SUGGESTIONS OF SOCIOLOGY. 505 



siast for the " social organism " idea would argue 

 each of these points. 



There are many other objections to the analogy. 

 Thus Mr. E. Montgomery writes : — '^ Vital organi- 

 sation is not brought about like social organisation 

 through the consensus of autonomous units. It is 

 wrought within a unitary being, whose organic dif- 

 ferentiations and specifications were gradually elab- 

 orated through interaction with the medium. The 

 end of vital organisation is realised in the co-opera- 

 tive efficiency of its constitutent parts in total sub- 

 serviency to the organism as an integral being, 

 whilst the true end of social organisation among us 

 human beings is realised in the social consciousness 

 of each constituent individual." * 



But it might be maintained that there is some 

 consensus of units in the making of an animal body, 

 and that in early human societies the consensus was 

 rather enforced than deliberate. 



The ideal society is synonymous with humanity, 

 but the reality is far otherwise. For the purposes 

 of scientific study, we must abstract our ideal concep- 

 tions, and recognise numerous social groups of men 

 who have, w4th some bond of unity and with some 

 persistence, come to share a common life. Such a 

 social group is the unit in sociological study. It is 

 more than a sum of individuals just as an organism 

 is more than the multitude of its cells, just as a mole- 

 cule is more than the sum of its atoms; in other 

 words, it has a unity, it is an integrate. The unity 

 might be more assured, the integration might be 

 more perfect, but without some unity or integration 

 there is no social group in the sociological sense. A 

 casual assortment of individuals, isolated for in- 

 * Intemat. Journal Ethics, VII., 1897, pp. 414-434. 



