ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XXXVII 



body of thought which the peoples of the world are engaged 

 in building; so that the finally effective element in sophic 

 development is that of assimilation. True, each discrete human 

 group, howsoever small, develops a certain capacity, and accu- 

 mulates and systemizes a certain body of experience, which 

 reflects customary activities, themselves shaped by environ- 

 ment; but the processes are no less collective in the smaller 

 group than in the larger. The researches among tlie abo- 

 rigines reveal an insatiable hunger for th(iught-material ; when 

 the hunter uses implements of tooth and claw, he studies the 

 animals to learn the most effective modes of use and imputes to 

 liis zoic teachers powers created in his own imagination; when 

 warriors engage in battle, each strives for the mysterious 

 potencies assumed to imbue the weapons and standards of the 

 enemy; when shaman meets shaman, each strives to excel in 

 thaumaturgic essay, yet each seeks still more fervidly to mas- 

 ter the mysteries of the other; when marriage is proposed 

 between representatives of certain clans, the sacred tra- 

 ditions are balanced, like pelf among certain peoples, to deter- 

 mine the fitness of the union; and primitive travelers exchange 

 tales with tireless avidity. Accordingly, it would seem that 

 intellectual products must arise spontaneously under the stimu- 

 lus of interaction with environment, and that they must pre- 

 sent points of similarity when the environments are similar; 

 yet it seems equally certain that the products are diffused \^'ith 

 great facility through' absorption, and that the act of absorp- 

 tion is a potent intellectual stimulus. So, in brief, the course 

 of sophic progress is toward integration of the lower activi- 

 ties, and toward the combination, interaction, and ultimate 

 union of philosophic systems. 



The researches indicate, in general terms, that each of the 

 five primary categories of activities displays a convergent 

 trend, and that all of them are inteiTelated ; and when the five 

 categories are juxtaposed, the convergence becomes so con- 

 spicuous as to afford a criterion for distinguishing human or 

 demotic development from biotic development. The lines of 

 biotic development with which naturalists are concerned are 

 essentially divergent, the dominant process is differentiation, 



