106 SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



not be lost to the race but will probably appear in the 

 offspring and form the basis for new gains. And so, in 

 the course of the struggle for existence, those animals 

 that tended to vary in the direction of a sociable and 

 docile disposition, would, other things being equal, have 

 a better chance to survive over their isolated competitors, 

 and surviving, would tend to transmit to their progeny 

 by the laws of heredity those same social characteristics. 

 In this way, traits must have been constantly scrutinized 

 by natural selection and the social characteristics picked 

 out and given the stamp of approval. Hence, long before 

 the differentiation of man, animals were developing that 

 social nature which is now the chief characteristic of the 

 human species. During the ages that must have elapsed 

 in the transition from anthropoid to man the process 

 of socialization continued to do its work selecting the 

 sociable and excluding or exterminating the unsocial. 



Association reacted powerfully upon variation, for 

 social life furnished safety from enemies and permanence 

 of food supply, making possible the birth and nurture 

 of a larger number of offspring, also permitting new 

 variations to arise and to become definite characteristics 

 of the group. Under conditions of comparative security, 

 individuals possessing variations in the direction of 

 tolerance, sympathy, and compassion, were likely to be 

 favored with longer life and more numerous progeny 

 than individuals without these traits. These refinements 

 would have hindered the single individual practising the 

 ruthless cruelty demanded by the more rigorous condi- 

 tions of a lonely state. In short, refined sensibilities 

 constitute qualities disadvantageous in isolated individ- 

 uals, but which under the improved conditions of life 

 in societies favor survival. Hence association, through 



