This appetite, in the lower animals, is gross and eva nescent, being easily satiated with periodical gratifica tion. In man, the attachment being founded on mutual esteem, and valuable mental endowments, and the stimu lus being not periodical but permanent, the connexion between the sexes is, in its very nature, calculated to be lasting ; and hence arises the permanent connexion of marriage, which, in almost every country, is considered as indissoluble, except by the death of one of the par ties.
But besides this there is another reason, founded in the very constitution of human nature, why the marriage contract should be indissoluble. For who is to support the offspring-, during their long immaturity, if the con nection between the parents be dissolved ? Promiscu ous concubinage would soon dissolve all the charities of Life, and undermine the pillars of society. But mart iage keeps alive the parental feeling, by keeping the child in the presence of its parents ; and this again strengthens the attachment between husband and wife, by plating before their view the pledges of their mutual endear ments. In the case of the lower animals, the first of the offspring is always independent before another is produced : in the case of man there may be a dozen de pendent children at once, in different degrees of help lessness ; for additional offspring is produced before the former is independent : and thus a succession of tics strengthen the matrimonial connection ; and a thousand feelings arc generated in the mean time, which bind man not only to his family, but to his species.
It has been supposed by some that there is a congre gating propensity in man, as among other gregarious animals ; and that he is driven instinctively to desire the society of his species. Others again suppose hint to be completely anti-social, and that he is induced to seek the fellowship of his species, merely as the means of de fence against animals more powerful than himself.— Whenever we find two opinions on the same subject diametrically opposite to each other, we have reason to conclude that neither of them is exactly true ; or, at least, that they have not been stated with sufficient ex planation or qualifications.
We do not think it possible to prove that there is in man a principle similar to that which operates in grega rious animals, in making them desire the society of their species. There is, indeed, in man a strong social pro pensity, which results necessarily from the constitution of his nature, but is not, we believe, an ultimate princi ple. Suppose the whole human race to have sprung from one pair, and give to this pair a more than ordinary degree of longevity ; and you see at once a complete system of society, and the origin of civil polity, arising out of the conjugal connection, consolidated by parental and filial ties, and gradually extending its ramifications till a tribe or nation is constituted, acknowledging a common principle of association, and tracing its origin to the same head.
In this view of the subject there is a necessary, but not an instinctive principle of association; and society will be found to be held together by rational, yet un avoidable ties, since our natures are so constituted, and our circumstances so disposed, that we cannot but feel their obligation.
The opinion which supposes men to have associated merely from the conviction of their own helplessness, is still more untenable than that which ascribes their asso ciation to a gregarious instinct. This conviction may be a very good additional reason to keep them together, but it never was the principle on which any society was originally formed. Man is born in society, and trained to the love of society by numberless powerful associa tions: it is only in society that his powers can be evolv ed, and his faculties called into exercise : we may there fore conclude, with certainty, that this is the state for which he was intended by the author of his nature, and that the social system is not the result of accident, but of infinite goodness and unerring wisdom.
When society is widely extended, common laws and common religious principles are brought in aid of the natural bonds of union, which are apt to be lost sight of in the midst of complicated political connections. In such a state men scarcely look beyond the artificial re gulations which apply to their immediate conduct, and are apt to think that society is a work of human inven tion, arranged and m thodized by the wisdom of some political sages. The hand of man may, indeed, be seen in every well regulated society ; but it is only to give strength and efficiency to those great natural principles which have their origin in the contracted sphere of fa mily connection. All at tificial and political regulations depend on these principles, and derive their obligatory sanctions from them; in the same manner as artificial signs in language derive their power and significancy from those which are natural. "'There is such a natu ral principle of attraction in man towards man," says Butler, " that having trod the same tract of land, having breathed in the same climate, barely having been hot n in the same anificial district or division, becomes the occasion of contracting acquaintances and familiarities many years after ; for any thing may serve the purpose. Thus, relations merely nominal are sought and invented, not by' governors, but by the lowest of the people, which are found sufficient to hold mankind together in little fraternities and co-partnerships: weak ties, indeed, and what may afford fund enough for ridicule, if they are absurdly considered as the real principles of that union : but they are, in truth, merely the occasions upon which our nature carries us on, according to its own previous bent and bias; which occasions, therefore, would be no thing at all, were there not this prior disposition and bias of nature." Besides the instincts and appetites common to man with the brute creation, and which are absolutely neces sary for the preservation and continuance of the species, we are conscious of desires of a more dignified nature, which raise man far above the lower animals, and carry him forward in the carter of indefinite improvement. We do not think that the number of these desires can be distinctly specified. Dr. Reid has mentioned the Desire of Power, the Desire of Esteem, and the Desire of Knowledge; to which Air. Stewart has added the Desire of Society and the Desire of Superiority ; and we see nothing to hinder others from extending the enumera tion. These philosophers consider the desires which they have specified as ultimate and instinctive principles of our nature : to this we cannot assent, without altering the usual acceptation of language. We have already said that we do not consider the desire of society as an instinctive principle, but as arising necessarily out of the ordinary circumstances of human nature. That which is instinctive cannot be counteracted. But we conceive it perfectly possible for a mother to fly from society, to train her child in solitude, and teach him the arts of sa vage independent man ; and we think there is every pro bability that a child thus trained would grow up in fear and hatred of nis own species, till perhaps the sexual appetite drove him to desire a more intimate acquaint ance with them. But, man born in society, and growing up amidst the extending ties which strengthen the social union, is led, both by education and habit, and feelings, to desire the company of his species.