PHYSICAL EVOLUTION 211 



course among these American peoples than among the young 

 nations of Europe with its many peninsulas jutting out into 

 seas, that served as highways, making war and commerce 

 possible. Consequently they lived amid less invigorating sur- 

 roundings. It was their ill-fortune too to have no horses to help 

 them in peace and war. And a far more important point 

 the climate even on their high tablelands was not hard enough 

 to brace them and keep them vigorous when they lived under 

 settled governments, and their wars came only at intervals. 

 Hence they fell an easy prey to the Spaniards. 



In the Old World, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian 

 civilisations have perished, and the Northern nations alone hold 

 what they have gained, and are advancing to greater triumphs. 

 It may be said, no doubt, that Egyptian civilisation lasted 

 thousands of years, and that we have yet to see whether the 

 peoples of the north will ever look back over a longer record. 

 To argue on such a point is useless, but I may point out that 

 Egypt had shown signs of senility long before Alexander came 

 there to receive her easy submission. Circumstances had brought 

 it about that her rivals were not strong. They had lived under 

 the same enervating conditions as herself, and the results had 

 been the same. 



However, some more northern civilisations also have risen and slavery a 

 decayed, and should we be unable to point to any special under- 

 mining force, we should be bound to reconsider the question of 

 the decay of southern states. Why did the glory of Greece 

 so suddenly become a mere memory ? What was the cause of 

 the palsy with which the Roman empire was stricken ? These 

 are very familiar questions, and very various answers have been 

 given. A bimetallist, to explain the decay of the Roman world, 

 tells us that the gold mines in Spain were worked out ; hence 

 gold appreciated, and " appreciation of gold always brings ruin 

 with it." This hardly goes to the root of the matter. In a 

 chapter on the Conditions of Progress I hope to* show that the 

 Romanising of the whole civilised world, and the consequent 

 absence of competition and rivalry, had much to do with it. At 

 present I wish to lay stress upon another factor which I cannot 



