222 EVOLUTION OP" THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATOR, 



of especial attention on such an occasion as this. In setting them 

 forth we should axoiil layin<i' stress on those visible manifestations 

 which, strilving tiie eye of every behokler, are in no danger of liein"' 

 overh)oked, and search ratlier for tliose agencies Avhose activities 

 underlie the whoh' visible scene, but which are liable to be blotted 

 out of sight by the very brilliancy of the results to which they Iiave 

 given rise. It is easy to draw attention to the wonderful qualities 

 of the oak; but. from that very fact, it may be needful to point out 

 that the real wonder lies concealed in the acorn from which it grew. 



Our inquiry into the logical order of the causes Avhich have made 

 our civilization Avhat it is to-day will be facilitated by bringing to 

 mind certain elementary considerations — ideas so familiar that setting 

 them forth may seem like citing a body of truisms — and yet so fre- 

 quently overlooked, not only individually, but in their relation to 

 each other, that the conclusion to which they lead may be lost to 

 sight. One of these propositions is that psychical rather than njate- 

 rial causes are those which we should regard as fundamental in direct- 

 ing the development of the social organism. The human intellect is 

 the really active agent in every branch of endeavor — the primum 

 mobile of civilization — and all those material manifestations to which 

 our attention is so often directed are to be regarded as secondary to 

 this first agency. If it l)e true that " in the world is nothing great 

 but man; in man is nothing great but mind," then should the key- 

 note of our discourse be the recognition of this first and greatest of 

 powers. 



Another well-known fact is that those applications of the forces 

 of natiu-e to the promotion of human Avelfare which have made our 

 age what it is are of such comparatively recent origin that we need 

 go back only a single century to antedate their most important fea- 

 tures, and scarcely more than four centuries to find their beginnig. 

 It follows that the subject of our inquiry should be the commence- 

 ment, not many centuries ago, of a certain new form of intellectual 

 activit}'. 



Having gained this point of view, our next inquiry Avill be into the 

 nature of that activity and its relation to the stages of progress wdiicli 

 preceded and followed its beginning. The superficial observer, who 

 sees the oak l)ut forgets the acorn, might tell us that the special 

 (jualities which have brought out such great results are expert scien- 

 tific knowledge and rare ingenuity, directed to the application of 

 the powers of steam and electricity. Fi-om this point of view the 

 great inventors and the great captains of industry were the first 

 agents in bringing about the modern era. But the more careful 

 inquirer will see that the work of these men was possible only through 

 a knowledge of the laws of nature, which had been gained by men 

 whose work took precedence of theirs in logical order, and that 



