BIOLOGY IN OUR ARTS CURRICULUM. 103 
two things are necessary for securing the continued existence of 
a group of animals; one is strength to resist enemies, the other 
flexibility of organisation, the power of adaptation to changing 
circumstances. [use the word strength in a wide sehse; there 
is strength in isolation, as well as in combination, and there is 
strength in insignificance. Ifa tribe of lions were to invade a 
country the mice would not suffer much, but the deer and oxen 
might be exterminated. But strength alone is not sufficient, 
flexibility of organisation is perhaps even more important. If, 
when the conditions of existence are changing, a group of ani- 
mals has an organisation so inflexible as to be incapable of vari- 
ation—and animals are very differently constituted in this respect 
—it will necessarily be supplanted by some other group of a 
more yielding nature; and the same holds true with nations, but 
here the changes in the conditions of existence are toa large 
extent mental. If mere strength were all that was required for 
the preservation of a nation, then autocratic government would 
be the best, for government by discussion is not favourable for 
conducting war; but strength alone will not suffice, a flexible 
organisation, as Burke taught long ago, is equally necessary for 
duration of life. 
How then is a nation to secure a flexible constitution ? 
Evidently by adopting some form of government by intrinsic 
selection, which can respond readily to any change in national 
feeling. A despot, no matter how benevolent his intentions may 
be, has no sufficient means of finding out the wishes of the people 
over whom he rules, for how could he “ expose himself to feel 
what wretches feel?” * and if he could ascertain their wishes he 
would have great difficulty in carrying them into effect, as he 
must always rule through an army, which might not like the 
changes. Unless intrinsic selection is thoroughly carried out, 
there must always be the danger of the governing body mis- 
understanding the desires of the majority. In Sir G. C. Lewis’ 
“Dialogue on the best form of government,’ Aristocraticus is 
made to say: “ The Corn Laws were part of a policy which was 
established on patriotic grounds, and which was at one time 
sincerely believed, even by enlightened men, to be beneficial to 
the entire community.” Democraticus ought to have answered : 
“ In this case, as in many others, the ‘ignorant many’ have proved 
wiser than the ‘enlightened few.*” Despotism may succeed 
very well for a time, and is indeed indispensable in the earlier 
and more warlike stages of human society ; but when the condi- 
tions of existence change, all despotisms, being unable to 
accommodate themselves to the changes, must sooner or later 
succumb, either to internal or external pressure: they will pass 
away, and will be known only as political fossils of strange and 
uncouth form. And what is true of nations is true of all human 
institutions and organisations—a flexible constitution is necessary 
for continued existence. 
* King Lear, 
