THE ORGANIC TENDENCY 191 



is very likely to be an effort to find normal sur- 

 roundings, the type of environment to which the 

 organism is accustomed. Only in man are mental 

 powers so highly developed that intricate associa- 

 tions may be worked out for the realization of the 

 greatest possible good, but even in man the end 

 seems to be largely the same as in the lower ani- 

 mals. Man has developed the ability to see how 

 his fundamental activities may be modified for his 

 future good. He has guaranteed himself a constant 

 food supply over much of the earth. He has over- 

 come the physical environment to such an extent 

 that he can live at least temporarily on any part of 

 the earth. He is learning even that his own kind 

 may be improved by judicious control of his own 

 reproduction. But in spite of his progress, he has 

 done relatively little to change the face of the 

 earth and less to change himself; his activities 

 have resulted chiefly in his securing a more nearly 

 constant favorable environment. Human progress, 

 beyond the degree to which it has been forced 

 upon us by the persisting exigencies of environ- 

 ment, is an outcome of the opportunity to work 

 more or less constantly under optimum conditions. 

 When we consider the possible bearing of these 

 things on evolution one point stands out above all 

 others: Evolution is change, and the organism is 

 reluctant to change. Change is universal; nothing 

 remains static. As a result evolution has been 



