4^6 



SCIENCE PROGRESS 



different from those which arose within his own group, met them with new 

 reactions . Out of the conflict new ideas arose foreign to both of the older 

 warring traditions. These incorporated themselves in the idea-systems 

 of the combatants — and seeds of a broader culture were sown. Still other 

 tribes, pressed onward by the continental drift of peoples, made their claim 

 for possession of the pass. It mattered little which side lost or won ; new 

 ideas, new reactions resulted, new vistas were opened — the beginnings of 

 Chinese culture spread eastward into fertile, flatter country. In the course 

 of due time fortifications were built strong enough to hold out invaders. The 

 seeds sown by repeated conflicts began to germinate, within the peaceful 

 and protected area the incubation of ideas set in — and Chinese culture had 

 commenced. 



The case with Greece was a similar one. One people after another were 

 pushed down into the Greek peninsula, bringing with them such culture as 

 they had, there to clash with pre-existing culture. When the Macedonian 

 Empire across the head of the peninsula put a lid upon the box, disturbance 

 within the peninsula approached an equilibrium and the glory of Greece 

 blossomed to maturity. 



I 



HI 



I 



I 



Golden 

 Age/of 

 Culture 



fculenQO 



Renaissance 



Elapse of Time 



Curve representing the progress of a self-catalysed chemical reaction ; represents also the 

 rate of growth of the culture of a single group. 



The growth of culture is like the progress of a self-catalysed chemical 

 reaction, for the effect of the process is to cause an acceleration in the process 

 itself. Each process may be represented by the same curve — and each 

 process wears itself out in the end. 



Guncotton is an essentially unstable substance. No matter what the 

 conditions under which it is stored, it breaks down spontaneously into simpler 

 substances. If it is kept in a vacuum where the gaseous products of its de- 

 composition are constantly removed, it breaks down but slowly. If, on the 

 other hand, it is stored in an ordinary atmosphere, the nitric oxide which 

 it gives off combines with oxygen and moisture of the atmosphere to form 

 nitrous and nitric acids. These strong acids act upon the guncotton, hastening 

 its further decomposition and leading to the production of further nitrous 

 and nitric acids which further hasten the decomposition, and so on. The 

 spontaneous decomposition of guncotton in an ordinary atmosphere starts 

 slowly and becomes increasingly rapid, until at last it results either in the 

 spontaneous combustion of the mass, or it slows down because the supply 

 of reacting guncotton is exhausted. 



