SESSION 1902-3. 


Progress—and Its Illusions. 
ae SOGOU Ste 
OCTOBER 8TH, 1902, 
BY 
THE PRESIDENT, 
E. ALLOWAY PANKHURST. 
—_——— 
“ Tf we carry our thoughts as far forward as paleolithic 
implements carry them back, we are introduced not to an absolute 
optimism but to a relative optimism. The cosmic process brings 
about retrogression as well as progression, where the conditions 
favour it... . Evolution does not imply a latent tendency to 
improve—everywhere in operation. There is no uniform ascent 
from lower to higher, but only an occasional production of a form 
which in virtue of greater fitness for more complex conditions, 
becomes capable of a longer life of a more varied kind.” —HERBERT 
_ SpENcER: “ Principles of Sociology,” Vol. III., p. 599. 
About forty years ago was published Buckle’s “ History 
of Civilization.” 
The author in a final survey of the vast field of his re- 
searches allows that the age, “which was in nearly all respects 
greater than any the world had yet seen,” yet “‘ had a certain 
material unimaginative and unheroical character, which has 
made several observers tremble for the future.” ‘‘ But,” he adds, 
“TJ do not participate in these fears because I believe the good 
we have already gained is, beyond all comparison, greater than 
what we have lost.” This I think fairly represents the view of 
the advocates of progress. 
Mr. Darwin again, at the conclusion of that great work, 
“ The Origin of Species,” as if to give us some relief from the 
sombre details of that long tragedy which he terms ‘the 
struggle for existence,” consoles us with the reflection that, ‘‘ as 

