272 THE PRESENT IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE 



competent thinking but by blind reactions. The effort 

 of innumerable individuals, each pushing his own way and 

 led by what appeals to his own imagination, constitute the 

 medium in which progress develops. Nevertheless, if ra- 

 tionality amounts to anything in the world of social re- 

 lationship, we must act on the assumption that intelligent 

 analysis counts in the long run. Now that so many are able 

 to read, even if they read only newspapers, it is possible for 

 human thought to carry farther than ever before. 



The thinker is always at a disadvantage as compared 

 with the demagogue, because the latter so readily captures 

 the popular imagination. The discriminating insight into 

 the problems of human life, which may characterize the 

 finer intelligence, is often directly felt by only a small circle of 

 readers and acquaintances. But in the end the progress of 

 society seems to be dominated by the ideas of a few minds; 

 and usually these ideas are relatively simple because they 

 are fundamental. Descartes and Darwin are examples of 

 individuals whose thought has influenced the structure 

 of society. The triumphs of the ancient science were seem- 

 ingly obliterated by the unscientific attitude of the Roman 

 mind and by the social disasters that overtook the Roman 

 Empire. Yet the concepts of Hellenic genius, through their 

 re-creation and extension in the Renaissance, made the 

 modern world. 



Open-minded consideration of ideas involving social re- 

 adjustments is clearly related to the conscious direction of 

 social progress. Society regards change with such suspicion 

 there is no danger that change will ever occur with undue 

 rapidity, despite the recurrence of revolution. Conservatism 

 is seldom out of the saddle for long at a time, and is, in gen- 

 eral, supported by all forms of human activity, with the 

 possible exception of science. Religion, art, government, 

 and even education represent the conservation of what has 

 been already won. Science is the one field of human endeavor, 

 which, from its very nature, looks forward rather than back- 



