I am sorry to note, however, that the suggestion made more than once in the course of my book--namely that the term (Civilisation) should properly be given an _historical_ instead of ideal value, as applicable to a certain period only in the history of each people, has not yet been generally taken up. Yet a paper by some more competent person than myself on the definite marks and signs of the civilisation-period in History--their first appearance in the course of human progress and evolution, and their probable disappearance again at a later stage--would be greatly interesting and instructive. My little essay on this subject was written at the time of its composition with a good deal of imaginative _élan_; and is of course open to criticism on that side, as being mainly enthusiastic in character and only slenderly supported by exact _data_, proofs, historical illustrations, analogies, and so forth. But to largely alter or amend the essay without seriously crippling it would be impossible; and though the form may be hurried or inadequate, yet as far as the actual contents and conclusions are concerned I still adhere to them absolutely, and believe that time will show them to be fully justified. With regard to my views on Modern Science the last quarter of a century has curiously corroborated them. For while on the one hand--as expected--the progress in actual discovery and application of observed facts has been enormous, the _theories_ on the other hand about all these things have receded more and more into the background, and have passed almost out of sight. While knowing, for instance, infinitely more about electrical actions and adaptations than we did, we seem to be if anything further off than ever from any valid theory of what Electricity _is_. The same with regard to Heat and Light, to Astronomical, Biological and Geological "laws," and so forth. On such matters Modern Science is on the verge of confessing itself bankrupt, but not wishing to do that, it keeps a discreet silence. The Atom, which I ventured (to the disgust of my scientific friends) to make fun of 30 years ago, has now exploded of itself as thoroughly as a German "coal-box"; and the fixed Chemical Elements of older days have of late dissolved into protean vapours and emanations, ions and electrons, impossible to follow through their endless transformations. As to the numerous "Laws of Nature" which in the nineteenth century we were just about to establish for all eternity, it is only with the greatest difficulty that any of these can now be discovered--most of them having got secreted away into the darkness of ancient text-books: where they lead forlorn and sightless existences, like the fish in the caves of Kentucky.