1892.] Natural Analogies. W8 



tionallyand think afterward, so the real brains of a commu- 

 nity are disregarded in the main. 



Pathological conditions infest communities as well as indi- 

 viduals, from want of harmonious working of parts. When 

 the elaborating, transferring apparatus of a person or nation, 

 as the intestines and blood vessels, or merehants and railways, 

 either separately or together, become too selfish, and want to 

 absorb everything, it is an easy matter to induce the intestinal 

 ganglia legislature to adjust mean- torso doing; but. as this 

 means death to the organism in general, a feverish condition 

 may follow that threatens the national life until an e.jiiilib- 



mon wealth, hut so may be other associated parts. 



The workings of the nervous system, especially that of the 

 spinal cord with its gray centre and white columns, may be 

 explained some day by an application of electrical laws, 

 particularly when the latter shall be better understood. New 

 principles are yearly being worked out in this realm. Care- 

 fully applied 'reasoning may enable an explanation of phy- 

 siological mysteries that cannot be possibly arrived at any 

 other way. Many of the viscera are not so well understood as 

 they should be. The functions of the spleen, liver, and pan- 

 creas, while much better known than formerly, are still to a 

 large extent " sub judice." Analogies may enable us to better 

 understand these parts, and in turn a better understanding 

 may be reflected upon sociological and other matters. 



In the American Journal of Psychology. Jan. lS!m, the fol- 

 lowing comment occurs on the discussion between \\ eismann 

 and Gotte (uber dieDaner <le* Lcbens, u,«l <h r I rxpnunj 'V-s 

 Todes.) "We may illustrate Gotte's idea by an analogy. 

 Essentially there is no difference in the idea of death as 

 applied to biology and as applied to the death of a literary 

 society when the members agree to disband, possibly to found 

 new societies. If we could feel sure that the analogy is some- 

 times more than a mere analogy, but at bottom is a universal 

 principle of life, we could gain immensely by the mutual 

 comparison between sociology and biology. There are many 

 terms and ideas common to the two sciences, such as i msion 



