THE ORGANIC CONCEPT OF SOCIETY 135 
The only way the soul of a people can be radically changed, our 
author asserts, is by cross-breeding, and he points out the danger 
that threatens America in the hordes of emigrants going to her 
shores; but the bad effects of cross-breeding are not considered by 
Le Bon to be physiological so much as socio-psychical.t. Such a 
period of transition is always one of internal struggle and only at 
such a time is environment a potent factor in the transformation 
of the racial type.” 
Le Bon shows how social institutions are a manifestation of the 
invisible soul of a people and how impossible it is to change these 
institutions except through a change in the soul. He reaches the 
conclusion that the elements which, philosophically speaking, are 
inferior (e. g., military power) are the most important from the 
social point of view. ‘If the laws of the future,” he says, ‘‘ are 
to be those of the past, it may be said that to have attained to too 
high a degree of intelligence and culture is what is most harmful 
to a people. People perish as soon as the qualities of character 
which form the ground work of their soul begin to decline, and 
these qualities decline as soon as the civilization and intelligence 
of a people reach a high level”’;4—but he does not analyze the 
causes of the decline in the character of a nation nor does he 
show the reason why this leads to their conquest by a barbarous 
people. 
Our author goes on to consider how the history of nations is a 
consequence of their character, illustrating this truth especially 
from politics, and shows how France today, as for generations, 
stands for state control, in contrast with the English demand for 
social endeavor by voluntary co-operation.® 
In book IV, Le Bon discusses the question of the modification 
of the psychical characteristics of races and shows how this is 
brought about by a slow process of progressive adaptation as a 
result of the pressure of wants, struggle for life, action of certain 
1 Psychology of Peoples, pp. 52 f. 
2 Tbid., p. 54. 3 [bid., pp. 64 ff. 
4 Ibid., p. 80. Cf. pp. 55, 193, 213, where he shows how the soul of a people 
may be destroyed. 
5 Ibid., pp. 130 ff. His forecast that there would be little progress in state 
control in England and America has been negatived by recent developments. 
