83 FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 
as soon as it is possible.” Whatever is not needed tends 
to decline and disappear. 
In our discussion of social evolution we need some- 
times to remember that the very perfection of society 
must always appear as imperfection; for a highly devel- 
oped society is dynamic. It is moving on. A static 
society, no matter how perfect it may seem, whether a 
Utopia, Icaria, or City of the Sun, is in a condition of ar- 
rested development. Its growth has ceased, and its per- 
fection is that of death. The most highly advanced 
social conditions are the most unstable. The individual 
man counts for most under those conditions; for the 
growth of the individual man is the only justification for 
the institutions of which he forms part. The most 
highly developed organism shows the greatest imperfec- 
tions. The most perfect adaptation to conditions needs 
readaptation, as conditions themselves speedily change. 
The dream of a static millennium, when struggle and 
change shall be over, when all shall be secure and happy, 
finds no warrant in our knowledge of man and the world. 
Self-realization in life is only possible when self-per- 
dition is also possible. When cruelty and hate are 
excluded by force, charity and helpfulness will go with 
them. Strength and virtue have their roots within man, 
not without. They may be checked but they can not 
be greatly stimulated by institutions and statutes. 
In this connection we have also to remember that 
the struggle for existence in human society does not mean 
brutality. It is not necessarily a war to the knife, nor 
a struggle with fists nor with balances of trade. The 
elements of ultimate success in the struggle are not 
teeth, nor claws, nor brute strength, nor trickery. 
Through all the ages love has been stronger than force; 
and those creatures who could help each other have 
been stronger than those who could only fight. 
