THE HISTORY OF INSTITUTIONS. 121 



in civilisation and in history. 1 I have to do- 

 only with those pages in which he attacks the 

 evolution theory. Furthermore, I am not 

 joiner to deal with "differentiation" and "inte^- 

 ration," the " homogeneous " and the " hetero- 

 geneous," or any of the rest of Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer's antithetical formulae. I shall con- 

 sider only "the concepts of Darwinism," to 

 which, fortunately for my purpose, Dr. Reich 

 limits his remarks. 



Let me then take the factors required by the 

 theory of natural selection, and see in what 

 sense, if in any, they are applicable to society. 

 These are variation, heredity, struggle for 

 e.vistenee. 



2. "VARIATION." 



In the biological sphere the laws of varia- 

 tion are still to a great extent wrapped in 

 " profound mystery " and the subject of 

 ingenious speculations. When, therefore, some 



1 Dr. Reich quotes with approval the dictum of Schopen- 

 hauer : " He who has read Herodotus has read all history, 

 the rest being variations on an old theme" a curious 

 preliminary to a History of Civilisation. What would the 

 reader of Herodotus learn about Roman law? 



