SCIENCE. 
2 1 1 . 
as of all other pleasures, and all pain also, is explained on 
the theory of selection. 
It is desire alone which leads to action. Among the 
lower animals it is the momentary impulse which always 
determines action. Hence these, if destitute of these pas- 
sions in the gratification of which they preserve their exist- 
ence and continue their kind, would speedily perish. 
In man both these desires are strong and constitute the 
motive, either direct, or indirect, to the greater part of his 
acts. 
There are of course other desires, many of which may be 
regarded as derived from these, but some of which are 
apparently also original and natural, but whatever they may 
be they are in the nature of forces, and all the desires taken 
together may be appropriately called the Social Forces. 
These social forces readily fall into two groups and each of 
these is capable of subdivision into subordinate groups, as 
the following table will show : 
f 
Essential 
, Forces. 
f Preservative j Positive, gustatory (pleasurable) 
I Forces. { Negative, protective (painful.) _ 
( Direct (The sexual instinct. 
Reproductive Forces . < T ( Parental and consan- 
[ j Indirect -j guineal affections 
Non-essential 
Forces. 
Esthetic. 
Emotional. 
Intellectual. 
Space forbids the elaboration of this table, and indeed it 
scarcely requires it. I will only say a word on the last 
group named in it, the intellectual forces. Upon this point 
much confusion, and as I think, error prevails. It is at the 
present time at least, a very small and uninfluential group. 
Properly it embraces nothing beyond the mere yearnings of 
the intellect. Its only basis is the pleasure of intellectual 
action. 
I strenuously object to throwing the whole effect of mind 
in social development into the class of social forces. The 
social forces are indeed psychic, but they are not intellec- 
tual. The intellect is in no true scientific sense a force. It 
is not a motor influence. 
It is characteristic of every true natural force that the 
body impelled or attracted by it moves in a straight line 
from the impelling or towards the attracting object. If it 
move in a curve or any but a straight line this is always 
due to a plurality of forces acting in different directions. 
This is true of all the social forces. Desire, wholly unac- 
companied by reason, always impels in a direct line to- 
wards its object. This is illustrated most clearly by the 
acts of the lower animals. 
The fly buzzing against the transparent pane until ex- 
hausted without sufficient intelligence to try another locality 
is an example daily witnessed. Moths seeking a flame re- 
gardless of its destructive power, and rising with scorched 
wings, plunging anew into the fatal charm, show the action 
of a force scarcely higher than the purely mechanical. It is 
so with every form of desire. But for the intellectual agency, 
to however slight a degree, all animal action, human action 
included, would be of this direct character. The influence 
of mind sustains the same relation to the true forces of de- 
sire that the rudder of a ship, moved by the helmsmen, sus- 
tains to the sails acted upon by the wind. As it is not the 
former that propels the ship so it is not mind that propels 
society. The great results which are collectively termed 
civilization are the direct outcome of these impulsive so- 
cial forces, guided, of course, by intellect or reason. All 
the efforts that have been put forth have been made solely 
for the satisfaction of present desires. The end really 
reached has not been the end sought. Function has been 
totally ignored and feeling alone consulted. The ends of 
Nature have been attained, not directly as objects of pur- 
suit, but only indirectly through the means of Nature which 
are the ends of the feeling creature. 
It has been remarked that owing to adaptive influences 
these naturally independent lines leading respectively to 
the ends of Nature and the ends of the sentient organism 
converge to the same point. The effects produced by 
obeying the desires in most cases are the effects necessary 
to preserve, perpetuate, and develop the organism. But 
here is the fundamental distinction to be noted. These 
functional effects are secondary. It is not to secure them 
that the acts are performed. The beings performing them 
take no thought of them. The only effect in the mind of 
the agent is the satisfaction of a present desire. It may be 
safely said that this is almost universally the case even in 
human action. 
But it may be asked what difference it makes, inasmuch 
as the indirect or functional end is always secured by the 
previous harmony brought about by adaptation. 
With non-progressive beings like the lower animals, it 
may be admitted that it makes but little difference. Here 
the chief interest centres on biological questions, questions 
of anatomy, histology, morphology, etc., and therefore the 
objective or biological standpoint is usually, though not 
always, sufficient. But with man, a progressive being, 
whose actions transform the entire face of the planet and 
lift him by rapid steps from one plane of activity and life 
to another, it becomes of the utmost importance that the 
true nature of his motives be scientifically understood ; 
that the effects produced be attributed to their true imme- 
diate causes and not to indirect or merely incidental ones. 
Nutrition is not an end of human conduct in seeking food ; 
it is the satisfaction of hunger. A family is rarely a direct 
desideratum in human life. Every physician knows how 
often it is an object of dread. It is only an incident. The 
great blessings of accumulated wealth have never been the 
immediate object of industry and financiering skill. These 
are the direct results of that great derivative passion called 
avarice which has been so unjustly condemned. Industry, 
commerce, art, and often invention flow from the “love of 
money,” which has been most superficially called “ the 
root of all evil,” when it is really the root of nearly all 
good in civilization. Labor is performed and heroic deeds 
achieved not to make the world richer and happier or set 
examples of nobility for future ages, but to secure the im- 
mediate wants of the individuals performing them, to gain 
money and applause, to win the fair and to support them. 
Avarice, ambition, love, each has accomplished its direct 
results in the true civilization of the race. 
PROFESSOR EDWARD D. COPE 
The bibliography of Professor Edward D. Cope has been 
ably written by Professor William Hosea Ballou, one of our 
subscribers : — Professor Ballou states that, “the life of 
Prof Cope is the index of all that is romantic in science. 
A sketch of his literature would be void of much of the 
interest attached without notation of some of the points in 
his most extraordinary career. At the early age of sixteen 
he began writing on scientific matters, though he must have 
attained twenty-four years when his writings first began to 
attract attention. He is one of the few living writers who 
has been able to successfully turn at will from any depart- 
ment of living biological forms to those whose remains are 
found only in fossil state. From studies of this nature he 
boldly enters the realms of metaphysics, bringing out an 
astounding number of genuine contributions to knowledge. 
In the bodies of learned men of which he is a leading fig- 
ure, he astonishes all who hear him by the facility 
with which he addresses or converses on topics 
under discussion. He seems both in his writings 
and speeches a man prolific in voluminous knowledge 
of kindred subjects. His investigations have already 
resulted in his naming upwards of 1,000 species new 
to science, besides innumerable genera. He has written on 
every existing family of vertebrates, and revolutionized the 
classification of the amphibious animals by utilizing the 
skull as a source of differential characters. The classifica- 
tion of fishes has also been much modified by him. 
The best part of his work is undoubtedly comprised in 
his paleontological (extinct animal) studies which have dis- 
tinguished him throughout the scientific world. In 1879 the 
Royal Geological Society of Great Britain awarded him a 
medal for doing the most work in this line of any individ- 
ual for the year.” 
This interesting memoir can be found in the Chicago Field , 
for August 21 and 28, and with the list of Professor Cope’s 
literary papers and contributions, occupies eleven columns 
of that journal. 
