H2 THE WORLD MACHINE 



of our human kind as well, as governed by a rigid and unescap- 

 able necessity. 



There are types of mind which recoil from this conception of 

 the world with a kind of fright. For Democritus it seemed to 

 have no such terror. He taught that the highest good was 

 tranquillity of mind ; he preached cheerfulness as the most 

 admirable of human qualities, and what is more to the point, 

 he seems to have practised it as well. He appeared thoroughly 

 to enjoy life, for all his ideas ; it may be because of them. At 

 any rate, he lived to a green old age, and by a curious fate 

 passed into the history of Greek thought as " the Laughing 

 Philosopher." 



There might be profit in his example for our modern men 

 of science, who seem to take their learning a trifle seriously 

 and with little relief of gaiety. One would imagine they most 

 times forget that science, like letters or art, can have hardly 

 any other aim than to make life a little easier, a little pleasanter, 

 more varied, more interesting, more serene. Democritus, we 

 may believe, did not. 



