184 John B. Calhoun 



son with rats described in Sections XII, C and XIV, F, I now know that 

 these social outcasts must have been very low-velocity rats. Of all the rats 

 involved in the study referred to in Section XII, A, they were the only 

 ones ever caught in "Havahart" traps. These large, shiny wire-meshed 

 traps with a door opened at either end and shiny metal treadles on the 

 center floor were regularly placed on trials. All other rats invariably ran 

 around these traps. Yet the social outcasts apparently ran into them with- 

 out ever sensing their presence. This sensory unawareness is the low v" 

 factor characterizing low-velocity rats. 



XV. Conclusion 



Man did emerge from the trials, successfully overcome, of a myriad of 

 ever more simple forms. I have attempted to formulate some phenomena 

 which have affected man's social evolution. Some of these phenomena 

 appear no longer directly operati^'e on the human animal. They neverthe- 

 less left their imprint on man's capacity to adjust physiologically and 

 psychologically to the social system in which he lives. Foremost among these 

 presumed legacies are the limitations imposed upon him from his origin 

 out of an evolutionary line in which optimum adjustment demanded living 

 in small groups, not exceeding twice twelve individuals. 



Only yesterday, as one may measure evolutionary time in units of ten 

 thousand years, did man begin his attempt to escape this evolutionary 

 bond. But cultural evolution has not produced escape from this bond, 

 merely accommodation to it. Human society has developed the form of a 

 many-layered chain link armor. Each link is composed of not much less 

 than, nor many more than, twelve individuals. The links have a fluid 

 character. Through time, any one individual shifts his membership back 

 and forth among several joining links. This poetic view embodies the es- 

 sence of reality. 



In contrast to such evolutionary legacies, there exist certain principles 

 of social physics which must affect all social animals, man included. These 

 principles derive from certain universals I have called velocity, target 

 diameter, area, basic group size, the social refractory period, threshold for 

 tolerance for change, and the like. I am fully cognizant that my formulations 

 represent only crude approximations to reality, and may in fact contain 

 several errors of logic. Yet we must develop adequate formulations along 

 the lines I have attempted or all efforts to gain insight into the individual's 

 involvement in social action will prove sterile. 



This sterility will crown the endeavors of both classical physiology and 



