212 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



new, we may safely reply 'in the negative. The change we have sup- 

 posed is fortunately incajoable of being effected, otherwise the attempt 

 would doubtless be made in the name of " progress." 



But we may follow the principle of differentiation, and trace its 

 workings over the boundaries of biology into those of sociology, if such 

 a science can be said to exist. Where differences of structure can no 

 longer be traced we still find differences of function. In man we find 

 no variation in the number and position of bodily organs ; yet identical 

 organs in different individuals are trained to special tasks which to other 

 men would be im2:)ossible, and which might seem to necessitate a struct- 

 ural difference. We come, that is to say, upon the division of labor, 

 which is one of the most characteristic and essential features of civiliza- 

 tion. We have seen that in the lowest forms of animal life the entire 

 body seemed to subserve every vital process ; just so in the lowest stages 

 of human society, every individual is at once warrior, hunter, builder, 

 maker of arms and other utensils, and — in as far as agriculture is prac- 

 tised at all — tiller of the soil. Every man is perforce, in the words of 

 the adage, " Jack of all trades," with the inevitable consequence that 

 he is " master of none." In a civilized nation, just as in the higher 

 animals, all this is reversed. Every function has its special organ, or, 

 in other words, every task is committed to a separate man or body of 

 men. In all this we can trace out nothing that speaks of arbitrary 

 interference or compulsion. In the animal or human body each function 

 is committed to organs fitted for that function. The stomach does not 

 protest because it is not the seat of respiration, nor does the heart crave 

 to undertake the task of digestion, either instead of or along with 

 its own duties. In human society — complain as we may about "square 

 pegs " being placed in " round holes " — the different tasks are in the 

 main assigned to the men most competent for their performance. In a 

 savage tribe the strongest and bravest naturally leads in war ; the man 

 keenest of eye and ear becomes the scout, either as regards hostile 

 tribes or beasts of the chase. The wisest and most eloquent — attri- 

 butes which, if necessarily connected in primitive times, are now so no 

 longer — took the foremost place in council. The man of greatest man- 

 ual dexterity would be chief bow-maker to the tribe. The process in 

 operation was, in fact, natural selection. The man who undertook a 

 task for Avhich he was unfitted, or less fitted than others, was gradually 

 eliminated, as far as that particular task was concerned. In proportion 

 as new wants sprung up and new means of gratifying them were de- 

 vised, social functions were multiplied, and the division of labor be- 

 came more minute. Yet even in the very rudest state, as far at least 

 as anthropologists have been able to trace, there never was a time 

 when the duties of all persons were absolutely identical. To men and 

 to women different duties were assigned on the same principle of nat- 

 ural selection. Changes have, indeed, taken place in the distribution 

 of the tasks respectively allotted to the two sexes. But these changes, 



