120 NATURAL SELECTION AND 



unlock all mysteries. We can understand the 

 suspicions roused in the mind of the historical 

 student. But he is a bold man who, in the 

 name of science, calls himself an " Anti-evo- 

 lutionist " in these days when even theologians 

 are endeavouring to make peace with the 

 conqueror : yet he is performing a useful 

 function, keeping us from falling into a "dog- 

 matic slumber," and forcing us to analyse the 

 conceptions we employ. 



I propose to examine very briefly some argu- 

 ments against the applicability of evolutional 

 theories to the study of social institutions, which 

 have recently been put forward by an eloquent 

 Hungarian scholar, Dr. Emil Reich, in a little 

 book entitled " Grceco-Roman InstittUions" 1 the 

 precursor, I believe, of a larger work on the 

 History of Civilisation. I am not here con- 

 cerned with Dr. Reich's theories about the 

 origin of Roman Law, a matter which must be 

 left to specialists ; nor shall I say anything here 

 about his underlying philosophical principles, 

 which seem to me to imply a disbelief both 



1 Grceco-Roman Institutions from an Anti-evolutionist 

 point of view. Four lectures delivered before the University 

 of Oxford, by Emil Reich, Doct. Jur. : Oxford, 1S90. 



