vance in the definite work of building up science
without producing and employing a definite logical structure, with fixed
principles; these principles are immanent in the work of thought, they
are above all the caprice and all the differences of the individuals."
Whence again this consistency in a changeable and subjective world?

The marvellous influence that ideas have exerted upon man again points
to the persistence and power of the eternal. Is it not strange how it is
that man often serves but as a mere instrument for the realisation of an
idea, and how he is often carried away by an idea to do things which are
against his own personal interests and desires? And when he and his
generation have passed beyond human sight, we often find a new
generation direct their endeavours in the same way, and we wonder what
is behind such a continuity in the struggles of mankind.

The history of great personalities in the realms of literature, art, and
science show in a remarkable way how men have risen above the influences
of their time, and beyond the cramping tiredness of the mere flesh.
Could a great thinker like Aristotle be entirely conditioned by flesh
and environment? And what of the great artists and poets who have
conquered the chains of mortal finitude and breathed of higher worlds?
Every one of them is a convincing testimony of the possibility of
mankind transcending the material, and taking unto itself of the
resources of a deeper world.

Then the dissatisfaction of the ages with their limited knowledge of
truth cannot but tell of a great eternal something that stirs at the
basis of the human soul. The people of to-day find the various systems
of the day inadequate; they search for something higher, and the mere
fact that they search beyond matter and the mere subjective human
qualities is in itself a testimony to the existence of a world higher
than the material and subjective.

What is it that makes it possible for one human being to "live into" the
experience of others who lived long ago, and for the present to conquer
and alter the past? How can we account for the eternal trait in thought,
for the unchanging laws of logic, for the consistency of moral ideals,
and their transcendence over flesh and immediate circumstances? What is
the force behind the idea, and how can we account for the continuous
struggle of mankind in certain directions? And, finally, what is it that
makes it possible for men to rise beyond