SELECTION: ORGANIC AND SOCIAL 223 



that organisms may evolve " downwards " as well 

 as " upwards " in becoming fitter to given con- 

 ditions. By " upwards " is meant in the direction 

 of a more differentiated and integrated organisa- 

 tion a more complex and controlled constitution 

 and we have a habit of regarding ourselves as being 

 very much " up/' Now, while it is true that the 

 general trend of evolution throughout the ages has 

 been " upwards," we must not forget that the 

 tapeworm has been evolved as truly as the golden 

 eagle, the one in a dark bypath, the other on the 

 mountain-tops, both well adapted to their con- 

 ditions of life. 



The term " reversed selection " has been applied 

 to cases where, under altered conditions, organisms 

 seem to have gone " downwards," but the term is 

 unfortunate. If by selection a race is becoming 

 better adapted to the conditions of its life, it is 

 to the cold-blooded scientific onlooker immaterial 

 whether the direction of the race-movement is 

 up or down. It is evolution all the same. Con- 

 sidering the movement in relation to a standard, 

 however, we may say that some selective pro- 

 cesses make for progress along the lines which 

 have marked the general trend of evolution 

 greater complexity, greater control, a fuller, freer 

 life and that other selective processes make for 

 change in the opposite direction. 



Our question now is, are there in human society 

 selective processes at work which make for de- 

 generacy ? We all know the difficulty of answering 

 this question, because social processes are so com- 

 plex and many-sided. Even when the social 

 selection is in part wrong we cannot always stop 

 it. Civilisation is a long-drawn-out compromise. 



