to which may be found among some savage nations. We may reflect,
however, not without pleasure, that this condition—the true millennium—is
still distant. Nevertheless the ants and bees seem happy; perhaps more
happy than when so many social questions were in as hot discussion among
them, as other, and not dissimilar ones, will one day be amongst
ourselves.
And this, as will be apparent, opens up the whole question of the
stability of species, which we cannot follow further here, than to say,
that according to the balance of testimony, many plants and animals do
appear to have reached a phase of being from which they are hard to
move—that is to say, they will die sooner than be at the pains of
altering their habits—true martyrs to their convictions. Such races
refuse to see changes in their surroundings as long as they can, but when
compelled to recognise them, they throw up the game because they cannot
and will not, or will not and cannot, invent. And this is perfectly
intelligible, for a race is nothing but a long-lived individual, and like
any individual, or tribe of men whom we have yet observed, will have its
special capacities and its special limitations, though, as in the case of
the individual, so also with the race, it is exceedingly hard to say what
those limitations are, and why, having been able to go so far, it should
go no further. Every man and every race is capable of education up to a
certain point, but not to the extent of being made from a sow’s ear into
a silk purse. The proximate cause of the limitation seems to lie in the
absence of the wish to go further; the presence or absence of the wish
will depend upon the nature and surroundings of the individual, which is
simply a way of saying that one can get no further, but that as the song
(with a slight alteration) says:—
“Some breeds do, and some breeds don’t,
Some breeds will, but this breed won’t,
I tried very often to see if it would,
But it said it really couldn’t, and I don’t think it could.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account