146 Determinate Evolution 



2. The other consideration tends in the same direction. 

 With the intelUgence comes the growth of sentiment, espe- 

 cially the great class of social sentiments, and their out- 

 come the ethical and religious sentiments. The sense of 

 personality or self, which is the kernel of intelligent growth, 

 involves the social environment and reflects it. Now this 

 social sense also acts, wherever it exists, as an * orthoplastic ' 

 influence — a directive influence, through organic selec- 

 tion, upon the course of evolution. In the animal world it 

 is of importance enough to have been seized upon and 

 made instinctive. Animal association acts to screen cer- 

 tain groups of creatures from the direct operation of natural 

 selection upon them as individuals. 



In man the social sentiment keeps pace with his intelli- 

 gence, and so enables him again to discount natural selec- 

 tion by cooperation with his brethren. From childhood up 

 the individual is screened from the physical evils of the 

 world by his fellows. So another reason appears for con- 

 sidering the course of evolution to be now dominated by 

 the intelligence. 



But, it may be asked, does not this render progress 

 impossible, seeing that it is only through the operation 

 of natural selection upon variations — even allowing for 

 organic selection — that progress depends } This may be 

 answered in the affirmative, so far as progress by physical 

 heredity is concerned. Not only do we not find such 

 progress, but the researches of Galton, Weismann, and 

 others show that there is probably little or no progress, 

 even in intelligence, from father to son. The great man 

 who comes as a variation does not commonly have sons as 

 great. Intermarriage keeps the level of intelligent endow- 

 ment relatively stable, by what Galton has called 'regression.' 



