INTRODUCTION. 27 



the result, the parts and the ideal whole, of what is felt 

 and meant : it commits us to no preconceived theory, can 

 be used equally by thinkers of the most opposite views, 

 and lends itself to any specialisation which may become 

 necessary. 



II. 



Two processes have helped to determine the intellec- i. 



The two 



tual progress of mankind. These two processes have factors of 



intellectual 



often been apparently opposed to each other in their progress. 

 operations; but in reality neither of them can proceed 

 very far without calling the other into existence. They 

 are the extension and the condensation of knowledge. 

 Curiosity, the demands of practical life, the experiences 

 of every day, all tend to an enlargement, to an accumula- 

 tion of knowledge. Such growing knowledge is, however, 

 of little avail if it be not readily grasped : the command 

 of knowledge is as important as its accumulation. The 

 more extensive the country which we wish to explore, the 

 more we look out for elevated and commanding points 

 of view, which permit us at a glance to overlook a wide 

 landscape measuring the distance behind or the prospect 

 before us. But, however enticing, these elevated views are 

 frequently seductive and misleading. They permit us not 

 only to look backward on the land which we have ex- 

 plored, giving us a clearer picture of its many features, 

 of its winding paths, of the position of its separate objects 

 these elevated views present to us likewise the regions 

 which we have not yet explored, and suggest the attempt 

 to supersede the laborious process of further exploration 



