x THE EARTH BEFORE HISTORY 



psychical elements. It is human in essence— but strongly 

 socialized. The possession of specific institutions does not suffice 

 for religion ; it must also enter into the various functions of 

 social life. In short it consolidates into one unified whole the 

 social bond and simple primitive mentality — consolidating the 

 one by means of the other. In thus strengthening thought, 

 however, it at the same time confines and tends to constrain it ; 

 and, moreover, the individual endeavours either to transform 

 the religious institutions or, to a certain extent, to free himself 

 from them ; it is to this effort that art, philosophy and science 

 specifically owe their development. 



If, then, the study of the social factor is at the basis of 

 historical synthesis, since society is man's necessary milieu 

 and a constant and regular element in history, it is just as 

 clear that the evolution of society, as such, as well as its com- 

 plications, only become intelligible when considered in the light 

 of other factors. It is therefore necessary to introduce that 

 " logical " factor which has already been so much abused, under 

 the terms "finality" and "Idea", by philosophic historians, 

 and the factor of contingency, of which purely descriptive 

 historians have made too exclusive and complacent a use ; the 

 latter being also known as the principle of change as such, 

 fortuitous or directed. 



Contingencies modify the structure of human society ; they 

 either react on them or influence them directly. Their number 

 in history is infinite, but they can be brought together under 

 cer ain general categories : accidental happenings, the role of 

 the individual as individual, temporary collective arrangements, 

 and ethnic and geographical conditions. Neither the categories 

 themselves nor the contingencies within each category are of 

 equal interest to the historian who is concerned with explanation. 

 Their importance is determined by the extent and the duration 

 of their action : surroundings races, and epochs can be grouped 

 from the point of view of human evolution ; individuals and 

 events can be selected from the same standpoint ; some are 

 insignificant, others important. Our mind can only dominate 

 and systematize the past by resorting to elimination — just as 

 chance has unfortunately done with remote epochs. But we 

 must consign again to oblivion something of what has been 

 selected. 



It is when we thus reject negligible events that Vie role of 



