264 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



variously combined, making them more comprehensive 

 in their utility, serving not only one man, or one vil- 

 lage, but many millions of human beings, for all time 

 and all places, as the printing press, telegraph, and 

 engine, man was unwittingly compelled, in spite of 

 himself, to think and act constructively for all mankind. 



Many factors contributed to this result, but all of 

 them seem to have been slowly marshalled in secret, 

 like the different organs of a growing embryo. In the 

 nineteenth century, to use roundly a convenient unit of 

 time, they seem to come into cooperative action all at 

 once, making that century the most creative period in 

 the history of organic evolution; setting it distinctly 

 apart as the quickening period of a world-wide, social 

 entity; and making, at least in a physically united hu- 

 manity, the philosopher's dream a reality. 



We can do no more than barely outline the cultural 

 movements of the nineteenth century, and in so doing 

 we shall not rigidly restrict ourselves to the literal 

 meaning of the term, for many of these movements may 

 be traced back, historically, hundreds, or thousands, 

 of years. But in the cases specified the movements at- 

 tained well within that period a quickening momentum 

 and a unity of action befitting the birth of a living body 

 of world-wide dimensions. 



It will best serve our present purpose, if we project 

 these events in bold relief against the general back- 

 ground of organic evolution. We may then more 

 clearly see what it was that so quickly widened man's 

 mental horizon, increased his freedom of action, and 

 made his organic unity a reality. The events we have 

 in mind may be grouped as follows : 



