SOCIAL EVOLUTION 277 



oneself. This is true socialism. 1 This is religion, 

 or to use the fashionable term this is altruism. 

 The study of ourselves and of natural phenomena, 

 and this is the highest study, tends to this order 

 of thought. 



The development of organisms is always uncertain. 

 Clever parents seldom have clever children. The want 

 of ability in the child is always beyond his control. 

 We now know this defect arises from a defective 

 organism the brain, that is. a brain not so highly 

 organized as the parent or parents. And while we 

 must allow such to take a back seat in the condi- 

 tion of things, we should in all cases permit the 

 existence of such beings to be that of as much happi- 

 ness as their condition may permit. We cannot be all 

 geniuses, but the genius can live to promote happiness 

 for others. 



The theoretical conception that all men are born 

 equal is absurd. Men are not born physically equal, 

 and therefore not mentally equal, but this is no reason 

 why those who enjoy the superior advantages of life, 

 should not consider their weaker brethren. More- 

 over these exceptional minds should always remember 

 what they owe to others, for, " even the ablest men 

 amongst us, whose names go down to history connected 

 with great discoveries and inventions, have each in 



1 "True socialism lias always one definite object in view, up to 

 which all its proposals directly or indirectly lead. This is the final 

 suspension uf that personal struggle for existence which has been 

 waged, not only from the beginning of society, but, in one form or 

 another, from the beginning of life." (" Social Evolution," Benjamin 

 Kidd, 1895, p. 220.) 



