400 HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



no one was better qualified by bis studies on tbe subject, fully 

 recognised tbe indispensable character of tbe role played by tbe 

 tbeological pbilosopby in tbe origin of our civilisation ; and tbis 

 theological pbilosopby was placed under tbe auspices of tbe 

 Cburcb ; so tbat we may say it was under tbe auspices of tbe 

 Cburcb tbat tbe conditions necessary to tbe subsequent develop- 

 ment of Western society were realised. And elsewbere Comte 

 speaks of " cette economie generale du systeme catboUque au 

 moyen-age, que Ton devra concevoir de plus en plus com me 

 formant jusqu'ici le cbef-d'oeuvre politique de la sagesse bu- 

 rnable."^ So tbat we may conclude tbat Western civilisation 

 in its expansion beyond Europe, as in its social and poUtical 

 organisation, is tbe work of Papal Cbristianity. 



But Cbristianity is essentially, in its development since tbe 

 time of Constantine, tbe work of tbe wbite races ; and tbe ex- 

 pansion of tbe wbite races, carried on imder tbe auspices of 

 Cbristianity, knew no Kmits. Asia, Africa, tbe two Americas, 

 Australasia, bave been brought under tbe influence of these 

 races, if not wholly absorbed by them. And thus, as our social 

 and political evolution, and our expansion in all corners of the 

 globe, are primarily due to a factor which for ten centuries 

 represented the power of tbe white races against tbe Turk, the 

 Moor, or tbe Indian ; it is but natural tbat the belief should 

 have been engendered that outside Christianity and the white 

 races no civiUsation was possible. 



This seems to be the belief of Mr. Kidd. But since Mr. Elidd's 

 admirable book on Social Evolution was pubbshed, the other 

 factor to which we have alluded — namely, the yellow race — ^bas 

 come into prominence, and stepped into tbe ranks of the Powers 

 of tbe world. And this phenomenon not only shows tbat tbe 

 area of human conflict tends to expand in correlation with the 

 ever-growing expansion of the sphere of human activity ; it 



1 Auguste Comte, Oours de PhilosopMe Positive, v. 261. Paris, 5th 

 edition, 1893. 



