22 The Scojje and Principles 



Whether this hope in individuals be vivid or dim will prob- 

 ably be largely a matter of temperament and predisposi- 

 tion ; but it will doubtless be even more dependent upon 

 the lively comprehension of this fundamental doctrine of 

 biological evolution the doctrine of the essential good- 

 ness and desirability of life itself. 



From what has heretofore been said, it is evident that 

 Evolution, whether regarded in its philosophical or in its 

 religious aspects, will largely interest itself in the practical 

 problems of sociology in the promotion of more active 

 and more widely extended human sympathies, in the eleva- 

 tion of the poor, the vicious and the down-trodden thus 

 extending the boundaries and the satisfactions of life not 

 only among the remote and barbarous populations of the 

 earth, but also, primarily and correlatively, in each individ- 

 ual member of society. The word " sociology," as applied 

 to the science of society, or its French equivalent, is, I 

 believe, the invention of Auguste Comte ; but the credit of 

 working out this science of society, from strictly scientific 

 data, into a natural and comprehensive system, is due, more 

 than to any one else, to Mr. Herbert Spencer. It is to this 

 study, most vital in interest and importance to every 

 liuman being, that this series of lectures will direct our 

 attention. 



Whether or not society may be properly termed '' an or- 

 ganism," in the strict sense in which the individual prod- 

 ucts of biological evolution are thus designated, it certainly 

 bears a close relation to them in many important respects, 

 and especially as to the character of its process of growth. 

 As compared with the development of inorganic materials, 

 which grow by simple accretion or addition to their bulk, 

 organic substances grow by intussusception a process of 

 waste and repair which reaches every i)article throujj^liout 

 their internal structure. In this respect the growth of 

 societies resembles that of organic substances ; it is a sort 

 of vital chemistry. All actual and permanent enlargement 

 of society proceeds from the voluntary co-operative action 

 of individuals. Affection and self-interest are the attrac- 

 tive forces which weld society together, and these forces 

 ojjcrate directly in and u])on individual iniiuls, throughout 

 the social structure. The death of individuals, and the 

 birth and growtli of others to fill their places in society, 

 proceeds in like manntu- with the processes of waste and 



