RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT 



endeavor to extend the range of theoretical astron- 

 omy, and to gain a correct conception of the mechan- 

 ism of the universe as a whole, that the essentially 

 faulty character of the geocentric conception becomes 

 apparent. 



And so it is in many another field ; the false general- 

 izations and hasty inductions serve a temporary pur- 

 pose. Our only quarrel with them is that they tend 

 through a sort of inertia to go forever unchanged. 

 It requires a powerful thrust to divert the aggregate 

 mind of our race from a given course, nor is the effect 

 of a new impulse immediately appreciable ; that is why 

 the masses of the people always lag a generation or 

 two behind the advanced thinkers. A few receptive 

 minds, cognizant of new observations that refute an 

 old generalization, accept new laws, and, from the van- 

 tage-ground thus gained, reach out after yet other 

 truths. But, for the most part, the new laws thus ac- 

 cepted by the leaders remain unknown to the people 

 at large for at least one or two generations. It re- 

 quired about a century for the heliocentric doctrine of 

 Copernicus to begin to make its way. 



In this age of steam and electricity, progress is more 

 rapid, and the greatest scientific conception of the 

 nineteenth century, the Darwinian theory, may be said 

 to have made something that approaches an absolute 

 conquest within less than half a century. This seems 

 a marvellously sudden conquest, but it must be under- 

 stood that it is only the crude and more tangible bear- 

 ings of the theory that have thus made their way. 

 The remoter consequences of the theory are not even 

 suspected by the great majority of those who call 



VOL V. 16 2AI 



