37Q POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



human wants, the satisfaction of one usually causing another to emerge 

 in the mind, and so on indefinitely. Circumstances conscribe and 

 restrict such expansion always and everywhere; so, not being able to 

 satisfy all their wants at once, men are compelled to choose between 

 the satisfaction of one and the satisfaction of another. Such choice 

 is effected through evaluation, which comes in last analysis to this: in 

 every set of circumstances each man asks himself, ' to the satisfaction 

 of which of my many wants do I attach the most immediate im- 

 portance ? which, in a word, is most worth while ? ' and having decided, 

 proceeds to utilize his resources accordingly. The same is true in a 

 more general way of peoples and races; as a result of a long series of 

 evaluations, groups as well as individuals establish their standards in 

 accordance with their physical, social and historical circumstances. So 

 I should say : evaluation constitutes the regulative factor of snper- 

 organic development. If so, utilization becomes in last analysis the 

 accomplishment of that which utility suggests, circumstances allow and 

 evaluation controls. A word in conclusion: because of the expansion 

 of human wants, utility constitutes the progressive principle of super- 

 organic development, but utility is counteracted to a considerable ex- 

 tent by imitation, the disposition to accept traditionally established 

 standards and utilize in accordance with custom and convention instead 

 of circumstance — imitation constitutes accordingly the conservative 

 principle of super-organic development. 



Before stepping over from the formulated organic into the unfor- 

 mulated super-organic, in order to indicate the direction and measure 

 the distance I said: the fundamental principles of civology should be 

 subsequent to and consistent with the fundamental principles of its 

 antecedent science, biology. Having taken the step — or made the leap, 

 if you like — let us look about us and see where we have landed. In 

 the first place, are the super-organic principles suggested consistent 

 with the organic principles already established? They seem to me so 

 ■ — I appeal to comparison. Biology has succeeded in coordinating the 

 phenomena of life; the task I set civology was to coordinate the phe- 

 nomena of civilization. The phenomena of life are organic, the phe- 

 nomena of civilization are super-organic. The former, that is the 

 phenomena of life, present themselves to science as variations; the 

 latter, that is the phenomena of civilization, should, I say, present 

 themselves to science as systems of utilization. Organic variations are 

 conceived of by biology as the accomplishment of that which variability 

 permits, environment requires, and selection directs; so, it seems to 

 me, super-organic systems of utilization should be conceived of by 

 civology as the accomplishment of that which utility suggests, circum- 

 stance allows and evaluation controls. The parallelism between the 

 two processes is apparent : Both proceed from intrinsic principles which 



