INTRODUCTORY. 85 



has during the last twenty-five years become again more 

 fluent, more accommodating to the needs of modern 

 thought. At the moment it looks more likely that 

 philosophy has handed over the next great advance in 

 human thought to the practical worker, and that the 

 purely intellectual grasp of the new truths will have 

 to await their actual realisation ; that they will have to 

 become efficient forces in the life of society at large 

 before some individual genius will find the logic and 

 metaphysics of their essence, the intelligible rationale of 

 their activity. 



There is no mistaking the signs of the times; the 

 tide is running away from abstract dogmas and meta- 

 physical speculation. Both these have been tried and 

 found wanting, so far as the great practical problems 

 are concerned. Theology has failed to evangelise the 

 masses, and philosophy to enlighten them. For a time 

 all hopes were concentrated upon exact science, but this 

 also has shown itself powerless to deal with fundamental 

 questions, or to approach the ground and origin of things. 

 Truth, in the higher sense of the word, as an expression of 

 the truly Eeal, is no longer an object of scientific research. 

 Exact science does not profess to deal with essences and 

 existences, but only with what is apparent. This it is 

 content to describe and interpret in the most consistent, 

 the simplest, and the most useful manner. The value 

 of science lies in its applicability to problems of industry, 

 commerce, the useful arts, and, in a limited sense, the 

 problems of administration. The latest leading ideas 

 which have been introduced into Scientific Thought have 

 done much to remove still further out of our reach the 



