THE FUTURE OF SOCIETY 227 



civilisation can be more enduring than the great 

 civilisations of the past. " Every family, every 

 people, every race," says Eibot, "is born with a 

 certain measure of vitality, a given amount of physi- 

 cal and moral aptitudes which time and circumstances 

 bring to light. The evolutionary process lasts until 

 the family, the people, or the race has accomplished 

 its destiny, which is brilliant for a few, remarkable 

 for many, obscure for the greater number. As soon 

 as their stock of vitality and aptitude is exhausted, 

 the deterioration of the family, the people, or the race 

 sets in and steadily augments, annihilation finally 

 supervening, unless warded off by some external 

 cause. In this process of decay heredity acts in- 

 directly ; the direct cause is to be sought in climate 

 and other physical conditions, and in the manners, 

 customs, and institutions of the community." ^ Jacoby 

 is equally pessimist in his views. " From the great 

 mass of humanity," says this authority, " individuals, 

 families, and races rise above the common level ; they 

 laboriously climb the heights of power, riches, intelli- 

 gence, and talent, and having gained the summit are 

 precipitated once more into the depths. . . . Nations 

 exhaust themselves like soil that is not manured, the 



^ Ribot, L'HeHdiU Psychologiqve. 



