Moreover, even if it is admitted to be probable that the course of
civilisation has so far been in a desirable direction, and such as
would lead to general felicity if the direction were followed far
enough, it cannot be proved that ultimate attainment depends
entirely on the human will. For the advance might at some point be
arrested by an insuperable wall. Take the particular case of
knowledge, as to which it is generally taken for granted that the
continuity of progress in the future depends altogether on the
continuity of human effort (assuming that human brains do not
degenerate). This assumption is based on a strictly limited
experience. Science has been advancing without interruption during
the last three or four hundred years; every new discovery has led to
new problems and new methods of solution, and opened up new fields
for exploration. Hitherto men of science have not been compelled to
halt, they have always found means to advance further. But what
assurance have we that they will not one day come up against
impassable barriers? The experience of four hundred years, in which
the surface of nature has been successfully tapped, can hardly be
said to warrant conclusions as to the prospect of operations
extending over four hundred or four thousand centuries.
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