UNIVERSAL LIFE. 247 



more or less unperceived. It may be stated as 

 follows : — Arrangement, assemblage, construction, and 

 aggregation are powerless to bring to light in the 

 complex anything new and essentially heterogeneous 

 to what already exists in the elements. Reciprocally, 

 grouping reveals in a complex a property and 

 character which is the gradual development of an 

 analogous property and character in the elements. 

 It is in this sense that there exists a collective soul in 

 crowds, the psychology of which has been discussed 

 by M. G. Le Bon. In the same way, many sociolo- 

 gists; adopting the views advanced by P. de Lilienfeld 

 in 1865, attribute to nations a formal individuality, 

 after the type of that possessed by each of their 

 constituent members. M. Izolet considers society 

 as an organism, which he calls a " hyperzoan." 

 Herbert Spencer has developed the comparison of 

 the collective organism with the individual organism, 

 insisting on their resemblances and differences. Th. 

 Ribot has dwelt, in particular, on the resemblances. 



The postulate that we have clearly stated here is 

 accepted by many as an axiom. But it is not an 

 axiom. When we say that there is nothing in the 

 complex that cannot be found in the parts, we think 

 we are expressing a self-evident truth ; but we are, 

 in fact, merely stating an hypothesis. It is assumed 

 that arrangement, aggregation, and complicated and 

 skilful grouping of elements can produce nothing 

 really new in the order of phenomena. And this is 

 an assertion that requires verification in each par- 

 ticular case. 



The Principle of Continuity, a Consequence of the 

 Preceding. — Let us apply this principle to the beings 

 in nature. All. beings in nature are, according to 



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