nt
points of original activity, it is evident that men would remain
substantially the same from generation to generation, and society would
stand still forever. Such, it is well known, is the case in those
Eastern nations in which a rigid system of caste prevails, the same
positions and occupations descending from father to son, without the
possibility of one generation escaping from the fatal routine to which
its predecessor was subjected.

Hence it is that Mr. Mill, with great earnestness, insists that 'there
should be different experiments in living,' and 'that the worth of
different modes of life should be proved practically, when any one
thinks fit to try them;' for, he continues, 'where not the person's own
character, but the traditions and customs of other people are the rule
of conduct, there is wanting one of the principal ingredients of human
happiness, and quite the chief ingredient of individual and social
progress.' Undoubtedly, that man who acts in conformity with his own
nature and disposition, if they do not mislead and betray him, will have
greater satisfaction and enjoyment than he who is constrained by the
opinions or authority of others to pursue courses not conformable to his
taste and judgment. That which men naturally incline to undertake and
ardently desire to accomplish, is usually that which they are best
fitted to do, and which will give the most appropriate exercise to their
peculiar faculties. It is evidently the general interest that every
individual in society should be employed in that peculiar work which he
can best perform. More will be effected, with less dissatisfaction and
suffering. And obviously, no better mode can be devised to put every man
to the thing for which he is capacitated by nature, than to give full
scope to his individuality, under the multiplied and powerful influences
which liberal education and elevated society are calculated to exert in
impelling him forward. The effect will be not only to do more for
society as a whole, but to make superior men by means of self-education.
'He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice. He
gains no practice either in discerning or desiring what is best. The
mental and moral, like the muscular powers, are improved only by being
used. The faculties are called into no exercise by doing a thing merely
because others do it, no more than by believing a thing only because
others believe it. If the grounds of an opinion ar