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 420 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

growth. Without reflection, and motivated only by the instincts of self-preservation and of preservation of the species, authorities have been established. But while Nature commands a subjection to the principle of authority, she does not proclaim the kind of authority to be established. The latter function belongs to history, which teaches that the nature of the authority shall conform to the stage of the civilization. The steps in the development of authority are as follows : for the savage and bar- barous peoples it is a natural necessity ; for religious natures and sincere believers it is a necessity of feeling ; for the utilitarian it is the necessity of purpose ; finally, for the idealistic philosopher it is a necessity of reason.

It is to authorities, political, religious, scientific, and artistic, that we owe our order and progress. The highest formula in the promotion of progress is found in the proposition : No civilization without authority.

4. Limits of authority. The exaggeration of authority leads to as great evils as the absence of it. The former suppresses individuality, the latter means dissolution and disorganization. Egypt furnishes an illustration of the stifling effects of despotic authority in ancient history, Byzantium in the Middle Ages, Spain in the modern period. Absolute authority everywhere has led to intellectual death, the destruction of all individual initiative, and to the stagnation of civilization.

From the positive side the solution of the problem of the limits of authority has been found by the Germanic peoples in the reconciliation of the principle of authority with the principle of freedom in the securing of authority in connection with the highest possible degree of freedom. The peculiar characteristic of the Germans is represented in this impulse for freedom, in the struggle for individuality. They formed families, clans, tribes, but no state. It was through contact with Rome that there arose the idea of the state among the Germans. At first the universalism of Rome in both political and religious realms conquered the individualism of the Ger- mans. Then began the struggle between individualism and universalism, promoted by the Reformation, the conflict between church and state, the discoveries of science, the advance in philosophy, art, and invention, resulting in the principle of the equi- librium between authority and freedom. LUDWIG STEIN, " Autoritat : ihr Ursprung, ihre Begriindung und ihre Grenzen," in Jahrbuchfiir Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reich, Heft 3. E. M.

The Power of the Social Mind in War. If one takes into considerati on the wars of recent times, such as the success of Germany, the brilliant victory of the United States in 1898, or the military progress of Japan; or if one attempts to penetrate into the spirit of the nations as portrayed in their different histories, he will find that the ruling force in these struggles has not been military fatalism or individual genius, but rather the esprit de la nation a force as invisible as it is irresistible.

Wars have two different effects upon nations. In the one case, after the war the victorious nation sinks into a quiet condition again, while in the other it is aroused to a desire to continue the conflict. After the defeat of the Greeks in 1898 the Turks entered upon a peaceful and profound repose, whereas after the war of 1866 the Ger- mans retained an ardent desire for war, searching for an occasion for its continuance elsewhere. The reason for this is that in the former type the excitation to war is from without, only a portion of the people being aroused, and that in a mechanical way; whereas in the second type inspiration for the war comes from the very heart of the nation, emotionally the whole nation is aroused, and a spontaneous reaction of the whole body of the people is the result. In the first category belong all the wars of the allies of Napoleon, in the second the barbarous invasions of all times.

Every event, public or private, is attributed by some moralists entirely to the will of the individual, by other writers entirely to fate. On the one hand we see a small number of very successful men who attribute their success entirely to personal charac- teristics ; on the other hand we have the views of the great leaders of all times : Alex- ander, Hannibal, and Caesar believed in chance; Gustavus Adolphus and Cromwell, in a divine power; Napoleon, in his star; all the faithful, in the power of God; and finally the oriental fatalists, in the predestined lot of man.

To say the will alone suffices in attaining an end is to exaggerate its influence. No effect has a single cause, but rather there is always present a complexity of causes. There is a chain of circumstances, a collective will, a social mind, an environment that