I5 o COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART in 



others. The male sex stands for the first ; the female sex 

 for the second. Out of the one arises egoism ; out of the 

 other altruism. In their lowest germs these two physio- 

 logical forces are held to have in themselves and to 

 make manifest the prophecy of their final moral result. 

 Even in reproduction by fission, when a low organism 

 overtaxed by the claims of nutrition upon its existing 

 surface splits in two and becomes two organisms, even 

 there Drummond thought he could see the Divine law of 

 sacrifice worked into the very fabric of the animal world. 

 But without pressing such doubtful points we find him 

 urging that sociality and self-sacrifice grow more and more 

 manifest as evolution makes farther and farther advances, 

 a plain revelation (he thinks) that morality, the perfecting 

 of " altruism," is the goal of the entire cosmic process. 



There are two points of special interest in Drum- 

 mond's statement of evolution. We may dwell shortly 

 upon both. Even if the first does not directly elucidate 

 the alleged new conception of the evolutionary process, 

 it is important in connection with views that have still 

 to be considered. 



The point in question is styled by Drummond " the 

 arrest of the body." It seems to follow upon a contri- 

 bution of Dr. A. R. Wallace's, which is very highly praised 

 by Mr. Fiske. In answer to the question, How was 

 natural selection able to differentiate the rational species 

 of mankind from the brute tribes? or Why did not 

 reason die out as soon or as often as it emerged ? Dr. 

 Wallace replied that reason was preserved or was selected 

 as soon as it became sufficient in amount to constitute 

 a greater advantage in the struggle than any physical 

 superiority. Upon this a previous question may arise. 

 How was reason, hitherto unfavoured by the selecting 

 agency, able to leap to that point of magnitude and 



