Febeuaey 3, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



115 



subsidiary waves of rise, culmination and 

 decline. Each race or nation seems to have 

 its day in turn. The causes of such temporary 

 rises are complex, but in each instance it 

 appears that some new plan or system or way 

 of doing things is tried out and its value, 

 whether great or small, determined. Part of 

 the new plan may prove to be good; it may be 

 retained and adopted by succeeding dominant 

 races. Other parts of the system prove faulty 

 and eventually cause the downfall of the race. 

 The injurious features are not likely to be 

 copied by those that follow. 



"Without implying that the factors selected 

 are the onlj'' ones, or even the most important 

 ones, I may di'aw illustrations from the well- 

 known histories of nations. The great expan- 

 sion of wealth and domination among the 

 ancient n9,tions around the Mediterranean Sea 

 was due to many and complex causes. Its 

 industrial basis of energy was largely annual 

 power — the labor of beasts of burden and of 

 men. Expanding civilization created a demand 

 for more and more power. To meet this 

 demand slavery was increased to a point prob- 

 ably never equalled before or since. To-day 

 we rely chiefly on fuel power and hence have 

 been able to dispense with slavery, but in the 

 days of Eome no other available source of 

 energy was known. Metals were mined and 

 smelted by slaves, ships were propelled by 

 slaves, food crops were raised by slaves, and 

 even the revenues of government were supplied 

 in large measure by unwilling tribute from 

 conquered tribes. For the master people this 

 scheme produced wealth and power and enabled 

 them to maintain control for centuries. It 

 contained within itself, however, a fatal seed 

 of weakness in the opposing self interests and 

 disloyalty of the slaves. Given a good oppor- 

 tunity, both the oppressed tribe and the en- 

 slaved man were ready to overthrow their op- 

 pressors and make an end of them. 



In the Chinese civilization, which has long 

 dominated eastern Asia, one of the central 

 influences seems to me to be ancestor worship. 

 Other religions have been tolerated and partly 

 adopted by the Chinese from time to time, but 

 for the most part they have been merely 

 grafted upon the ancient stem, forming non- 



essential modifications. The requirements of 

 ancestor worship had many advantages. It is 

 not hard to trace to this ancient and firmly 

 held code much of the industry of the Chinese, 

 their solid, steady qualities, strong family ties, 

 admiration for personal achievement and cul- 

 ture, and their respect for authority. Yet 

 ancestor worship has not proven an unmixed 

 blessing. It has tied men each to his own 

 locality. It has made for over-population with 

 the attendant evils of poverty, ignorance and 

 even starvation. Above all, it has turned the 

 faces of the Chinese people towards the past 

 and inspired them with little interest in the 

 future. One may well regard ithis as one of 

 the most potent factors in making China the 

 backward nation she has been these many cen- 

 turies. 



The modern peoples of the Atlantic region — 

 our so-called western nations — are now con- 

 tributing to the museum of human experiments 

 that system of living which may be called 

 "Industrialism," whereby through machinery 

 and extreme specialization of labor each mem- 

 ber of society is multiplied in activity, wealth 

 is produced and distributed at an unprece- 

 dented rate, new inventions follow each other 

 with bewildering rapidity, and material 

 "progress" is the watchword. Although this 

 curve has probably not yet reached its cul- 

 mination, its more serious defects have already 

 revealed themselves. Life in the cities is be- 

 coming more and more artificial and unnatural. 

 Physical degeneration of the most civilized 

 nations is making headway. If carried out to 

 its logical destiny, industrialism as a scheme 

 of life will doubtless fail like its predecessors. 

 There are plentful signs that this failure is 

 not far oft unless we develop and effectively 

 apply wisdom enough to modify present dan- 

 gerous tendencies before it is too late, and 

 thus save the best of the system for still further 

 advancement. 



It would be strange if, from all we know 

 concerning the past history of the earth and 

 its inhabitants, we could not discern some 

 general scheme or underlying principle which 

 would help us to fit more successfully into our 

 environment, and perhaps even to make a 

 shrewd guess about the future — not of our- 



