356 



FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 



by those whose line of choice has been safe. Death is 

 not the punishment of folly, but its inevitable result. 

 Severity of condition and stress of competition are met 

 in life by the survival of those adequate to meet these 

 conditions. Thus " in creatures sore bestead by the 

 environment," when instinct and impulse fail, reason 

 rises to insure safety. At last with civilized man rea- 

 son comes to be a chief element in the guidance of 

 life. With greater power to know and hence to choose 

 safely, greater complexity of conditions becomes pos- 

 sible, and the multifarious demands of modern civiliza- 

 tion find some at least who can meet them fairly well. 

 To such the stores of human wisdom must be open. 

 To others, safety in new conditions lies only in imi- 

 tation. The multitudes of civilized men, like the mul- 

 titudes of animals, are kept alive by the instinct of 



conventionality. The instinct to follow 

 Conventionality. , . , , ^ , . 



those who have passed over saiely is 



one of the most useful of all impulses to action. In 



the same connection we must recognise authority as a 



. . . most important source of knowledge to 



Authority. ,.,..,,, 



the individual ; but its value is propor- 

 tioned to the ability of the individual to use the tests 

 wisdom must apply to the credentials of authority. 



But instinct, appetite, impulse, conventionality, and 

 respect for authority all point backward. They are 



the outcome of past conditions. " New 



Instinct springs • , • j ^- •» j 



^ ^ occasions bring new duties, and new 

 from past 



conditions facts and laws must be learned if men 



prove adequate to the life their own in- 

 stitutions and their own development have brought 

 upon them. To the wise and obedient the most complex 

 life brings no special strain or discomfort. It is as easy 

 to do great things as small, if one only knows how. But 

 to the ignorant, weak, and perverse the growth of civili- 



