THE INFLUENCE OF RACE IN HISTORY. 503 



the moment ; the true cause of their success is, then, generally 

 long anterior to themselves. The really great men in politics are 

 those who anticipate the demands that are going to arise, the 

 events for which the past has prepared, and point out the way to 

 be followed. They, also, like the great inventors, synthetize the 

 results of a long previous work. 



Of what, in the eye of philosophy, is history, as the books tell 

 it, composed, except of the long recital of the struggles endured 

 by men to create an ideal, adore it, and then destroy it ? And 

 have such ideals any more value in the eyes of pure science than 

 the mirage of the desert ? There have been, however, great enthu- 

 siasts, creators of such mirages, who have profoundly transformed 

 the world. They still from their tombs hold the minds of multi- 

 tudes under the sway of their thoughts. While not mistaking 

 the significance of their achievements, let us not forget that they 

 would not have succeeded in accomplishing what they did if they 

 had not unconsciously incarnated and expressed the dominant 

 ideal of their race and their time. 



It is, in fact, ideas, and consequently those who incarnate 

 them, that lead the world. They rise at first under vague forms, 

 and float in the air, gradually changing their aspect, till some 

 day they appear under the form of a great man or a great act. It 

 is of little account, as determining the force with which they shall 

 act, whether they are true or false. History teaches us that the 

 most chimerical illusions have excited more enthusiasm among 

 men than the best demonstrated truths. Such illusions are only 

 shadows, but nevertheless have to be respected. Through them 

 our fathers were hopeful, and in their heroic and heedless course 

 they have brought us out of barbarism and led us to the point 

 where we stand to-day. Mankind has expended most of its efforts, 

 not in the pursuit of truth, but of error. It has not been able to 

 reach the chimerical aims it was pursuing ; but in pursuing them 

 it has realized a progress that it was not seeking. — Translated for 

 the Popular Science Monthly from the Revue Scientifique. 



Mr. Gardiner 0. Hubbard shows a good record, in his presidential address to 

 the American Geographical Society, of American contributions to the extension of 

 geographical knowledge. Our country " has contributed its quota of martyrs in 

 the frozen North, and has led the way into the torrid regions of Africa." It has 

 laid the foundations of the new science of the geography of the sea, by the dis- 

 coveries of its explorers in ocean currents, the topography of the sea-bottoms, and 

 deep-sea life, in which Americans were first to engage. " The exploring vessels of 

 our Fish Commission have discovered in the deep sea, in one single season, more 

 forms of life than were found by the Challenger Expedition in a three years' 

 cruise." We have also led the way in founding the " geography of the air," or 

 the science of storms, etc., and are still keeping at the front. 



