COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



deed, but a special form of the more general 

 case. How to secure a compromise between 

 fluidity and rigidity is in both cases the essen- 

 tial desideratum. Where the units which make 

 up the aggregate have too much individual free- 

 dom of motion, the result is a fluid state in 

 which there is no chance for stable structural 

 arrangements. Where they have too little free- 

 dom of motion, the result is a solid state in 

 which there is no chance for structural rearrange- 

 ments. In the first case, where there is so little 

 dissipation of motion, there is little or no Evo- 

 lution. In the second case, where so little in- 

 ternal motion is retained, the Evolution which 

 occurs is simply or chiefly a process of consoli- 

 dation, unattended by any considerable advance 

 from indeterniinate uniformity toward determi- 

 nate multiformity. 



Bearing in mind that we are dealing, not with 

 a mere series of striking analogies, but with a 

 group of real resemblances which result from a 

 fundamental homology between the special pro- 

 cess here considered and the more general pro- 

 cess which includes it, let us observe that one 

 chief circumstance which secures mobility with- 

 out loss of coherence is a heterogeneous and 

 ever-changing social environment, to the heter- 

 ogeneous changes of which the community is 

 continually required to adjust itself. The illus- 

 trations above given unite in showing that 

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