CONDITIONS OF PROGRESS 



solution. Let us deal in this way with the prob- 

 lem before us, which is one of the most com- 

 plex and difficult that the history of the world 

 presents. 



It will be obvious to every one that there is 

 a close kinship between this question in socio- 

 logy and the biological question why certain 

 species remain unchanged through countless 

 ages. The latter fact has been urged as an ob- 

 stacle in the way of the development theory, 

 and has been felt to be such by Dr. Bastian, 

 who has endeavoured to dispose of it by an ex- 

 traordinary application of his favourite theories 

 of archebiosis and heterogenesis.^ But indeed 

 those who urge this fact as an obstacle, and those 

 who seek to explain it away, show that they have 

 not thoroughly comprehended the Doctrine of 

 Evolution. For example, it is not Implied in 

 the general law of evolution, as above expounded 

 in chapter iv., that wherever the integration of 

 matter and concomitant dissipation of motion 

 are going on, there must always ensue a change 

 from indefinite uniformity to definite multi- 

 formity of structure. As has already been shown, 

 such a change can be expected to take place 

 only when a number of specified circumstances 

 concur in forwarding it. So it is one of the pe- 

 culiar merits of Mr. Darwin's theory of natural 

 selection, that it does not allege an unceasing 



^ Bastian, Beginnings of Life, vol. ii. pp. 584-640. 



5 



