ESSAY-REVIEWS 265 



statement that different individuals " if they would think for 

 themselves (they) would have to express infinite divergency 

 of view." They would all agree that the sea is salt, and 

 rational beings frequently come to similar conclusions because 

 they are rational. 



Like all young sciences, crowdology has yet to perceive 

 its youthful error of hasty generalisation from some of the 

 more striking and obvious of its data. It is anxious to get its 

 facts into order and tidied up into a system. This is laudable, 

 but usually results in a false simplification as the first-fruits of 

 this early enthusiasm. Some crowds are carried off their 

 mental feet by emotion, therefore all crowds are essentially 

 foolish and moonstruck. The crowd is responsive to sugges- 

 tion, therefore it can never think. Crowdologists also invari- 

 ably assume that there are certain fixed characteristics for the 

 crowd, apart from the character of the units. They naturally 

 conclude that a foolish crowd will always remain foolish. 

 They forget, as a consequence, that to the progress of the 

 individual there corresponds a superior character in the crowd. 

 We suggest to Sir Martin Conway and others a motto that 

 is not all the truth, but at the same time is a wholesome 

 corrective of extreme views : Take care of the individual and 

 the crowd will take care of itself. 



