16 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



tinguish the main road, its turns become quite insig- 

 nificant, we see that it leads as directly as any engi- 

 neering skill could locate it through the mountains to 

 the fertile plains and rich harvests beyond. 



Now our knowledge of the history of man covers so 

 brief a period that we can scarcely more than hazard 

 a guess as to the trend of human progress. Many of 

 the most promising social movements are like by-roads 

 which, at first less steep and difficult, end sooner or 

 later against impassable obstacles. And even if there 

 be a main line of march, advance seems to alternate 

 with retreat, progress with retrogression. To illustrate 

 further, the great waves rush onward only to fall back 

 again, and we can hardly tell whether the tide is flow- 

 ing or ebbing. 



Yet already certain tendencies appear fairly clear. 

 Governments tend to become democratic, if we define 

 democracy as " any form of government in which the 

 will of the people finds sovereign expression." The 

 tendency of society seems to be toward furnishing 

 all its members equality of opportunity to make the 

 most of their natural endowments. But if we are 

 convinced that these statements express even vaguely 

 the tendency of human development in all its past his- 

 tory, we are confident that these tendencies will con- 

 tinue in the future for a period somewhat proportional 

 to their time of growth in the past. If we are wise, 

 we try to make our own lives and actions, and those of 

 our fellows, conform to and advance them. Otherwise 

 our lives will be thrown away. 



But if the theory of evolution be true, human his- 

 tory is only the last page of the one history of all life. 

 If we are to gain any adequate, true, extensive view of 



