408 HEREDITY AND SELECTION IN SOCIOLOGY 



able ; but the fact remains none the less that a large amount of 

 suicide is due, not to the bio-social unfitness of the individual, 

 but to the unnatural conditions in which that individual is placed ; 

 for, be it remarked, a large proportion of suicides occur pre- 

 cisely among those who have been successful in the struggle ; and 

 whose premature removal, which constitutes a loss for society, 

 is due to that disgust for life which is engendered by the im- 

 possibility of satisfying in an adequate manner the fundamental 

 desire of all life — ^that of expansion. 



We may sum up, therefore, by saying that the steady increase 

 in the rate of suicide everywhere indicates that individualistic, 

 and not altruistic, influences are to-day predominant ; and that 

 individuahsm is an essential factor, if the primordial conditions 

 of human evolution are to be fulfilled in the future. But, 

 starting from this standpoint as to the necessity of individualism, 

 our study of certain phenomena of social pathology has led us 

 to the conclusion that the conflict so necessary to progress is not 

 being waged under the conditions most likdy to ensure benefit to 

 the race. And we will come to the further conclusion that, 

 although altruistic influences are not the primary force deter- 

 mining social evolution, yet the religion of which these altruistic 

 influences form the chief fart is an indispensable factor in social 

 development, because it alone is in a position to satisfy the supra- 

 social wants of man, to respond adequately to that need for 

 expansion which transcends society itself. 



Note on Prospective Conflicts in Europe. 



The most instructive example of the truth of our remarks concerning 

 the importance of conflict in social evolution is afforded us by Russia. In 

 Russia we can see the law of national expansion — which is but an extension 

 in space and time of the law of individual expansion — at work ; we witness 

 the intellectual turmoil, the conflict of antagonistic ideas, which this 

 expansion brings necessarily in its train ; and we witness also that 

 physical struggle which is the most brutal manifestation of the opposi- 

 tion of interests which results from the expansion of numerous hetero- 



