EXTENT OF THE ANALOGIES. 385 



why, on the other hand, the State is to be maintained 

 solely for the benefit of citizens. The corporate life must 

 here be subservient to the lives of the parts ; instead 

 of the lives of the parts being subservient to the 3orpo 

 rate life. 



Such, then, are the points of analogy and the points of 

 diflference. May we not say that the points of diiference 

 serve but to bring into clearer light the points of analogy. 

 While comparison makes definite the obvious contrasts be- 

 tween organisms commonly so called, and the social organ- 

 ism ; it shows that even these contrasts are not so decided 

 as was to be expected. The indefiniteness of form, the 

 discontinuity of the parts, the mobility of the parts, and 

 the universal sensitiveness, are not only peculiarities of the 

 social organism which have to be stated with considerable 

 qualifications ; but they are peculiarities to which the in- 

 ferior classes of animals present approximations. Thus we 

 find but little to conflict with the all-important analogies 

 That societies slowly augment in mass ; that they progress 

 in complexity of structure; that at the same time their parts 

 become more mutually dependent ; that their living units 

 are removed and replaced without destroying their in- 

 tegrity ; and further, that the extents to which they dis- 

 play these peculiarities are proportionate to their vital ac- 

 tivities ; are traits that societies have in common with 

 organic bodies. And these traits in which they agree with 

 organic bodies and disagree wdth all other things — these 

 traits which in truth specially characterize organic bodies, 

 entirely subordinate the minor distinctions : such distinc- 

 tions being scarcely greater than those which sej^arate one 

 half of the organic kingdom from the other. The princi- 

 ples of organization are the same ; and the differences are 

 gimply differences of application. 



Here ending this general survey of the facts which 

 justif} the comparison of a society to a living body ; 

 17 



