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Viii PRflcE. thousand years ago is disputed even in the West. Henry George, for instance, observes:—'We of modern civilization are raised far above those who have preceded us antI those of the less advanced races who are our contemporaries. But it is because we stanc on a pyramid, nob that we are taller. What the centuries have dooe for us is not to increase our stature, but to build up a structure on which we may plant our feet!r* "Bya general glance over the early history of' civilized man, says Dr. A- R. Wallace, q1 have shown that there is little if any evidence of advance in character or in intellect from the earliest times of which we have any recordst

A civilized Oriental may not unreasonably ask: Is the modern Occidental any better than his ancestors of antiquity? Is the intellectual calibre of a Kant, Guvier, or Darwin superior to that of a ICapila, Conhcius or Kan&da? and in respect of ethical or spiritual development, clues the present age compare at all favourably with the age that produced a Laoutsze, Buddha, Zoroaster, and Christ P It may be urged, by an observer whose vision is not bedimmed by the glamour of Western civilization, that if the ancient sages counseiled retirement from the strife and stress of material advancement, so far as practicable, to those, who were particularly desirous of spiritual progress, especially

"Progreasao4 Povsrty p. 3S5. L Tb World4 Ufot' p. g