The Scientific Method. 325 



ogy. We note that each individual will follow out his own 

 aims and desires, and can do nothing else, for he is both a 

 source of power and an end unto himself. He will be 

 guided by the law of his own being, established by his 

 constitution, his training and circumstances. His ideal 

 will always be to do what he wishes to do ; then only will 

 he be satisfied. He can be restrained and prevented from 

 following his chosen course, but he will elude, overcome 

 and thwart the controlling force if he possibly can. If 

 the pressure be increased, his energy is crushed out and he 

 has no more power of self-development at all. 



The strong hand of government, therefore, is a most 

 imperfect method of securing that mutual comity which is 

 the ideal of a perfect State. It can only be administered 

 by men acting forcibly against other men. This of itself 

 fosters the very spirit of antagonism which it is most 

 important to eradicate. The process is repressive of that 

 individual expansion which is the fountain of all social 

 progress. While governmental control is necessary to 

 some extent, no doubt, the needs of a higher civilization 

 demand its continual limitation within narrower bounds 

 and its reduction to a minimum. In the nature of things 

 the rule of man over man, whether by a monarch or the 

 demos, is detrimental to the perfection both of the individ- 

 ual and of society. Its value consists in preventing chaos,, 

 in holding men together in security so as to allow the^ 

 working of a much better process. 



This better Avay is the only way of perfecting civiliza- 

 tion. It allows the individual to have his own will in the 

 most complete liberty, but it aims so to mould his character 

 that his wishes and desires shall coincide exactly with the 

 demands of social welfare. Said Emerson: ''Every man 

 takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat liim. But a 

 day comes when he begins to care that he do not cheat his 

 neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market- 

 cart into a chariot of the sun." This is precisely the 

 Scientific method of promoting reform, its central, essen- 

 tial idea, the only thorough and successful mode, without 

 which nothing else is of any utility and to which every- 

 thing else should be held subservient. 



Theoretical science thus furnishes to practical science 

 two complementary precepts, which should guide all efforts 

 toward social reform. The first is to keep limiting the 



