Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



the establishment of a higher and more perfect 

 health-condition, we may for our consolation remem- 

 ber that to-day there are features in the problem 

 which have never been present before. In the 

 first place, to-day Civilisation is no longer isolated, 

 as in the ancient world, in surrounding floods of 

 savagery and barbarism, but it practically covers 

 the globe, and the outlying savagery is so feeble 

 as not possibly to be a menace to it. This may 

 at first appear a drawback, for (it will be said) 

 if Civilisation be not renovated by the influx 

 of external Savagery its own inherent flaws will 

 destroy society all the sooner. And there would 

 be some truth in this if it were not for the following 

 consideration, namely, that while for the first 

 time in History Civilisation is now practically 

 continuous over the globe, now also for the first 

 time can we descry forming in continuous line 

 within its 'very structure the forces which are destined 

 to destroy it and to bring about the new order. 

 While hitherto isolated communisms, as suggested, 

 have existed here and there and from time to time, 

 now for the first time in History both the masses and 

 the thinkers of all the advanced nations of the world 

 are consciously feeling their way towards the 

 establishment of a socialistic and communal life 

 on a vast scale. The present competitive society 

 is more and more rapidly becoming a mere dead 

 formula and husk within which the outlines of 

 the new and human society are already discernible. 

 Simultaneously, and as if to match this growth, a 

 move towards Nature and Savagery is for the first 



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