PATTEN— COOPERATION AS A FACTOR IN EVOLUTION. 531 



ment to the same end, the aggrandizement and security of the whole 

 by the part and the part by the whole. 



From this larger point of view, what we call " evil " is that which 

 prevents or destroys cooperation, and " good " is that which perpetu- 

 ates and improves cooperation. Evolution in nature, as a whole, 

 proceeds with the attainment of righteousness, or as fast as the better 

 ways of avoiding that which is evil and of attaining that which is 

 good, are found by the part and by the whole. 



As the animal and plant life of the world becomes more complex 

 individually, and more unified as a whole, the necessity for wider and 

 better cooperation in exchange becomes more imperative ; or to put it 

 another way, life at large, individually and in its various aggregates, 

 grows in unity and in the summation of power, as fast as it finds 

 and makes use of better methods of conveyance for mutually profit- 

 able exchange, or creates new instruments to that end. 



In the inorganic world, and in the lower phases of organic life, 

 the right way to cooperative action is found by " chance," during 

 a prolonged period of trial and error. It is a slow process, but in- 

 evitably accumulative and accelerative, for there is a directive and 

 preservative element, a tendency towards finality and completion, in 

 cooperative action, that is none the less effective whether it be found 

 by accident or by design. In the higher phases of individual life, 

 the more elaborate series of preservative and cooperative acts are 

 called " instincts and intelligence." The chief element in " intelli- 

 gence " is the power to foresee and to select the better time and place 

 for cooperative action, thereby greatly accelerating the process of 

 attaining good and avoiding evil. 



VIII. 



The same laws that govern the growth of plants and of animals, 

 govern the growth of human society. Society in its growth follows 

 the easiest and most accessible lines of conveyance ; and its rate of 

 growth depends on the cooperative value of its inventions for the 

 preservation and profitable exchange of its own products, intellec- 

 tual or physical. Science, literature, and art, are the reservoirs and 

 distributing channels for the one, and commerce for the other. 



