AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 43 



the old world." Tins is a startling assertion, but it is not in such 

 a man to utter a paradox. The onward progress of practical 

 intelligence is a serious subject for contemplation, and it is indeed 

 difficult to define the line of demarcation between the possible 

 known, and the impossible unknown. If Newton could say con- 

 cerning his own sublime discoveries, that he felt as a child might 

 feel that had picked up some pretty pebbles and shells on the 

 shores of the ikthomless ocean of truth, it is certain that the im- 

 mense successes which the inductive philosophy has realized, 

 have enabled us to approach the horizon no nearer than when our 

 footsteps were first directed across the apparently interminable 

 waste of waters. And yet, there is a process by which human 

 progress is susceptible of admeasurement. The traveller gains 

 (it may be) with toilsome eifort, the summit of some lofty moun- 

 tain path. While ascending, the horizon, distant as ever, rises at 

 every step, retreating as he advances. The dividing line between 

 sea and sky, between earth and heaven, is as sharply marked, as 

 impassable, as unapproachable, as at the outset of his journey. 

 But he may pause for a moment, he may look back, downwards 

 and across the wide plain, he may gaze into the dim distance, 

 where half hid in purple shadow and vapor, nestles the cottage 

 home he left in the morning. From that elevated point of vision 

 he may measure the intervening space with some accuracy. And 

 thus in reference to Human Progress. The only correct mode of 

 estimating our position, or of forming any conception of our pos- 

 sible future triumphs is comparative^ and is closely connected 

 with the accurate determination of the original condition of' 

 humanity. Noting its history through six thousand years, we 

 may easily detect the operation of those influences which have 

 obstructed its march, and the circumstances which have favored 

 the development of its most useful energies. History, rightly 

 studied, is only the detail of very varied experiments, in which 

 are involved the deterioration or the elevation of the great family 

 of man. The process has been continued sufficiently long, through 

 at least 150 generations, and it is for us, upon whom the " ends 

 of the world " are come, to say, whether as yet the lessons dedu- 

 eible from history are intelligible. 



