SPENCER'S "SOCIAL ORGANISM" U7 



body, the hind limbs may be seen trying to 

 propel the body in one direction, while the 

 fore limbs are trying to propel it in another/' 



As we move up in the animal world the 

 nervous system culminates in a centralized 

 brain, and similarly as society becomes more 

 complex, government appears. 



And now the great apostle of the non-inter- 

 ference of government with the life of society 

 is driven into the glaring contradiction of con- 

 tending that the highest animal organization 

 is that in which the brain, which he compares 

 to government in society, interferes and con- 

 trols most effectively. 



"Strange as the assertion will be thought," 

 he says, "our Houses of Parliament discharge, 

 in the social economy, functions which are in 

 sundry respects comparable to those dis- 

 charged by the cerebral masses in a vertebrate 

 animal." Strange indeed! Especially to Mr, 

 Spencer's disciples. 



Then Mr. Spencer discovers that the kind of 

 brain activity displayed by the highest animals 

 best compares with that form of government 

 called "representative." 



He says: "It is the nature of those great 

 and latest-developed ganglia which distinguish 

 the higher animals, to interpret and combine 

 the multiplied and varied impressions conveyed 



