would "welcome a kindly comet
to sweep the whole affair away." And he came to the final conclusion
that such an improvement could only set in by deliberately resisting,
instead of co-operating with, the processes of nature. "Social
progress means the checking of the cosmic process at every step and the
substitution for it of another which may be called the ethical process."
[Footnote: Huxley considers progress exclusively from an ethical, not
from an eudaemonic point of view.] How in a few centuries can man hope
to gain the mastery over the cosmic process which has been at work for
millions of years? "The theory of evolution encourages no millennial
anticipations."

I have quoted these views to illustrate that evolution lends itself to
a pessimistic as well as to an optimistic interpretation. The question
whether it leads in a desirable direction or not is answered according
to the temperament of the inquirer. In an age of prosperity and
self-complacency the affirmative answer was readily received, and the
term evolution attracted to itself in common speech the implications of
value which belong to Progress.

It may be noticed that the self-complacency of the age was promoted by
the popularisation of scientific knowledge. A rapidly growing demand
(especially in England) for books and lectures, making the results of
science accessible and interesting to the lay public, is a remarkable
feature of the second half of the nineteenth century; and to supply this
demand was a remunerative enterprise. This popular literature explaining
the wonders of the physical world was at the same time subtly flushing
the imaginations of men with the consciousness that they were living in
an era which, in itself vastly superior to any age of the past, need
be burdened by no fear of decline or catastrophe, but trusting in the
boundless resources of science might securely defy fate.

4.

[It was said in 1881 by an American writer (who strongly dissented from
Spencer's theory) that the current view was "fatalistic." See Henry
George, Progress and Poverty. But it may be doubted whether those of the
general public who optimistically accepted evolution without going very
deeply into the question really believed that the future of man is taken
entirely out of his hands and is determined exclusively by the nature
of the cosmic process. Bagehot was a writer who had a good deal of
influence in his day; and in Physics and Politics (1872), where he