EDITOR'S TABLE. 



123 



such a relaxation of the moral fiber of 

 individuals as would lead them to fore- 

 go their just claims, in presence of vio- 

 lent demands unsupported by reason, 

 there would be great cause to fear that 

 the society as a whole would also ab- 

 negate its just authority and thus leave 

 the way open for lawless, ambitious, 

 and anarchic forces. If not the greatest, 

 the surest service, therefore, which any 

 individual can render to the community 

 in which he lives is to stand on his 

 rights, not in his own interest or for his 

 own sake merely, but in the interest and 

 for the sake of all his fellow-citizens; 

 for in this way others will be encour- 

 aged to stand on their rights, unjust pre- 

 tensions will be discouraged, and the 

 whole fabric of society strengthened. 

 We say this is the surest service an in- 

 dividual can render; because there is 

 no doubt whatever as to the beneficial 

 results of such a line of conduct, where- 

 as all purely altruistic measures are of 

 more or less uncertain tendency. This 

 is shown by the frequent failure of bene- 

 factions to accomplish the purposes for 

 which they were intended, or, we may 

 even say, their frequent perversion to 

 purposes entirely opposed to the objects 

 in view. It requires a vast amount of 

 wisdom to be generous without doing 

 more harm than good ; but, in practicing 

 and insisting on justice, no risk what- 

 ever of doing harm is incurred. 



If there is any one thing in the way 

 of positive effort which the doctrine of 

 evolution seems clearly to prescribe as 

 advantageous, it is the exposition of the 

 doctrine itself to all who are capable of 

 understanding it, so that there may be 

 a general comprehension of the true 

 goal of society and of the conditions 

 necessary for unimpeded social progress. 

 How few persons, comparatively speak- 

 ing, understand that justice is the one 

 vital principle, the one essential condi- 

 tion of social welfare ! How few per- 

 sons are prepared to make allowances 

 for the necessary imperfections of human 

 society, or to see in what is commonly 



regarded as evil a preparation for higher 

 good! How few have the balance of 

 mind that enables them to place a true 

 value on the nostrums of would-be re- 

 formers, who undertake to make you a 

 new society if you will only allow them 

 to pass a law or two! How few have a 

 true and reasoned faith in the possibil- 

 ities of social progress! In regard to 

 all these matters there would be a great 

 increase of public intelligence if the doc- 

 trine of evolution, with all that it im- 

 plies, were as earnestly and industrious- 

 ly taught as certain other views of life, 

 which appeal more to emotion than to 

 reason. The doctrine of evolution stands 

 to-day for the scientific view of life, 

 and, the more that view can be brought 

 home to the masses, the surer will be 

 the foundations of the state, and the 

 more rapidly and happily will the stages 

 that yet separate us from a condition of 

 perfect social health be accomplished. 



SCIENCE AT THE COLUMBIAN 

 EXPOSITION. 



THE great Fair at Chicago marks the 

 utmost achievement of the kind that the 

 world has beheld, and probably the last 

 effort which America will see on the 

 plan of universal inclusion. Science 

 and art in these latter days have become 

 so broad in development, so minute in 

 specialization, that from sheer unwieldi- 

 ness it would be scarcely possible to re- 

 peat the programme of Chicago, ex- 

 panded as it inevitably would be in the 

 flight of time. In Great Britain the 

 universal exhibition has been differenced 

 into a series of expositions of fisheries, 

 inventions, "healtheries," and so on, a 

 sensible plan which America is likely to 

 copy. In displays so vast as those of 

 Jackson Park the ordinary visitor can 

 bestow no more than a passing glance 

 on rows upon rows of cases, often filled 

 with objects of beauty and high in- 

 terest. Those who have been instructed 

 by the Fair are those who went to 

 study a particular feature of it, or the 



