62 PERIOD III. 



promising 1 , to resort to ancient books which contained 

 the speculations of past generations of thinkers. Now 

 at last men set themselves to study what is, and by the 

 help of historical facts to discover how it came to be. 

 The new method was first applied to the institutions 

 of human society, but was in the end extended to the 

 earth, life on the earth, and a multitude of other impor- 

 tant subjects. 



Most writers call this method historical, because 

 history is the chief means by which it seeks to trace 

 causes. Others call it genetic, because it g-oes back, 

 whenever it can, to origins. It might also be called 

 comparative, because it compares, not only things which 

 are widely separated in time, but also things which are 

 separated in space, things which differ in form or ten- 

 dency because they have a common origin, and things 

 which differ in origin because they have a common form 

 or tendency. Whether the institutions, arts, and usages 

 of mankind, or the species of plants and animals, are in 

 question, the study of history, together with the com- 

 parative study of what now exists, results in increased 

 attention to development, and this again brings to light 

 the continuity of all natural agents and processes con- 

 tinuity in time and continuity among- co-existences. 

 Since the new method has succeeded in tracing the 

 causes of many phenomena which once seemed to obey 

 no law, it has done much to strengthen the belief in 

 universal causation. 



Down to the middle of the eighteenth century the 

 book of Genesis had been almost unanimously accepted 

 in Europe as the only source of information concerning 

 the origin of the world, of man, of languages, of arts 

 and sciences. The whole duration of the world was 

 restricted to so brief a space that slow development 



