THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY 



in the history of the stationary communities, our 

 main problem will be to formulate the law of 

 progress from a comparison of the phenomena 

 presented by the progressive communities. 



But before we can fairly enter upon our task, 

 it will be desirable for us to note the Factors 

 of Progress with which we shall chiefly have to 

 deal. 



The prime factors in social progress are the 

 Community and its Environment. The envi- 

 ronment of a community comprises all the cir- 

 cumstances, adjacent or remote, to which the 

 community may be in any way obliged to con- 

 form its actions. It comprises not only the 

 climate of the country, its soil, its flora and 

 fauna, its perpendicular elevation, its relation to 

 mountain chains, the length of its coast line, 

 the character of its scenery, and its geographi- 

 cal position with reference to other countries ; 

 but it includes also the ideas, feelings, customs, 

 and observances of past times, so far as they 

 are preserved by literature, traditions, or monu- 

 ments ; as well as foreign contemporary man- 

 ners and opinions, so far as they are known and 

 regarded by the community in question. Thus 

 defined, the environment may be very limited 

 or very extensive. The environment of an Es- 

 kimo tribe consists of the physical circumstances 

 of Labrador, of adjoining tribes, of a few trad- 

 ers or travellers, and of the sum total of the 



VOL. Ill 2o9 



