LECTURE XLII. 



EVOLUTION IN SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. PRINCIPLES. 

 Prof. George E. Howard. 



I. The Nature and Scope of Social Institutions. 



1. What is comprehended by the term institutions. 

 Society as a whole is an organism. (B) Society 



is a complex of many individual organisms. 



2. Institutions are the solid framework of history. 

 They are the residuum or resultant of social integra- 

 tion and disintegration of social struggle. 



3. Institutions are living organisms. (A) They are 

 the outward expression of the thoughts and habits of 

 men. (B) They bear a striking resemblance to animal 

 organisms, (a) An institution exists in the concrete 

 and in the abstract, (b) Analogy between society re- 

 garded as a complex of individual organisms, and an 

 animal structure regarded as composed of living, sepa- 

 rately organized cells (See Haeckel, "Evolution of 

 Man," Vol. I. ; Janes, in Popular Science Monthly, 

 June, 1892). (C) May we regard society as having a 

 sensorium ? (See Spencer's " Justice " : Part IV., " Data 

 of Ethics"). 



77. Institutional History is a Biological (Natural) 

 Science. 



1. Significance of the present use of the terms "in- 

 ductive," " comparative," and " historical " : history 

 has become biological, while natural science has be- 



