710 THE RELATION OF INSTITUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENT. 



organizations and institutions; and while it may not be denied that 

 organizations arise under softer skies where organism strives against 

 organism, it may be affirmed that the hard environment quickens the 

 germ of combination whose blossom is law and whose fruit is enlight- 

 enment. 



As institutions grow and spread they are fertilized and ennobled by 

 contact with one another, much as languages and arts are enriched by 

 blending. Along storm-swept shorelands abounding in sea-food, as 

 about the Gulf of Mexico in olden times, primitive men gather to feast 

 on the fishes and mollusks. Since individuals are unable to stem the 

 tide and ride the storm waves without occasional or habitual aid from 

 their fellows, industrial and social organizations arise, and in time the 

 organizations mature in fixed institutions adapted first to the advan- 

 tage of the family group or clan and later to tribal welfare. So prolific 

 shorelands tend to produce populous tribes. Under the beneficent 

 tribal institution the group expands and displaces ill-organized tribes, 

 and eventually overflows into the interior; if the interior is adapted 

 to the chase and petty fishing, the overflow retrogrades, but if it is so 

 conditioned as to enforce industrial and social cooperation (as are all 

 desert regions), the overflow improves through new organizations blend- 

 ing with the old, and the institutions become more general and still 

 more beneficent. So shore lands abounding in aquatic life with adja- 

 cent desert regions seem to afford the conditions requisite for the 

 development of civilized institutions, and it is the testimony of history 

 that civilization sprung in regions so conditioned in the four great conti- 

 nents of the globe — Eurasia, Africa, South America, and North America. 



As time passes and as institutions blend, beneficent law (which is the 

 framework of the institution) re-creates the altruistic motive whence it 

 sprang. Among hunters and petty fishermen disputes arise concern- 

 ing the ownership of quarry, and these are settled by the leaders in the 

 interest of peace and clan welfare, and thus laws are established and 

 motives fixed which are collective rather than individual; yet, through 

 habit, the motive is gradually impressed on the mind of each individual 

 subject to the law. Thus justice is engendered. Among shoreland 

 tribes disputes arise concerning labor, which is an impost on the strong 

 for the benefit of weak and strong alike; much of the labor is performed 

 beyond the reach of the leader who adjudicates disputes, so that testi- 

 mony must be taken in order that justice may be done, and in time 

 mendacity is condemned and veracity applauded; at first the blame 

 and x>raise are collective and expressed by the wise men on the tribal 

 behalf, yet in time individual interest leads to individual effort to 

 secure praise and avoid blame, and law comes to be reflected in motive. 

 Thus truth is engendered and justice strengthened. In the desert the 

 young and thoughtless occasionally famish unless the more provident 

 share their precious store of water, and to prevent weakening the 

 group the leaders prescribe hospitality and derogate meanness; at first 



