Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗
- Author: Herbert Spencer
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We Have Marked How Multitudinous Are The Effects Which One Cause May
Generate In An Adult Organism; That A Like Multiplication Of Effects
Must Happen In The Unfolding Organism, We Have Observed In Sundry
Illustrative Cases; Further, It Has Been Pointed Out That The Ability
Which Like Germs Have To Originate Unlike Forms, Implies That The
Successive Transformations Result From The New Changes Superinduced On
Previous Changes; And We Have Seen That Structureless As Every Germ
Originally Is, The Development Of An Organism Out Of It Is Otherwise
Incomprehensible. Not Indeed That We Can Thus Really Explain The
Production Of Any Plant Or Animal. We Are Still In The Dark Respecting
Those Mysterious Properties In Virtue Of Which The Germ, When Subject To
Fit Influences, Undergoes The Special Changes That Begin The Series Of
Transformations. All We Aim To Show, Is, That Given A Germ Possessing
These Mysterious Properties, The Evolution Of An Organism From It,
Probably Depends Upon That Multiplication Of Effects Which We Have Seen
To Be The Cause Of Progress In General, So Far As We Have Yet Traced It.
When, Leaving The Development Of Single Plants And Animals, We Pass To
That Of The Earth's Flora And Fauna, The Course Of Our Argument Again
Becomes Clear And Simple. Though, As Was Admitted In The First Part Of
This Article, The Fragmentary Facts Palæontology Has Accumulated, Do Not
Clearly Warrant Us In Saying That, In The Lapse Of Geologic Time, There
Have Been Evolved More Heterogeneous Organisms, And More Heterogeneous
Assemblages Of Organisms, Yet We Shall Now See That There _Must_ Ever
Have Been A Tendency Towards These Results. We Shall Find That The
Production Of Many Effects By One Cause, Which, As Already Shown, Has
Been All Along Increasing The Physical Heterogeneity Of The Earth, Has
Further Involved An Increasing Heterogeneity In Its Flora And Fauna,
Individually And Collectively. An Illustration Will Make This Clear.
Suppose That By A Series Of Upheavals, Occurring, As They Are Now Known
To Do, At Long Intervals, The East Indian Archipelago Were To Be, Step
By Step, Raised Into A Continent, And A Chain Of Mountains Formed Along
The Axis Of Elevation. By The First Of These Upheavals, The Plants And
Animals Inhabiting Borneo, Sumatra, New Guinea, And The Rest, Would Be
Subjected To Slightly Modified Sets Of Conditions. The Climate In
General Would Be Altered In Temperature, In Humidity, And In Its
Periodical Variations; While The Local Differences Would Be Multiplied.
These Modifications Would Affect, Perhaps Inappreciably, The Entire
Flora And Fauna Of The Region. The Change Of Level Would Produce
Additional Modifications: Varying In Different Species, And Also In
Different Members Of The Same Species, According To Their Distance From
The Axis Of Elevation. Plants, Growing Only On The Sea-Shore In Special
Localities, Might Become Extinct. Others, Living Only In Swamps Of A
Certain Humidity, Would, If They Survived At All, Probably Undergo
Visible Changes Of Appearance. While Still Greater Alterations Would
Occur In The Plants Gradually Spreading Over The Lands Newly Raised
Above The Sea. The Animals And Insects Living On These Modified Plants,
Would Themselves Be In Some Degree Modified By Change Of Food, As Well
As By Change Of Climate; And The Modification Would Be More Marked
Where, From The Dwindling Or Disappearance Of One Kind Of Plant, An
Allied Kind Was Eaten. In The Lapse Of The Many Generations Arising
Before The Next Upheaval, The Sensible Or Insensible Alterations Thus
Produced In Each Species Would Become Organised--There Would Be A More
Or Less Complete Adaptation To The New Conditions. The Next Upheaval
Would Superinduce Further Organic Changes, Implying Wider Divergences
From The Primary Forms; And So Repeatedly.
But Now Let It Be Observed That The Revolution Thus Resulting Would Not
Be A Substitution Of A Thousand More Or Less Modified Species For The
Thousand Original Species; But In Place Of The Thousand Original Species
There Would Arise Several Thousand Species, Or Varieties, Or Changed
Forms. Each Species Being Distributed Over An Area Of Some Extent, And
Tending Continually To Colonise The New Area Exposed, Its Different
Members Would Be Subject To Different Sets Of Changes. Plants And
Animals Spreading Towards The Equator Would Not Be Affected In The Same
Way With Others Spreading From It. Those Spreading Towards The New
Shores Would Undergo Changes Unlike The Changes Undergone By Those
Spreading Into The Mountains. Thus, Each Original Race Of Organisms,
Would Become The Root From Which Diverged Several Races Differing More
Or Less From It And From Each Other; And While Some Of These Might
Subsequently Disappear, Probably More Than One Would Survive In The Next
Geologic Period: The Very Dispersion Itself Increasing The Chances Of
Survival. Not Only Would There Be Certain Modifications Thus Caused By
Change Of Physical Conditions And Food, But Also In Some Cases Other
Modifications Caused By Change Of Habit. The Fauna Of Each Island,
Peopling, Step By Step, The Newly-Raised Tracts, Would Eventually Come
In Contact With The Faunas Of Other Islands; And Some Members Of These
Other Faunas Would Be Unlike Any Creatures Before Seen. Herbivores
Meeting With New Beasts Of Prey, Would, In Some Cases, Be Led Into Modes
Of Defence Or Escape Differing From Those Previously Used; And
Simultaneously The Beasts Of Prey Would Modify Their Modes Of Pursuit
And Attack. We Know That When Circumstances Demand It, Such Changes Of
Habit _Do_ Take Place In Animals; And We Know That If The New Habits
Become The Dominant Ones, They Must Eventually In Some Degree Alter The
Organisation.
Observe, Now, However, A Further Consequence. There Must Arise Not
Simply A Tendency Towards The Differentiation Of Each Race Of Organisms
Into Several Races; But Also A Tendency To The Occasional Production Of
A Somewhat Higher Organism. Taken In The Mass, These Divergent Varieties
Which Have Been Caused By Fresh Physical Conditions And Habits Of Life,
Will Exhibit Changes Quite Indefinite In Kind And Degree; And Changes
That Do Not Necessarily Constitute An Advance. Probably In Most Cases
The Modified Type Will Be Neither More Nor Less Heterogeneous Than The
Original One. In Some Cases The Habits Of Life Adopted Being Simpler
Than Before, A Less Heterogeneous Structure Will Result: There Will Be A
Retrogradation. But It _Must_ Now And Then Occur, That Some Division Of
A Species, Falling Into Circumstances Which Give It Rather More Complex
Experiences, And Demand Actions Somewhat More Involved, Will Have
Certain Of Its Organs Further Differentiated In Proportionately Small
Degrees,--Will Become Slightly More Heterogeneous.
Thus, In The Natural Course Of Things, There Will From Time To Time
Arise An Increased Heterogeneity Both Of The Earth's Flora And Fauna,
And Of Individual Races Included In Them. Omitting Detailed
Explanations, And Allowing For The Qualifications Which Cannot Here Be
Specified, We Think It Is Clear That Geological Mutations Have All Along
Tended To Complicate The Forms Of Life, Whether Regarded Separately Or
Collectively. The Same Causes Which Have Led To The Evolution Of The
Earth's Crust From The Simple Into The Complex, Have Simultaneously Led
Part 2 Chapter 1 (Progress Its Law And Cause) Pg 77To A Parallel Evolution Of The Life Upon Its Surface. In This Case, As
In Previous Ones, We See That The Transformation Of The Homogeneous Into
The Heterogeneous Is Consequent Upon The Universal Principle, That Every
Active Force Produces More Than One Change.
The Deduction Here Drawn From The Established Truths Of Geology And The
General Laws Of Life, Gains Immensely In Weight On Finding It To Be In
Harmony With An Induction Drawn From Direct Experience. Just That
Divergence Of Many Races From One Race, Which We Inferred Must Have Been
Continually Occurring During Geologic Time, We Know To Have Occurred
During The Pre-Historic And Historic Periods, In Man And Domestic
Animals. And Just That Multiplication Of Effects Which We Concluded Must
Have Produced The First, We See Has Produced The Last. Single Causes, As
Famine, Pressure Of Population, War, Have Periodically Led To Further
Dispersions Of Mankind And Of Dependent Creatures: Each Such Dispersion
Initiating New Modifications, New Varieties Of Type. Whether All The
Human Races Be Or Be Not Derived From One Stock, Philology Makes It
Clear That Whole Groups Of Races Now Easily Distinguishable From Each
Other, Were Originally One Race,--That The Diffusion Of One Race Into
Different Climates And Conditions Of Existence, Has Produced Many
Modified Forms Of It.
Similarly With Domestic Animals. Though In Some Cases--As That Of
Dogs--Community Of Origin Will Perhaps Be Disputed, Yet In Other
Cases--As That Of The Sheep Or The Cattle Of Our Own Country--It Will
Not Be Questioned That Local Differences Of Climate, Food, And
Treatment, Have Transformed One Original Breed Into Numerous Breeds Now
Become So Far Distinct As To Produce Unstable Hybrids. Moreover, Through
The Complications Of Effects Flowing From Single Causes, We Here Find,
What We Before Inferred, Not Only An Increase Of General Heterogeneity,
But Also Of Special Heterogeneity. While Of The Divergent Divisions And
Subdivisions Of The Human Race, Many Have Undergone Changes Not
Constituting An Advance; While In Some The Type May Have Degraded; In
Others It Has Become Decidedly More Heterogeneous. The Civilised
European Departs More Widely From The Vertebrate Archetype Than Does The
Savage. Thus, Both The Law And The Cause Of Progress, Which, From Lack
Of Evidence, Can Be But Hypothetically Substantiated In Respect Of The
Earlier Forms Of Life On Our Globe, Can Be Actually Substantiated In
Respect Of The Latest Forms.
If The Advance Of Man Towards Greater Heterogeneity Is Traceable To The
Production Of Many Effects By One Cause, Still More Clearly May The
Advance Of Society Towards Greater Heterogeneity Be So Explained.
Consider The Growth Of An Industrial Organisation. When, As Must
Occasionally Happen, Some Individual Of A Tribe Displays Unusual
Aptitude For Making An Article Of General Use--A Weapon, For
Instance--Which Was Before Made By Each Man For Himself, There Arises A
Tendency Towards The Differentiation Of That Individual Into A Maker Of
Such Weapon. His Companions--Warriors And Hunters All Of
Them,--Severally Feel The Importance Of Having The Best Weapons That Can
Be Made; And Are Therefore Certain To Offer Strong Inducements To This
Skilled Individual To Make Weapons For Them. He, On The Other Hand,
Having Not Only An Unusual Faculty, But An Unusual Liking, For Making
Such Weapons (The Talent And The Desire For Any Occupation Being
Commonly Associated), Is Predisposed To Fulfil These Commissions On The
Offer Of An Adequate Reward: Especially As His Love Of Distinction Is
Also Gratified. This First Specialisation Of Function, Once Commenced,
Tends Ever To Become More Decided. On The Side Of The Weapon-Maker
Continued Practice Gives Increased Skill--Increased Superiority To His
Products: On The Side Of His Clients, Cessation Of Practice Entails
Decreased Skill. Thus The Influences That Determine This Division Of
Labour Grow Stronger In Both Ways; And The Incipient Heterogeneity Is,
On The Average Of Cases, Likely To Become Permanent For That Generation,
If No Longer.
Observe Now, However, That This Process Not Only Differentiates The
Social Mass Into Two Parts, The One Monopolising, Or Almost
Monopolising, The Performance Of A Certain Function, And The Other
Having Lost The Habit, And In Some Measure The Power, Of Performing That
Function; But It Tends To Imitate Other Differentiations. The Advance We
Have Described Implies The Introduction Of Barter,--The Maker Of Weapons
Has, On Each Occasion, To Be Paid In Such Other Articles As He Agrees To
Take In Exchange. But He Will Not Habitually Take In Exchange One Kind
Of Article, But Many Kinds. He Does Not Want Mats Only, Or Skins, Or
Fishing Gear, But He Wants All These; And On Each Occasion Will Bargain
For The Particular Things He Most Needs. What Follows? If Among The
Members Of The Tribe There Exist Any Slight Differences Of Skill In The
Manufacture Of
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