8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



stages of social evolution, unscrupulous aggression outside of the soci- 

 ety and cruel coercion within are the habitual concomitants of politi- 

 cal development. The men of whom the better organized societies 

 have been formed were at first, and long continued to be, nothing else 

 but the stronger and more cunning savages ; and even now, when 

 freed from those influences which supei'ficially modify their behavior, 

 they prove themselves to be little better. If, on the one hand, we con- 

 template the utterly uncivilized Wood-Veddahs, who are described as 

 " proverbially truthful and honest," " gentle and affectionate," " obey- 

 ing the slightest intimation of a wish, and very grateful for attention 

 or assistance," and of whom Pridham remarks, " What a lesson in 

 gratitude and delicacy even a Veddah may teach ! " and then if, on 

 the other hand, we contemplate our own recent acts of international 

 brigandage, accompanied by the slaughter of thousands who have 

 committed no wi'ong against us accompanied, too, by perfidious 

 breaches of faith and by the killing of prisoners in cold blood we 

 can not but admit that, between the types of men classed as uncivilized 

 and civilized, the differences are not necessarily of the kind commonly 

 supposed. Whatever relation exists between moral nature and social 

 type is not such as to imply that the social man is in all respects emo- 

 tionally superior to the pre-social man. 



" How is this conclusion to be reconciled with the conception of 

 progress ? " most readers will ask. " How is civilization to be justi- 

 fied if, as is thus implied, some of the highest of human attributes are 

 exhibited in greater degrees by wild people who live scattered in pairs 

 in the woods, than by the members of a vast, well-organized nation, 

 having marvelously elaborated arts, extensive and profound knowl- 

 edge, and multitudinous appliances to welfare ? " The answer to this 

 question will best be conveyed by an analogy. 



As carried on throughout the animate world at large, the struggle 

 for existence has been an indispensable means to evolution. Not sim- 

 ply do we see that, in the competition among individuals of the same 

 kind, survival of the fittest has from the beginning furthered produc- 

 tion of a higher type, but we see that to the unceasing warfare be- 

 .tween species are mainly due both growth and organization. Without 

 universal conflict there would have been no development of the active 

 powers. The organs of perception and of locomotion have .been little 

 by little evolved during the interaction of pursuers and pursued. Im- 

 proved limbs and senses have furnished better sui^plies to the viscera, 

 and improved visceral structures have insured a better supply of 

 aerated blood to the limbs and senses ; while a higher nervous system 

 has at each stage been required for duly coordinating the actions of 

 these more complex structures. Among predatory animals death by 

 starvation and among animals preyed upon death by destruction have 

 carried off the least favorably modified individuals and varieties. 



