86 HUXLEY MEMORIAL LECTURES 



the study of man as an individual and of man in 

 society claims its rights; for if we assume human 

 nature to be other than it is, our whole construc- 

 tion is built of unsound materials, and will topple 

 into ruins as fast as we build. Men are the bricks 

 of which any community must be built, and we 

 must know what strain those bricks will stand, 

 and whether they can resist wind and rain. I 

 take it that the only true basis of socialism lies in 

 the idea that the good of individuals must be sub- 

 ordinated to the good of the community. Here 

 we are all agreed. But we come at once to 

 the question what is the good of the community, 

 and how is it to be promoted? 



If socialism implies a belief in the perfect 

 equality of the sexes, then the Maker of the 

 world certainly is not a socialist, for He has given 

 the two sexes different faculties, and imposed on 

 them different tasks. If socialism wishes to 

 abolish the family, it must discover motives suffi- 

 cient to induce men and women, apart from the 

 old family motives, to observe the rules of 

 morality and to greatly desire to have descend- 

 ants. If socialism wishes to make the state the 

 universal employer it must find out how to secure 

 energy and honesty in those who direct, and 

 docility and industry among those who labour, 

 apart from the hard discipline of the struggle for 

 existence which at present keeps society going, 

 whether better or worse. It is possible that as 

 we have superseded sailing vessels by steamships, 



