“The most obvious and the most distinctive features of the History of Civilisation, during the last fifty years, is the wonderful increase of industrial production by the application of machinery, the improvement of old technical processes and the invention of new ones, accompanied by an even more remarkable development of old and new means of locomotion and intercommunication. By this rapid and vast multiplication of the commodities and conveniences of existence, the general standard of comfort has been raised, the ravages of pestilence and famine have been checked, and the natural obstacles, which time and space offer to mutual intercourse, have been reduced in a manner, and to an extent, unknown to former ages. The diminution or removal of local ignorance and prejudice, the creation of common interests among the most widely separated peoples, and the strengthening of the forces of the organisation of the commonwealth against those of political or social anarchy, thus effected, have exerted an influence on the present and future fortunes of mankind the full significance of which may be divined, but cannot, as yet, be estimated at its full value.” ScienceHistoryInfluenceMankindIgnoranceDevelopmentComfortCivilizationFutureIncreasePrejudiceFortuneValueObstaclesImprovementInventionSignificanceAnarchyMachineryConvenienceFaminePestilenceProductionForcesLocomotionIntercommunication Book:Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century, The Source: Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century, The
“Wherever sufficiently numerous series of the remains of any given group, which has endured for a long space of time, are carefully examined, their morphological relations are never in discordance with the requirements of the doctrine of evolution, and often afford convincing evidence of it. At the same time, it has been shown that certain forms persist with very little change, from the oldest to the newest fossiliferous formations; and thus show that progressive development is a contingent, and not a necessary result, of the nature of living matter.” MatterScienceNatureDevelopmentEvolutionLivingEvidenceRemainsBiologyFossilsConvincingRequirementMorphologyExamineContingent Book:Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century, The Source: Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century, The
“The question of the position of man, as an animal, has given rise to much disputation, with the result of proving that there is no anatomical or developmental character by which he is more widely distinguished from the group of animals most nearly allied to him, than they are from one another.” ScienceAnimalDevelopmentEvolutionBiologyAnatomyResultHuman EvolutionDistinguishDisputation Book:Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century, The Source: Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century, The