Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/484

 mcgeeJ THE TREND OF HUMAN PROGRESS 4 2 5

creation of intelligence ; it is finally postulated that, as taught by Bacon and reaffirmed by Powell, the mind is a reflex of nature, more or less perfect according to the directness or indirectness of its contact with nature. 1 From these postulates and from the observed facts of somatic development, it is inferred that the human brain, and so the human mind, are capable of progressive development through appropriate exercise ; and from the postu- lates and the observed facts of demotic (or activital) development, it is inferred that the human mind is capable of progressively increasing its own control over the human body-substance, and of progressively extending conquest over other materials and powers of nature through the media of muscles and machines. Whether the postulates and inferences be accepted or not, the great facts of psychic development throughout the world cannot be gainsaid ; yet acceptance would make easier the understanding of psychic progress.

The most conspicuous fact of psychic development — one noted subconsciously or consciously by every intelligent being — is found in the normal persistence and augmentation of knowl- edge. Units of substance may be conveyed or exchanged, but when once transferred they are gone ; units of power may be transferred, but always appear to be lost on the one hand as they are gained on the other ; while units of knowledge may be trans- ferred indefinitely from party to party, yet no party loses though all may gain. This great fact may seem trite; certainly it is the commonest of commonplaces in human experiences; yet, on seri- ous thought, it must be regarded either as a meaningless paradox or as a peculiarly meaningful expression of law. Some of the attendant conditions are worthy of note. It has been known for centuries that the teacher may convey given knowledge, with more or less loss according to his skill or lack of skill, to each of five or fifty or five hundred pupils without surrendering an iota

'Compare "The Foundation of Science"; The Forum, vol. xxvn, 1899, pp.

16S-178.

�� �