PRKSIDKNTIAL ADDRKSS 



BIOLOGICAL LAWS AND S()(MAL PKOCRKSS. 



UY 



n. L. Brunehi. 



Ill such a nuH'tiii^' as this it is entirely proper to recall tlie serviees of 

 science to man. the discoveries whicli have contrihntetl to his hcaltli and 

 comfort and ffiven liim knowledge of tlie world in which he lives. l?y the 

 aid of science man has acfiuired such control ovei- nature as his iiuatrination 

 formerly attrihuted only to the pids. To<lay, he mounts into the air with 

 Mercury, dives into the deep with \ei>tune. and when he sjieaks from the 

 summit of some IMt. Marconi, his voice is heard in the uttermost part of 

 the earth. These discoveries, and especially the f<reat services of the sci- 

 entist in the world war. have won for science a high place in popular esteem. 



But peace has hrou.eht deuuinds that are no less insistent than those of 

 war. At the present time all progressive nations are facing certain social 

 problems which were already pressing for solution in 1914. In the strain 

 and stress of war the i.ssues have been more sharply defined. Scientists may 

 assist in the solution of these problems by the contribution of discoveries 

 and inventions which make for better living, but such relief will be only 

 temporary. A more lasting contiibution. I believe, may be made by empha- 

 sizing those biological principles which must control all jirogressive evolu- 

 tion, both in society and elsewhere in the organic world. I wish, therefore, 

 in the ix>rformauce of the task assigned to me Jis president of the Academy, 

 to call your attention to an old theme: namely, the imixtrtance of the gen- 

 eral laws of biology in social progress. 



That the evolution of human society follows the same laws that control 

 evolution in other fields, is a fact often repeated since Herbert Spencer and 

 Huxley insisted on its importance. In both cases evolution is essentially a 

 process of differentiation and integration of parts or units originally alike 

 and equal. The nature of these changes is shown in the embryonic develoi»- 

 ment of every higher plant or animal, the multiplii-ation of cells being fol- 

 lowed, on the one hand, by divi.sion of labor, formation of tissues, organs 

 and organ systems, on the other hand, by coordination and integration of 

 associated parts to form a complete whole. Societies are formed in the 

 same way. Beginning with a group of individuals which do all kinds of 

 work, by division of labor and cooperation they form complex organizations 

 which are able to accomplish vastly more than separate individuals could 

 do. Here, also, as in animal and plant bodies, the greater the division of 

 labor, the more dependent become the pjirts on the whole, the more de- 

 pendent the whole upon the parts. 



This tendency to differentiation in organisms is limited by other laws 

 which produce more or less uniformity and stability. In embryonic life this 

 conservatism leads to a repetition of ancestral history, in which the em- 

 bryo follows a certain definite path and gives rise to an individual of a 



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