142 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



limited way, did exist among lower animals, nowliere 

 else than in man has the family contained a prin- 

 ciple wliich led to further development and further 

 organization. From the time of the establishment of 

 the family the unit of selection is changed. Hitherto 

 natural selection was directed toward the preserva- 

 tion of the best-fitted individuals. From now on the 

 struggle for existence is directed toward the preser- 

 vation of that combination of individuals which 

 forms the best famil}" unit. This change in the 

 center of evolution has been the basis of all modern 

 advance. Even at the present time the family is, in 

 a large measure, the unit toward which the great law 

 of nature is directed — the law of natural selection 

 and the survival of the fittest. 



The Permanence of the Human Family 



The family has continued to remain the founda- 

 tion of society through all the vicissitudes of the roll- 

 ing centuries. It has had many attacks made upon 

 it, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously. 

 Plato in his ideal republic attempted to overthrow 

 the family organization. In later centuries various 

 sects have attempted to produce the same result. 

 The Anabaptists and Shakers are sects organized 

 with the endeavor to overthrow the family, and ever 

 and anon other religious sects have appeared with 

 this same purpose. Sometimes the family organiza- 

 tion has been almost overthrown. At the time of the 

 Eoman empire the immense development of wealth 

 and the attendant corruption reduced family life to 

 its lowest ebb, and almost destroyed it. To this 

 destruction of the family life in the Roman empire 

 not only the wealth and corruption of the ruling 



