PROGRESS AND REGRESSION 337 



Let us now turn our attention to the selective value of our 

 social institutions as shown in the general trend of social evolu- 

 tion. We are compelled to recognise that the advance of the 

 applied sciences, on the one hand, has been of inestimable value 

 in iacreasiag the knowledge of man, in multipljdng his comforts, 

 and in strengtheniag his mastery over the forces of Nature. 

 But from another point of view it is difficult not to admit that 

 the influence of that evolution of society primarily determined 

 by the progress of applied science has been harmful to the 

 biological welfare of the race. As we have already said, the 

 astonishing advance made in our social life must not be con- 

 founded with any advance which may possibly have been made 

 in our biological value as a race. For, not only can social 

 evolution, as embodied in the institutions and traditions of 

 society, make great progress without being accompanied by 

 any corresponding biological progress, as incarnated in the 

 physical and psychical development of the race ; but a regres- 

 sion in the sphere of biological values can coexist with 

 the attainment of ever greater perfection in social evolution 

 proper. We have said that Athens affords the most striking 

 example of such a case ; but many other examples could be 

 cited. 



If it be universally recognised that our social evolution has 

 in many ways increased the comfort of man ; and if our present 



does not earn muoli before he is twenty-one ; his children are likely to be 

 a considerable expense to him tiU about the age of fifteen, unless they are 

 sent into a factory, where they may pay their way at a very early age ; 

 and, lastly, the labourer earns nearly full wages at eighteen, while his 

 children begin to pay their own expenses very early. In consequence, the 

 average age at marriage is highest among the middle classes ; it is low 

 among the artisans, and lower still among the unskilled labourers " (Pro- 

 fessor A. Marshall, Princijies of Economics, p. 258). It is well to remember 

 that the middle classes constitute the element from which the intellectual 

 professions are recruited ; and the bio-social value of these classes is certainly 

 higher on an average than that of the artisan and unskilled labouring 

 classes. 



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