356 FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 
by those whose line of choice has been safe. Death is 
not the punishment of folly, but its inevitable result. 
Severity of condition and stress of competition are met 
in life by the survival of those adequate to meet these 
conditions. Thus “in creatures sore bestead by the 
environment,” when instinct and impulse fail, reason 
rises to insure safety. At last with civilized man rea- 
son comes to be a chief element in the guidance of 
life. With greater power to know and hence to choose 
safely, greater complexity of conditions becomes pos- 
sible, and the multifarious demands of modern civiliza- 
tion find some at least who can meet them fairly well. 
To such the stores of human wisdom must be open. 
To others, safety in new conditions lies only in imi- 
tation. The multitudes of civilized men, like the mul- 
titudes of animals, are kept alive by the instinct of 
conventionality. The instinct to follow 
those who have passed over safely is 
one of the most useful of all impulses to action. In 
the same connection we must recognise authority as a 
Most important source of knowledge to 
the individual; but its value is propor- 
tioned to the ability of the individual to use the tests 
wisdom must apply to the credentials of authority. 
But instinct, appetite, impulse, conventionality, and 
respect for authority all point backward. They are 
: : the outcome of past conditions. “New 
Instinct springs occasions bring new duties,” and new 
from past ‘ 
conditions: facts and laws must be learned if men 
prove adequate to the life their own in- 
stitutions and their own development have brought 
upon them. To the wise and obedient the most complex 
life brings no special strain or discomfort. It is as easy 
to do great things as small, if one only knows how. But 
to the ignorant, weak, and perverse the growth of civili- 
Conventionality. 
Authority. 
