GENERAL 



may conceive a cosmic society, of which the world 

 states of various planets are the component units. 

 The formula of evolution completely and exactly 

 covers all these facts and possibilities. And we 

 may further note that the evolutionary conception 

 is entirely and inexorably opposed to the vulgar 

 idea that whatever injures one state will benefit 

 another. Just as the stomach, in the old Roman 

 fable, was found to minister to the wants of the 

 whole body which is an organic whole, in accord- 

 ance with the evolutionary formula of differentia- 

 tion and integration so the wisdom of the future 

 will recognize the truth that the plague in India in- 

 jures even Manchester, and a war in the Far East 

 even the denizens of the farthest West. Altruism, 

 in a word, is a necessary product of cosmic laws. 



Now let us briefly consider the type-case of the 

 evolution of a class in modern society. 



The other day, at dinner, a Roman Catholic 

 friend of mine, who had reached that stage pre- 

 liminary to the priesthood in which the aspirant 

 is known as an "exorcist," laughingly challenged 

 me on the score of the relative antiquity of our 

 professions, claiming priority for the priest as 

 against the physician. Now, the history of medi- 

 cine is not yet a recognized subject in any of our 

 curricula, and even those who have studied it in 

 the available treatises will perhaps find few data 

 wherewith to decide a question which is of no 

 small interest to the student of the past. Further- 

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