726 Dynamic Tlieory. 



to show that the murder had been committed by members of another 

 tribe, and that the boy was, as he claimed, innocent of the crime." 

 (Clark, Sign Language, 301.) 



The notions of patriotism and loyalty to the country of our birth, and 

 of fidelity to the religion and customs of our ancestors, originating in 

 the instinct which caused men, in the first place, to crystallize into solid 

 and homogeneous communities, have come down to us as heirlooms. 

 They have been impressed upon the brain of so many generations that 

 they have become instinctive. The feeling which it requires an effort of 

 reason to overcome is, that what was good for the father is good enough 

 for the son ; and that it is presumption, if not impiety, to endeavor to 

 attain to a wisdom above what is written. I once heard a minister de- 

 clare that a man who "went back " on the religion of his father, was no 

 man at all. 



Grote says : < ' The community hate, despise or deride any individual 

 member who proclaims his dissent from their social creed, or even openly 

 calls it in question. Their hatred manifests itself* in different ways, at 

 different times and occasions, sometimes by burning or excommunica- 

 tion, sometimes by banishment or interdiction of fire and water ; at the 

 very least by exclusion from that amount of forbearance, good will and 

 estimation, without which the life of an individual becomes insupport- 

 able ; for society, though its power to make an individual happy is but 

 limited, has complete power, easily exercised, to make him miserable. 

 The orthodox public do not recognize in any individual citizen a right to 

 scrutinize their creed, and to reject it if not approved by his own ra- 

 tional judgment. They expect that he will embrace it, in the natural 

 course of things, by the mere force of authority and contagion, as they 

 have adopted it themselves ; as they have adopted also the current lan- 

 guage, weights, measures, divisions of time, &c. " "Custom is King." 

 Every man is born to the customs of his race, and unconsciously ab- 

 sorbs their spirit from his very cradle. 



In all societies the individual is so largely moulded by the social en- 

 vironment he finds himself in, that he gets from it the far greater part 

 of his ideas of behavior and morality, as well as the cut of his clothes. 

 What he fails to inherit from his ancestors in the way of moral bent 

 and inclination, is sought to be supplied to him by the education which 

 begins in infancy, and in which both state and church take an interest. 

 He is dominated by his social environment, constantly bent and con- 

 strained toward the average qualities of the mass. In a society of long 

 standing, men are brought to a degree of resemblance to one another. 



The necessity for co-operation and social solidity have led society into 

 the adoption of various coercive measures to compel individual conform- 

 ity. Customs, which are often invested with a supernatural or sacred 



