FORMULAE OF SOCIAL PROGRESS 189 
these have become bound together in a system or bundle, whose real logical 
interrelation, though not without intricacies of its own, seems vaguely re- 
peated in the interrelation of the races which have contributed to its forma- 
tion. If we follow up this great scientific and industrial stream, we find its 
source in the mind of every genius, whether obscure or celebrated, who has 
added some new truth, some new means of activity, to the enduring legacy 
of humanity, and who has made the relations among mankind more har- 
monious by this contribution, by promoting community of thought and col- 
laboration of effort. Andso...Imaintain that the details of human events 
alone contain striking adaptations; that the basis of those harmonies which 
are less noticeable in a vaster domain here comes plainly to view, and that 
the more we rise from a small but closely united social group, such as the 
family, the school, the workshop, the rural church, the convent, or the regi- 
ment, to the city, the province, or the nation, the less complete and striking 
does the solidarity become. . . . This is true, be it observed, unless some 
powerful personality intervenes to govern and overrule the interrelation of 
events. The latter, however, tends to occur more and more frequently, since 
civilization is distinguished by the facilities it offers for the realization of 
special schemes of social reorganization; and in this case it does not always 
hold true that the harmony of an aggregate is in inverse ratio to its mass.! 
In Tarde’s philosophy we have a “ pluralistic universe.” The 
ultimate fact so far as he can discover is a vast multitude of 
diverse primal units. These primal units or simple elements after 
a time form into a vast array of complex units exhibiting internal 
adaptation. Ultimately the complex protoplasmic organism is 
evolved having internal adaptation and a certain degree of 
external, — and so on through the development of species to 
man and through the family to complex social relations.2. Viewed 
statically adaptation for the most part decreases inversely with 
the extent of adaptive relations, but viewed dynamically the 
progress of civilization reveals another movement tending to 
increase the closeness of human relations by association and 
co-operation so that we may look forward to an ultimate social 
organization co-extensive with humanity which shall reveal a 
high degree of internal adaptation. And just as the evolution 
of species is explained by variation, struggle and survival, so 
the process of socialization is explained by social variation 
(invention) and imitation, working by the laws of repetition and 
opposition to secure ultimate adaptation. Imitation, then, with 
1 Laws of Imitation, pp. 162, 163. 2 [bid., p. 162. 3 [bid., p. 169. 
