RELATION OF BIOLOGY TO SOCIOLOGY. 209 



tion of that difference between these structures to which Mr. 

 Spencer, Mr. Fiske, and others have called attention.* 



As to the essential nature of those purely physical forces which 

 we call attractive e. g., gravitation, cohesion, and chemical affin- 

 ity we really know nothing. We know these forces only through 

 their observed effects ; and their " laws " which we deduce from 

 repeated observations of these effects are merely our subjective 

 classifications of orderly recurrent phenomena and their recog- 

 nized conditions. In regard to sociological phenomena, however, 

 we have an additional source of information. We can study the 

 attractive forces which bind society together, not only in the 

 secondary relation of their observed effects, but also in their pri- 

 mary relation, as movements of our own thought. Affection and 

 self-interest are thus seen to be the attractive forces which bind 

 society together, and these forces are consciously directed and 

 made steadily operative solely by individual volition. Therefore 

 it is that in its psychical aspect the aspect directly involved in 

 all measures of social advancement society is subordinated to 

 the individual, the structure to the unit, instead of the reverse, as 

 in the evolution of animal and vegetal organisms. 



All actual and permanent expansion and integration of society 

 proceeds from the voluntary, co-operative action of individuals. 

 The social reformer, therefore, who would work in harmony with 

 the tendencies and laws of Nature must direct his efforts toward 

 convincing the judgments and influencing the motives and moral 

 natures of individual men and women, rather than toward forci- 

 bly changing the customs of society by legal enactments, official 

 pronunciamentos, or majority votes under the white heat of an 

 emotional political campaign. All of these popular and custom- 

 ary agencies of political action are doubtless of some service as 

 educational influences, inciting thought among large classes of 

 people who would otherwise remain passive puppets or unreflect- 

 ing adherents of conventional social customs ; but as means of 

 finally solving and disposing of social and political problems they 

 are lamentable failures. 



It is strange that our socialistic reformers, who advocate the 

 cure of societary ills by legislation and the paternal control of 

 the Government over the affairs of the individual, do not see that 

 men and women must first be personally convinced of the utility 

 of such public arrangements as they advocate, with substantial 

 unanimity, before legislation in their behalf could possibly be 

 effective. And when the practical unity of sentiment has been 

 wrought out in the community which would insure the enforce- 



* The Doctrine of Evolution : its Scope and Influence. Popular Science Monthly, Sep- 

 tember, 1891, p. 592. Notably, also, Mr. George Gunton, in his Principles of Social Eco- 

 nomics. 



vol. xli. 17 



