SELECTION: ORGANIC AND SOCIAL 223 



that/brganisms may evolve " downwards " as well 

 as " upwards " in becoming fitter to given con- 

 ditions. By " upwards " is meant in the direction 

 of a more differentiated and integrated organisa- 

 tion — a more complex and controlled constitution — 

 and we have a habit of regarding ourselves as being 

 very much " up." Now, while it is true that the 

 general trend of evolution throughout the ages has 

 been " upwards," we must not forget that the 

 tapeworm has been evolved as truly as the golden 

 eagle, the one in a dark bypath, the other on the 

 mountain-tops, both well adapted to their con- 

 ditions of life. 



The term " reversed selection " has been applied 

 to cases where, under altered conditions, organisms 

 seem to have gone " downwards," but the term is 

 unfortunate. If by selection a race is becoming 

 better adapted to the conditions of its hfe, it is 

 to the cold-blooded scientific onlooker immaterial 

 whether the direction of the race-movement is 

 up or down. It is evolution all the same. Con- 

 sidering the movement in relation to a standard, 

 however, we may say that some selective pro- 

 cesses make for progress along the fines which 

 have marked the general trend of evolution — 

 greater complexity, greater control, "a fuller, freer 

 life — and that other selective processes make for 

 change in the opposite direction. 



Our question now is, are there in human society 

 selective processes at work which make for de- 

 generacy ? We all know the difficulty of answering 

 this question, because social processes are so com- 

 plex and many-sided. Even when the social 

 selection is in part wrong we cannot always stop 

 it. Civilisation is a long-drawn-out compromise. 



