CHAPTER XLIV 

 SCIENCE AND PROGRESS 



Step by step, in one field and another, we have been 

 increasing our knowledge of common things. We have 

 come to see how Science has given us both understanding 

 and control of the great forces of Nature, how it has in- 

 creased our physical comfort and our happiness, and how, 

 by giving us an understanding of our bodily machinery, 

 Science has lengthened life itself. Today, as never before, 

 we are in real working accord with our environment. 



It remains for us to take a bird's-eye view of the whole 

 field we have been studying, that we may see how the part 

 Science has played in human progress justifies calling the 

 present age "The Age of Science." 



The gradual betterment of our living conditions and general 

 welfare, the steady improvements in our methods of protecting 

 and restoring health, the improvement in means of communica- 

 tion and transportation and in preserving and making available 

 to all the scientific knowledge already gained illustrate what we 

 mean by progress, or advance in civilization. 



In early times, and until the last two centuries, progress was 

 slow and uncertain, and often did not materially help mankind 

 as a whole. Progress became rapid and widespread in its effects 

 only as man learned the great laws of nature by careful experi- 

 menting and by making use of observed facts. By so doing, he 

 has come to control and use the forces of nature. 



Having classified into sciences his knowledge of the various 

 fields of his surroundings, man finds it increasingly easy to apply 

 this knowledge in endless ways. With the help of Science, dis- 

 coveries and new applications of the powers of nature are being 

 constantly made which will still further add to our comfort, wel- 

 fare, and progress. 



Science and Transportation. Early man had to walk when 

 he wished to travel, and was able to take with him only what he 



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