242 WARFARE IN THE HUMAN BODY 



companions. Thus we give out encouragement as a gland 

 may yield powerful stimulation in danger. 



You will see then that the beginnings of organization 

 exist in all of us : in the whole human race. We are 

 gregarious, unless we are ill ; we commonly associate 

 together for ends that appeal to us ; we form clubs and 

 societies. It is in our nature to do so. Without desire 

 of common action there could be no social life and no pro- 

 gress. Altruism, or thought for others, exists in us all, 

 though perhaps only as a seed : we are always prepared 

 to make some kind of sacrifice for common ends. We 

 cannot live alone. 



Many of you here have been Public School boys. 

 English schoolmasters maintain that the chief end of a 

 school is not direct preparation for actual life but the pro- 

 duction of character. How far they succeed I should not 

 like to say in this place, but so far as they do it is 

 because the boys are trained to work in teams and 

 taught to sacrifice their ease and leisure, and even their 

 hopes of distinction, to the honour and glory of their 

 school. So the essential thing is not mere production of 

 what is commonly called an upright character. Such a 

 person may be incapable of working with others. What is 

 wanted is the production of a character as a fit part of an 

 organization which can subdue all self-regarding instincts 

 and impulses. If a young cricketer is a sound member of 

 his school, being turned down for the First Eleven may, 

 indeed, be bitter, but if he recognizes it as just he takes it, 

 as we say, like a man. For to be " like a man " is a great 

 thing. It implies endurance, courage, self-restraint. Such 

 a boy learns to trust in the judgment of others who have 

 proved themselves, and he knows that loud revolt is not 

 playing the game. Submission of this order is necessary 



