September 23, 1909] 



NA TURE 



589 



organisms as well as animals and plants of all degrees 

 and complexity and of rank in the scale of life. All these 

 forms are subordinate to man, and when in contact with 

 him are made to serve his purposes. In the same way all 

 mankind will not rise in type. Many races will die out, 

 especially those who just fall short of the highest type, 

 while others by degradation or differentiation may continue 

 to exist as parasites or servants of the higher type. 



Mere association into a community is not sufficient to 

 ensure success ; there must also be differentiation of func- 

 tion among the parts, and an entire subordination of the 

 activity of each part to the welfare of the whole. It is 

 this lesson which we English-speaking races have at the 

 present time most need to learn. In the behaviour of man 

 almost every act is represented in consciousness as some 

 emotion, e.xperience or desire. The state of subordination 

 of the activities of all units to the common weal of the 

 community has its counterpart in consciousness as the 

 "spirit of service." The enormous value of such a con- 

 dition of solidarity among the individuals constituting a 

 nation, inspired, as we should say, by this spirit of service, 

 has been shown to us lately by Japan. In our own case 

 the subordination of individual to State interests, such as 

 is necessary for the aggregation of smaller primitive into 

 larger and more complex communities, has always pre- 

 sented considerable difficulty and been accomplished only 

 after severe struggle. Thus the work begun by Alexander 

 Hamilton and Washington, the creation of the United 

 States, is still, even after the unifying process of a civil 

 war, incomplete and marred by contending State and in- 

 dividual interests. The same sort of difficulties are being 

 experienced in the integration of the units, nominally 

 under British control, into one great nation, in which ail 

 parts shall work for the good of the whole and for mutual 

 piotection in the struggle for survival. 



The Lesson of Evolution. 



Just as pain is the great educator of the individual and 

 is responsible for the laying down of the nervous paths, 

 which will determine his whole future conduct and the 

 control of his lower by his higher centres, so hardship 

 has acted as the integrator of nations. It is possible that 

 some such factor with its attendant risks of extermination 

 may still be necessary before we attain the unification of 

 the British Empire, which would seem to be a necessary 

 condition for its future success. But if only our country- 

 men can read the lesson of evolution and are endowed 

 with sufficient foresight, there is no reason why they should 

 not, by associating themselves into a great community, 

 avoid the lesson of the rod. Such a community, if imbued 

 by a spirit of service and guided by exact knowledge, 

 might be successful above all others. In this community 

 not only must there be subordination of individual to com- 

 munal interests, but the behaviour of the community as a 

 whole must be determined by anticipation of events — i.e. 

 by the systematised knowledge which we call Science. The 

 universities of a nation must be like the eyes of an animal, 

 and the messages that these universities have to deliver 

 must serve for the guidance and direction of the whole 

 community. 



This does not imply that the scientific men, who com- 

 pose the universities and are the sense organs of the com- 

 munity, should be also the rulers. The reactions of a man 

 or of a higher mammal are not determined immediately 

 by impulses coming from his eyes or ears, but are guided 

 by these in association with, and after they have been 

 weighed against, a rich web of past experience, the organ 

 of which is the higher brain. It is this organ which, as 

 the statesman of the cell community, exercises absolute 

 control. And it is well that those who predicate an abso- 

 lute equality or identity among all the units of a com- 

 munity should remember that, although all parts of the 

 body are active and have their part to play in the common 

 work, there is a hierarchy in the tissues — different grades 

 in their value and in their conditions. Thus every nutri- 

 tional mechanism of the body is subordinate to the needs 

 of the guiding cells of the brain. If an animal be starved, 

 its tissues waste ; first its fat goes, then its muscles, then 

 its skeletal structures, finally even the heart. The brain 

 is supplied with oxygen and nourishment up to the last. 

 When this, too, fails, the animal dies. The leading cells 

 have first call on the resources of the body. Their needs, 

 NO. 2082, VOL. 81] 



however, are soon satisfied, and the actual amount of 

 food or oxygen used by them is insignificant as compared 

 with the greedy demands of a working muscle or gland 

 cell. In like manner every community, if it is to succeed, 

 must be governed, and all its resources controlled by men 

 with foreseeing power and rich experience — i.e. with the 

 wisdom that will enable them to profit by the teachings 

 of science, so that every part of the organism may be 

 put into such a condition as to do its optimum of work 

 for the community as a whole. 



At the present time it seems to me that, although it is 

 the fashion to acquiesce in evolution because it is accepted 

 by biologists, we do not sufficiently realise the importance 

 of this principle in our daily life, or its value as a guide 

 to conduct and policy. It is probable that this doctrine 

 had more influence on the behaviour of thinking men in 

 the period of storm and controversy which followed its 

 promulgation fifty years ago, than it has at the present 

 day of lukewarm emotions and second-hand opinions. 

 Yet, according to their agreement with biological laws, 

 the political theories of to-day must stand or fall. It is 

 true that in most of them the doctrine of evolution is 

 invoked as supporting one or other of their chief tenets. 

 The socialist has grasped the all-importance of the spirit 

 of service, of the subordination of the individual to the 

 community. The aristocrat, in theory at any rate, would 

 emphasise the necessity of placing the ruling power in 

 the hands of the individuals most highly endowed with 

 intelligence and with experience in the affairs of nations. 

 He also appreciates the necessity of complete control of 

 all parts by the central government, though in many cases 

 the sense organs which he uses for guidance are the tradi- 

 tions of past experience rather than the science of to-day. 

 The liberal or individualist asserts the necessity of giving 

 to each individual equal opportunities, so that there may 

 be a free fight between all individuals in which only the 

 most highly gifted will survive. It might be possible for 

 another Darwin to give us a politic which would combine 

 what is true in each of these rival theories, and would be 

 in strict accord with our knowledge of the history of the 

 race and of mankind. As a matter of fact the affairs of 

 our States are not determined according to any of these 

 theories, but by politicians, whose measures for the con- 

 duct of the community depend in the last resort on the 

 suffrages of their electors — i.e. on the favour of the people 

 as a whole. It has been rightly said that every nation has 

 the government which it deserves. Hence it is all- 

 important that the people themselves should realise the 

 meaning of the message which Darwin delivered fifty 

 yeais ago. On the choice of the people, not of its poli- 

 ticians, on its power to foresee and to realise the laws 

 which determine success in the struggle for existence, de- 

 pends the future of our race. It is the people that must 

 elect men as rulers in virtue of their wisdom rather than 

 of their promises. It is the people that must insist on 

 the provision of the organs of foresight, the workshops of 

 exact knowledge. It is the individual who must be pre- 

 pared to give up his own freedom and ease for the welfare 

 of the community. 



Whether our type is the one that will give birth to the 

 super-man it is impossible to foresee. There are, hoA/- 

 ever, two alternatives before us. As incoherent units we 

 may acquiesce in an existence subordinate to or parasitic 

 on any type which may happen to achieve success, or as 

 members of a great organised community we may make 

 a bid for determining the future of the world and for 

 securing the dominance of our race, our thoughts and 

 ideals. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



St. Andrews. — At a meeting of the University Court 

 held on Saturday last, Dr. Arnold Hartley Gibson, senior 

 demonstrator and assistant lecturer in engineering and 

 lecturer on hydraulics at Manchester University, was 

 appointed to the chair of engineering at University College, 

 Dundee, in the room of Prof. Fidler, resigned. 



Mrs. Edwin Neave was appointed lady warden of Uni- 

 versity Hall, St. Andrews, in the room of Miss Melville, 

 who was recently appointed to Queen Margaret's College, 

 Glasgow. 



