Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/765

 SOCIAL DIFFERENTIA TION AND INTEGRA TION 74 5

The lesson is that man may also do this. With any consid- erable part of the time that the supposed inhabitants of Mars have had, man can scarcely fail to reach a stage at which he will become absolute master of his physical environment, and at which the operations which he now performs will seem like the work of ants. Just as he has now learned that in union is strength, and that the way of safety, success, and achievement lies through association, so he will then have learned that this is as true of races as of individuals, and that the union, association, and complete fusion of all races into one great homogeneous race the race of man is the final step in social evolution. 1

LESTER F. WARD. WASHINGTON, D. C.

'This article was finished in its present form on September 19, 1902. On the 2oth the following item appeared in many of the newspapers of the country:

"THE INHABITANTS OF MARS.

" In his recent expressions as to the habitability of the planet Mars, Professor Hough, of Northwestern University, has the weight of authority with him, though many astronomers will question seriously his bold declaration that the planet is actually inhabited with sentient beings of a high type. The whole tendency of recent investigation has been to strengthen the view that Mars both in its atmosphere and in its chemical character is fitted to support animal life.

"The point of interest in Professor Hough's announcement is the declaration that, as the law of evolution has resulted in the development of a sentient race on earth, that law, operating in the case of the Martians, must have produced there a race now greatly superior to the people of earth in intellectual development. Mars, Venus, and Mercury, he reasons, are old planets, and presumably habitable. Mars, being very much older than the earth, and having solidified and cooled long before the earth was fit for animal habitation, the process of evolution there presumably began much earlier. Judging from the published excerpts from Professor Hough's report, he is ready to believe that the Martians have advanced to a stage of cultiva- tion and intelligence which is hardly conceivable to the minds of earthly races."

Struck by the coincidence both in the date and in the idea expressed, but wishing to be sure of its authenticity, I immediately wrote to Professor James, president of Northwestern University, who kindly turned my letter over to Professor Hough. In due course of mail I received a letter from him to the effect that what he had to say as to the habitability of other planets had not yet been put in shape for publication, and that the newspaper report was simply dictated to the reporter.