234 J. C. MEREIAM EAJJTH SCIENCES, BACKGROUND OF HISTORY 



expression of judgment giving evidence of geographical and historical 

 blindness, bnt such is not now the normal sight of the average man. 



We have, moreover, come to see that histor}^, or depth of view, is not 

 merely a continuity with which we must reckon, but that there appears in 

 it the evidence of calculable movement, subject to law, and reaching for- 

 ward to express itself in the trend of present and future affairs. 



Concept of History 



The concept of history as generally accepted has undergone extraordi- 

 nary changes in recent years. History as read and taught has expressed 

 only in part the broader relations of events with the view to indicating 

 their true bearing on the present. In its origin as a constructive science 

 much of history was concerned Avith the emotional side of national propa- 

 ganda. In varying measure, in our own and in other countries, it has 

 been the instrument of propagandists, aiming to promote a nationalistic 

 spirit which makes for the strength of one group without regard to right 

 relations outside. Fortunately, we do find here and there interpretations 

 which have clearly stated the continuity of events, their real relations and 

 significance in the world sense, and their proper trend. 



jSTot less insufficient than the use to which history has been put is in 

 many instances the structure of the account presented. Continuity has 

 not always been the fundamental factor. Descriptions of events in series, 

 but unrelated, have often formed the basis for discussion, and funda- 

 mental laws or scientific principles have not always played an important 

 part. 



Eeaction against the incomplete view of historical study is in some 

 measure due to application in human affairs of the hypothesis of evolu- 

 tion or development growing out of the fundamental historical sequence 

 of geology as presented by Lyell and applied in the broad biological con- 

 cept of Darwin. Assuming that man remains on a constant level, 

 representing the tj^pe as created, human history might show indefinite 

 fluctuations of movement; or it might be cyclic, each cycle representing 

 approximately the same plane of development. According to the evolu- 

 tion hypothesis, the trend of the living world would be toward the more 

 specialized, or more complicated, or more advanced. Although it might 

 be cyclic, each cycle would represent a higher stage, and the path would 

 be spiral. According to the developmental or evolutional interpretation, 

 every part of a historic sequence is related to every other part, and each 

 feature of past series contributes somewhat to the interpretation of the 

 I > resent. This concept gives us for every portion of historic succession a 



