PROGRESS 43 



instance, that which seems good to me may seem evil 

 to another. Even the good, if it be a drag on the 

 better, is evil. Expressed thus, the proposition is a 

 paradox ; but expressed in terms of direction and 

 relative speed, it is at once intelligible. 



But the test of any such general biological theory 

 as I have outlined will be its application to human 

 problems. And here too, I venture to say, the value 

 of biological method is apparent. What we ask, 

 and rightly ask, is whether in the laws of biological 

 progress we can find any principle which we can apply 

 directly to guide us in devising methods for human 

 progress. 



I do not propose to follow the example of many 

 rather hasty philosophers and biologists, who have 

 thought that, whenever the study of lower organisms 

 permitted the promulgation of a biological law, such 

 law can be lifted bodily from its context and be applied 

 without modification to human affairs. Man is an 

 organism — but a very exceptional and peculiar organ- 

 ism. Any biological law which epitomizes only facts 

 about the lower creatures is not a general biological 

 law, for general biological laws must take account 

 not only of plants and animals, but of man as well. 

 In practice, however, the simplest method is to frame 

 our biological laws without considering man, and then 

 to see in what way they must be modified if they are 

 to be applied to him. 



Man differs biologically from other organisms in 



