226 TRANSFORMATION AND EQUIVALENCE OF FORCES. 



can become a mode of consciousness — how it is possible for 

 aerial vibrations to generate the sensation we call sound, or 

 for the forces liberated by chemical changes in the brain 

 to give rise to emotion — these are mysteries which it is im- 

 possible to fathom. But they are not profounder mysteries 

 than the transformations of the physical forces into each 

 other. They are not more completely beyond our compre- 

 hension than the natures of Mind and Matter. They have 

 simply the same insolubility as all other ultimate questions. 

 We can learn nothing more than that here is one of the uni- 

 formities in the order of phenomena. 



§ 72. If the general law of transformation and equiva- 

 lence holds of the forces we class as vital and mental, it must 

 hold also of those which we class as social. "Whatever takes 

 place in a society is due to organic or inorganic agencies, or 

 to a combination of the two — results either from the undi- 

 rected physical forces around, from these physical forces as 

 directed by men, or from the forces of the men themselves. 

 Xo change can occur in its organization, its mode of activity, 

 or the effects it produces on the face of the Earth, but what 

 proceeds, mediately or immediately, from these. Let us con- 

 sider first the correlation between the phenomena which 

 societies display, and the vital phenomena. 



Social power and life varies, other things equal, with the 

 population. Though different races, differing widely in 

 their fitness for combination, show us that the forces mani- 

 fested in a society are not necessarily proportionate to the 

 number of people; yet we see that under given conditions, 

 the forces manifested are confined within the limits which 

 the number of people imposes. A small society, no matter 

 how superior the character of its members, cannot exhibit 

 the same quantity of social action as a large one. The pro- 

 duction and distribution of commodities must be on a com- 

 paratively small scale. A multitudinous press, a prolific lit- 

 erature, or a massive political agitation, is not possible. And 



