nd, the plant--all forms of animal
life--the solar system and, doubtless, an infinite number of other
systems which the eye cannot see or the mind comprehend take on form and
order. The symmetry and shape of any of these organizations may be
shattered by growth or catastrophe, and new forms may take their place.
All life is constant friction and constant adjustment, each particle in
a blind way trying to find a more harmonious relation, but never
reaching complete rest.

The social and political patterns that men have taken have been of many
forms. All through the past these have changed, and the laws and habits
that were meant to hold men together, have been made and discarded as
fast as new emotions or ideas have gained the power to make the change.
Men are of all degrees of adaptability. Some can readily conform to the
new. Some adjust themselves very slowly. Man's structure is fixed; his
inherent instincts are of ancient origin, always urging him to primitive
reactions; his habits are slowly formed and slowly changed. Slowly he
settles himself to the conditions that surround him. He learns their
demands; he manages to conform, but the folk-ways that he knew and the
way of life he learned must be changed to something else. Every new
adjustment, every change of organization, every modification made by
civilization, bears its toll of victims who have not been able to adjust
themselves to the new order.

The first criminal regulations, doubtless, had to do with the personal
relations of men. The number of offenses was small for life was simple,
wants were few, and ambition rare. The growth of religion created a
ferocious criminal code, regulating every thought and action that God's
agents thought might offend the Deity or threaten their power on earth.
Anyone interested in the story of punishment for heresy, sorcery or
other crimes growing out of religious fanaticism, can read the story in
Lecky's _History of Rationalism in Europe_, in White's _A History of the
Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom_, in Draper's
_Intellectual Development of Europe_, and in many other books. The
Spanish Inquisition alone furnished about 350,000 victims in the two
centuries of its power. Many of them were burned alive, many others were
killed by the most cruel torture that could be devised by man. Up to
recent times more victims have been put to death for heresy and kindred
crimes against religion than for any other cause. Next