238 ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 



Advancing from cytology to physiology, Patten argues ana- 

 logically back from sociology, endeavoring to explain the asso- 

 ciation of cells in the mind by the conscious association of 

 men in society.^ This is novel and suggestive if not convincing. 

 All improvement in mental power, he holds, is due to improve- 

 ment in mental mechanism, i. e., in the mechanical arrangement 

 of the constituent elements ^ and this improvement comes on the 

 one hand from surplus energy secured in a favorable environment 

 which expends itself in motor activity resulting in the develop- 

 ment of the motor feelings of pleasure and pain, and in growth; 

 and, on the other hand, as a result of forced migration to escape 

 competition, which results in the development of new organs and 

 sensory feelings.^ 



" There are thus,'* he says, " two stages of progress, — the bio- 

 logic and the social, — corresponding to the two possible environ- 

 ments. In the biologic stage beings are pushed into a local 

 environment where the objective conditions are so complete that 

 little thought is needed to supply the necessities of Kfe. Under 

 these conditions the development of the motor powers determines 

 who shall survive. The organism becomes a more nearly perfect 

 individual because of the growth of organs on the one hand and 

 an increase of desire on the other. In the struggle for such an 

 environment the beings with the superior motor powers drive out 

 those with inferior motor powers. Some of the latter class are, 

 however, better fitted to occupy a general environment where 

 their sensory powers are of more use than in the local environ- 

 ment from which they were driven. The conquered thus find a 

 place to live and by the development of some of the social forces 

 create for themselves a new society with new requisites for sur- 

 vival. When the struggle for existence begins within this new 

 environment, those with superior motor powers will again survive, 

 while those with an imperfect motor organization, but with 

 improved sensory powers, will be forced again into a more general 

 environment where new social instincts must be acquired."* 

 This last quotation takes our author into the domain of psychol- 



* Theory of Social Forces, pp. 18 f. ' Ibid., pp. 48, 51. 



* Ibid., pp. 19 f. * Ibid., p. 52. 



