ER IV.

PROF. CORTLANDT'S HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE WORLD

IN A. D. 2000.

Prof. Cortlandt, preparing a history of the times at the beginning of
the great terrestrial and astronomical change, wrote as follows: "This
period--A.D. 2000--is by far the most wonderful the world has as yet
seen. The advance in scientific knowledge and attainment within the
memory, of the present generation has been so stupendous that it
completely overshadows all that has preceded. All times in history and
all periods of the world have been remarkable for some distinctive or
characteristic trait. The feature of the period of Louis XIV was the
splendour of the court and the centralization of power in Paris. The
year 1789 marked the decline of the power of courts and the evolution
of government by the people. So, by the spread of republican ideas and
the great advance in science, education has become universal, for women
as well as for men, and this is more than ever a mechanical age.

"With increased knowledge we are constantly coming to realize how
little we really know, and are also continually finding manifestations
of forces that at first seem like exceptions to established laws. This
is, of course, brought about by the modifying influence of some other
natural law, though many of these we have not yet discovered.

"Electricity in its varied forms does all work, having superseded
animal and manual labour in everything, and man has only to direct.
The greatest ingenuity next to finding new uses for this almost
omnipotent fluid has been displayed in inducing the forces of Nature,
and even the sun, to produce it. Before describing the features of
this perfection of civilization, let us review the steps by which
society and the political world reached their present state.

"At the close of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871, Continental Europe
entered upon the condition of an armed camp, which lasted for nearly
half a century. The primary cause of this was the mutual dislike and
jealousy of France and Germany, each of which strove to have a larger
and better equipped national defence than the other. There were also
many other causes, as the ambition of the Russian Czar, supported by
his country's vast though imperfectly developed resources and
practically unlimited supply of men, one phase of which was the
constant ferment in the Balkan Peninsula, and another Russia's schemes
for extension in Asia; another was th