ETHICS AND ALTRUISM 271 



or in the dissolution of them, no less than in the forma- 

 tion and growth of social units, such as tribes, states, and 

 nations, are natural laws. It is so, also, with those func- 

 tions of the members of such social units in making the 

 rules, customs and laws necessary to preserve the in- 

 tegrity and growth of them. These must conform to the 

 natural laws, always governing the evolution of such 

 bodies, or they will not produce the objects of such or- 

 ganizations. The law of contract is a natural law, for 

 without the fulfillment of contracts, no society could 

 long survive. The laws for the protection of person and 

 property are natural for the same reason. Without 

 these society could not exist. This is why human law 

 must conform to natural laws. The natural, under the 

 principle of evolution, is that which produces only the 

 essential things in the preservation of the cosmic pro- 

 cess, and strong, enduring aggregations of mankind, are 

 among these essential things. A civilization, adapted to 

 the intellectual and ethical development of the members 

 of it, is evidently that form of society which will give 

 the greatest strength to the aggregate, and the most hap- 

 piness to the individuals. Every custom, rule, regula- 

 tion, or law that will work toward such a civilization is 

 a natural law, while every one, that retards, or opposes 

 the coming of such a civilization, is unnatural. 



In the physical w r orld the laws of the indestructibility 

 of matter, the conservation of energy, of condensation, 

 of the attraction of gravitation, evidently are essential 

 to the integrity of the universe. Should there be any 

 power which could, and would change one of these laws, 

 the effect would be disastrous to the whole. It is the 

 same in human affairs. Those laws which work for 

 harmony, and what is called righteousness, are natural 

 sociological laws, and those that work for dissolution, 



