NEW CONCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE 



than the days of Elizabeth or the New England 

 Pilgrims differed from our own. They had vast li- 

 braries, inscribed, it is true, upon tablets of clay, 

 but none the less carefully tabulated and indexed ; 

 their tapestries and dyes were as brilliant as any- 

 thing we may now produce; their architecture, in 

 their temples at least, surpassed any modern work 

 in grandiose effect; they were sculptors and car- 

 vers; jewels and precious metals they had in pro- 

 fusion; they were miners and metal-workers, and 

 even their plumbing arrangements did not differ 

 much from those of the present time. 



We must concede that neither mentally, morally, 

 nor physically has the race varied greatly in six 

 thousand and perhaps ten or fifteen thousand years. 

 The intervening period has meant less change than 

 is represented, say, in the advance from a bush- 

 man or a cave-dweller to a Zulu chieftain. 



Again, in some regards the temples, the sculpt- 

 ure, the poetry, the drama, the philosophy, the re- 

 ligion the serene and healthful outlook upon life of 

 the Greeks represents a stage of human culture that 

 has hardly been since attained. As the curtain rises 

 upon authentic history we are introduced to a race 

 full brained, full armed. And they had behind them 

 uncounted centuries of a relatively high civilization. 



This is the first fact. On the other hand, it is 

 scarce eight or nine generations since Bruno was 



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