fHE DAWN OF CIVILIZA'flON 57 



marched in lockstep. The " cake of custom " hardened over 

 life.« 



All this had to be, and could not well be otherwise. If men 

 and women were to live and walk together in communities 

 larger than the single family, they must agree. Insubordina- 

 tion meant anarchy and social disintegration. Freedom of 

 thought and action must wait until certain fundamentals and 

 essentials had become thoroughly established. For thou- 

 sands of years this steady and unremitting pressure was main- 

 tained and did its work. It resulted in tribal citizenship prob- 

 ably based on community of blood and descent; in social or- 

 der, cooperation and harmony; in a sort of government. It 

 tamed and civilized the savage and prepared him for a still 

 higher stage. 



The growth and development of social life is perhaps the 

 most interesting fact in the history of the life of higher ani- 

 mals. The tendency to keep together is deep-rooted. We 

 find insects and their larvae, not to mention lower forms, mov- 

 ing in swarms, fish live and migrate in schools, partly be- 

 cause of the unequal distribution of food, though even here 

 we suspect, or recognize a feeling of and for kind. A dim 

 feeling of comfort or enjoyment in companionship has led to 

 a gregarious life. 



In birds and mammals the tendency to flock or herd to- 

 gether is a most important element in survival and progress. 

 This is so wide-spread that solitary mammals, Hke some car- 

 nivora, seem to be the exception. Usually they group to- 

 gether for mutual aid and protection, as Kropotkin has shown. "^ 

 The survival value of this instinct can hardly be over- 

 estimated. It has double value as it continually replaces 

 mutual competition, struggle and enmity, by mutual coopera- 

 tion, and helpfulness, ending in friendship and love. It has 

 been, perhaps, the strongest factor in humanizing man. He 

 has discovered and formed larger and larger units of coopera- 

 tion. 



^55- 211. 



