THE BATTLE WITH COSMIC NATUEE 35 



foundation we have acquired for the hope that such 

 an enterprise may meet with a certain measure of 

 success. 



The history of civilization details the steps by 

 which men have succeeded in building up an artificial 

 world within the cosmos. Fragile reed, as he may 

 be, man, as Pascal says, is a thinking reed : ( 20 ) there 

 lies within him a fund of energy, operating in- 

 telligently and so far akin to that which per- 

 vades the universe, that it is competent to influence 

 and modify the cosmic process. In virtue of his 

 intelligence, the dwarf bends the Titan to his will. In 

 every family, in every polity that has been established 

 the cosmic process in man has been restrained and 

 otherwise modified by law and custom ; in surround- 

 ing nature, it has been similarly influenced by the art 

 of the shepherd, the agriculturist, the artisan. As 

 civilization has advanced, so has the extent of this 

 interference increased ; until the organized and highly 

 developed sciences and arts of the present day have 

 endowed man with a command over the course of 

 non-human nature greater than that once attributed 

 to the magicians. The most impressive, I might say 

 startling, of these changes have been brought about 

 in the course of the last two centuries ; while a right 

 comprehension of the process of life and of the 

 means of influencing its manifestations is only just 

 dawning upon us. We do not yet see our way 

 beyond generalities ; and we are befogged by the 

 obtrusion of false analogies and crude anticipations. 

 But Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, have all had 



D 2 



