180 PERFECTIBILITY OP MAN. 



tive purity, a golden age, of man, sullied and defaced 

 in later times. But history, as we have seen, is silent 

 or speaks only in fables of these earlier epochs of man- 

 kind. What it tells us gives no measure of time, or 

 knowledge of what was human life, in the long ante- 

 cedent void. 



These considerations give more definite shape to 

 the questions before us: How far may the advance- 

 ment of a portion of mankind be carried by ulterior 

 progress? And how may such advancement be ex- 

 tended over the entire earth and to all races of men ? 

 Taking the latter and wider question first, one conclu- 

 sion speedily presents itself, viz., that all future pro- 

 gress in mental culture and civilisation of the great 

 masses of mankind whether defined as races, nations, 

 or classes of men must for the future come by diffu- 

 sion from those points or centres where the torch of a 

 brighter humanity is already kindled and ready to 

 cast its light around. That there are many dark lines 

 mingled in this light may well be confessed. But it is 

 nevertheless the source whence the larger civilisation 

 of the world must come, accelerated and assured by 

 those recent acquisitions of power which are due to 

 the science of our day. The steam-engine, on land 

 and sea, has broken through all the barriers which 

 formerly divided and dissevered nations. When we 

 can send a message across the Atlantic in a few 

 seconds, by an agent scarcely known two centuries 

 ago, it may well be felt that all old reckonings of time 

 and distance are gone by, and that the future state of 

 the world will be subject to conditions veiy different 

 from those of the past. 



