Genetic Analogies 43 



that instead of calling them comparative principles, we 

 may better denominate them 'analogies.' 



4. Genetic Analogies 



Of the analogies drawn from organic evolution, which 

 spring up to vex the soul of the investigator in genetic 

 things in other fields, many are aspects of what is called 

 the 'biological analogy,' until now so much exploited in 

 the social sciences. Certain aspects of it are treated in the 

 papers which follow, and in the second volume of this 

 series referred to just above. For example, the 'struggle 

 for existence' is shown below (Chap. XV.) to take on three 

 quite different forms even in the animal world, where it 

 is a factor of direct importance in connection with the 

 operation of natural selection. In the same place, the facts 

 of conscious 'competition' and 'rivalry' are compared with 

 those of biological struggle, with the result that only under 

 certain conditions do they even show analogy with strug- 

 gle for existence in the sense principally employed by 

 Darwin and Wallace - - the struggle for food. So also, 

 when we come to subject the conception of ' selection ' to a 

 thorough analysis, we have distinctions to make which for- 

 bid our using the biological conception in the mental and 

 social spheres except under the very restricted limitation, 

 namely, that the results of the selection in question nor- 

 mally fall under the laws of physical reproduction and 

 heredity for their conservation. Yet again, in the matter 

 of conservation of type, with regression, where there is the 

 question of the application of such a principle to mental 

 transmission, we find that the mental products do not, in 

 respect to their effectiveness for the future movement of 



