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M. Comte is due the credit of having set forth, with comparative definiteness, the connection between the Science of Life and the Science of Society. He saw clearly that the facts presented by masses of associated men are facts of the same order as those presented by groups of gregarious creatures of inferior kinds, and that, in the one case as in the other, the individuals must be studied before the assemblages can be understood. He, therefore, placed Biology before Sociology in his classification of the Sciences. Biological preparation for Sociological study he regarded as needful, not only because the phenomena of corporate life, arising out of the phenomena of individual life, have been rightly co-ordinated, but also because the methods of inquiry which Biology uses are methods to be used by Sociology. In various ways, which it would take too much space here to specify, he exhibits this dependence very satisfactorily........

"We must not overlook the greatness of the step made by M. Comte. His mode of contemplating the facts was truly philosophical. Containing, along with special views not to be admitted, many thoughts that are true as well as large and suggestive, the introductory chapters to his Sociology show a breadth and depth of conception beyond any previously reached. Apart from the tenability of his Sociological doctrines, his way of conceiving social phenomena was much superior to all previous ways; and, among other of its superiorities, was this recognition of the dependence of Sociology on Biology."

3. Law of Evolution of Activity.

"The Third and last Law of Sociology is that of which we should expect the most distinct traces in the animal kingdom, since it relates to the practical activities of man. These, as the law shows, are directed first to Conquest, then to Defence, finally to Industry. Each of these three modes is, indeed, clearly visible in animals, but in distinct species only. None exhibits them in natural sequence. As the activities of animals must always be dependent on their alimentary system, we shall find them generally of the military sort, aiming at conquest in the carnivorous tribes, at defence in the frugivorous; although, under sexual impulses, the latter may become as aggressive as the former. In some species, even though carnivorous, the constructive instinct may be so far developed as to exhibit true industrial activity, under circumstances sufficiently favourable not to

stimulate the destructive instinct strongly. But illustrations of this are only to be looked for among the social races. If, as is probable, the successive transition through these three phases is limited to our own species, we must regard it as even more evidently than in the preceding case, as a result of the Social State. Even in man this progression is extremely slow."

But, it may be asked, How is it that man, of all the animals, is so capable of progress? Man not merely resembles the higher animals in being vertebrate, but he has the same nervous system. The elementary feelings are common to both. Both know what want, suffering, and sorrow are; both are elated by affection, hope, and joy; both have intellect and moral sense, and both are educable by love; both have their likes and dislikes, and, apparently, unreasonable antipathies; both have to struggle for existence, and know how hard it is; both are excited by the same sights and the same passions: what is new or wonderful strikes both or perplexes both alike; both exhibit faithfulness, reverence, love, pity, and remorse; and there is not wanting evidence that both are passing through the same intellectual and inoral development-through the early stages, that is. There are animals that have their fetiches, as civilised men once had, and less civilised men now have. What is it in man which differences him from the animals? Man's brain chiefly. Why? The answer to which question must be sought in Sociology. Man has developed Solida'rity or Hereditary Sociability, and Continuity-the tie that binds together successive generations, which other animals have not. Why have other animals not developed similarly? The answer to which is, that only one could develop social continuity; for two reasons-first, because man is the only species of animal to be found everywhere (ie., apart from the animals he brought himself); and, secondly, because man can pass on his acquisitions-material and moral-to his contemporaries and descendants, which no animal has been able to do since man's contact with it. Let us suppose a conflict between two of the higher mammalia—man and the elephant, for instance: The weaker of the two animals would, in being conquered, become man's servant, and break with the traditions of social continuity. Moreover, social superiority is greater in man. Man enjoys an advantage over the higher animals, in that he is both Carnivorous and Herbivorous, Some of the Carnivorous

can be made Social-eg., the wolf-dog-but the Ruminants rarely or never so, because they require greater and longer nervous energy in digestion, amongst other reasons.

The prolonged feebleness of the human young promotes sociality in the clinging together of the elementary tribe or family, and a very little cerebral superiority would give man enormous social advantages in countless generations of his kind. Moreover, man had three practical qualities-viz., Caution, Perseverance, and Energy-which largely helped him to become socially superior to the higher animals. Most animals have some one (or more) of these qualities, but none in equal energy to man.

We have already alluded to the break in the traditions of social continuity between animals, when once man asserted his lordship over them: that break tends to promote the disuse of faculties in the higher animals. As an illustration, let us take the bower bird in Australia before man's arrival. Its æsthetic instinct, which led it to build a nest of wondrous beauty and adaptability, has declined, all its efforts being now devoted to self-preservation. Man's dominion over the animal kingdom, whether for evil or good, has had its price. In domesticating animals he has robbed them of many capacities, among which may be counted that which enables them to provide for their own wants a distinct disadvantage looked at from the animal point of view. That man has made up to animals, for sundry deprivations, cannot be doubted; but it is well that he should constantly remember how many and great his obligations to them are, and what a protector and preserver of them he should become. They have cast in their lot with him, for good or ill, and he ought never to forget that in this, as in other cases, it is no more than a simple duty for the strong to protect the weak.

SIXTH LECTURE.

AUGUSTE COMTE'S LAW OF THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN ACTIVITY.

OF Comte's method of procedure, J. S. Mill wrote thus: "M. Comte principally confines himself to the method of investigation-Organon of Discovery-and he treats it with a degree of perfection hitherto unrivalled. Nowhere is there anything comparable, in its kind, to his survey of the resources which the mind has at its disposal for investigating the laws of phenomena; the circumstances which render each of the fundamental modes of exploration suitable or unsuitable to each class of phenomena; the extensions and transformations which the process of investigation has to undergo in adapting itself to each new province of the field of study; and the especial gifts with which every one of the fundamental sciences enriches the method of positive inquiry, each science in its turn being the best fitted to bring to perfection one process or another. These, and many cognate subjects, such as the theory of classification and the proper use of scientific hypotheses, M. Comte has treated with a completeness which leaves little to be desired. Not less admirable is his survey of the most comprehensive truths that had been arrived at by each science, considered as to their relation to the general sum of human knowledge and their logical value as aids to its further progress."

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The Law of the Evolution of Activity :

Man's activity it is, and nothing else, that has so far cleared the earth of noxious animals and vegetation that he can live upon it in a tolerable degree of safety and comfort.

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