322 Social Evolution 



forecast the action of the great dumb forces set in 

 operation by the stupendous industrial revolution 

 which has taken place during the present century. 

 We do not know what to make of the vast displace- 

 ments of population, the expansion of the towns, the 

 unrest and discontent of the masses, and the uneasi- 

 ness of those who are devoted to the present order 

 of things. 



Mr. Kidd sees these problems, but he gropes 

 blindly when he tries to forecast their solution. He 

 sees that the progress of mankind in past ages can 

 only have been made under and in accordance with 

 certain biological laws, and that these laws continue 

 to work in human society at the present day. He 

 realizes the all-importance of the laws which govern 

 the reproduction of mankind from generation to gen- 

 eration, precisely as they govern the reproduction of 

 the lower animals, and which, therefore, largely gov- 

 ern his progress. But he makes a cardinal mistake 

 in treating of this kind of progress. He states with 

 the utmost positiveness that, left to himself, man has 

 not the slightest innate tendency to make any on- 

 ward progress whatever, and that if the conditions 

 of life allowed each man t9 follow his own inclina- 

 tions the average of one generation would always 

 tend to sink below the average of the preceding. 

 This is one of the sweeping generalizations of which 

 Mr. Kidd is fond, and which mar so much of his 

 work. He evidently finds great difficulty in stat- 

 ing a general law with the proper reservations and 

 with the proper moderation of phrase; and so he 



