ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a general survey of man's position and of his advances in the nineteenth century. People are living in an age of science, and though the average man knows very little about it he cannot but feel the reaction on himself of the immense amount that is now known. The nineteenth century was not only the age of machinery: it was also the age of locomotion. Not locomotion only, but power of communication has been enhanced beyond all previous knowledge. The psychologist probably knows a good deal about the phenomena of mind; the naturalist about the instincts and behaviour of animals and birds. Although it is necessary to separate the idea of material development and invention from the idea of human progress, and to remember that they are not synonymous terms, and that one does not necessarily involve the other; yet undoubtedly the one ought to conduce to the other.
