KNOWLEDGE THE BASIS OF PROGRESS 133 



of the social movement. For we could then take the Book n 

 progress of that one element as the central chain, 

 to each successive link of which, the corresponding 

 links of all the other progressions being appended, 

 the succession of facts would by this alone be 

 presented in a kind of spontaneous order, far more 

 approaching to the real order of their filiation than 

 could be obtained by any other merely empirical 

 process. Now the evidence of history and that of 

 human nature combine, by a striking instance of 

 consilience, to show that there really is one social 

 element which is predominant and almost paramount 

 amongst the agents of social progression. This is 

 the state of the speculative faculties, including the 

 nature of the beliefs which by any means they have 

 arrived at, concerning themselves and the world by 

 which they are surrounded. Thus',' M ill continues, " to 

 take the most obvious case, the impelling force to most 

 of the improvements effected in the arts of life is the 

 desire for increased material comfort ; but as we can 

 only act on external objects in proportion to our know- 

 ledge of them, the state of knowledge at any given 

 time is the limit of the industrial improvement pos- 

 sible at that time, and therefore the progress of in- 

 dustry must follow and depend upon the progress of 

 that knowledge." 



Any one who was inclined to be hypercritical 

 might object, and object with justice, that the 

 practical application of knowledge often lags be- 

 hind the speculative attainment, and that material 

 progress therefore, at certain times, depends on 



