ABSTRACT
For many reasons the lessons of history are neglected in the modern world. Darwin turned the eyes of the sanguine away from the past to the future, and those who in spite of war and atrocities still believe in progress towards some mundane paradise prefer the doubtful promise of science to the record of man’s puerilities, errors and crimes. Yet physical science with its atomic bomb may bring evil as well as good to mankind, nor may political theory, even when it has been tried out with success in Europe, suit the needs of Asia, though it come in the plausible guise of communism or democracy. The only way to see beyond one’s nose for the promotion of a race’s welfare is to review the effect of past practice and endeavour and to study the social, political, economic and spiritual history of the race that is to be the subject of experiment.
