The influence of evolutionary reasoning has reached out, then, beyond the field of its na tivity; and it is undeniable that it has had its effect upon the social sciences. But no one can say that the evolutionary principle, as commonly viewed by the social scientist, be he economist, political scientist, or sociologist, affords any such orientation, perspective, uni fication, inspiration, and positive aid as it does in the realm of the natural sciences. It is an idea which he may accept as a sort of phi losophy it lingers in vague form about the horizon; it is invoked, from time to time, in a general and unproductive sort of way. It is a tenet rather than an instrument for the fur thering of scientific knowledge, a thing to be discussed by way of formal logic and specula tion rather than proved and used over and over again as a scientific verity. It is no tool of research. If social scientists use the terms variation, selection, and so on, they mean nothing definite and actual by them; their use of these terms is vaguely analogical and does not help them to get anywhere.

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