which is also an increasing exponential function of time; we know from the differential calculus that these functions—which represent natural laws, laws of human _nature_, laws of the time-binding energies of man—are very remarkable functions—not only do they increase with time but their _rates_ of increase are also exponential functions of time and so the rates of increase themselves increase at rates which are, again, exponential functions, and so on and on without limit; that, I say, is a marvelous fact, and it is for us a fact of immeasurable significance; for it means that the time-binding power of man is such that, if it be allowed to operate naturally, civilization—the production and right use of material and spiritual wealth—will not only grow towards infinity (as mathematicians say), but will thus grow with a _swiftness_ which is not constant but which itself grows towards infinity with a swiftness which, again, is not constant but increases according to the same law, and so on indefinitely. We thus see, if we will only retire to our cloisters and contemplate it, that the proper life of man _as man_ is not life-in-space like that of animals, but is life-in-time; we thus see that in distinctively human life, in the life of man as man, the past is present and the dead survive destined to greet and to bless the unborn generations: time, bound-up time, is literally of the core and substance of civilization. So it has been since the beginning of man. We know that the total progress made in the long course of humanity’s childhood, though it is absolutely great, is relatively small; we know that, compared with no-civilization, our present civilization is vast and rich in many ways; we know, however, that, if the time-binding energies of humanity had been always permitted to operate unhampered by hostile circumstances, they would long ere now have produced a state of civilization compared with which our present estate would seem mean, meagre, savage. For we know that those peculiar energies—the civilization-producing energies of man—far from being always permitted to operate according to the laws of their nature, have _never_ been permitted so to operate, but have always been hampered and are hampered to-day by hostile circumstances. And, if we reflect, we may know well enough what the enemies—the hostile circumstances—have been and are. We know that in the beginning of humanity’s childhood—in its babyhood, so to speak—there was, as already said, no _capital_ whatever to start with—no material wealth—no spiritual wealth in the form of knowledge of the world or the nature of man—no existing fruit of dead men’s toil—no bound-up time—nothing but wild and raw material, whose very location, properties and potencies had all to be discovered; even now, because we have inherited so much bound-up time and because our imaginations have been so little disciplined to understand realities, we can scarcely picture to