628 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



shows itself tliat separation of the superior few from the inferior 

 many, which becomes marked in later stages ; though this, too, is a 

 fact which may be singled out and emphasized. Nor is attention to 

 be mainly directed to the early appearance of a controlling head, hav- 

 ing power greater than that of any other ; though the evidence given 

 may be cited to prove this. But here we have to note, particularly, 

 the truth that at the very outset may be discerned the vague outlines 

 of a triune political structure. 



Of course, the ratios among the powers of these three components 

 are in no two cases quite the same ; and, as implied in sundry of the 

 above examples, they everywhere undergo more or less change 

 change determined here by the emotional natures of the men compos- 

 ing the group, there by the physical circumstances as favoring or 

 hindering independence, now by the activities as warlike or peaceful, 

 and now by the exceptional characters of jDarticular individuals. 



Unusual sagacity, skill, or strength, habitually regarded by primi- 

 tive men as supernatural, may give to some member of the tribe an 

 influence which, transmitted to a successor supposed to inherit his super- 

 natural character, may generate a chiefly authority subordinating both 

 that of the other leading men and that of the mass. Or a division of 

 labor, such that while some of the tribe remain exclusively warriors 

 the rest are in a measure otherwise occupied, may give to the two 

 superior components of the political agency an ability to override the 

 third. Or the members of the third, keeping up habits which make 

 coercion of them difficult or impossible, may maintain a general pre- 

 dominance over the other two. And then the relations of these three 

 governing elements to the entire community may, and ordinarily do, 

 undergo change by the formation of a passive class, excluded from 

 their deliberations a class at first composed of the women and after- 

 ward containing also the slaves or other dependents. 



War, successfully carried on, not only establishes the passive or 

 non-political class, but also, implying as it does subordination, changes 

 more or less decidedly the relative powers of these three parts of the 

 political agency. As, other things equal, groups in which there is 

 little or no subordination are subjugated by groups in which subordi- 

 nation is greater, there is a tendency to the survival and spread of 

 groups in which the controlling power of the dominant few becomes 

 relatively great. In like manner, since success in war largely depends 

 on that promptitude and consistency of action which singleness of will 

 gives, there must, where warfare is chronic, be a tendency for mem- 

 bers of the ruling group to become more and more obedient to its ' 

 head : disappearance in the struggle for existence, among tribes other- 

 wise equal, being ordinarily a consequence of inadequate obedience. 

 And then it is also to be noted that the overrunnings of societies one 

 by another, repeated and re-repeated as they often are, have the effect 



