I 54 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
sociological psychology. (2) The study of social evolution, or social solidarity in history, 'history or history of civilization. (3) If social life is always in part Mients already fixed, it is always partially composed of collective tend- encies, ideas, inspirations, and we need to appraise the value of these. Solidarity is not a fact once for all accomplished. It is an ideal capable of realization in the future. Society is a becoming, and the future is not wholly contained in the past. Sociological idealism, the relative value of past and future. Thus sociology will be the center of sociological ethics, not be separated from existing realities, but not to be reduced to mere discovery of standards of customs in nations or epochs.
These different problems complement each other. Every question presented by social life may bo considered in its relation to each of points of view, nor is a social question truly solved until it has been considered under each of these aspects. (Giard et Brie're, 16 Rue Soufflot, Paris.)
A Phase of Social Selection. The quality of population is conditioned on the one hand by the laws of heredity and upon the other by the laws of selection. Of these forces heredity is the great conservator ; but this tendency is overcome by the trans- forming forces of selection. The forces which determine the multiplication of certain elements of the population and the decrease or extinction of others are rather those arising from the character of that society than from external nature. The relation between the forces of social selection and the racial composition of populations is fundamental. " Dissociation " designates a subordinate and usually a preparatory phase of this selection. Dissociation by stratification results from the subsidiary struggle for comfort, wealth, power, social position, etc. Dissociation by displacement takes the form of the geographical separation of different elements through the migra- tion of one or another among them. Colonization and emigration are the means of a vast selective process. Less conspicuous but not less important, are those emigrations within a single country, from region to region, from highlands to plains, from the rural to the urban districts. Especially in this last case the selective process tends to eliminate the migratory element, for the cities are the great consumers of population. European populations are mainly composed of two types, the dolicocephalic and the brachycephalic. The latter type is industrious, frugal, often receptive and intelligent. The former is the less uniform and mediocre, of higher capacity, more enterprising and self-reliant, and have ruled most of the great civilizations. This element is being con- centrated in cities by means of the dissociative action of migration, and hence is becoming displaced. Direct proof of this law is now available in large quantity. Very recent investigations widen the scope of the generalization, by showing that migration, not merely urban immigration but movement in general, is especially characteristic of the dolicocephalic element of the population ; that this type is characterized by greater general mobility. (C. C. CLOSSON in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, January 1896.)
Sociology and Democracy. One of the first discoveries of sociology appears to increase the historic importance of masses of peoples at the expense of individuals. Our consciousness is nothing more than the point of intersection of social ideas. Our sentiments, knowledge, tastes, duties are borne only in and through society. But, on the other hand, sociology lowers what it elevates. The qualities of aggregates are different from the sum of their elements. Being heterogeneous, not homogeneous as claimed by Spencer, the powers of men neutralize each other, and cannot be added together. Thinking in masses, they are inferior to themselves taken singly. The more intelligent lower themselves ; but the less intelligent cannot elevate themselves. Since, in evolution, the inferior faculties, being the more ancient, are more surely lilted, the units of society resemble one another on their inferior side, while the superior units differ among themselves by their very superiorities. The intellects are not joined ; they become equalized by lowering themselves. The homogeneous quali-
- m the collective opinion ; but the heterogeneous qualities are the superior. By
beinif surrounded by the consciousness of his fellows, the individual loses much of the consciousness and reflection necessary to the exercise of his superior faculties. This
