PROGRESS 55 



needed to show the reality of internal secretion or to 

 discover the infra-atomic world of electrons. The 

 task occupied all their powers, its accomplishment 

 satisfied them ; and the powers themselves have not 

 increased — only the ways in which men have learned 

 to use them. 



This criticism has been partly dealt with before. 

 We have seen that the present organization of human 

 mind introduces its possessor to a practical infinitude 

 of possibility. We have also seen that there is no 

 theoretical obstacle to be seen at present to an increase 

 of human powers, be it in range of comprehension, 

 intensity of feeling, or brilliance of intuition. More 

 to our present purpose is the reply that, whereas in 

 all these ways the inherent capabilities have not 

 increased, yet the opportunities of realizing these 

 capabilities has for the bulk of the population increased 

 — in particular, for instance, of gratifying the more 

 complex and the more intellectual emotions, with 

 the multiplication of theatres, of books, of pictures, 

 of concerts. Here, for once, the average has advanced 

 more than the upper level. Whatever overstress and 

 maladjustment the complexity of modern civilization 

 has brought with it, it has certainly made it easier 

 for more men and women to realize more of their 

 potentialities now than a thousand years ago, and far 

 more than a hundred thousand years ago. 



There are, then, these facts to set on the credit 

 side of Progress' balance-sheet. It is easy enough 



