THE HELIX OF HISTORY 19 



pose, for instance, the scale of the years is marked along a 

 wall. If you stand in front of the middle of the scale, some 

 distance away, the equal periods of time will be represented 

 by equal distances and by equal angular deviations of view. 

 But if, instead, you stand at the end of the scale and look 

 down it lengthwise, the portions of the scale that are near you 

 will seem very much longer than those that are distant; and 

 near events will seem much more important than the more 

 remote ones. The time scale of human progress is certainly 

 not linear. Technical progress grows more rapid as time 

 goes on, and perhaps the best chronological scale for the his- 

 tory of science and technology would be one in which the 

 divisions of the scale were proportional to the logarithms of 

 their distance from the present time. 



Another example of this distortion is that it is impossible 

 for us to understand the effect on human history of the events 

 that are occurring around us.* Our judgment of the im- 

 portance of the events of the time is very likely to be different 

 from the judgment of history. There comes to mind Anatole 

 France's story of the procurator of Judea, who was visited 

 in retirement by a friend who had known him in Syria. 

 Their conversation strayed on to the events that had oc- 

 curred when Pontius Pilate had been in office in Jerusalem, 

 and his friend asked him if he remembered a certain Jesus 

 whom he had delivered to crucifixion. Pilate's answer will 

 forever remain the most perfect example of the ironical 

 climax: *'Jesus?" he murmured, "Jesus of Nazareth? I can't 

 call him to mind." 



History is full of incidents which were ignored by contem- 

 poraries but which proved to be of the greatest importance. 

 In 1453, Constantinople was taken by the Turks. The blow 

 was felt throughout Christendom; a European congress was 

 called at Regensburg to promote a crusade, but nobody would 

 come. The organization of Europe had broken down, ex- 

 hausted with war and quarrels. A contemporary writer said: 



* Cf. H. B. Phillips, "On the Nature of Progress," American Scientist; 

 33, 253 (1945). 



