BENEVOLENCE AND DISCIPLINE 151 



those which normally have fulfilled their reproductive 

 functions, are deliberately destroyed by their former 

 associates; or they are excluded in various ways from 

 the giving and receiving of social services. In these 

 'cases the prolongation of the post-sexual period of life 

 is determined, apparently, not by insuperable organic 

 difficulties within the individual, but by external con- 

 ditions, or by difficulties in social administration, 

 which, so long as they are unsolved, prevent the further 

 utilization o'f the sexual equipment as an altruistic 

 agency. 



Here, as in so many other cases, the power of 

 growth outruns the power of administration, and this 

 surplus of an over-long life, with its potentially valu- 

 able equipment, awaits its creative opportunity. 



But, broadly speaking, with the progress of evolu- 

 tion, the increasing momentum of highly organized 

 growth tends to save, or prolong parental life more and 

 more beyond the period requisite for the mere con- 

 summation of its self-repeating function, or the endow- 

 ment of its offspring with necessary reconstructive ma- 

 terials and moral resources. In man, the post-sexual 

 period is of considerable duration, and under modern 

 social conditions it is finding specific outlets into larger 

 fields of altruism, and its value as a creative social fac- 

 tor is rapidly increasing. 



This is chiefly due to man's more recently discovered 

 ways of conserving the profits of his vital activities, 

 and to his innumerable inventions for conveying them 

 to mankind as material, mental, or spiritual gifts. 



By these inventions and discoveries, the creative 

 possibilities of mental and physical labor were enor- 

 mously diversified and multiplied; the social value of 



