Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/798

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powell] SOCIOLOGY, OR THE SCIENCE OF INSTITUTIONS 7 2 7

lesson is taught in everyday life that human success is best pro- moted by serving others.

Second, from the primeval state of society up to that state of society which we call republickism, tribes and nations were kept asunder by walls of language. An unknown tongue was a herald of enmity and a mark of folly, and aroused all the hate of superstition. When culture was buried in the classical languages, and when the accomplishment of the student was measured by his knowledge of these tongues, a great impetus was given to the acquisition of languages. Since science is promoted by all civil- ized nations, science itself demands a knowledge of many modern tongues. By all of these agencies it is discovered that a foreign tongue is not an unmeaning jargon, and language itself is no longer a barrier between civilized people. The wheels of com- merce speed civilized men from land to land and they find them- selves integrated by common interests.

There is a third agency by which the transmutation of so- ciety is accomplished. The literature of all lands is read in every land. The current history of all lands is recounted in every land. The agencies of intellectual culture are not restricted by national boundaries. Higher than all, and more potent than all, is the universal brotherhood of science by which the discovery made by one man is revealed to every other man and by which the generalization made by one man enriches the thought of all.

A fourth agency for the transmutation of society is found in the fine arts. The musical artist sings for the world. The limner paints for all lands. The actor impersonates for the universal stage. The novelist portrays for every fireside. The poet chants a lay to every dreamy heart. Thus the esthetic arts make a uni- versal appeal to the finer feelings of mankind and forever teach the lesson of fraternity, and with the balm of joy heal the wounds of conflict.

Fifth, all of these indirect agencies for the transmutation of society cooperate with the development of governmental

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