624 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ingly from Drydon a stanza that to-day has more of meaning, per- 

 haps, than either he or the poet ever perceived : 



" From harmony, from heavenly harmony, 

 This universal frame began ; 

 From harmony to harmony, 



Through all the compass of the notes it ran. 

 The diapason closing full in man." 



All investigation only adds grander significance to the grand ut- 

 terance of Agassiz, that " man is the end toward which all the animal 

 creation has tended since the first appearance of the first palaeozoic 

 fishes." 



Is it not true that " an increasing purpose " does run through the 

 ages by the processes of which, not only " the thoughts of men are 

 widened," but enlarged encouragement is given to all their hopes and 

 expectations of the future? 



THE DEVELOPMEXT OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



By HEEBEET SPENCEE. 

 V. POLITICAL FORMS AND FORCES. 



THE conceptions of biologists have been greatly advanced by the 

 discovery that organisms which, when adult, appear to have 

 scarcely anything in common, were, in their first stages, very similar ; 

 and that, indeed, all organisms start with a common structure. Rec- 

 ognition of this truth has revolutionized not only their ideas respect- 

 ing the relations of oi'ganisms to one another, but also respecting the 

 relations of the parts of each organism to one another. 



If societies have evolved, and if that mutual dei^endence of their 

 parts which social cooperation implies, and w^hich constitutes them or- 

 ganized bodies, has been gradually reached, then the implication is 

 that, however unlike theu" developed structures become, there is a ru- 

 dimentary structure with which they all set out. And, if there can 

 be recognized any such primitive unity, recognition of it will help us 

 to interpret the ultimate diversity. We shall understand better how 

 in each society the several components of the political agency have 

 come to be what we now see them, and how those of one society are 

 related to those of another. 



Setting out with an unorganized horde, including both sexes and 

 all ages, let us ask what must happen when some question, as that of 

 migration or defense against enemies, has to be decided. The assem- 

 bled individuals will fall, more or less clearly, into two divisions. 

 The elder, the stronger, and those whose sagacity and courage have 



