Making of man : a study in evolution / by Sir Oliver Lodge.

  • Oliver Lodge
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Making of man : a study in evolution / by Sir Oliver Lodge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    hundred million years ahead. And who can possibly imagine what progress may be made in even a fraction of such a period as that ? Considering what some men have been, the hope is not unreasonable that the average of mankind may reach their standard in time; while the peaks of the race may press on to something higher still. Regarded from this point of view, the ugliness and triviality of men are full of hope; for they are signs that we cannot already be what we are intended for. We are still far below the ideal. We are an unfinished article. We are like a building covered with scaffolding and full of raw material. Such a building can be regarded with complacency even by its architect; for with the mind’s eye he sees beforehand his completed design, and knows that all this temporary imperfection is a stage through which the structure has to pass. It is in the light of that kind of fuller know¬ ledge that immature efforts can be tolerated. The end in that sense justifies the means. Think of the painful learning of a violin by a child; yet how else is the finished performer to be produced ? Looking at the stage at which humanity has so far arrived, B