Febeuaet 9, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



133 



nifieant minority struggling for its exist- 

 ence against an overburden of mechanical 

 and vital obstacles, armed only with specific 

 virtues which have little by little fought 

 their way into the foreground, and by so 

 doing consummated their upward purpose. 

 If I refer to the geological history of the 

 phylum to which we belong, the Mammalia, 

 it may stand for the oft-repeated procedure 

 which has in various forms come under the 

 notice of every paleontologist. The Pro- 

 totheria, or the first of all mammals, ap- 

 peared upon the scene in the Jurassic, di- 

 minutive, mouselike creatures even yet re- 

 taining from reptilian ancestors the func- 

 tion of ovulation, possibly having already 

 developed a marsupial pouch for their 

 nurslings, insectivorous in dentition, creep- 

 ing inconspicuously through sheltered 

 places of the forests or among the crevices 

 of the earth, their minute but agile brains, 

 by which they were steering their course, 

 tremendously exceeding in proportion the 

 brains of the giant reptiles whose variant 

 forms constituted the majority and made 

 them masters of earth and air and sea— 

 whose gigantic physique and fleshly lusts 

 had outstripped the early promise of their 

 cephalic ganglia and left them hopelessly 

 decephalized. Insignificant in size and 

 number, but equipped with the vigor of 

 phyletie youth, agile adaptability, loco- 

 motive independence left unimpaired 

 through excessive food supply, with such 

 equipment, good balance between cephalic 

 and motor nerve centers, these inconspicu- 

 ous and feeble folk started on their career 

 of triumph over an overwhelming major- 

 ity. Time passed and the deed was done. 

 The agile-witted founders of the race had 

 spread abroad through the earth. They 

 grew vast in number and variety, adapted 

 to all media of earth and air and sea. To 

 tbem at last came the temptations of the 

 flesh pots; they grew great in bulk, slow 



in body, weaker in locomotion and feebler 

 in proportion. They too had met their 

 impasse and there was nothing beyond. 

 The majority had arrived, but the majority 

 had fed itself fat on the spoils of the con- 

 quest and was moribund. Once more out of 

 this majority arose the protest of the minor- 

 ity and again the keener witted, better eepha- 

 lized, unimpaired, but obscure and diminu- 

 tive minority, strong always at the head, 

 emerged from the welter of self-indulgence 

 to save the race. Robbed of luxuriant food 

 supply by a mantle of ice, its vitality quick- 

 ened and stimulated by the invigorating 

 cold, imperiously compelled by a world chill 

 which hung upon the earth unknown years 

 to purge itself of indirection and seek the 

 straightest way to physical salvation 

 through the practise of simple virtues; 

 from out of such conditions came the hu- 

 man stock. 



If we do not recognize fully the fact 

 that a majority control in our governments 

 is purely a matter of expediency in the 

 handling of civic affairs, let us remind our- 

 selves of it on this occasion. We need only 

 the reminder, for however often the man 

 in the ward and the voter at the polls con- 

 ceives that a majority is the paramount 

 issue at stake, it is too often forgotten that 

 the majority is purely numerical while 

 wisdom and truth may rest with the minor- 

 ity. Amidst the inevitable expediencies of 

 government this is its salvation — that the 

 minority, if clear and strong at the head, 

 like an antecedent river, wiU. cut down 

 mountains of opposition. 



Said Lord Acton: 



The triumphs of liberty have been due to minori- 

 ties. The rule of the tyrant is tyraimy whether he 

 have one head or many. The principle of absolute 

 majority rule is as profoundly immoral and as 

 profoundly undemocratic as is the principle of the 

 divine right of kings. Majority rule is a practical 

 device for the working of free institutions and not 



