84 EVOLUTION AND ETHICS 



II 



to influence and modify the cosmic process. In 

 virtue of his inteUigence, the dwarf bends the 

 Titan to his will. In every fomily, in every polity 

 that has been established, the cosmic process in 

 man has been restrained and otherwise modified 

 by law and custom ; in surrounding nature, it has 

 been similarly influenced b}^ the art of the shep- 

 herd, the agriculturist, the artisan. As civilization 

 has advanced, so has the extent of this interfer- 

 ence increased ; until the organized and highly 

 developed sciences and arts of the present day 

 have endowed man with a command over the 

 course of non-human nature gi^eater than that 

 once attributed to the magicians. The most im- 

 pressive, I might say startling, of these changes 

 have been brought about in the course of the last 

 two centuries ; while a right comprehension of the 

 process of life and of the means of influencing 

 its manifestations is only just dawning upon us. 

 We do not yet see our way beyond generalities ; 

 and we are befogged by the obtrusion of false 

 analogies and crude anticipations. But Astro- 

 nomy, Physics, Chemistry, have all had to pass 

 through similar phases, before they reached the 

 stage at which their influence became an imi^ort- 

 ant factor in human affairs. Physiology, Psycho- 

 logy, Ethics, Political Science, must submit to the 

 same ordeal. Yet it seems to me irrational to 

 doubt that, at no distant period, they will work as 

 great a revolution in the sphere of practice. 



