But it is also a weapon, and it meets a felt need of barbarian man on that ground.

The handling of so tangible and primitive a means of offense is very comforting to any one who is gifted with even a moderate share of ferocity.

The exigencies of the language make it impossible to avoid an apparent implication of disapproval of the aptitudes, propensities, and expressions of life here under discussion.

It is, however, not intended to imply anything in the way of deprecation or commendation of any one of these phases of human character or of the life process.

The various elements of the prevalent human nature are taken up from the point of view of economic theory, and the traits discussed are gauged and graded with regard to their immediate economic bearing on the facility of the collective life process.