EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



effect of individual actions in relation to envi- 

 roning conditions, one may nevertheless deal 

 with the subject practically in more than one way. 

 One writer may turn his attention chiefly to the 

 consideration of those individual variations in 

 opinion and conduct which, in our ignorance 

 concerning their complex modes of genesis, we 

 call spontaneous variations. Another writer may 

 be more deeply interested in pointing out such 

 circumstances as those of geographical position, 

 of commercial intercourse, of political cohesive- 

 ness, by which the broad outlines of history have 

 been more or less determined. The two points 

 of view seem to me complementary rather than 

 opposed to each other, though it is a common 

 fault among speculative writers to ignore the ex- 

 istence of all the doors that cannot be unlocked 

 with their own particular little key. Mr. Bage- 

 hot in that " golden little book " which I ad- 

 mire as much as Dr. James does deals more 

 especially with the interior or psychical aspects 

 of the causes of changes in society. Mr. Grant 

 Allen, on the other hand, is deeply impressed 

 with the manifold and remarkable ways in which 

 the histories of nations have been affected by 

 their geographical position ; though by " geo- 

 graphical position " he means something far 

 more considerable than that household drudge 

 of superficial writers, the climate : he means the 

 entire situation of a nation, strategic, industrial 

 168 



