574 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



aggression, and, while risking death in doing this, to inflict death 

 upon others. The other religion teaches that the glory is in not re- 

 sisting aggression, and in yielding to others while not asserting the 

 claims of self. A civilized humanity will render the one glory just 

 as impossible of achievement as the other. A diminishing egoism 

 and an increasing altruism must make each of these opj^osite kinds 

 of honor unattainable. For such an advance implies a cessation of 

 those aggressions which make possible the nobility of resistance ; 

 while it implies a refusal to accept those sacrifices without which 

 there cannot be the nobility of self-sacrifice. The two extremes must 

 cancel ; leaving a moral code and a standard of honor free from ir- 

 rational excesses. Along with a latent self-assertion, there will go a 

 readiness to yield to others, kept in cheek by the refusal of others to 

 accept more than their due. 



And now, having noted the perversions of thought and sentiment 

 fostered by the religion of amity and the religion of enmity, under 

 which we are educated in so chaotic a fashion, let us go on to note 

 the ways in which these affect sociological conceptions. Certain im- 

 portant truths, apt to be shut oirt from the minds of the few who are 

 unduly swayed by the religion of amity, may first be set down. 



One of the facts difficult to reconcile with current theories of the 

 Universe is, that high organizations, throughout the animal kingdom, 

 habitually serve to aid destruction or to aid escape from destruction. 

 If we hold to the ancient view, we must say that high organization 

 has been deliberately devised for such purposes. If we accejDt the 

 modern view, we must say that high organization has been evolved 

 by the exercise of destructive activities during immeasurable periods 

 of the past. Here we choose the last alternative. To the never- 

 ceasing efforts to catch and eat, and the never-ceasing endeavors to 

 avoid being caught and eaten, is to be ascribed the development of 

 the various senses and the various motor organs directed by them. 

 The bird of prey with the keenest vision has, other things equal, sur- 

 vived when members of its species that did not see so far died from 

 want of food ; and, by such survivals, keenness of vision has been 

 made greater in course of generations. The fleetest members of an 

 herbivorous herd, escaping when the slower fell victims to a carnivore, 

 left posterity ; among which, again, those with the most perfectly- 

 adapted limbs survived : the carnivores themselves being at the same 

 time similarly disciplined and their speed increased. So, too, with in- 

 telligence. Sagacity that detected a danger which stupidity did not 

 perceive, lived and propagated; and the cunning which hit upon a 

 new deception, and so secured prey not otherwise to be caught, left 

 posterity where a smaller endowment of cunning failed. This mutual 

 perfecting of pursuer and pursued, acting upon their entire organiza- 

 tions, has been going on throughout all time ; and human beings have 



