SOCIETAL EVOLUTION 129 



for embarking upon the discussion of social and moral matters, 

 in the Descent of Man; matters concerning which he was 

 little better informed than any other non-specialist. It was 

 still more the fault of Spencer, who became so enamored of 

 the analogy between organism and society that he came almost 

 to believe it an identity. Then the Germans got hold of it and 

 constructed huge volumes of uninspired muddlement about the 

 "structure and life of the social body." 



The analogy between a society and an organism is a pretty 

 one, as developed by Spencer. Its development was not with- 

 out use. But of what use? It is of no use at all in proving 

 anything about society. An analogy is no proof of anything. 

 Consider the exhorter who described the life-cycle of the 

 butterfly and wound up triumphantly: "Now who shall say 

 that there is no proof of immortality!" Proof demands facts, 

 ever more facts, all sorts of facts bearing on the subject. Out 

 of them comes the theory, and from them the theory is cor- 

 rected and re-corrected. It is most essential that the facts 

 shall not be selected, either to be acclaimed or to be ignored. 



An analogy, on the contrary, is a specially selected fact or 

 relation. It is picked out of many possibilities because it is 

 thought most vividly to set forth some idea already developed 

 and fixed in mind. It is not the search for truth that the 

 analogy-user is after; it is the exposition of a position already 

 taken. Analogy is perhaps the most effective device for exposi- 

 tion; but it is the tool of the preacher, not of the discoverer. 

 Its supreme effectiveness is found, probably, in the parables of 

 Christ, 1 who, in trying to transmit spiritual truths to simple 

 minds, took recourse to homely analogies on all sides. 



There can be no direct "reasoning from analogy," there- 

 fore. People who write on social evolution are regularly 

 charged with trying to do that, and generally justly; perhaps 

 if a writer starts out by saying that it cannot be done, it will 



1 For example, Matt, xiii., 31, 33. 



