Introduction 1 7 



Founder of our religion, that others might live. And 

 we must not forget that the whole trend of modern 

 legislation is in the direction of raising all round the 

 standard of living of those least able to help them- 

 selves. 



No doubt it is essential to such a change in the body 

 politic that men's views of property and " many 

 possessions " must undergo profound alteration. 

 They must come to a realisation of the brevity of 

 human life and the futility of purely material things : 

 " I made me great works ; I builded me houses ; I 

 planted me vineyards: . . . I gathered me also silver and 

 gold. . . . Then I looked on all . . . and, behold, all was 

 vanity and vexation of spirit." 1 Nothing can be more 

 conducive to the development of this aspect of truth 

 than a study, deep and constant, of the thoughts of 

 the great minds of the past, for it is these that impress 

 us forcibly with the sublime wisdom of the scriptural 

 teaching: "The things which are seen are temporal, 

 but the things which are unseen are eternal." No 

 doubt such a proposition as is here given forth will 

 meet with much scorn and derision, but we must never 

 forget that " God hath chosen the weak things of the 

 world to confound the things which are mighty." 



Many may be inclined to believe that such ideas are 

 inappropriate and inconsistent in a work pretending 

 to proceed on scientific lines. I can only say that in 

 this volume I have never consciously departed from 

 what I believe to be the scientific method in the con- 

 sideration of the observed phenomena of nature, and 

 I only ask to be judged without prejudice and in a 

 spirit of toleration. 



In conclusion, I wish to state that the aim of this 

 volume is to prove that the social amelioration of 

 mankind is a necessity of the spiritual evolution in 

 1 Ecclesiastes ii. 4, 8, n. 



