>>226519> "Man," said Wilhelm von Humboldt, "ever connects on from what lies at hand (der Mensch knüpft immer an Vorhandenes
an)." The notion ofthe continuity ofcivilization contained in this
maxim is no barren philosophic principle, but is at once made
practical by the consideration that they who wish to understand
their own lives ought to know the stages through which their
opinions and habits have become what they are. Auguste Comte scarcely overstated the necessity of this study of development, when he declared at the beginning of his
'Positive Philosophy' that " no conception can be understood
except through its history," and his phrase will bear extension
to culture at large. To expect to look modern life inthe face
and comprehend it by mere inspection, is a kind of philosophy
chat can easily be tested. Imagine any one explaining the
trivial saying, " a little bird told me" without knowing of the
old belief in the language of birds and beasts, to which Dr.
Dasent, in the introduction to the Norse Tales, so reasonably
traces its origin. To ingenious attempts at explaining bythe
light of reason things which want the light of history to show
their meaning, much of the learned nonsense of the world has
indeed been due.