Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/86



political advancement have in all places had a long and chequered course.

Ideals and phenomena of civilisation, then, are what man makes them to be, and not the chance-creations of fortuitous conjuncture of circumstances. They are the products of environments, in the making and regulation of which human will and intelligence, political rivalry and commercial jealousy, desire of self-assertion and amelioration of national condition, play a considerable part. Man is always utilising the forces and materials supplied by the physical and social environment, re-arranging the particles of the universe, creating new situations out of old, giving rise to new environments for new problems, and thus helping forward the opening up of new chapters of universal history.