SCIENCE AND THE THOUGHT OF THE WORLD 



ago. This fearlessness has been won chiefly through 

 the widening of human thought by natural knowledge, 

 by which the prejudices inherent in human nature, or 

 which have come down by inheritance, have been greatly 

 weakened, if not yet overcome. The fearless courage 

 of change of opinion required by experimental science 

 is safeguarded by the demand which she makes in all 

 cases for sufficient evidence from observation or experience. 



To sum up, the influence of science during the last 

 fifty years has been in the direction of bringing out and 

 developing the powers and freedom of the individual, 

 under the stimulation of great ideas. To become all that 

 we can become as individuals is our most glorious birth- 

 right, and only as we realise it do we become, at the same 

 time, of great price to the community. From individual 

 minds are born all great discoveries and revolutions of 

 thought. New ideas may be in the air, and more or less 

 present in many minds, but it is always an individual 

 who at the last takes the creative step and enriches man- 

 kind with the living germ-thought of a new era of opinion. 



All influences, therefore, and especially all laws and 

 institutions which tend to lose the individual in the crowd, 

 and bring down the exceptional to the level of the average, 

 are contrary to the irresistible order of nature, and can 

 lead only to disaster to the individual and to the 

 State. 



I should not omit to mention the marvellous secondary 



effects of scientific discoveries upon the mental progress 



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