The climax of civilisation / by Correa Moylan Walsh.

  • Correa Moylan Walsh
Date:
1917
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The climax of civilisation / by Correa Moylan Walsh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    differences occurring over great distances or beyond impass- able barriers. | Such is a static conception of civilisation. Dynamically, civilisation must be considered as a continuous series of states or conditions of a society in different degrees of adaptedness of organisation, in different degrees of power over nature, in different degrees of prosperity. Starting from its negation in savagery or barbarism, civilisation grows; or, rather, a society grows in adaptedness of organisation, in power over nature, in prosperity, and thus bears its civilisation along with it. Such growth is improvement of condition, or progress. Pro- gress itself is not identical with civilisation, as has sometimes been said; * for civilisation may exist at any moment, and over any period it may be stationary, and even retrograde. But civilisation never being perfect, its progress is always desir- able. For this, after a certain small advance was made, an- other growth was necessary — growth in size. For in the beginning the congregations of peoples were very restricted, owing to the slow movement of persons who have only their own legs to carry them and who have to push through the un- removed obstacles of nature. But as paths are cut and en- larged into roads, and other means of transport and carriage are employed, the congregations become larger. At first also, the different congregations, being few and far between, and consuming the substance where they lived, moved slowly about over the earth, or kept a wide area to themselves, in which they roamed from place to place. Such was the tribal stage of human societies, not yet civilised. But as the earth became more fully occupied, and the room for roaming was contracted, the tribes became stationary; and now several tribes uniting at the same center formed there a city, which with its surround- ing territory constituted a city-state. Later, the means of communication improving, so many united that they formed several cities all in one combination, constituting what is sim- ply called a state, or country, or nation. States so formed have ever grown larger and larger with improvement in com- munication between their parts; for —thus it has been put in 4 According to Guizot civilisation is the progressive amelioration of so- ciety and of the individuals in society, Histoire de la Civilisation en Europe, Lec. I.
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