EVOLUTION AND RELIGION 



is no trait more pronounced in average men than a re- 

 luctance to accept new ideas or to conform to new 

 habits. We prefer to follow the example of the past 

 with its known conditions rather than to experiment 

 with new possibilities, and this inherent conservatism 

 has often served as a safeguard as well as a danger. 



At rare intervals, an extraordinarily large number 

 of gifted individuals appear almost simultaneously, 

 and this event produces a temporary moral and intel- 

 lectual exaltation in the whole community. This 

 seems to be the explanation of the Golden Age of 

 Greece and of the Renaissance in Italy, if that can be 

 called an explanation which gives no cause for such a 

 production of genius. Every little town could point 

 to its illustrious citizens, and the whole community 

 absorbed and shared the honour of their achieve- 

 ments. The progress of civilization, on the other 

 hand, ceases at those times when mediocrity alone 

 prevails or when circumstances stifle the work of 

 genius. I am thus proposing the opposite philosophy 

 to that introduced by the Evolutionists of the last 

 century. They believed the appearance of gifted indi- 

 viduals to be due to the general progress of society; 

 whereas I base the upward and downward movements 

 of society on the unexpected appearance of the few 

 who slowly impart beneficial ideas and invention to 

 a usually reluctant commonalty. 



Is it merely unreasoning pessimism to look upon 



I 375 1 



