254 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



That the assortment of Force itself is in cycles or periods, and 

 brought about primarily by Cosmic influences, is shown by the 

 periodic changes in Terrestrial Magnetism synchronous with the 

 periodic activity of the Sun as seen by the presence of spots on 

 the solar disc ; an activity which itself is due to the periodic 

 concentration of gravitational forces, from the fact that the 

 planets are placed at certain periods in such a position that they 

 act together on one part of the solar disc. Incidentally we may 

 mention how, as the result of this solar activity, the quantity of 

 Terrestrial Magnetism is increasing in definite periods, and how its 

 distribution and intensity vary geographically in definite waves. 

 In the chemical laboratory, any coloured precipitate shows 

 that, besides the chemical reaction, there are also other insepar- 

 able physical changes — thermo-chromic or electro-magnetic — 

 which are due to the assortment of certain forces in action, and 

 which are necessarily " overtones " of the operating forces. 



It is in the more abstract and more highly developed forms 

 of natural activity that these changes are more pronounced 

 though more complex. The study of Ethics affords a good 

 example. According to Fichte,^ the basis of morality is 

 reduced to a " moral Fatalism," presumably worked by Fear 

 — a something which we prefer to call an " instinct," in the 

 generic meaning of the term, inasmuch as it comprises all those 

 psychic powers which lead to a conscious performance of actions 

 that are adaptive in character according to the economic require- 

 ments of Nature relative to the unit ; actions that are pursued 

 by the unit at the command of Nature's pre-knowledge, but 

 without the necessary knowledge, on the part of the unit, of the 

 means employed or the ends attained. Such an instinct is 

 created and developed by the interaction, Hke any other over- 

 tone, between certain forces : the activity of the human mind, 

 or psychic energy, on the one hand, and contact with the dangers 

 threatening the Human Herd on the other in the case of the 

 Human Race. Thus did this instinct arise, and its active 

 manifestation is represented in the protective Law of the Herd. 

 The controversy raised between Fichte and Schopenhauer will 

 be recalled. Schopenhauer realised that Fear was only capable 

 of generating an order analogous to that of an animal community : 

 the fuller development of Civilisation, as we know it to-day, 

 being only possible by the quickening of Compassion,* what we 

 would call another Instinct or assorted form of psychic energy, 

 rising directly by the interaction between demonstrating the 

 natural importance of the well-being of the individual on the one 

 hand, and the Law of the State or of the Human Herd on the 



* System der Sittenlehre and Die Wissenschaftslehre in ihrem Allgem. 

 Umrisse Dargestellt. 



* The Basis of Morality, -part in, cha.Tp.v,a,ndpa,Ttvv. 



