But  the  scientific  moralists  were  far  from  perceiving
this.  They  have  continued  to  explore  the  world  of
mind  and  action  to  find  some  7\ev:)  theory,  some  hither-
to unknown  resting-place  for  the  olive-bearing  bird  of
true  virtue.      They  all,  no  doubt,  desired  the  moral


128  HUMANICS.
perfection  of  man,  but  the  wish  for  the  glory  of  discov-
ering the  test  principle  and  focal  point  of  ethics,  and
social  economy,  had  certainly  much  force  in  deter-
mining the  course  of  many  of  them,  and  prevented
them  from  seeing — 1°,  that  the  precious  jewel  had  been
found — 2°,  that  they  were  not  the  finders.
I  regard  many  of  the  w^orks  of  these  philosophers  as
serving  to  exhibit  the  miserable  aberrations  and  in-
genious shifts  of  which  the  human  mind  is  capable
when  seeking  to  reconcile  the  animal  and  selfish  de-
velopment of  the  passions  with  the  dictates  of  reason
and  the  true  instincts  of  nature.  On  the  other  hand,
the  efforts  of  many  writers  to  disclose  a  pure  criterion
is  of  itself  sufficient  to  show  the  existence  of  an  inherent
impulse  in  man  which  prepares  him  for  love  and  as-
pires to  truth  ;  but  they  have  failed,  in  a  greater  or  a
less  degree,  to  attain  the  goal  of  these  impulses  and
aspirations.
