XLVIII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
the law of the survival of the fittest applies in so far as it is not 
dependent upon competition, and slow evolution may still result 
therefrom. But at this stage new methods spring up of such great 
efficiency that the method by the survival of the fittest may be 
neglected because of its insignificance. 
In anthropic combinations the units are men, and men at this 
stage are no longer passive objects, but active subjects; and instead 
of man being passively adapted to the environment, he adapts the 
environment to himself through his activities. This is the essential 
characteristic of anthropic evolution. Adaptation becomes active 
instead of passive. In this change certain parts of the human or- 
ganism are increasingly exercised from generation to generation. 
This steadily increasing exercise results in steadily increasing 
development, and the progress of the unit—man—in this higher 
organization depends upon development through exercise. But the 
progress by exercise depends upon the evolution of activities. 
Man is an animal, and may be studied as such; and this branch 
of science belongs to biology. But man is more than an animal, 
Though an animal in biotic function, he is man in his anthropic 
activities ; for by them men are combined—1. e., interrelated—so that 
they are not discrete beings, but each acts on, for, and with, his 
fellow-man in the pursuit of happiness. Human activities, thus 
combined and organized, transcend the activities of the lower ani- 
mals to such a degree as to produce a new kingdom of matter. The 
nature of these activities must here be set forth. 
The first grand class is composed of those which affect the exter- 
nal world, and by them men are interrelated through their desires. 
These activities are the Arts. The arts have been evolved by human 
invention, and man has been impelled thereto by his endeavor to 
supply his wants. In the course of the evolution of the arts, man 
has progressively obtained control over the materials and powers of 
nature. All the arts of all the human period are the inventions of 
men. But invention has proceeded by minute increments of growth. 
A vast multiplicity of arts have been devised, of which compara- 
tively few survive in the highest civilization. As the inventions 
have been made, the best in the average has been chosen. Man has 
therefore exercised choice. The evolution of the arts has thus been 
by the method of invention and choice, in the endeavor to gratify 
desire, and by them man has adapted the environment to himself. 
Second. There is a grand class of activities through which men 
