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

CHAPTER III.

EXAMINATION OF THE METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS FOR DISCOVERING
MENTAL LAWS.

In the last chapter, two leading facts have been established,
which broadly separate Europe from other parts of the world 152-156

Hence it appears that of the two classes of mental and physical
laws the mental are the more important for the history of
Europe 156-157

Examination of the two metaphysical methods of generalizing
mental laws 158-165

Failure of these methods 165-167