280 EVOLUTION AND THE PRESENT AGE 
great difficulty of securing wise legislation is illustrated 
by the fact that in almost all statute books, nine-tenths 
of the legislation comes under the class which might 
be introduced as an act to repeal an act. Continually 
we find men asserting in one breath that human nature 
is always the same, and in the next moment assuming 
that it may be extensively remodelled by some happy 
feat of legislation. Now the mental habits that come 
from a study of evolution lead us to very different 
views upon such matters. We can produce abundant 
evidence to show that human nature is not always the 
same, while we also recognize that it cannot be sud- 
denly or violently modified by any governmental might 
or cunning. We recognize that one must not expect 
to take a mass of poor units and organize them into an 
excellent sum total. We do not imagine that a com- 
munity of Hottentots would be particularly benefited 
by our federal constitution any more than they would 
feel comfortable in our clothes. Our experience makes 
us feel that human nature admits of very considerable 
improvement, but that this can be effected only through 
the slow and cumulative effect of countless reactions of 
individual experience upon individual character, and 
that therefore while the millennium is sure to come 
sooner or later, it can neither be bullied nor coaxed into 
coming prematurely. It seems to me that this mental 
attitude toward social reforms has been notably 
strengthened and diffused within recent years. 
A word must be said in conclusion about the effects 
of recent science upon man’s view of his relation to 
the universe. To untrained minds in all ages the sub- 
stitution of a familiar and calculable agency for one 
remote and incalculable has had an atheistic look, and 
