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of the reciprocal relation which holds between the gradual 

 growth of the social life and the development of the individual. 

 It is obvious, from such a study, that man, at any stage of 

 his development, is closely bound up with the community or 

 society of which he is a member. As a member of such society, 

 he inherits the language, the 'institutions' the customs, tradi- 

 tions, etc., which have been created and bequeathed to him by 

 those who have preceded him, although he, in turn, helps to 

 change and develop these institutions. These, in large part, 

 may be said to constitute his environment. This inheritance 

 of the race, or social atmosphere, is that into which the in- 

 dividual is born, and constitutes the major portion of his life. 

 On this understanding it is manifest that the life of the indi- 

 vidual is dependent upon that of society. And yet, at the 

 same time, it is upon the individual that society depends, for 

 society, manifestly, would not exist were it not for the indi- 

 vidual members composing it, and working through its or- 

 ganized channels. On the atomic view of society, each indi- 

 vidual is regarded as complete in himself, and consequently, 

 between him and the society of which he forms a part, there can 

 be no basis for the establishment, much less the development, 

 of those social institutions which constitute human progress. 

 This, of course, has often been expressed by the familiar saying 

 that the welfare of the whole is also the welfare of the part. 



In view of this interdependence of the individual and so- 

 ciety, there arise values in the life of the individual which have 

 arisen only by reason of this social life. Certain conditions, 

 or modes of living, have been preferred by social groups, and 

 these things have, in the course of history, become incorpor- 

 ated into the life of society, in the form of institutions, cus- 

 toms, and laws. If it be asked how these institutions have 

 come to be adopted in human society, the answer must be 

 found in an examination of human progress; but, in the last 

 analysis, this progress depends on the simple, undeniable fact 

 that individuals preferred one way of doing things to that of 

 another. And these preferences were not mere caprices, but 

 abiding, relatively-constant factors in human life. 



To bring out more clearly the statement of the preceding 

 paragraph, reference may be had to the institution in ancient 

 Israel of the so-called cities of refuge. In the state of society 

 prior to this time, if one man took the life of another, he must 

 be slain by the dead man's nearest of kin. This was the 

 generally acknowledged mode of the administration of justice. 

 It was seen, however, that the carrying out of this law, in 

 many cases, meant death to men who were really innocent. 

 Hence a trial must be had, and meantime asylums provided 



