212 THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 



these two things together make psychological evolu- 

 tion far quicker in action than biological evolution. 

 This accounts for the rapid changes which some- 

 times startle mankind. A great man that is a man 

 of great originality can bring millions of minds to 

 his own way of thinking. In other words, he can 

 make them all vary like himself ; and this without 

 their having seen him, or even long after he is dead. 



Education is partly a means of propagating mental 

 variations and partly a means of training the 

 reasoning powers and the imagination. It is there- 

 fore an important controlling power on future mental 

 variations. And, as habits may be transmitted 

 physically, the constant inculcation of good habits 

 by education must, in time, influence the character 

 of future generations. 



The Preservation of Mental Variations. Mental 

 variations are preserved and accumulated by selec- 

 tion. Desires come first, and then, by the fulfilment 

 of these desires, a highly complicated set of actions 

 and interactions are brought into play. Preferen- 

 tial selection holds a very important position in 

 human affairs. We choose our clothes, our houses, 

 our amusements, even our religious opinions; and 

 these selections start a most complicated chain of 

 causes, through which industries rise and fall. This 

 chain of causes is largely influenced by natural selec- 

 tion, by which the best survive. But this is a part 

 of the subject which I need not follow out. 



Motives. Of the motives which move human 

 society, self-preservation and pleasure are lower than 

 the others, and if allowed to get the upper hand 



