AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



rHE questions discussed in this book arose originally as 

 J- side-issues in the prosecution of studies for a much 

 larger book, to be entitled Social Physiology and Pathology, 

 in which I meant to deal with the health and diseases 

 of social organisms, as well as with the laws underlying 

 political energy as it seeks blindly to adapt societies to a 

 changing environment. I had mapped out a work, more, 

 I own, than was sufficient for a lifetime, in which inquiry 

 was to be made in the order and failure of order in societies, 

 their well-being and their disorders, and finally discovered 

 that such labour demanded a considerable knowledge of 

 several sciences, especially that of pathology, so that true 

 distinctions could be drawn between fatally morbid pro- 

 cesses and those morbid states which foreshadowed, and 

 indeed foretold, new social variations. In spite of the un- 

 happy fact that statesmen and politicians of all kinds 

 ignore science, it seemed to me that such a book might at 

 last prove useful even to them if its trend were understood, 

 and its doctrines appreciated, by a few critics. Yet, finding 

 that those who undertake unprofessional work must at 

 least subscribe to the first of the monastic vows, I put the 

 project aside with regret, although I believe that much 

 of this short volume will indicate to those interested in the 



