CHAPTER II.

INFLUENCE EXERCISED BY PHYSICAL LAWS OVER THE ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY AND OVER THE CHARACTER OF INDIVIDUALS.

Man is affected by four classes of physical agents; namely, climate, food, soil, and the general aspect of nature 39-41

Operation of these agents on the accumulation of wealth 41-51

Their operation on the distribution of wealth 51-64

Illustrations of these principles from Ireland 65-67

From Hindustan 69-82

From Egypt 82-93

From Central America 93-94

And from Mexico and Peru 95

Operation of physical laws in Brazil 101-108

Influence of the general aspects of nature upon the imagination and the understanding 118-119

Under some aspects, nature is more prominent than man; under others, man more than nature 120

In the former case the imagination is more stimulated than the understanding, and to this class all the earliest civilizations belong 120-121

The imagination is excited by earthquakes and volcanoes 122-124

And by danger generally 125-126

Also by an unhealthy climate making life precarious 126-130

From these causes the civilizations exterior to Europe are mainly influenced by the imagination, those in Europe by the understanding 130-132

This proposition illustrated by a comparison between Hindustan and Greece 132-147

Further illustration from Central America 147-148

Chemical and physiological note on the connection between food and animal heat 148-151