RATIONALISM AND SCIENCE 77 



supply and demand of commodities, by desire of 

 fresh markets, by poverty and unemployment. 

 It is the course of events in our own days which 

 has thrown an entirely fresh light on ancient his- 

 tory. And if we only take the trouble to pay 

 attention, ancient history can in return throw a 

 flood of light on our own present and on the future 

 which awaits us. And what is true of ancient 

 history is quite as true of more recent history. 



Secondly, we have the psychological group of 

 studies, which investigate the active and the 

 thinking powers of man, the conscious powers, 

 and that great realm of the unconscious which now 

 takes so great a place in our horizon. It is 

 astounding what great revolutions are wrought 

 alike in our conceptions of history and our practi- 

 cal activities in the world by the introduction of 

 truer views of the nature of human feelings, 

 habits and thoughts. Every practical man has to 

 deal with the minds of his fellows, and the 

 analogy of all other studies proves that he will 

 work far more effectually when he has an accurate 

 and methodical notion of what those minds are, 

 than he can when he merely knows them by rule 

 of thumb. Practical statesmen are often dis- 

 posed to think lightly of the methodical study of 

 man, yet could not any psychologist point to Acts 

 of Parliament and decrees of Emperors the 

 failure of which, from their want of conformity 

 to human nature, could quite well have been fore- 

 seen? 



