CHAPTER II 



THE ATTEMPT TO MERGE THE GREAT MAN IN 

 THE AGGREGATE 



LET us take any book we please, by any modern whatever may 

 writer, who is attempting to deal with any social 

 subject scientifically, and whenever he is calling 

 attention to the great intellectual triumphs which at 



accustomed to 



have caused the progress of civilisation, or to any attribute to 

 developments of human nature which have marked 

 it, we shall find that these triumphs or developments 

 are always attributed indiscriminately to the largest 

 mass of people with whom they have any connection 

 sometimes to "the nation," sometimes to "the 

 age," sometimes to "the race," and more frequently 

 still to "man." 



Reference has been made already to Mr. Kidd's Mr. 

 work on Social Evolution, which, on its publication, tion, for in-" 



attained an extraordinary popularity, and which, eSS 

 whatever its value otherwise, is interesting as a P rocedure - 

 type of contemporary sociological reasoning. It is 

 peculiarly interesting as illustrating the point which 

 we are now discussing. Most of Mr. Kidd's 

 reasoning, especially in the crucial parts of it, is not 



