art and science, and whether it would be likely to
produce a stereotyped society in which progress
would become difficult and slow.

It is not enough that men and women should be
made comfortable in a material sense. Many mem-
bers of the well-to-do classes at present, in spite of
opportunity, contribute nothing of value to the life
of the world, and do not even succeed in securing for
themselves any personal happiness worthy to be so
called. The multiplication of such individuals would
be an achievement of the very minutest value; and
if Socialism were merely to bestow upon all the
kind of life and outlook which is now enjoyed by
the more apathetic among the well-to-do, it would
offer little that could inspire enthusiasm in any
generous spirit.

"The true rôle of collective existence," says M.
Naquet, ¹ ". . . is to learn, to discover, to know.
Eating, drinking, sleeping, living, in a word, is a
mere accessory. In this respect, we are not dis-
tinguished from the brute. Knowledge is the goal.
If I were condemned to choose between a humanity
materially happy, glutted after the manner of a
flock of sheep in a field, and a humanity existing in
misery, but from which cmaanated, here and there,
some eternal truth, it is on the latter that my choice
would fall."

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