ening of the social bond by
the practise of self-restraint in the interests of society he called the
ethical process, and he showed that social progress means a checking of
the cosmic process at every step and the substitution of this ethical
process. This action he compares to that of a gardener in clearing a
patch of waste ground. If he relaxes his efforts to maintain the state
of art within the garden, weeds will overrun it and the state of nature
will return. So the human race is doomed to a constant struggle to
maintain the state of art of an organized polity in opposition to the
state of nature; to substitute as far as possible social progress for
cosmic evolution. He says:--

Let us understand, once for all, that the ethical progress of
society depends, not on imitating the cosmic process, still less in
running away from it, but in combating it. It may seem an audacious
proposal thus to pit the microcosm against the macrocosm, and to
set man to subdue nature to his higher ends; but I venture to think
that the great intellectual difference between the ancient times
with which we have been occupied and our day, lies in the solid
foundation we have acquired for the hope that such an enterprise
may meet with a certain measure of success....[10]

Moreover, the cosmic nature born with us, and to a large extent
necessary for our maintenance, is the outcome of millions of years
of severe training, and it would be folly to imagine that a few
centuries will suffice to subdue its masterfulness to purely
ethical ends. Ethical nature may count upon having to reckon with a
tenacious and powerful enemy as long as the world lasts. But, on
the other hand, I see no limit to the extent to which intelligence
and will, guided by sound principles of investigation, and
organized in common effort, may modify the conditions of existence
for a period longer than that now covered by history. And much may
be done to change the nature of man himself. The intelligence which
has converted the brother of the wolf into the faithful guardian of
the flock ought to be able to do something towards curbing the
instincts of savagery in civilized men.[11]

But Huxley never realized that the real cause of the better prospects of
success in modern as contrasted with ancient times is the discovery of
representative machinery. "The business,