EDITOR'S TABLE. 



265 



mind and the adult mind, which did 

 not exist when the century was 

 young - , and which would never have 

 existed had not a better method — the 

 outcome of physical investigations — 

 been adopted in the study of mind. 

 To this result the science of anthro- 

 pology has contributed in no mean 

 degree. To-day we study man not as 

 an abstraction, not as a creature dog- 

 matically proclaimed to be only "a 

 little lower than the angels,'' but as 

 he has actually manifested himself 

 historically, and is now manifesting 

 himself, in the sum of his habits, 

 aptitudes, passions, customs, supersti- 

 tions, imaginations, and achieve- 

 ments. We are at last taking to heart 

 the advice of the ancient oracle, 

 "Know thyself!" We see our true 

 selves mirrored in the life of the 

 race to which we belong. 



In view of the vast accumulations 

 of knowledge by which our age has 

 been enriched, and of all that has 

 been done within the last few gen- 

 erations for the betterment of human 

 life, it might seem idle and paradox- 

 ical to doubt that the future is full 

 of the brightest promise for our race. 

 We have no disposition to join the 

 prophets of evil of whom the pres- 

 ent day possesses not a few. It is 

 well, however, to remember that 

 there is a double aspect to almost 

 every advance in knowledge and in 

 the perfection of the arts. Every 

 gain tends to the disuse of some por- 

 tion of human faculty, and unless it 

 calls other portions into a more than 

 compensating activity there is really 

 no resulting benefit, so far as the de- 

 velopment of the individual is con- 

 cerned, and there may even be a loss. 

 It would take us too far to illustrate 

 this in any detail ; but it is quite evi- 

 dent that many useful inventions, 

 such as improved means of transit, the 

 telephone, etc., while they quicken 

 the pace of life, do not prompt either 

 to physical or to intellectual exer- 



tion, and that the vast provision made 

 to-day for the entertainment and 

 amusement of the multitude has little 

 educative value and may even tend 

 to the injury of the reflective powers. 

 Amid the ever-increasing multipli- 

 city of luxuries and novelties of every 

 kind that are spread before the peo- 

 ple to tempt the outer senses, the 

 needs of the inner man are apt to be 

 thrust aside and forgotten. In the 

 illustrated books that are prepared 

 for children so much is exhibited to 

 the eye that nothing is left to the 

 imagination. It sometimes seems al- 

 most possible that the modern world 

 might be choked by its own riches, 

 and human faculty dwindle away 

 amid the million inventions that 

 have been introduced to render its 

 exercise unnecessary. 



Further than this there is a tend- 

 ency, which we think is already be- 

 ginning to be well defined, to effect 

 a radical differentiation between 

 those who are concerned in carry- 

 ing on the work of the world as 

 thinkers and inventors and those 

 who are only concerned in using the 

 improved appliances placed in their 

 hands. Some of our readers will 

 remember the horribly grim devel- 

 opment suggested in Mr. H. G. 

 Wells's fantastical romance, The 

 Time Machine — a degraded humani- 

 ty inhabiting an externally perfected 

 world. Without taking seriously so 

 horrible a possibility, what we seem 

 to see is that the times call for very 

 special efforts to spread the knowl- 

 edge and culture which are the 

 product of the age, so that the in- 

 tellectual life of the whole mass 

 of society may be quickened. The 

 leaven of thought and knowledge 

 should be so applied as to work 

 everywhere ; in order that, while 

 there may still be leaders of thought 

 moving in regions inaccessible to 

 the multitude, there may at least be 

 no considerable sections of societv 



