Comparative Studies 435 



have their limited aspirations and capacities (being, by hy- 

 pothesis, man-hke personaHties) . Their activities and their 

 interactions must leave the world substantially unchanged, 

 a stage for the coming and going of human puppets. A 

 world of impersonal forces, on the other hand, even if con- 

 ceived as a " mechanism," makes every day a new beginning; 

 at least, the vindictiveness and the envies of the gods do not 

 carry over. Above all, it makes possible for man a new hope 

 that in his day by day struggle he may yet attain the 

 upper hand. 



While most people are not scientists, or even scientific, 

 they do more and more assume that they are living in a 

 world of impersonal forces that can be captured, understood 

 and controlled. The contrast between this view, in so far as 

 it permeates a whole population, and the older view consti- 

 tutes a revolution. And the general concept of evolution, 

 as a way of looking at the world, is an inevitable consequence 

 of the coming of science. 



In considering the effects of evolution, as a way of look- 

 ing at things that has become increasingly prevalent in two 

 generations, we must guard against reasoning on the simple 

 formula, after therefore because. Not everything that has 

 happened since the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species 

 or since the Civil War is a result of that event. There have 

 been far-reaching industrial and social and political changes 

 during this period, and it would be difficult to say what 

 part any purely intellectual achievement may have played 

 in these developments. There are nevertheless pretty clear 

 evidences that evolutionary thinking has been gaining ground 

 and that it has had marked influences in practical affairs as 

 well as in purely academic circles. 



Comparative Studies 



The comparative method of study which is frequently 

 associated with evolutionary thought had already gained 

 ground before the middle of the last century. We have 



