SUGGESTIONS OF SOCIOLOGY. 511 



(II.) Function. — Biology has also brought to 

 sociology the idea that the structural features of an 

 organ are to be interpreted in relation to its function 

 or activity. The various forms of activity — so 

 numerous in a modern complex society — are for the 

 most parts referable to the obvious needs of mankind. 

 Many of them are pre-figured in the pursuits and 

 industries of animals, which include hunting and 

 fishing, even hints of agriculture and shepherding 

 (in ants), securing shelter and protection, and so on. 

 Love and hunger, if we use the words widely, are 

 the fundamental impulses which sway both animal 

 and human life. We recall Goethe's question: — 

 ^^ Warum treibt sich das VolJc so, und schreit/^ and 

 the answer: — Es will sich erndhren. Kinder zeugen, 

 U7id sie ndhren so gut es vermag.^^ 



To get food, shelter, and clothing; to replace the 

 feeling of fear (for dead as well as living!) by a 

 sense of security ; to satisfy the sexual impulse and 

 the desire for companionship — these are at once pri- 

 mary and fundamental needs, each of which has been 

 the subject of much sociological research. In many 

 a social group they may be, as it were, masked in 

 the garments of culture, but the fundamental needs 

 remain none the less. When they are unrecognis- 

 able, it usually means some morbid condition of 

 body or mind. 



We can imagine how long ago in paheolithic days, 

 when men were perhaps for the most part vegeta- 

 rians, the ravaging of the home by some wild beast, 

 led to an organised chase, and how the pursuers, at 

 last circumventing their enemy, satisfied at once rage 

 and hunger with the warm flesh. We can imagine 

 how more adventurous spirits took to hunting for 

 other reasons, how they brought home the young 



