264 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



they belong. "It is an entertaining if somewhat saddening 

 occupation to sit where people congregate for talk and to 

 listen for the expression of a really independent personal 

 opinion." People do come independently to the same opinion, 

 even in hotel lounges. Crowdologists appear to miss the 

 opposite entertainment of noting how each individual in a 

 company fundamentally in agreement often approaches the 

 common opinion by a different route. A lady staying in the 

 hotel at Bath found daily diversion in the variety of opinion 

 scattered around her. In opinion on the war, for example, 

 there is the unity in diversity, or diversity in unity, so much 

 beloved by metaphysicians. Few of our opinions are original 

 in the sense that we first conceived or expressed them — it is a 

 merciful dispensation of Providence that it is so. Some 

 sections of society suffer severely from a profuseness of " original 

 opinions." They are for the most part introduced to us by 

 other members of the various crowds to which we belong. 

 Very often they are pumped into us like food into hens when 

 they are being fattened for the market. But it is quite untrue 

 that we meet but few people " who are not even partially 

 independent individuals." Most men of mature age have 

 evidently used their own judgment in accepting, if not in 

 originating, the principal opinions they express. The crowd 

 serves one main purpose of passing along for inspection the 

 beliefs originating in certain individuals. It frequently under- 

 takes (and often succeeds in the endeavour) the duty of com- 

 pelling its units to accept or reject them. So far crowdologists 

 are right. They generalise too freely when they assume that 

 the individual always, or even usually, forgoes his right of 

 private judgment on the beliefs presented for his inspection. 

 He forgets that the crowd is not only a stamping-in agent, but 

 also a sieving mechanism for straining out. Independent judg- 

 ments of individuals often need a good deal of straining. 

 Uniformity of opinion results among different individuals 

 through their separately arriving at the same conclusions, as 

 well as from an overpowering by an all-powerful suggestion. 

 Especially is this so in crowds of the dispersed type, where 

 groups or units sit in camera on the crowd-judgment. Dis- 

 persed crowds are apt to escape the eye of the crowdologist, 

 though they are the most numerous, and, on balance, the 

 most potent. Sir Martin Conway makes the extraordinary 



