Such an argument would have much to commend it, and it may be based on the correct view of the situation. But to the author, the gun seems to constitute the foundation of modern civilization, and the printing press to be part of the structure built upon it; for the fundamental enemy to civilization has always been the barbarian, be he a savage under Attila or a Bolshevik in New York. It is true that civilization may be considered as more important than the means that makes it possible, but even this seems to be discussible; but that the gun constitutes more distinctly the preservative influence of modern civilization than any other one thing constitutes civilization itself seems hardly to be discussible. The whole system of defense of all the nations against foes outside and anarchy inside has rested on the gun ever since it was invented; whereas, not even the printing press can be said to be the only element, or even the main element, in modern civilization. This brief discussion is perhaps not very important; but it does not wholly lack importance, for the reason that it brings into clear relief the fact that we cannot reasonably discuss civilization without realizing the dangers that confront it, and have always confronted it, and will continue to confront it. _Civilization is an artificial product_, that some people think has more evil in it than good for the majority of mankind, and that certainly has been forced on mankind by a very small minority. The foundation on which the force has rested for four hundred years has been the gun. But whatever the comparative amount of influence of the gun and the printing press, there can be no doubt that they have worked together hand in hand: that one guarded, and the other assisted, the first tottering steps of the Renaissance movement, and that both have continued to guard and assist the grand march that soon began, and that is still advancing. As the circumstances surrounding the invention of both the gun and the art of printing are sufficiently well known to warrant the belief that each was made, not by a king or any other man of high position, but by a man relatively obscure, and that the surroundings and early life of both were not those of courts or palaces, but those of a humble kind, it may be well to note how enormous are the results that have flowed from causes that seem to be very small. We have been told that "great oaks from little acorns grow"; but the consequences that have grown from the conception of the idea of printing are larger than any oak; and an acorn is probably much larger than the part of the brain in which an idea is conceived.