Mr. Buckle's Fallacies. 199 



spirit could safely commence its inroads upon the 

 spirit of universal belief and universal submission. 

 The protective spirit was therefore in early times 

 the great safeguard of civilization and the all- 

 essential condition of progress ; and this very 

 important restriction must be placed upon Mr. 

 Buckle's law. 



On looking at the subject in its broadest and 

 most general aspect, we shall arrive at the conclu- 

 sion that all systems of belief and all great insti- 

 tutions are beneficial when they first spring up. 

 Each has its functions to perform, and the more 

 carefully we study history the more deeply shall 

 we be convinced that it performs it in the best 

 possible manner. But after these beliefs and in- 

 stitutions have done their work and are no longer 

 needed, after they have been stereotyped in life- 

 less forms, then it is that they become produc- 

 tive of evil and are prejudicial to the interests of 

 mankind. 



With the help of these considerations, we can 

 more completely understand Mr. Buckle's two 

 propositions. With the restrictions here placed 

 upon them, they might be stated thus : in the 

 revolutionary period of modern society, scepticism 

 has been uniformly essential to progress, and the 

 protective spirit has been uniformly detrimental 



