THE ECONOMY OF NATURE 19 



co-ordination and proper unification by being related to some 

 central principle. 



Before this desirable end can be achieved, however, we 

 need a valid comprehension of what constitutes true usefulness, 

 i.e., usefulness in the widest evolutionary sense, a valid quali- 

 tative standard of measurement. For, what kind of" appetency," 

 of " union," " fertilisation," " conditions," " use," and of 

 " discipline " is it that is conducive to definite modification in 

 the direction of progressive evolution ? 



Some writers seem to have felt instinctively that the answer 

 to such queries must be looked for in Bio-Economics. They 

 have hinted that comparisons with the normal growth of wealth 

 might prove useful. The difficulty here, however, seems to have 

 been that the " Science of Wealth," the " dismal " science, as 

 stated at present, has little commended itself to Biologists. 

 Professors Geddes and Thomson, for example, call it a " preten- 

 tious but inchoate would-be-science." 



In so far as Economics have hitherto been too arbitrarily or 

 unscrutinisingly drawn upon, there has resulted nothing but 

 defective views and mischief, justifying Samuel Butler's gibes 

 that " as soon as the world began to busy itself with evolution 

 it said good-bye to common-sense and must get on with 

 uncommon sense as best it can ; " that " it will take years to 

 get the evolution theory out of the mess in which Mr. Darwin 

 has left it," and justifying also the arraignment of modern 

 Biology by French sociologists on the score of an utter lack 

 of " jugements de valeur." 



A further result of these shortcomings is that evolution, 

 which, as was well said by Samuel Butler, should affect human 

 affairs at every touch and turn, has become unattractive to the 

 general public. On the whole, it proved true as Henry 

 Drummond remarked, namely, that evolution was given to the 

 modern world out of focus, was first seen by it out of focus, 

 and has remained out of focus to the present hour. 



It was not unnaturally expected at one time that " Evolution" 

 would enlighten us about " les volontes de la nature " and 

 provide us with " un metre du progr&s, un crit^re objectif du 

 bien et du mal." 



But the hopes of the world were to be sadly disappointed. 

 Instead of teaching us the ideal goal and the true means of pro- 

 gress of our own species, Evolution has bid fair to poison our 



