Application to Human Society 25 



of evolution. In historical and in political think- 

 ing especially, the philosophy of force was greatly 

 strengthened by the discovery of such apparently 

 scientific foundations. 



In The Origin of Species, Darwin did not apply 

 his theory to human relationships, but confined 

 himself to the field of biology. The only reference 

 which he makes to man is a^ the end of the book, 

 where he says that in the future "much light will 

 be thrown on the origin of man and his history." 

 Darwin's theory of social progress is contained in 

 The Descent of Man, which was not published until 

 twelve years later. During these twelve years 

 Darwin was patiently at work on the application 

 of his theory to human society, and as early as 

 1864 he wrote to A. R. Wallace: 



The great leading idea is quite new to me viz., that 

 during late ages, the mind will have been modified 

 more than the body; yet I had got as far as to see with 

 you that the struggle between the races of man de- 

 pended entirely upon intellectual and moral qualities. ^ 



But the followers, and especially the popular- 

 izers of Darwin's theory could not wait for his 

 own application of the theory of natural selection 

 to social progress. The publication of The Origin 

 of Species had acted as a great liberalizing in- 

 fluence upon the minds of men, and the flood of 

 new thought pouring over the world stimulated 

 and nourished research and reasoning in every 



X Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, vol. iii., p. 89. 



