION
AND TO BE HAD OF
P. ROLANOI, 20, BERNERS ST., OXFORD ST.;
AND AT 55, RUPERT ST., COVENTRY ST.
MDCCCXLVIII. -
PRICE SIXPENCE.
INTRODUCTION
TO THE
WORKS OF CHARLES FOURIER.
At a moment when the extraordinary and sudden events of
Paris have stirred the political condition of Europe from its very foundation,
and have commenced “‘hat is professedly a social revolution,
the following rapid sketch of what is termed the social science, or in a wider sense, “The
Theory of Universal Unity,” may not be without interest to the public, as it
may help them to a clearer comprehension of what is now occurring, and enable
them to distinguish between those acts of the Provisional Government which are
inspired by a spirit of communism, and those which emanate from the school of
Fourier.
The whole of the English press, in mentioning the tendencies
of the late revolution, have attributed them to the Communist doctrines disseminated through
the medium of the works of various authors, among whom they include Fourier; being, however, so little
acquainted with his views, that
they are even ignorant of the real orthography of his name;
for they have, with few exceptions,
most amusingly agreed in spelling it with two rs, thus—Fourrier.
This point, though minor in appearance, is in reality most important as an
argument against them; for this error originated in a ridiculous and ignorant
criticism made several years back, which criticism seemingly has remained the
only source of information which the guides (?) of public opinion have deigned to consult on the subject.
Now this accusation of communism arises from a very general,
although most erroneous notion; for Fourier, whatever may
be. thought of the practicability of his whole system, is, as we will presently prove, the only author who presents a definite,
just, and unanswerable argument in favour of the existence of property, and he
who alone has sought efficient because
equitable means of rendering its enjoyment perpetual.
Fourier, from his earliest childhood, evinced the
profoundest love for truth and justice; and though educated at a period when
professions of atheism were in full vogue, he always breathed the purest
religious sentiments, free however from intolerance and cant. On looking around
him, he found all things subjected to a Divine Harmony, save the social relations
of man, in which fraud, misery, and vice were but too much the predominant
features. Yet, that such was the final destiny of mankind, his notions of
divine justice would not for one instant allow him to suppose. Trusting,
therefore, to the words of Christ: “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;”—”There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither
hid that shall not be known;” and seeing how completely society, in its present
form, is devoid of truth, justice, and happiness, he determined to devote his
life to the research of the natural or
Divine social form, in which God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven, these
blessings should exclusively reign; and
after several years of incessant labour, he produced to the world what all who have studied it
proclaim a most wonderful and complete
system of universal science.
The metaphysical foundation
of Fourier’s theory, (and we must crave the indulgent reader’s patience for a
few paragraphs that may perchance be deemed abstruse,) is as follows:—All that
exists, being the work of one
great Creator, must bear upon it the
impress of His harmonious mind, and
be therefore analogous, though
never identical in
its various forms; accordingly, Fourier, taking a complete survey of all the
natural sciences and arts, finds a perfect analogy between the harmonies of
sound, of colours, of curves, of numerical and grammatical functions, &c.,
distributed according to a certain series or
regular distribution of parts, into groups, varieties, genera, species, orders,
and classes; hence his science of Universal
Analogy, the radiant spring of poetry,—and its manifestation, the serial Law, for
the development of which we must refer to his works, or those of his disciples.
Fourier, with this guide, arguing with true mathematical precision, from what
was known to what was as yet unknown, boldly dived into the past and the
future, and foretold most of the discoveries which have since shed so much
glory on the scientific men of our age; among these may be numbered Levenier’s
planet, instantaneous communications with all parts of the globe, painless
operations, &e. &c.
Carrying out these views in his vast investigations of
nature, he found that all things were formed of three principles, corresponding to the three essential
functions of motion: one active or spiritual (the moving force,)—one passive
or material (the
moved force,)—and one neuter or
regulative (the directing force). His theory of Production may serve as
an illustration of this division of parts; for Production, in its widest sense, the source of the activity and the wealth
of nations, is, like all other things, a compound of these three elements, viz. :
1. Labour, the active
principle.
2. Capital, the passive principle,
on or by which labour acts; land, buildings, money, machinery, implements,
&c. &c.
3. Talent, the neuter principle,
by which labour and capital are directed.
Now, if the rights of anyone of these principles remain
unsatisfied, the other two are endangered,
and impeded in their progress. According to Fourier, the fault of society has
hitherto been in overlooking the rights of labour and talent, granting all
permanent advantages to capital alone, which has in consequence indirectly but
greatly suffered. The Communists, on the other hand, in their reaction against
the exclusiveness of capital, commit a similar error in an opposite direction.. The exclusive reign of capital
occasions unperfect production, pauperism, and revolt. Communism, or the
negation of individual property, by destroying emulation, and compressing
superior minds, without raising the interior, would be a death-blow to the
ideal and the sublime, and both are subversive of all justice and liberty; yet
both represent equally legitimate rights, which can only be satisfied by the
free association of the three essential elements of production, whereby every
individual may reap the fruits of the seed he has sown, by participating in the
profits of the common produce, each in proportion to
the amount of capital, labour, or talent employed in its creation, every member
being thus personally interested in the success of the whole. The creative
powers resulting from unity of
purpose and action are thus substituted for the fearful and destructive
antagonism which now reigns between the employers and the employed. (The practical difficulty of such an
arrangement will be mentioned hereafter.) This proportionality, according to capital, time,
and skill, is evidently in direct opposition to the principle of Communism, which is based on an
absolute equality of
rights; and Fourier is so far from denying the rights of property, that it is chiefly to
large capitalists that he addresses himself, inviting them to combine freely,
and carry out his views, promising them in return a new and happy social era,
in which they will be the first to benefit largely; for one of his fundamental
principles is, that the science of society must
accept and classify all existing interests, and the social transformation be
such, that those who reap the greatest advantages in our present state, shall
profit still further instead of losing by the new
order of things.
But this is only one branch of Fourier’s vast system of
scientific and social reform. Analysing with great acuteness, the past and
present history of humanity, and examining the fundamental character of the five social phases, viz., 1, Edenism; 2, Savagism; 3,
Patriarcate; 4, Barbarianism; and 5, Civilization, through which it has
successively passed,—he ascertained (as any unprejudiced mind might have done
before him,) that Man had as yet never been placed in a social medium in
accordance with his nature, though he had gradually advanced towards a superior
state of society, according to the natural law of progression. Yet man, with all his passions[1] or
tendencies, which according to circumstances urge him on to virtue or to vice,
and which, in spite of human institutions, have maintained their dominion in
all countries and all ages,—man, we
say, with all his passions, is the work of God. The social form, essentially
variable in
its nature, differing at the beginning and at the end of the same age, differing
on the opposite sides of the same mountain or river, is the work of man. If man,
and the social conditions he is placed in, clash,
whose is the fault, and whose work must we modify? Surely not God’s!
As well might our tailors and shoemakers propose one model
of their own creation, as a standard whereby all men were to be dressed, as our
philosophers and constitution-framers pretend that man, as created by God, is
imperfect, and must be made to bend to fanciful and oppressive institutions of their
invention, which centuries have proved
to be inefficient in producing the desired end. This misconception of man’s
nature has forced them to uphold their false institutions by means of
constraint and tyranny, thus forming a lamentable scission between the lovers
of order and
those of liberty, and
keeping the world in a constant state of turmoil and warfare.
The important point is, however, to fully understand the
nature of Man, the
primary element of society, and the social problem then resolves itself into
the following terms:
“Man and his passions being given, to determine the social
conditions in which these may be harmoniously developed,
so as to produce the greatest and most beneficial results by the smallest
means.”
Now man is himself, according to what we have said above, a
compound of three principles;
1. The Passions, active or motive principle.
2. The Body, passive or material principle.
3. The Intellect, neuter or regulative principle.
The body is
the mere instrument or tool through the medium of which the passions act; and
the intellect is the
principle by which man judges, ( and by which he governs and directs the other
two.
The passions,
again, are composed of three principles—the material or sensual; the spiritual or affective; and the directing or distributive—subdivided into twelve
radical passions, summed up in one pivotal passion, which, like white and black among colours, is, in its positive form, the result of the combination
of all the others, while, in its negative form, it is the result of their absence.[2]
Most of those passions, the 10th, 11th, and 12th especially,
are in civilization, productive of more harm than good; for instance, the love of change, termed by Fourier la papillonne
or butterfly passion, in
a society where each member is chained
exclusively to one profession or trade, is a vice, breeding inconsistency, fickleness,
inattention, and discontent; yet nature in her goodness meant it as a
preservative against monotony, and excess in
the development of anyone of his faculties, moral, intellectual, or physical,
at the expense of the others, by instilling into him a strong desire to give a full and harmonious development
to all in their turns. For a full comprehension of this psychological analysis, we must refer
to the works of Fourier, or those of his school. Musicians will, however, understand
us when we say, that the four affective passions
are the cardinal, corresponding
to the four notes which form the main chord and the sensitive note, in the
octave. The three distributive correspond
to the subordinate chord, and the five sensitive to
the five semi-tones.
As the different combinations of the twelve semi-tones of
the chromatic scale are sufficient to produce an infinite variety of melodies
and harmonies; or, as all shades are the result of the various combinations of
the prismatic colours, so the different proportions and combinations of these
12, or rather (including the pivots) 14
radical passions, form the various characters or temperaments which constitute
humanity; and as Providence has balanced the number of the sexes, so also has
it counterpoised the various springs of action among mankind, so that unity
and harmony shall be the result, as
soon as man, rightly and religiously using his reason and free-will, shall, by
doing for society what he has lately done for locomotion, have sought,
discovered, and practically established the conditions in which these passions
or springs of action may act according to the eternal laws of God, and be
productive of good instead of evil. A permanent revelation is granted as a light
to guide us in this research,—Good being
the heavenly sign that humanity is fulfilling its destinies,—Evil the invariable
sign of its deviation therefrom; and who will deny that Evil has hitherto had the ascendancy?
Fourier, by this analysis of the nature of man, which all
his disciples consider as unimpeachable, seems alone among philosophers to have
carried into practice that admirable maxim of the ancients, “Know thyself,” and
I has therefore alone afforded us the means of organizing
society in accordance with that nature.
The 14 radical passions of man, being his data, Fourier seeks, by what external or
social conditions they can best be satisfied and utilized.
And first, he finds it will be
necessary to offer to the sensitive passions none but the purest objects of gratification so that
our senses, by which we are put into communication with the outward world, may
carry correct notions only, to our soul and intellect. This duty falls chiefly
to the lot of industry and the fine arts. Secondly, the effective passions must find their full
development, which can only be attained by opening numerous gradual posts of
honour, proportionate to each individual’s peculiar merit, so as to
gratify the passion of ambition; and by increasing the general wealth of the community sufficiently
to ensure the right of living by one’s labour to every man, woman, and child,
and thus allow in all cases of love-unions, freed from those heart-rending anxieties which now attend most
parents as to the future prospects of their children. Thirdly, in order to give
due satisfaction to the distributive passions now productive of so much evil, corporative rivalship must be awakened in the
community, but so organized as never to degenerate into personal jealousy and hatred. The various social
duties must be performed no longer by individuals, but by friendly groups in order to satisfy the noble passion of enthusiasm, which requires numbers for its full development, and which
doubles and triples our energies. Above all,
constant variety must be
introduced into our occupations, that we may call forth and satisfy alternately
all the faculties of our soul and mind. And finally, the noblest of all
passions, Uniteeism, the warm fountain of
religion, philanthropy, charity, and self-sacrifice, must find a constant
channel to flow in, for the benefit of others, thus counteracting the chilling
influence of its opposite, individualism, whose function is the mere preservation of the individual.
By the Association of many interests, forces, and abilities alone, can all
these conditions be realized; and civilization, though founded on the spirit of
individualism, or the “chacun chez soi, chacun pour soi” system, has
instinctively felt this; for in all great works, such as canals, railways, insurances, clubs, &c.,
it has always recourse to the fruitful principle of association, although, till
this year, strictly confining it to capital.
Seeking what was to be the main-spring of action which was
to introduce life and motion in the new social medium, and finding that Attraction
was the great principle by which God gave motion and form to the material
world, Fourier was led by universal analogy to suspect that the spiritual and social
world might perchance be subjected to
the same principle. This led him, by a succession of calculations, to the
discovery Of what he called passional or
spiritual Attraction, by
which discovery he did for the whole range of science, including that of society,
what Newton had
already done for astronomy and natural philosophy, by his discovery of material
or· physical Attraction, of which Locke even then said, “That admirable discovery
of Mr. Newton, may be counted as the basis of natural philosophy; and how much further it could guide us in other things, if rightly pursued, is not yet known.”—(Conduct of the Understanding, § xlii.)
“The law of attraction,” says Fourier,” governs the whole universe,
the plant, the insect, and the stars, accomplishing their revolutions. The animals
obey a Divine law revealed by instinct, by attraction; all nature groups
itself, associates in an harmonious concert, and accomplishes its destiny
attractively. Man alone, ignorant of this Divine law, still struggles with his
instincts, his desires, his passions, and attractions. In the midst of
universal association and the harmony of worlds, human societies are sunk in
discord and antagonism: their labours are repugnant; their relationships conflictive.
Attraction, not being obeyed, becomes for man a source of suffering and
.chastisement. His miseries are aggravated by the knowledge of enjoyments he
does not possess. Like a bee, transported to a barren rock, languishing from
want of flowers to call forth its industry, man, being out of his destiny, is
not the less capable of fulfilling it, and suffers in proportion to the
distance separating him from harmony and unity.
“Attraction in the hands of God is like a magic wand, which
enables him to obtain by love and
pleasure, what man can only obtain by violence. It transforms the most
repugnant functions into pleasure. What can be more repugnant than the care of
a new-born infant, crying, helpless, and unclean? What does God do to transform
so repulsive a duty into pleasure!’ He gives the mother impassioned attraction
for these unclean offices; he simply uses his magical prerogative-the impress
of attraction. Thenceforth repugnant functions disappear, and are changed into pleasures.
“We see God confine himself to the simple lever of
attraction to direct the planets and the stars, creatures immeasurably greater
than ourselves; is man then alone excluded from the happiness of being guided
to social unity by attraction? Why this interruption in the scale of the system
of the universe? Why does attraction, the divine interpreter of unity in the highest
and the lowest orders of creation, the law of stars and animals, sufficient to
conduct them to harmony, not suffice for man, who is a creature between the
planets and the animals? Where is the unity of the Divine system, if the law of
general harmony, if attraction, is not applicable to societies of the human
species, as well as to those of stars and animals, if attraction is not
applicable to agricultural and manufacturing industry, which is the pivot of
the social mechanism?
“Industry, the torment of the servant and the slave, nevertheless
causes the delight of various creatures, bees, beavers, wasps and ants, wholly
free to prefer idleness; but God has provided them with a social mechanism
which attracts them to industry, their source of happiness. !Why should he not have
granted us the same privilege? What a difference between their industrial condition
and ours! A Russian, an Algerine, works from fear of the whip and the bastonade;
an Englishman, a Frenchman, from fear of famine, which threatens their
families; the Greeks and Romans, whose liberty has been so much vaunted among
us, laboured as slaves under the fear of punishment, as the negroes do now in
our colonial possessions.
“Such is the happiness of man in the absence of an
attractive law of industry; such is the effect of human laws; it reduces
humanity to envy the lot of the industrious animals, for whom attraction
changes their labours into pleasures. What would have been our happiness had
God assimilated us to these animals, had he impressed on us passional
attraction for the exercise of all the labour to which we are destined? Our life
would be a series of delights, whence would arise immense riches; while in
ignorant subversion of attractive industry, we are nothing but a. society of
galley-slaves, of whom some few escape from drudgery and maintain themselves in
idleness. These are hateful to the mass, which tends, like them, to emancipate
itself from labour: from thence arise revolutionary , ferments, agitators, who
promise the people leisure, wealth, and happiness, “and who by some revulsion,
having once obtained this for themselves, enslave the multitude anew to maintain
themselves in the rank of idlers, or privileged directors of the industrious
classes, which is a sort of idleness.”
According to the law of unity, the analogy of man with the
creation, the Divine plan consists in a law
of attractive industry, flowing
from a mode of association in which all interests agree and harmonize instead
of injuring each other in perpetual conflict as in the present state.
On this condition only, the unity of the creation will be
demonstrated; man will be in accordance with
himself, with the universe, and with God.
Armed with this knowledge, and strengthened in his
researches by his implicit trust in the infinite goodness of Providence, he
confidently proposes a new social order in harmony with
man’s nature, or attractions, “which,” says he, “are always in proportion to
his destiny;” a social order
in which, however, all that is good in present or past ages is sacredly retained,
but so organized as to ensure the greatest sum of happiness to the great mass
of mankind; in which, through the power of association, whereby
unity of interest and action, as
well as vast economies and positive wealth can
alone be attained: and Attractive industry, under which term he comprises all incentives to the productive energies of man, viz.,
agricultural, domestic, manufacturing and commercial labour, education, science
and art, freed from all that now tends to make them repulsive,—the various blessings of
this earth shall be so multiplied, that an abundant share of them may become
the lot of the poor, allowing at the Bame time for an incredible increase in
those of the rich; in which the various tastes and attractions of mankind are
so admirably balanced, that the satisfaction of all prevents excess[3] in
the satisfaction of each, and that the cardinal or affective passions (conjugal
and parental love, friendship and ambition), nay, the very pleasures of the
senses, shall, by finding legitimate satisfaction, establish the happiness of
the individual, furthering
at the same time the welfare of the community; for
the individual and collective interests are so intimately connected, that the
misery or advantage of the one invariably reflects on the other.
THE PHALANSTERY.
But instead of beginning his reforms from above, and
according to constitutional customs,
applying to a whole nation ideas which, if erroneous
or incomplete, would be productive of the greatest evils, Fourier, considering
the Commune (parish,
village), with its agriculture, trades, professions, magistrates and clergy, as
the primary element of society, rationally proposes to begin the social reform
by a reform of the Commune, or indeed of a single commune, which, if unsuccessful, will have been productive of no considerable
injury even to the shareholders; whereas its success, like that of the first
steamer, the first railroad, the first electric telegraph, the first painless
operation, would soon lead to new and more complete attempts in all parts of
the globe, and thus peacefully
realize that regeneration of society
which he so confidently anticipated. (See a remarkable passage in chap. iii. of “Butler’s Analogy of Religion,” in which he describes the
general influence such a community would have over the face of the earth.)
A series of calculations led him to consider that in an assemblage
of 400 families of different
ranks and fortunes, (about
1800 or 2000 individuals of all ages,) all the varieties of character and
tastes necessary to fulfill the various industrial, artistic, and social
functions, would be found united. Such, therefore, is the number he fixes on
for his model community, which,
from its being associated, like the famous Macedonian legion, by ties of
affection and interest, he terms a Phalanx. The
collective property of the Phalanx consists of about one league square,
indivisible in itself, but represented by transferable
shares,
on the principle of railroads, canals,
water-works, and other joint-stock concerns. Instead, however, of covering the
land with 400 small and uncomfortable houses or huts, all more or less
deficient in water, fire, and light; 400 , kitchens, 400 cellars, 400 barns, a
number of ill-constructed stables, &c. >&c.;
a sumptuous palace, termed a Phalanstery, (abode
of the Phalanx,) is, at a far less cost, erected near the centre, in which one
kitchen, divided !!into compartments,
as at a restaurant, or a club-house, and in which a few professed cooks, with every
convenience at their command, is substituted for the 400 small or miserable
kitchens employing as many hands, thus withdrawn from productive labour. This palace, of an
imposing and varied aspect, in which beauty is no where neglected, nor utility
sacrificed, and consisting of various suites of apartments of all prices, to
suit all
fortunes and tastes, is imposed throughout
of a double row of buildings, to prevent its extending over too long a space,
which , would necessarily render communications difficult and it encloses
within its circuit vast courts adorned with trees and fountains. In the centre,
from which rises a majestic tower, containing the observatory, the clock, the
industrial flags and signals, &c., are placed the public halls, saloons, and libraries, the seat of the Government, and the
apartments of the wealthy. This part of the building surrounds a spacious
garden, in which are placed the green houses for the cultivation of the rarest
species of plants and flowers, and which serves as a winter promenade,
especially for the aged and the infirm. On the right and on the left there
extend two wings, gracefully recoiling on themselves, and which contain
apartments gradually diminishing in price as they remove further from the centre,
yet all combining neatness and comfort; and the extreme ends of the wings are
appropriated to noisy occupations, assemblages of children, and all that might
otherwise disturb the rest of the population.
The internal communications are managed by a wide and
covered gallery on the first floor, winding round the whole extent of the
building, and extending over the courts in colonnades. This gallery, which
communicates with all parts of the Phalanstery, and is warmed in winter, ventilated
in summer, is as it were the street, and at the same time the picture
and statue
gallery
and museum of
the Phalanx. (The Long-gallery at Windsor may give some slight notion of what
is here meant.) By means of tubes concealed in its flooring and walls, it
distributes to all parts cold and warm water, heat and light; it also
communicates by subterraneous passages with the workshops, stables, farm-yards,
storehouses, dairies, barns, &c., which are, for convenience sake, placed
at the other side of the road; and thus the population are never exposed to
those sudden changes of temperature which, in our ill-constructed, filthy
towns, are productive of so many colds and coughs, and pleurisies, and
inflammations of the lungs, from which even the noble lady leaving the ballroom
to enter her carriage is not exempt. Thus arrangement does away immediately
with the need of those nuisances of civilization, the umbrella, the comforter,
the clog. The constant out-door activity of the population will ensure their
robust health, and the street gallery will, on minor occasions, free them from
the annoyances and injurious influences of our muddy, comfortless streets.
In all the arrangements of the Phalanstery, comfort and
convenience are always combined with elegance. Thus, the large public banquet
or dining-rooms have several smaller ones adjoining them, for the accommodation
of private parties of friends or industrial groups; and each family or
individual may, moreover, without increase of expense, take their meals as at
present in their private apartments. But for a full description of all the
various details of this noble building we must again refer to Fourier’s own works,
or Victor Considerant’s “Destinee Sociale.” (See also People’s Journal, Nos. 12 and 14.)
The Church—the temple of Spiritual Harmony, and the Opera—the
school of Material and Artistic Harmony, complete the centre of Phalansterian Unity.
The same principles of unity are carried out in the
distribution of the soil. Instead of covering the land with ditches and
enclosures, and deadwalls,—instead of forcing it to produce what the nature of
the soil is not suited for, at a vast expense of labour, and money laid out on
manure, often brought from far,—instead of leaving waste fine tracts of land
which a small outlay might soon cover with verdant crops, or luxuriant groves, the
body of agriculturists analyse every portion of the common estate, and distribute
the agricultural, horticultural, and agricultural labours according to the
natural qualities of the soil and various expositions. The force of association
allows of all these works being carried out on a large scale, the most perfect
instruments of tillage being substituted for the paltry and imperfect ones
still so much in use, from the poverty or prejudice of the farmers; besides
every facility being offered by the unitary stables,
for the collecting, classifying, and proper distribution of manure, without the
present ruinous expense. Soiling, the rotation of crops, and judicious
irrigation, can likewise be carried to the highest pitch of perfection, on an
estate of 5,000 or 6,000 acres in extent, to the cultivation of which nearly
2,000 persons devote Rome portion, however small, of their time; and no portion
of the soil is subjected, as at present, to the caprices of ignorance, or the necessities of
individual poverty. Thus it is already easy to see that the profits of
association are two-fold: negative, consisting
in economies of time, labour, and produce; and positive,
from an actual increase in the produce,
consequent on the concentration of power, and the superiority of the methods
and implements which a large body can command; for the bounteous earth asks
only to be courted, and is prodigal in her gifts to those who bestow on her
some portion of their attention, but often barren and cheerless as an abandoned
lover, when neglected by man. Great however, as the increase of the general wealth
of the community would already be, it might not still allow of a sufficiency for
all, nor would the happiness of
the individual yet
be complete, for man is a creature
compounded of matter and
spirit, and
the mere gratification of his material wants
cannot satisfy him. Fourier would have only done a small portion of his duty
towards man if, after having so acutely analysed
his nature, he had not sought the means of satisfying his seven spiritual as well as his five sensitive or material
passions, which latter he considered as
the subordinate; nor would he have been true to the system of nature, had he
not sought in all things to substitute attraction for constraint.
ORGANIZATION OF LABOUR.
As yet, labour,
the destiny of man, has been looked
upon as an evil, and only resorted to through the compulsion of law or
necessity; and this has I led to the general belief that repose, or inertion, is the state man is
most inclined to. Yet man is essentially an active being; and generally none are more so than the
professedly idle. For
behold a group of children in their hours of recreation, when perfectly free,
if so inclined, to indulge in sloth and indolence. How active are they in the
pursuit of pleasure! how laborious the occupations
to which they voluntarily subject
themselves! And how great their courage and endurance in overcoming
difficulties of their own choice or creation! What also can be more fatiguing,
more laborious than a fox-hunt or a steeple-chase? and what more monotonous,
more tedious than fishing? Yet these occupations are the delight of many. It is not, therefore, labour in
itself that is repulsive, since on the contrary it is so frequently resorted to
as a source of supreme pleasure, for voluntary labour is ever attractive.
We must therefore seek for its repulsiveness in the form in which it presents itself, in its
mere accessories. We have
already seen that there are implanted in man three distributive passions-the
spirit of rivalry, or emulation; enthusiasm, or blind zeal; and the love of
change. These passions not having had as yet a legitimate development, have
generally been proscribed by our philosophers, who presumed to correct these
works of God, while their duty was to seek how they might be properly directed
to ultimate good. Now labour, as it has hitherto been constituted, gives satisfaction
to none of these. The spirit of rivalry has found development only in the
various forms of gambling (cards, dice, racing, stock-jobbing, &c.) or in
religious, political, and legal discussions, which have generally led to
bloodshed and ruin. Enthusiasm, which is chiefly awakened by large masses,
united by some common interest or sentiment, finds, alas! its most complete
development in a body whose chief function is destruction—the army. And the satisfaction of
the love of change, so essential to the full development of an our faculties,
is the privilege of a few rich only, who, using it in the mere pursuit of
unproductive and egotistical pleasure, often find it an insupportable burthen.
But let us enter into the field of civilized labour. What do
we see? A man, a woman, or a child spending a whole day in a solitary field, ploughing, digging, or weeding incessantly;
or a human being, changed into an animated machine, spending whole days, years,
a life, in making the eighteenth part of a pin, or feeding with flax a spinning
machine, which performs the really creative
part of the work! What enthusiasm can
be awakened in the workman’s breast, and renew his energy, in the performance of
such duties? What spirit of rivalry can call forth his ingenuity? and by what
means can he develop the faculties of his head, of his heart, the several
talents which perchance lay dormant in his bosom? If we add to this the poverty of the workman’s fare and dress,
the unsightliness and impurity of the generality of workshops, and the
offensiveness of their atmosphere, we cannot wonder that labour should be
considered a hardship, and only resorted to through the dread of starvation.
Yet these conditions, not being inherent to labour, can and should be removed,
and perhaps attraction, or
the pleasure men
feel in exercising their various faculties in occupations
of their own choice, may,
by a change in its mechanism, give
to production an impetus which society has been in vain striving
for three thousand years to attain by violence. Fourier,
to satisfy these three passions or impulses implanted in us by the hand of God,
proposes what is only feasible in an association of 1500 or 2000 persons of
every age, rank, and fortune, viz., that all the branches of human activity,
agricultural, domestic, manufacturing and commercial labour, education, science, and art, shall, as
is already the case in most manufactures, be subdivided into classes, species,
varieties, sub-varieties, &c., until the minutest subdivision be reached;
but instead of condemning a few individuals to adopt exclusively one of these subdivisions, which makes life dwindle down to the
limits of thirty or forty years of moral and physical misery, he leaves them
all open to the free choice of the population, who, following the true bent of
their nature, or their attractions, form
friendly groups for the accomplishment of any particular variety or
sub-variety. As these groups are formed of persons who have a liking for their
occupation, they work with enthusiasm and zeal, as is the case when men
assemble for their pleasure, however laborious it may be in itself (racing,
cricket, rowing, &c.). If at the same time, rivalry
or emulation can be excited between two
groups engaged in almost identical occupations, the exertions of both will become extraordinary, and the work will be incomparably more
joyously, more quickly, and more perfectly performed, than if the members of
each group had undertaken a small share of the work, and accomplished it alone.
But enthusiasm, from its very intensity, is of short
duration, rarely exceeding the limits of two hours. Once this fire
extinguished, the attention lags, energy fails, and indifference ensues; and
unless some fresh occupation arouse the spirits anew, they fall into a torpor
which borders on stupidity. An opera of four hours’ duration would become
tedious. How much more so a mere material
occupation! With the exception therefore of the sciences and fine arts, few
employments will last more than two hours; nor in this new organization is it
likely they could be
of a much longer duration; for groups of
workmen are always substituted for individuals, and
it is evident that the work which would employ one mall for twelve hours, would
only employ six men for two hours, independently of the influence of enthusiasm
and rivalry, which more than double the active energies of man, and cannot be
awakened in solitary and
long-continued labour.
After two hours’ work, more or less, the group breaks up, and each member proceeds
to join some other group of his own choice, which he again quits for another,
and so on in succession through the course of the day. This breaking up of the
groups prevents any jealousy, however strong, between any two industrial bodies,
from turning, as at present, into
hatred between persons; for
it may happen that the very individuals who were corporatively opposed in the morning, may
in the afternoon be amicably leagued together in the pursuit of some common occupation.
The simplicity of the work entrusted to each group being, in consequence of its
extreme subdivision, very great, it will require no long apprenticeship; so
that every individual, man, woman, or child, may, after having given
satisfactory proofs of competence, belong to twenty o thirty different groups,
and yet attain more or less excellence in each. The gardens and orchards are
placed, as nearly as the nature of the soil, will allow, in the immediate
vicinity of the Phalanstery, the remoter portions of the domain being reserved
for fields, pastures, and woods; and as all the manufactories and workshops arc
on the opposite side of the road, but little time will he lost in moving from
one group to another. Conveyances are moreover provided for those groups whose
occupations may require their presence at the limits of the domain, the greatest
distance of which from the Phalanstery is always under two miles.
Our abilities can only be justly and soundly appreciated by
our peers; hence
to each group belongs exclusively the
right of electing its director or chief. Thus,
mathematicians must be elected exclusively by mathematicians, agriculturists by
agriculturists, and musicians, painters, or architects by those who are alone
competent judges, from their pursuing similar avocations. The election of the
most talented is thus ensured in each particular group; for ever) member is
personally interested in the perfect fairness of the choice, as the placing of
an incompetent person at the head of the group would injure it materially, by diminishing its
productive powers, and morally, by
calling down upon it the criticisms and jeers
of rival groups, The chiefs of the groups elect from among themselves the
chiefs of the varieties to
which they belong. These again choose the chief of the species; and thus, by a series of progressive elections, we arrive at the chiefs or ministers of the principal branches of human
activity (agriculture, manufactures, education, commerce, &c.), who form
the general council or Regency of
the Community.
To ensure a just equilibrium between all the labours
essential to the welfare of the Community, a larger share of artificial attraction, such as honours, privileges,
superior remuneration, &c., will be superadded to those functions which of
themselves are less attractive. But this rule is subject to some exceptions, in
order to leave a scope for the satisfaction of the passion of Uniteeism, or social
charity and self-sacrifice.
Thus labour, now so repugnant, is rendered attractive by the mere fact of every
man, woman, and child being enabled to follow the true bent of their
inclination in the choice of their several occupations and industrial companions; and of giving due satisfaction to the three distributive passions, viz., those of rivalry,
enthusiasm, and variety, or discord, concord, and
modulation. Add to these spiritual attractions to activity, the material charms
offered by a participation in the fruits of the united exertions of the members
of each group, and above all, the substitution of airy, comfortable, neat, and
even handsome workshops, enlivened by various artistic ornaments and the delights
of music, for the filthy, cheerless, dark dens in which so many emaciated and
demoralized human beings now perform their monotonous and health-destroying
duties j and we think that all
unprejudiced minds will freely admit that industry may become attractive, yea attractive, when, by a good and natural
organization, every useful occupation shall have become a pleasure, and every
pleasure a useful occupation.
In the division of profits among the three elements of
production, the rights of capital
are, as at present, proportionate to the original investments. Those of labour are calculated upon the number of
hours each member has worked; and those of talent are determined by the rank held in
the industrial hierarchy. Thus, an operation which may at first sight have
appeared of a most complicated nature, is, from the admirable organization of
Phalansterian society, reduced to a simple arithmetical problem, termed
Fellowship, or Partnership, which any school boy may solve.
It is needless to say that, enriched as the Phalanx would be
by both positive and negative wealth, (increased produce and
economies of all sorts,) it could easily afford to advance to every man, woman,
or child, a minimum in food,
lodging, and clothing, as a substitute for the natural rights of
hunting, fishing, pasturage, gathering, &e., enjoyed
by, the savage, but which are
incompatible with an organized society. That this advance of the first
necessaries of life would be no inducement to idleness where industry is
rendered more attractive than
pleasures are in civilisation, will be evident to all those who have examined a
group of idlers, for, as we have
already stated, idlers are often the most active of men, and in order to become
most useful members of society, and more than repay the advance made to them,
only require labour to be presented in an attractive form, with a constant change of
occupation; for they have generally the love of variety
as their dominant passion. Should such
an anomaly as a perfectly inert man
present itself, the Phalanx will consider him as a madman, and as such he will,
like the infant, the aged, and the sick, have an incontestable right to their
assistance.
We must however admit that this minimum can only be ensured
where labour is attractive, for
were it guaranteed to every member of civilised society, in which labour takes
its most repulsive forms, the whole population would soon fall into the most
complete idleness. The English poor laws, which constitute a sort of minimum, tacitly acknowledging in all men
the rights of subsistence, though most inadequate even to the first wants of nature, have
however had a decidedly pernicious effect on the population. There is no liberty without the minumum; there is no minimum without attractive industry.
Such is a rapid and most imperfect sketch of Fourier’s
system of organizing labour, in which attraction
is substituted for the compulsion of law or want, and by which the
produce may be increased ten fold without injury to the labourer. It may be summed up in the following terms:
Collective labour universally
substituted for individual labour;
and its natural consequence:
Short
and varied occupations
substituted for long-protracted and tedious occupations.
WOMAN.
It is manifest that in a society where all its members, men,
women, and children, are guaranteed a respectable maintenance through their own industry, the condition of
woman will be materially altered, and that the gentler half of humanity will
cease to be held in thraldom by the physically
stronger. But there would be so much to
say on this subject, that we prefer reserving it for a special article. Suffice
it to say, that even in marriage, woman would still retain her individuality and
independence, and no longer be absorbed in the person of her husband, and often
brutalized by his power. Her
property, her earnings, her inheritances, all would remain indisputably her
own, and be subject to no marital influences.
The great equalizer, Love,
would of course make all things common between those whose union originated in
the heart; and in the Phalanstery there would be no other unions; but the law
would not step in and say to the wife, “All that was yours belongs henceforth
to your husband; your duty is for the future resignation and obedience to his
will and his caprices.” And let it be observed, that every step towards the complete
emancipation of woman is likewise a step in the progress of humanity; and that,
were civilised nations suddenly to exchange monogamy and the civil rights of the
wife for polygamy, or the seraglio, they would in a short period relapse into
barbarianism. Independence and the general education of the mind and heart of
woman will do more towards the extirpation of vice than all the moral treatises
that were ever penned by hoary-headed men; and modesty and virtue will reign
universally, when woman, the protecting angel of our infancy, the fairest dream
of our youth, the companion of our life, being fully emancipated and conscious
of her supreme worth, shall universally receive that esteem, love, and
reverence, to which she is so eminently entitled.
Then will the chivalrous sentiments which cast such a charm
and lustre over the early parts of modern times, and which were, alas! rather
the creation of poetic minds than a genuine picture of the social habits, be in
truth realised; for when woman, becoming free, no longer depends upon marriage
to obtain a certain standing in life, a feeling which but too often induces her
to form a union against the inspirations of her heart, man will be aware that
to obtain her, he must win her affections, deserve her esteem, and far from commanding and tyrannising in what is
essentially the dominion of woman, must in Love subject himself to her will. These principles will no doubt seem far from orthodox
to the stronger sex,
who in framing the laws of marriage, have been careful to reserve for themselves
the lion’s share; but let them consider well that they may yet be the gainers
by the change; for woman, restored to her rights and dignity, will no longer
have recourse to the cunning and duplicity by which she now but too frequently
regains the influence of which she has been so unjustly deprived. If any man
doubt this influence. obtained by double dealing and deceit, let him but
examine attentively the domestic circle of his neighbours and friends, though
it were better he shut his eyes against his own.
While on this subject we will briefly state that the few
pages in which Fourier treats of matrimonial doctrines have called forth the most bitter and no doubt virtuous
animadversions of our modern Tartuffes, who instead of attentively studying the
system as a whole, in order to be able to judge fairly,
even though unfavourably, of its parts,
act like boys with a book of medical or natural science, seeking out certain
passages with the help of the index, and then, taking their own impure minds
and our corrupt civilisation as a standard, build thereon a system of turpitude
and vice by which they alarm innocent and unsuspecting minds, and thus deter
them from the study of a science which bears in it the germs of the future
regeneration of mankind. But, to pacify the pure minded, thus alarmed by mere
sophisms, we will simply assert that Fourier has striven to introduce into the
relations of love that same truthfulness and sincerity which he makes the basis
of all-our other relations in life; and though he foresaw that
in a purer state of society, in which all impediments are removed from genuine
unions of the heart, and in which that monstrous legal prostitution, that
infamy of infamies, the “mariage de convenance” is utterly unknown, some modifications
may without danger take place in matrimonial institutions. Though he foresaw
this, still, unlike Plato, Owen, and St. Simon, he always strenuously
maintained that the present conjugal institutions should be most religiously
preserved for three or four generations after the general establishment of
harmony upon earth; and even then only altered when all those whom the question
most vitally interests, viz., husbands, fathers, magistrates, and the clergy,
shall have agreed, after due consideration, that a change would be desirable
and unattended with peril. Still, unlike the above-named philosophers, he lays
down no positive or
dogmatic rule on this subject, but merely states that such and such forms of
conjugal relations, which he describes, may possibly, and in all probability will be, the result of the serial or natural organization of labour,
which is alone proposed by him as an absolute
rule. The pertinacity with which all
his opponents-attack him on this point only betrays
their utter ignorance of his works; and
more than one has been surprised in perusing them carefully, neither to find as
the rule of this new social order the polygamy of
the Patriarchs, nor the revolting community of women paired off yearly by lots,
proposed by the divine Plato.
EDUCATION.
The most beautiful and interesting part of the economical
portion of I’ Fourier’s Theory is perhaps
his system of Education, of which we will also make a separate article. The
tender care with which he seeks out and awakens the tastes and talents of
children from their earliest infancy, and
directs them to the beautiful and
the good—the paternal solicitude with which he keeps from them all that
might corrupt their innocent minds, or awaken dangerous passions before the natural
age of puberty (17 or 18),—measures
which are impracticable in the incoherence of civilisation,
where everything, books, pictures, conversations, bad examples, and legions of
human beings living chiefly by the corruption of
youth, tends
daily, hourly, to awaken in the child’s mind ideas which are pollution and
death to body and soul, but which become possible and easy in association; and
finally, the social use
he makes of the activity, talents, and propensities, of what he so quaintly and
profoundly, but alas! in civilisation, so
satirically terms the neuter sex, are well deserving- of
the attention of all philanthropists and thinkers, and above all, of mothers,
the only competent judges in matters of
infantine education.
We will not enter either into any details respecting the balance of population, a question which Fourier
has treated with truly scientific, humane, : and religious sentiment, vastly distinct
from that which presides over the cheerless, cruel, heartless theory of Malthus,
who makes all the nobler feelings of the soul subservient to the mere material
necessaries of life (and these how
scanty!); who subjects spirit to matter, and finds no other means of keeping
population on a level with the means of subsistence, than moral restraint, or a prudential restraint
from marriage, which is nothing short of an absolute crushing of the heart, an
abstaining from the two gentler affective passions,
love and familism; neither will we show how several phalansteries, grouping
round a phalanstery of the second degree or borough,
form a canton,—several cantons grouping round a phalanstery of the third degree or town, form a shire,—several shires a
province, several provinces a nation, several nations a continent, and finally,
all the continents grouping round the Capital of
the globe, (probably Constantinople, from its favourable position,) the superior
centre of all the social relations of spherical
unity,
which, being the brain and the heart of
the globe (to assimilate it to the human frame), will receive life from, and distribute
it to, all parts through the means of its nerves (the
electric telegraph), and of its vast arteries (lakes, rivers, canals,
railways); neither will we speak of the amelioration of climates, through the
gradual cultivation of the deserts, and reclaiming of unwholesome marshes, by means
of industrial armies
substituted for those numerous armies of destruction which society, as yet
unable to organize labour and
production,
has displayed so much ingenuity in
organizing; for the reader will find all these questions admirably treated in
the works of Fourier and of his now numerous disciples. But we will close this
short sketch of so vast a subject by saying, that Fourier’s system, unlike the
Commonwealth of Plato, More’s Utopia, Cabet’s Icaria, and all other social
schemes, is not the offspring of a blind though well-meaning imagination; it is
the genuine discovery of Nature’s laws, the bearing out of what Newton so
wonderfully began; it carries the precision of the mathematical and natural
sciences, the warmth of feeling and beauty of the fine arts, the elegancies of
refined life, and more than the aspirations of the democrat into our social
relations: it acknowledges that all
parties,
however opposite, are founded on a partial truth, a legitimate right, only unjust
because exclusive, but to which a well organized
society should and could give entire satisfaction, and it seeks the law by
which these partial and contending truths may be combined in one sublime and
harmonious unity. In it, all the vital questions of the day—the rights of
property, the rights of labour, universal suffrage, the extinction of
pauperism, general sanatory measures, public education, protection of women,
universal peace, &c. &c.—find their only logical, only complete
solution; and by its means alone can the struggle between capital and labour
cease, or rather be converted into a friendly and beneficial emulation—a struggle which may
otherwise burst forth into a fearful conflict, equally destructive to both
parties; for, says Bacon, “The matter of seditions is of two kinds: much poverty and much discontent;” and again, “The rebellions of the belly
are the worst,”
The free association of
the three essential elements of production, whereby every individual, man,
woman, or child, may participate in the produce, each in proportion to the Capital, Labour, or Talent employed in its creation; and the Organization of Labour, in which attraction or pleasure
is the great incentive to activity,
developing at the same time, the physical,
moral,
and intellectual faculties
of every member of society, each in proportion to his or her natural endowments:—such
are the two leading features of Fourier’s Model Community or Phalanx, the
experimental establishment of which on one square league, is the great hope and
final object of the most ardent endeavours of his school.
We have, of course, in this short pamphlet, given a most
incomplete and unsatisfactory view’ of this vast subject; tut our aim was
merely to clear the Phalansterian. doctrines from the accusation of communism
and immorality. For further information, we must refer all who have the
happiness of mankind at heart, to the various publications of the “Ecole Sociétaire.” Though Fourier’s own works might be considered too
voluminous and abstruse to begin with, there are many concise and popular views
of his theory, the perusal of which would amply repay the few hours spent on
them, and probably add as many converts in different degrees as there were readers. By these simple means the Phalansterian
ranks are daily increasing, drawing their chief recruits from among scientific
and literary men and artists. The central school at Paris which twenty years ago
consisted of a deaf man, a lady, and a child, has lately been enabled to
publish a daily paper, “La Démocratie Pacifique,”
which has within the last six weeks increased its daily sale from 1,500 to
25,000; a monthly review, “La Phalange,” in which Fourier’s principles of universal unity are applied with great success to the higher questions of
religion, science, literature, and art; and the works continually issued by
them are sufficiently numerous and varied to suit every degree of knowledge and
satisfy every taste.
We should, indeed, advise every student of Fourier, to begin
by some of the simpler works of his disciples; for Fourier’s own
writings, like those of Newton, are, from their inherent abstruseness, and the
novelty of the doctrines they present, difficult to be understood and
appreciated without some preparation. The following works are among those we
chiefly recommend:—
l.—Exposition Abrégée, by Victor Considerant, 9d.;
or, Organisation du Travail, by M. Briancourt, 10d.
or, Exposition de Victor Hennequin.
or, Organisation du Travail, by M. Briancourt, 10d.
or, Exposition de Victor Hennequin.
2.—Solidarité, by R. Renaud,
1s. 3d.;
or, Notions Élémentaires,
by H.
Gorsse, 1s. 6d.
3.—Destinée
Sociale, by V.
Considerant, 14s.
4.—Le Fou
du Palais Royal, Cantagrel,
4s.
5.—Visite
au Phalanstere, by M.
Briancourt.
6.—Vie de
Fourier, Ch.
Pellarin, 5s.
7.—Nouveau
Monde Industriel, Ch.
Fourier, 6s.
8.—Théorie
de L’Unité Universelle, “ 20s.
9.—Théorie
des Quatre Mouvements, “ 6s.
10.—La Phalange,
a Monthly Review, publishing Fourier’s
numerous manuscripts.
Fourier’s doctrines had made but little progress in England, till within the last month,
owing no doubt to their abstruseness, and the dread entertained in this country
of what is termed socialism. But
be it remembered, that Newton’s sublime doctrines were long held up to public
odium by Leibnitz, as subversive of true religion, and that the same
accusations of absurdity, immorality, or imposture have always been the lot of
great and glorious novelties; nor were the first Christians themselves dealt
With more ceremoniously at the hands of the pagans of antiquity.
However this may be, the English sketches of the
Phalansterian system are few and imperfect, being limited, we believe, to the
following:—
“Attractive Industry,” by Abel Transon; with a sketch of
Fourier’s Life, by H. Doherty. “Fourier and his System,” translated by T. Wood,
which though good in parts, is imperfect as a whole. Four brief articles, in
Vol. I. of People’s Journal, by
Tito Pagliardini. A Translation of “Exposition Abrégée,”
in the Topic, June
1st, 1847. The article, “Fourier,” in supplement to Penny Cyclopedia, and “Morell’s History of Modern
Philosophy,” 2nd edition, 1847, though it is evident from the concluding remarks,
Vol. II., page 388 and 389, that the author had taken but a hurried and
incomplete view of the subject, which is the more to be regretted, in
consequence of his general tone of impartiality.
The Morning Chronicle which,
from being the most retrograde and shortsighted paper in London, has, since it
recently changed hands, become one of the most enlightened, has also given, in
its numbers of 29th and 31st March and 1st April, a short but impartial summary
of the practical
portion of Fourier’s views. A Society
termed the Phalansterian Association,
is however formed with a view to translating and publishing Fourier’s works and
those of his disciples. All communications, on this subject, are received at
55, Rupert Street, Haymarket, and at P. Rolandi’s,
Bookseller, Berners Street, where also the above-named works can be obtained.
[1] By
Passion, Fourier
means any motive, or
spring of action whatever—the source of all
our virtues as well as of our vices; for, like all other
movements in nature, the passions are subjected to a twofold. development (Dualité de mouvement): one harmonic or
direct, the other subversive or
indirect. The action of the passions is harmonic when in accordance with, and
subversive when opposed to, the Divine will. But
as all the social conditions in which man has hitherto been placed, have been
opposed to his real nature and tendencies, his passions have in general taken
the subversive direction;
hence the exclusively unfavourable acceptation in which the word passion is at present generally taken.
[2] Before we continue our account of his
views, we must warn the reader that Fourier, like all inventors, has presumed
to adopt a few new
words in
order to express new ideas; and carrying mathematical
precision into the science of society, has even ventured to use
mathematical formulae. This boldness on
his part has, however, called forth the censure of many plain,
straight-forward, practical men, and has even, we are
assured, deterred many from paying due attention to his
system. We have more
reasons than one for
supposing that the same practical men have avoided, on a similar plea, the
study of algebra, geometry, astronomy, and especially of chemistry, natural
history, and botany; for these sciences, though already overladen with hard and
barbarous words, to wit—dodecahedron, megatheridae hypogenous, caspidate, pinnatifid,
papiilionaceous—are daily adding to their stock. We confess ourselves, however,
at a loss to account for the immunity granted on this point to the inventors of
steam-engines, railways, and pomatums, as well as to the reporters of the
money-market and city-news. The chief sins of Fourier in this respect, are the
terms of Phalanstery, Cabalist, Composite, Unitecism, aroma!, pivotal, serial
law, binivers, with about a dozen others, together with a peculiar use of the
letters X, Y, and K, (in imitation of algebraists,) which, however, we must
confess, add greatly to the precision and clearness of his formulae. We must
likewise in justice to him state, that all these terms are as clearly defined
in his works as the geometrical terms are in the books of Euclid, and that his
formulae and tables are wonderfully clear and concise even for those whose scientific education has been
neglected.
[3] How
frequently does a repast, from being too much prolonged, degenerate into an
orgia! Yet if, when the necessities of nature were duly satisfied, any
important or attractive occupation were immediately to follow the banquet, such
ns a religious or political meeting, a ball, an opera, or any scientific or
artistic pursuit, this excess would be presented, to the great advantage of
each individual, as also of the moral and physical condition of
society in general;
hence tile utility of the alternating passion, and the need of so
arranging society as to give it due satisfaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment