564 PALEONTOLOGY 



chain of life, bears a striking resemblance to a crystal of some inor- 

 ganic substance, which has been disturbed by impurities during its 

 growth, and has thus been fashioned with unequal faces or even 

 turned partly into a mere concretion. In the case of a crystal, the 

 inherent forces act solely upon molecules of the crystalline substance 

 itself, collecting them and striving even in a disturbing environment 

 to arrange them in a fixed geometrical shape. In the case of an or- 

 ganic phylum, the inherent forces of the colloid germ-plasm act upon 

 a consecutive series of temporary outgrowths or excrescences of col- 

 loid substance (the successive individual bodies or "somata"), strug- 

 gling not for geometrically arranged boundaries, but towards various 

 other symmetries and a fixity in number of multiple parts. Paleon- 

 tology thus contributes to biology by placing the oft-repeated com- 

 parison of life with crystallization in an entirely new light. 



Relations to Sociology 



It is to be noticed that when the extreme of bodily evolution had 

 been reached by the production of a mammal, the final real advance 

 in the world of life was a gradual increase in the effectiveness of the 

 controlling nervous centre or brain. Then, for the first time in the his- 

 tory of the globe, brain rather than bodily state determined the sur- 

 vival of the fittest. In fact, it is clear that mental attributes have 

 slowly arisen in obedience to the same laws which controlled the 

 advance of the animal frame itself. Such being the case, it is not sur- 

 prising that the highest use of these attributes by man should result 

 in the arrangement of communities and methods of advancement 

 which strictly conform to the laws discovered , by the paleontologist. 

 As Herbert Spencer, indeed, has well said, "All social phenomena are 

 phenomena of life - - are the most complex manifestations of life - 

 must conform to the laws of life and can be understood only when 

 the laws of life are understood." In other words, the study of fossils 

 has a distinct bearing on the problems of sociology. 



The general resemblance between the evolution of human commun- 

 ities and animal groups is not difficult to perceive in any direction. 

 In the progress of every nation there are clearly-marked periods of 

 brilliance between others of comparative stagnation, corresponding 

 with the rhythmic advance already described as observable among 

 animals. At each period the real mental work and influence which 

 lead to the next stage of progress are accomplished by a competent 

 mediocrity, however much they may be consummated at intervals by 

 the appearance of a guiding genius; in fact, the generalized rather 

 than the specialized members of a community are the real ground- 

 work of the future. Moreover, history seems to teach that every na- 

 tion, on reaching its prime, begins to display within itself the elements 



