The mirror., 1910-07-28
Limit Of Progress
Not Reached
The Progress o the Future Will
Surpass the Advancement
OF the Past.


OF the Past.
Young Steady is of the opinion
that man having solved the problem
of aerial navigation, has now reach
ed the limit of his ingenuity. Has
he? | think not. 1t most certainly
does appear to the majority Of us of
today that with submarines below,
flying machines above and Cook and
Shackleton at the Poles the limit, or
the extremes, as it were, have been
reached. l say this appears to be SO.
1t is not actually so. What really
has happened to most of us is, that
our conceptions have assumed some
thing of the spherical narrowness of
our environments and do not reach
beyond those points with which man
is familiar.
1t will be seen in the history of
evolution, that each actual improve
ment has resulted from the welding
together of number of attributes in
to a concrete principle, and that at
tribute when first conceived was an
improvement upon the time preced-
ing it. 1t will be seen that &C b
evolutionary step has become in it's
turn the basis of further improve
ment and higher endeavor, that is
each step forward and upward re-
veals to man something of his own
ignorance and the wonderful pos
sibilities that surround him. We do
not at the present day understand the
skepticism and animosity that the
assertions of Christopher Columbus
provoked, but we understand perfect
ly well the cynicism with which the
doctrines of eminent reformers of to-
day are assailed. We do not under
stand the former because the dreams
of Columbus have materialized, but
we understand and feel perfectly JUS
titled in assailing the doctrine of uni
versal brotherhood because like the
ancient Spaniards we know better.
We are, so to speak, from Missouri
in that respect.
The note of skepticism and the
note of astonishment are the domi-
nant notes in the song of life, the
monotony being relieved by the fire.
quent transition of the one to the
other-and back again. Mans in.
genuity, or h u m n intelligence, il
limited apparently only by human
inclination. Given the proper stim
ulus reputed impossibilities become
hasbeens, or material for vivisection
al purposes. Aeronautics is not ;
new science. The Biplane and the
Dirigible are the recent development
of a science that is old, improve
ments in a way, upon the kite an(
the ordinary balloon and the effort
to bring these recent development
to something like perfection will
necessitate a closer study and NOR
accurate knowledge of the elemen
for which they are destined. AM
this study will in turn necessitate tn
manufacture of instruments and ap
pliances more reliable than thos
employed by meteorologists and tn
astronomers who predicted the cours
of Halley's Comet.
So in way each evolutionary ste
instead of bringing man nearer to tn
I limit OF his ingenuity creates a wide
a field and greater demand for it's ea
ercise. The assertion of Youn
Steady that man is near the end {
n his tether is not original with hin
n Alexander, of Macedon, W unde
: the same delusion when after COZ
quering parts of the Orient he la1
!, guished and died bee cause as b
O thought he had reached the limit.
RI And the same cry has gone up ;
: the Inauguration of every movemel
e that has disturbed the sweet placidit
n of the man who knows it cant |
: done" Who shall say but W h a
J aerial navigation may result in Il
discovery of things beyond the Pole