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diff --git a/79003-0.txt b/79003-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..41ffa04 --- /dev/null +++ b/79003-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11480 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79003 *** + + + + + + + [Cover Illustration] + + + + + =OLAF STAPLEDON= + + =Last and First Men= + + =A story of the near and far future= + + + + + First published 1930 + + + + + _Contents_ + + + + P R E F A C E 11 + + I N T R O D U C T I O N, by One of the Last Men 15 + + _The Chronicle_ + + I B A L K A N E U R O P E + 1 The European War and After 21 + 2 The Anglo-French War 23 + 3 Europe after the Anglo-French War 31 + 4 The Russo-German War 37 + + II E U R O P E ’ S D O W N F A L L + 1 Europe and America 42 + 2 The Origins of a Mystery 46 + 3 Europe Murdered 51 + + III A M E R I C A A N D C H I N A + 1 The Rivals 55 + 2 The Conflict 63 + 3 On an Island in the Pacific 67 + + IV A N A M E R I C A N I Z E D P L A N E T + 1 The Foundation of the First World State 75 + 2 The Dominance of Science 78 + 3 Material Achievement 81 + 4 The Culture of the First World State 84 + 5 Downfall 93 + + V T H E F A L L O F T H E F I R S T M E N + 1 The First Dark Age 98 + 2 The Rise of Patagonia 102 + 3 The Cult of Youth 106 + 4 The Catastrophe 112 + + VI T R A N S I T I O N + 1 The First Men at Bay 120 + 2 The Second Dark Age 129 + + VII T H E R I S E O F T H E S E C O N D M E N + 1 The Appearance of a New Species 132 + 2 The Intercourse of Three Species 138 + 3 The Zenith of the Second Men 143 + + VIII T H E M A R T I A N S + 1 The First Martian Invasion 151 + 2 Life on Mars 153 + 3 The Martian Mind 160 + 4 Delusions of the Martians 164 + + IX E A R T H A N D M A R S + 1 The Second Men at Bay 169 + 2 The Ruin of Two Worlds 176 + 3 The Third Dark Age 184 + + X T H E T H I R D M E N I N T H E W I L D E R N E S S + 1 The Third Human Species 189 + 2 Digressions of the Third Men 195 + 3 The Vital Art 200 + 4 Conflicting Policies 205 + + XI M A N R E M A K E S H I M S E L F + 1 The First of the Great Brains 209 + 2 The Tragedy of the Fourth Men 214 + 3 The Fifth Men 221 + 4 The Culture of the Fifth Men 225 + + XII T H E L A S T T E R R E S T R I A L S + 1 The Cult of Evanescence 233 + 2 Exploration of Time 238 + 3 Voyaging in Space 243 + 4 Preparing a New World 249 + + XIII H U M A N I T Y O N V E N U S + 1 Taking Root Again 255 + 2 The Flying Men 259 + 3 A Minor Astronomical Event 269 + + XIV N E P T U N E + 1 Bird’s-Eye View 273 + 2 Da Capo 275 + 3 Slow Conquest 279 + + XV T H E L A S T M E N + 1 Introduction to the Last Human Species 284 + 2 Childhood and Maturity 290 + 3 A Racial Awakening 294 + 4 Cosmology 304 + + XVI T H E L A S T O F M A N + 1 Sentence of Death 313 + 2 Behaviour of the Condemned 315 + 3 Epilogue 321 + + _Diagrams_ + + T I M E S C A L E 1 74 + T I M E S C A L E 2 133 + T I M E S C A L E 3 190 + T I M E S C A L E S 4 A N D 5 285 + + + + + _Preface_ + + +This is a work of fiction. I have tried to invent a story which may seem +a possible, or at least not wholly impossible, account of the future of +man; and I have tried to make that story relevant to the change that is +taking place today in man’s outlook. + +To romance of the future may seem to be indulgence in ungoverned +speculation for the sake of the marvellous. Yet controlled imagination +in this sphere can be a very valuable exercise for minds bewildered +about the present and its potentialities. Today we should welcome, and +even study, every serious attempt to envisage the future of our race; +not merely in order to grasp the very diverse and often tragic +possibilities that confront us, but also that we may familiarize +ourselves with the certainty that many of our most cherished ideals +would seem puerile to more developed minds. To romance of the far +future, then, is to attempt to see the human race in its cosmic setting, +and to mould our hearts to entertain new values. + +But if such imaginative construction of possible futures is to be at all +potent, our imagination must be strictly disciplined. We must endeavour +not to go beyond the bounds of possibility set by the particular state +of culture within which we live. The merely fantastic has only minor +power. Not that we should seek actually to prophesy what will as a +matter of fact occur; for in our present state such prophecy is +certainly futile, save in the simplest matters. We are not set up as +historians attempting to look ahead instead of backwards. We can only +select a certain thread out of the tangle of many equally valid +possibilities. But we must select with a purpose. The activity that we +are undertaking is not science, but art; and the effect that it should +have on the reader is the effect that art should have. + +Yet our aim is not merely to create aesthetically admirable fiction. We +must achieve neither mere history, nor mere fiction, but myth. A true +myth is one which, within the universe of a certain culture (living or +dead), expresses richly, and often perhaps tragically, the highest +admirations possible within that culture. A false myth is one which +either violently transgresses the limits of credibility set by its own +cultural matrix, or expresses admirations less developed than those of +its culture’s best vision. This book can no more claim to be true myth +than true prophecy. But it is an essay in myth creation. + +The kind of future which is here imagined, should not, I think, seem +wholly fantastic, or at any rate not so fantastic as to be without +significance, to modern western individuals who are familiar with the +outlines of contemporary thought. Had I chosen matter in which there was +nothing whatever of the fantastic, its very plausibility would have +rendered it implausible. For one thing at least is almost certain about +the future, namely, that very much of it will be such as we should call +incredible. In one important respect, indeed, I may perhaps seem to have +strayed into barren extravagance. I have supposed an inhabitant of the +remote future to be communicating with us of today. I have pretended +that he has the power of partially controlling the operations of minds +now living, and that this book is the product of such influence. Yet +even this fiction is perhaps not wholly excluded by our thought. I +might, of course, easily have omitted it without more than superficial +alteration of the theme. But its introduction was more than a +convenience. Only by some such radical and bewildering device could I +embody the possibility that there may be more in time’s nature than is +revealed to us. Indeed, only by some such trick could I do justice to +the conviction that our whole present mentality is but a confused and +halting first experiment. + +If ever this book should happen to be discovered by some future +individual, for instance by a member of the next generation sorting out +the rubbish of his predecessors, it will certainly raise a smile; for +very much is bound to happen of which no hint is yet discoverable. And +indeed even in our generation circumstances may well change so +unexpectedly and so radically that this book may very soon look +ridiculous. But no matter. We of today must conceive our relation to the +rest of the universe as best we can; and even if our images must seem +fantastic to future men, they may none the less serve their purpose +today. + +Some readers, taking my story to be an attempt at prophecy, may deem it +unwarrantably pessimistic. But it is not prophecy; it is myth, or an +essay in myth. We all desire the future to turn out more happily than I +have figured it. In particular we desire our present civilization to +advance steadily toward some kind of Utopia. The thought that it may +decay and collapse, and that all its spiritual treasure may be lost +irrevocably, is repugnant to us. Yet this must be faced as at least a +possibility. And this kind of tragedy, the tragedy of a race, must, I +think, be admitted in any adequate myth. + +And so, while gladly recognizing that in our time there are strong seeds +of hope as well as of despair, I have imagined for aesthetic purposes +that our race will destroy itself. There is today a very earnest +movement for peace and international unity; and surely with good fortune +and intelligent management it may triumph. Most earnestly we must hope +that it will. But I have figured things out in this book in such a +manner that this great movement fails. I suppose it incapable of +preventing a succession of national wars; and I permit it only to +achieve the goal of unity and peace after the mentality of the race has +been undermined. May this not happen! May the League of Nations, or some +more strictly cosmopolitan authority, win through before it is too late! +Yet let us find room in our minds and in our hearts for the thought that +the whole enterprise of our race may be after all but a minor and +unsuccessful episode in a vaster drama, which also perhaps may be +tragic. + +American readers, if ever there are any, may feel that their great +nation is given a somewhat unattractive part in the story. I have +imagined the triumph of the cruder sort of Americanism over all that is +best and most promising in American culture. May this not occur in the +real world! Americans themselves, however, admit the possibility of such +an issue, and will, I hope, forgive me for emphasizing it, and using it +as an early turning-point in the long drama of Man. + +Any attempt to conceive such a drama must take into account whatever +contemporary science has to say about man’s own nature and his physical +environment. I have tried to supplement my own slight knowledge of +natural science by pestering my scientific friends. In particular, I +have been very greatly helped by conversation with Professors P. G. H. +Boswell, J. Johnstone, and J. Rice, of Liverpool. But they must not be +held responsible for the many deliberate extravagances which, though +they serve a purpose in the design, may jar upon the scientific ear. + +To Dr L. A. Reid I am much indebted for general comments, and to Mr E. +V. Rieu for many very valuable suggestions. To Professor and Mrs L. C. +Martin, who read the whole book in manuscript, I cannot properly express +my gratitude for constant encouragement and criticism. To my wife’s +devastating sanity I owe far more than she supposes. + +Before closing this preface I would remind the reader that throughout +the following pages the speaker, the first person singular, is supposed +to be, not the actual writer, but an individual living in the extremely +distant future. + + O. S. + +West Kirby +_July 1930_ + + + + + _Introduction_ + + By One of the Last Men + + +This book has two authors, one contemporary with its readers, the other +an inhabitant of an age which they would call the distant future. The +brain that conceives and writes these sentences lives in the time of +Einstein. Yet I, the true inspirer of this book, I who have begotten it +upon that brain, I who influence that primitive being’s conception, +inhabit an age which, for Einstein, lies in the very remote future. + +The actual writer thinks he is merely contriving a work of fiction. +Though he seeks to tell a plausible story, he neither believes it +himself, nor expects others to believe it. Yet the story is true. A +being whom you would call a future man has seized the docile but +scarcely adequate brain of your contemporary, and is trying to direct +its familiar processes for an alien purpose. Thus a future epoch makes +contact with your age. Listen patiently; for we who are the Last Men +earnestly desire to communicate with you, who are members of the First +Human Species. We can help you, and we need your help. + +You cannot believe it. Your acquaintance with time is very imperfect, +and so your understanding of it is defeated. But no matter. Do not +perplex yourselves about this truth, so difficult to you, so familiar to +us of a later aeon. Do but entertain, merely as a fiction, the idea that +the thought and will of individuals future to you may intrude, rarely +and with difficulty, into the mental processes of some of your +contemporaries. Pretend that you believe this, and that the following +chronicle is an authentic message from the Last Men. Imagine the +consequences of such a belief. Otherwise I cannot give life to the great +history which it is my task to tell. + +When your writers romance of the future, they too easily imagine a +progress toward some kind of Utopia, in which beings like themselves +live in unmitigated bliss among circumstances perfectly suited to a +fixed human nature. I shall not describe any such paradise. Instead, I +shall record huge fluctuations of joy and woe, the results of changes +not only in man’s environment but in his fluid nature. And I must tell +how, in my own age, having at last achieved spiritual maturity and the +philosophic mind, man is forced by an unexpected crisis to embark on an +enterprise both repugnant and desperate. + +I invite you, then, to travel in imagination through the aeons that lie +between your age and mine. I ask you to watch such a history of change, +grief, hope, and unforeseen catastrophe, as has nowhere else occurred, +within the girdle of the Milky Way. But first, it is well to contemplate +for a few moments the mere magnitudes of cosmical events. For, +compressed as it must necessarily be, the narrative that I have to tell +may seem to present a sequence of adventures and disasters crowded +together, with no intervening peace. But in fact man’s career has been +less like a mountain torrent hurtling from rock to rock, than a great +sluggish river, broken very seldom by rapids. Ages of quiescence, often +of actual stagnation, filled with the monotonous problems and toils of +countless almost identical lives, have been punctuated by rare moments +of racial adventure. Nay, even these few seemingly rapid events +themselves were in fact often long-drawn-out and tedious. They acquire a +mere illusion of speed from the speed of the narrative. + +The receding depths of time and space, though they can indeed be +haltingly conceived even by primitive minds, cannot be imaged save by +beings of a more ample nature. A panorama of mountains appears to naïve +vision almost as a flat picture, and the starry void is a roof pricked +with light. Yet in reality, while the immediate terrain could be spanned +in an hour’s walking, the sky-line of peaks holds within it plain beyond +plain. Similarly with time. While the near past and the new future +display within them depth beyond depth, time’s remote immensities are +foreshortened into flatness. It is almost inconceivable to simple minds +that man’s whole history should be but a moment in the life of the +stars, and that remote events should embrace within themselves aeon upon +aeon. + +In your day you have learnt to calculate something of the magnitudes of +time and space. But to grasp my theme in its true proportions, it is +necessary to do more than calculate. It is necessary to brood upon these +magnitudes, to draw out the mind toward them, to feel the littleness of +your here and now, and of the moment of civilization which you call +history. You cannot hope to image, as we do, such vast proportions as +one in a thousand million, because your sense-organs, and therefore your +perceptions, are too coarse-grained to discriminate so small a fraction +of their total field. But you may at least, by mere contemplation, grasp +more constantly and firmly the significance of your calculations. + +Men of your day, when they look back into the history of their planet, +remark not only the length of time but also the bewildering acceleration +of life’s progress. Almost stationary in the earliest period of the +earth’s career, in your moment it seems headlong. Mind in you, it is +said, not merely stands higher than ever before in respect of +percipience, knowledge, insight, delicacy of admiration, and sanity of +will, but also it moves upward century by century ever more swiftly. +What next? Surely, you think, there will come a time when there will be +no further heights to conquer. + +This view is mistaken. You underestimate even the foothills that stand +in front of you, and never suspect that far above them, hidden by cloud, +rise precipices and snow-fields. The mental and spiritual advances +which, in your day, mind in the solar system has still to attempt, are +overwhelmingly more complex, more precarious and dangerous, than those +which have already been achieved. And though in certain humble respects +you have attained full development, the loftier potencies of the spirit +in you have not yet even begun to put forth buds. + +Somehow, then, I must help you to feel not only the vastness of time and +space, but also the vast diversity of mind’s possible modes. But this I +can only hint to you, since so much lies wholly beyond the range of your +imagination. + +Historians living in your day need grapple only with one moment of the +flux of time. But I have to present in one book the essence not of +centuries but of aeons. Clearly we cannot walk at leisure through such a +tract, in which a million terrestrial years are but as a year is to your +historians. We must fly. We must travel as you do in your aeroplanes, +observing only the broad features of the continent. But since the flier +sees nothing of the minute inhabitants below him, and since it is they +who make history, we must also punctuate our flight with many descents, +skimming as it were over the house-tops, and even alighting at critical +points to speak face to face with individuals. And as the plane’s +journey must begin with a slow ascent from the intricate pedestrian view +to wider horizons, so we must begin with a somewhat close inspection of +that little period which includes the culmination and collapse of your +own primitive civilization. + + + + + T H E C H R O N I C L E + + + + + I _Balkan Europe_ + + + 1. THE EUROPEAN WAR AND AFTER + +Observe now your own epoch of history as it appears to the Last Men. + +Long before the human spirit awoke to clear cognizance of the world and +itself, it sometimes stirred in its sleep, opened bewildered eyes, and +slept again. One of these moments of precocious experience embraces the +whole struggle of the First Men from savagery towards civilization. +Within that moment, you stand almost in the very instant when the +species attains its zenith. Scarcely at all beyond your own day is this +early culture to be seen progressing, and already in your time the +mentality of the race shows signs of decline. + +The first, and some would say the greatest, achievement of your own +‘Western’ culture was the conceiving of two ideals of conduct, both +essential to the spirit’s well-being. Socrates, delighting in the truth +for its own sake and not merely for practical ends, glorified unbiased +thinking, honesty of mind and speech. Jesus, delighting in the actual +human persons around him, and in that flavour of divinity which, for +him, pervaded the world, stood for unselfish love of neighbours and of +God. Socrates woke to the ideal of dispassionate intelligence, Jesus to +the ideal of passionate yet self-oblivious worship. Socrates urged +intellectual integrity, Jesus integrity of will. Each, of course, though +starting with a different emphasis, involved the other. + +Unfortunately both these ideals demanded of the human brain a degree of +vitality and coherence of which the nervous system of the First Men was +never really capable. For many centuries these twin stars enticed the +more precociously human of human animals, in vain. And the failure to +put these ideals in practice helped to engender in the race a cynical +lassitude which was one cause of its decay. + +There were other causes. The peoples from whom sprang Socrates and Jesus +were also among the first to conceive admiration for Fate. In Greek +tragic art and Hebrew worship of divine law, as also in the Indian +resignation, man experienced, at first very obscurely, that vision of an +alien and supernal beauty, which was to exalt and perplex him again and +again throughout his whole career. The conflict between this worship and +the intransigent loyalty to Life, embattled against Death, proved +insoluble. And though few individuals were ever clearly conscious of the +issue, the first human species was again and again unwittingly hampered +in its spiritual development by this supreme perplexity. + +While man was being whipped and enticed by these precocious experiences, +the actual social constitution of his world kept changing so rapidly +through increased mastery over physical energy, that his primitive +nature could no longer cope with the complexity of his environment. +Animals that were fashioned for hunting and fighting in the wild were +suddenly called upon to be citizens, and moreover citizens of a +world-community. At the same time they found themselves possessed of +certain very dangerous powers which their petty minds were not fit to +use. Man struggled; but, as you shall hear, he broke under the strain. + +The European War, called at the time the War to End War, was the first +and least destructive of those world conflicts which display so +tragically the incompetence of the First Men to control their own +nature. At the outset a tangle of motives, some honourable and some +disreputable, ignited a conflict for which both antagonists were all too +well prepared, though neither seriously intended it. A real difference +of temperament between Latin-France and Nordic Germany combined with a +superficial rivalry between Germany and England, and a number of +stupidly brutal gestures on the part of the German Government and +military command, to divide the world into two camps; yet in such a +manner that it is impossible to find any difference of principle between +them. During the struggle each party was convinced that it alone stood +for civilization. But in fact both succumbed now and again to impulses +of sheer brutality, and both achieved acts not merely of heroism, but of +generosity unusual among the First Men. For conduct which to clearer +minds seems merely sane, was in those days to be performed only by rare +vision and self-mastery. + +As the months of agony advanced, there was bred in the warring peoples a +genuine and even passionate will for peace and a united world. Out of +the conflict of the tribes arose, at least for a while, a spirit loftier +than tribalism. But this fervour lacked as yet clear guidance, lacked +even the courage of conviction. The peace which followed the European +War is one of the most significant moments of ancient history; for it +epitomizes both the dawning vision and the incurable blindness, both the +impulse toward a higher loyalty and the compulsive tribalism of a race +which was, after all, but superficially human. + + + 2. THE ANGLO-FRENCH WAR + +One brief but tragic incident, which occurred within a century after the +European War, may be said to have sealed the fate of the First Men. +During this century the will for peace and sanity was already becoming a +serious factor in history. Save for a number of most untoward accidents, +to be recorded in due course, the party of peace might have dominated +Europe during its most dangerous period; and, through Europe, the world. +With either a little less bad luck or a fraction more of vision and +self-control at this critical time, there might never have occurred that +aeon of darkness, in which the First Men were presently to be submerged. +For had victory been gained before the general level of mentality had +seriously begun to decline, the attainment of the world state might have +been regarded, not as an end, but as the first step towards true +civilization. But this was not to be. + +After the European War the defeated nation, formerly no less +militaristic than the others, now became the most pacific, and a +stronghold of enlightenment. Almost everywhere, indeed, there had +occurred a profound change of heart, but chiefly in Germany. The victors +on the other hand, in spite of their real craving to be human and +generous, and to found a new world, were led partly by their own +timidity, partly by their governors’ blind diplomacy, into all the vices +against which they believed themselves to have been crusading. After a +brief period in which they desperately affected amity for one another +they began to indulge once more in physical conflicts. Of these +conflicts, two must be observed. + +The first outbreak, and the less disastrous for Europe, was a short and +grotesque struggle between France and Italy. Since the fall of ancient +Rome, the Italians had excelled more in art and literature than in +martial achievement. But the heroic liberation of Italy in the +nineteenth Christian century had made Italians peculiarly sensitive to +national prestige; and since among Western peoples national vigour was +measured in terms of military glory, the Italians were fired, by their +success against a rickety foreign domination, to vindicate themselves +more thoroughly against the charge of mediocrity in warfare. After the +European War, however, Italy passed through a phase of social disorder +and self-distrust. Subsequently a flamboyant but sincere national party +gained control of the State, and afforded the Italians a new +self-respect, based on reform of the social services, and on +militaristic policy. Trains became punctual, streets clean, morals +puritanical. Aviation records were won for Italy. The young, dressed up +and taught to play at soldiers with real fire-arms, were persuaded to +regard themselves as saviours of the nation, encouraged to shed blood, +and used to enforce the will of the Government. The whole movement was +engineered chiefly by a man whose genius in action combined with his +rhetoric and crudity of thought to make him a very successful dictator. +Almost miraculously he drilled the Italian nation into efficiency. At +the same time, with great emotional effect and incredible lack of humour +he trumpeted Italy’s self-importance, and her will to ‘expand’. And +since Italians were slow to learn the necessity of restricting their +population, ‘expansion’ was a real need. + +Thus it came about that Italy, hungry for French territory in Africa, +jealous of French leadership of the Latin races, indignant at the +protection afforded to Italian ‘traitors’ in France, became increasingly +prone to quarrel with the most assertive of her late allies. It was a +frontier incident, a fancied ‘insult to the Italian flag’, which at last +caused an unauthorized raid upon French territory by a small party of +Italian militia. The raiders were captured, but French blood was shed. +The consequent demand for apology and reparation was calm, but subtly +offensive to Italian dignity. Italian patriots worked themselves into +short-sighted fury. The Dictator, far from daring to apologize, was +forced to require the release of the captive militia-men, and finally to +declare war. After a single sharp engagement the relentless armies of +France pressed into North Italy. Resistance, at first heroic, soon +became chaotic. In consternation the Italians woke from their dream of +military glory. The populace turned against the Dictator whom they +themselves had forced to declare war. In a theatrical but gallant +attempt to dominate the Roman mob, he failed, and was killed. The new +government made a hasty peace, ceding to France a frontier territory +which she had already annexed for ‘security’. + +Thenceforth Italians were less concerned to outshine the glory of +Garibaldi than to emulate the greater glory of Dante, Giotto, and +Galileo. + +France had now complete mastery of the continent of Europe; but having +much to lose, she behaved arrogantly and nervously. It was not long +before peace was once more disturbed. + +Scarcely had the last veterans of the European War ceased from wearying +their juniors with reminiscence, when the long rivalry between France +and England culminated in a dispute between their respective Governments +over a case of sexual outrage said to have been committed by a French +African soldier upon an Englishwoman. In this quarrel, the British +Government happened to be definitely in the wrong, and was probably +confused by its own sexual repressions. The outrage had never been +committed. The facts which gave rise to the rumour were, that an idle +and neurotic Englishwoman in the south of France, craving the embrace of +a ‘cave man’, had seduced a Senegalese corporal in her own apartments. +When, later, he had shown signs of boredom, she took revenge by +declaring that he had attacked her indecently in the woods above the +town. This rumour was such that the English were all too prone to savour +and believe. At the same time, the magnates of the English Press could +not resist this opportunity of trading upon the public’s sexuality, +tribalism, and self-righteousness. There followed an epidemic of abuse, +and occasional violence, against French subjects in England; and thus +the party of fear and militarism in France was given the opportunity it +had long sought. For the real cause of this war was connected with air +power. France had persuaded the League of Nations (in one of its less +intelligent moments) to restrict the size of military aeroplanes in such +a manner that, while London lay within easy striking distance of the +French coast, Paris could only with difficulty be touched by England. +This state of affairs obviously could not last long. Britain was +agitating more and more insistently for the removal of the restriction. +On the other hand, there was an increasing demand for complete aerial +disarmament in Europe; and so strong was the party of sanity in France, +that the scheme would almost certainly have been accepted by the French +Government. On both counts, therefore, the militarists of France were +eager to strike while yet there was opportunity. + +In an instant, the whole fruit of this effort for disarmament was +destroyed. That subtle difference of mentality which had ever made it +impossible for these two nations to understand one another, was suddenly +exaggerated by this provocative incident into an apparently insoluble +discord. England reverted to her conviction that all Frenchmen were +sensualists, while to France the English appeared, as often before, the +most offensive of hypocrites. In vain did the saner minds in each +country insist on the fundamental humanity of both. In vain did the +chastened Germans seek to mediate. In vain did the League, which by now +had very great prestige and authority, threaten both parties with +expulsion, even with chastisement. Rumour got about in Paris that +England, breaking all her international pledges, was now feverishly +building giant planes which would wreck France from Calais to +Marseilles. And indeed the rumour was not wholly a slander, for, when +the struggle began, the British air force was found to have a range of +intensive action far wider than was expected. Yet the actual outbreak of +war took England by surprise. While the London papers were selling out +upon the news that war was declared, enemy planes appeared over the +city. In a couple of hours a third of London was in ruins, and half her +population lay poisoned in the streets. One bomb, falling beside the +British Museum, turned the whole of Bloomsbury into a crater, wherein +fragments of mummies, statues, and manuscripts were mingled with the +contents of shops, and morsels of salesmen and the intelligentsia. Thus +in a moment was destroyed a large proportion of England’s most precious +relics and most fertile brains. + +Then occurred one of those microscopic, yet supremely potent incidents +which sometimes mould the course of events for centuries. During the +bombardment a special meeting of the British Cabinet was held in a +cellar in Downing Street. The party in power at the time was +progressive, mildly pacifist, and timorously cosmopolitan. It had got +itself involved in the French quarrel quite unintentionally. At this +Cabinet meeting an idealistic member urged upon his colleagues the need +for a supreme gesture of heroism and generosity on the part of Britain. +Raising his voice with difficulty above the bark of English guns and the +volcanic crash of French bombs, he suggested sending by radio the +following message. ‘From the people of England to the people of France. +Catastrophe has fallen on us at your hands. In this hour of agony, all +hate and anger have left us. Our eyes are opened. No longer can we think +of ourselves as merely English, and you as merely French; all of us are, +before all else, civilized beings. Do not imagine that we are defeated, +and that this message is a cry for mercy. Our armament is intact, and +our resources still very great. Yet, because of the revelation which has +come to us today, we will not fight. No plane, no ship, no soldier of +Britain shall commit any further act of hostility. Do what you will. It +would be better even that a great people should be destroyed than that +the whole race should be thrown into turmoil. But you will not strike +again. As our own eyes have been opened by agony, yours now will be +opened by our act of brotherhood. The spirit of France and the spirit of +England differ. They differ deeply; but only as the eye differs from the +hand. Without you, we should be barbarians. And without us, even the +bright spirit of France would be but half expressed. For the spirit of +France lives again in our culture and in our very speech; and the spirit +of England is that which strikes from you your most distinctive +brilliance.’ + +At no earlier stage of man’s history could such a message have been +considered seriously by any government. Had it been suggested during the +previous war, its author would have been ridiculed, execrated, perhaps +even murdered. But since those days much had happened. Increased +communication, increased cultural intercourse, and a prolonged vigorous +campaign for cosmopolitanism, had changed the mentality of Europe. Even +so, when, after a brief discussion, the Government ordered this unique +message to be sent, its members were awed by their own act. As one of +them expressed it, they were uncertain whether it was the devil or the +deity that had possessed them, but possessed they certainly were. + +That night the people of London (those who were left) experienced an +exaltation of spirit. Disorganization of the city’s life, overwhelming +physical suffering and compassion, the consciousness of an unprecedented +spiritual act in which each individual felt himself to have somehow +participated—these influences combined to produce, even in the bustle +and confusion of a wrecked metropolis, a certain restrained fervour, and +a deep peace of mind, wholly unfamiliar to Londoners. + +Meanwhile the undamaged North knew not whether to regard the +Government’s sudden pacificism as a piece of cowardice or as a superbly +courageous gesture. Very soon, however, they began to make a virtue of +necessity, and incline to the latter view. Paris itself was divided by +the message into a vocal party of triumph and a silent party of +bewilderment. But as the hours advanced, and the former urged a policy +of aggression, the latter found voice for the cry, ‘_Vive l’Angleterre, +vive l’humanité_’. And so strong by now was the will for cosmopolitanism +that the upshot would almost certainly have been a triumph of sanity, +had there not occurred in England an accident which tilted the whole +precarious course of events in the opposite direction. + +The bombardment had occurred on a Friday night. On Saturday the +repercussions of England’s great message were echoing throughout the +nations. That evening, as a wet and foggy day was achieving its pallid +sunset, a French plane was seen over the western outskirts of London. It +gradually descended, and was regarded by onlookers as a messenger of +peace. Lower and lower it came. Something was seen to part from it and +fall. In a few seconds an immense explosion occurred in the +neighbourhood of a great school and a royal palace. There was hideous +destruction in the school. The palace escaped. But, chief disaster for +the cause of peace, a beautiful and extravagantly popular young princess +was caught by the explosion. Her body, obscenely mutilated, but still +recognizable to every student of the illustrated papers, was impaled +upon some high park-railings beside the main thoroughfare towards the +city. Immediately after the explosion the enemy plane crashed, burst +into flame, and was destroyed with its occupants. + +A moment’s cool thinking would have convinced all onlookers that this +disaster was an accident, that the plane was a belated straggler in +distress, and no messenger of hate. But, confronted with the mangled +bodies of schoolboys, and harrowed by cries of agony and terror, the +populace was in no state for ratiocination. Moreover there was the +princess, an overwhelmingly potent sexual symbol and emblem of +tribalism, slaughtered and exposed before the eyes of her adorers. + +The news was flashed over the country, and distorted of course in such a +manner as to admit no doubt that this act was the crowning devilry of +sexual fiends beyond the Channel. In an hour the mood of London was +changed, and the whole population of England succumbed to a paroxysm of +primitive hate far more extravagant than any that had occurred even in +the war against Germany. The British air force, all too well equipped +and prepared, was ordered to Paris. + +Meanwhile in France the militaristic government had fallen, and the +party of peace was now in control. While the streets were still thronged +by its vociferous supporters, the first bomb fell. By Monday morning +Paris was obliterated. There followed a few days of strife between the +opposing armaments, and of butchery committed upon the civilian +populations. In spite of French gallantry, the superior organization, +mechanical efficiency, and more cautious courage of the British Air +Force soon made it impossible for a French plane to leave the ground. +But if France was broken, England was too crippled to pursue her +advantage. Every city of the two countries was completely disorganized. +Famine, riot, looting, and above all the rapidly accelerating and quite +uncontrollable spread of disease, disintegrated both States, and brought +war to a standstill. + +Indeed, not only did hostilities cease, but also both nations were too +shattered even to continue hating one another. The energies of each were +for a while wholly occupied in trying to prevent complete annihilation +by famine and pestilence. In the work of reconstruction they had to +depend very largely on help from outside. The management of each country +was taken over, for the time, by the League of Nations. + +It is significant to compare the mood of Europe at this time with that +which followed the European War. Formerly, though there had been a real +effort toward unity, hate and suspicion continued to find expression in +national policies. There was much wrangling about indemnities, +reparations, securities; and the division of the whole continent into +two hostile camps persisted, though by then it was purely artificial and +sentimental. But after the Anglo-French war, a very different mood +prevailed. There was no mention of reparations, no possibility of +seeking security by alliances. Patriotism simply faded out, for the +time, under the influence of extreme disaster. The two enemy peoples +cooperated with the League in the work of reconstructing not only each +one itself, but each one the other. This change of heart was due partly +to the temporary collapse of the whole national organization, partly to +the speedy dominance of each nation by pacifist and anti-nationalist +Labour, partly to the fact that the League was powerful enough to +inquire into and publish the whole story of the origins of the war, and +expose each combatant to itself and to the world in a sorry light. + +We have now observed in some detail the incident which stands out in +man’s history as perhaps the most dramatic example of petty cause and +mighty effect. For consider. Through some miscalculation, or a mere +defect in his instruments, a French airman went astray, and came to +grief in London after the sending of the peace message. Had this not +happened, England and France would not have been wrecked. And, had the +war been nipped at the outset, as it almost was, the party of sanity +throughout the world would have been very greatly strengthened; the +precarious will to unity would have gained the conviction which it +lacked, would have dominated man not merely during the terrified +revulsion after each spasm of national strife, but as a permanent policy +based on mutual trust. Indeed so delicately balanced were man’s +primitive and developed impulses at this time, that, but for this +trivial accident, the movement which was started by England’s peace +message might have proceeded steadily and rapidly toward the unification +of the race. It might, that is, have attained its goal, before, instead +of after, the period of mental deterioration, which in fact resulted +from a long epidemic of wars. And so the first Dark Age might never have +occurred. + + + 3. EUROPE AFTER THE ANGLO-FRENCH WAR + +A subtle change now began to affect the whole mental climate of the +planet. This is remarkable, since, viewed for instance from America or +China, this war was, after all, but a petty disturbance, scarcely more +than a brawl between quarrelsome statelets, an episode in the decline of +a senile civilization. Expressed in dollars, the damage was not +impressive to the wealthy West and the potentially wealthy East. The +British Empire, indeed, that unique banyan tree of peoples, was +henceforward less effective in world diplomacy; but since the bond that +held it together was by now wholly a bond of sentiment, the Empire was +not disintegrated by the misfortune of its parent trunk. Indeed, a +common fear of American economic imperialism was already helping the +colonies to remain loyal. + +Yet this petty brawl was in fact an irreparable and far-reaching +disaster. For in spite of those differences of temperament which had +forced the English and French into conflict, they had cooperated, though +often unwittingly, in tempering and clarifying the mentality of Europe. +Though their faults played a great part in wrecking Western +civilization, the virtues from which these vices sprang were needed for +the salvation of a world prone to uncritical romance. In spite of the +inveterate blindness and meanness of France in international policy, and +the even more disastrous timidity of England, their influence on culture +had been salutary, and was at this moment sorely needed. For, poles +asunder in tastes and ideals, these two peoples were yet alike in being +on the whole more sceptical, and in their finest individuals more +capable of dispassionate yet creative intelligence than any other +Western people. This very character produced their distinctive faults, +namely, in the English a caution that amounted often to moral cowardice, +and in the French a certain myopic complacency and cunning, which +masqueraded as realism. Within each nation there was, of course, great +variety. English minds were of many types. But most were to some extent +distinctively English; and hence the special character of England’s +influence in the world. Relatively detached, sceptical, cautious, +practical, more tolerant than others, because more complacent and less +prone to fervour, the typical Englishman was capable both of generosity +and of spite, both of heroism and of timorous or cynical abandonment of +ends proclaimed as vital to the race. French and English alike might sin +against humanity, but in different manners. The French sinned blindly, +through a strange inability to regard France dispassionately. The +English sinned through faintheartedness, and with open eyes. Among all +nations they excelled in the union of common sense and vision. But also +among all nations they were most ready to betray their visions in the +name of commonsense. Hence their reputation for perfidy. + +Differences of national character and patriotic sentiment were not the +most fundamental distinctions between men at this time. Although in each +nation a common tradition or cultural environment imposed a certain +uniformity on all its members, yet in each nation every mental type was +present, though in different proportions. The most significant of all +cultural differences between men, namely, the difference between the +tribalists and the cosmopolitans, traversed the national boundaries. For +throughout the world something like a new, cosmopolitan ‘nation’ with a +new all-embracing patriotism was beginning to appear. In every land +there was by now a salting of awakened minds who, whatever their +temperament and politics and formal faith, were at one in respect of +their allegiance to humanity as a race or as an adventuring spirit. +Unfortunately this new loyalty was still entangled with old prejudices. +In some minds the defence of the human spirit was sincerely identified +with the defence of a particular nation, conceived as the home of all +enlightenment. In others, social injustice kindled a militant +proletarian loyalty, which, though at heart cosmopolitan, infected alike +its champions and its enemies with sectarian passions. + +Another sentiment, less definite and conscious than cosmopolitanism, +also played some part in the minds of men, namely loyalty toward the +dispassionate intelligence and perplexed admiration of the world which +was beginning to be revealed, a world august, immense, subtle, in which, +seemingly, man was doomed to play a part minute but tragic. In many +races there had, no doubt, long existed some fidelity toward the +dispassionate intelligence. But it was England and France that excelled +in this respect. On the other hand, even in these two nations there was +much that was opposed to this allegiance. These, like all peoples of the +age, were liable to bouts of insane emotionalism. Indeed the French +mind, in general so clear-sighted, so realistic, so contemptuous of +ambiguity and mist, so detached in all its final valuations, was yet so +obsessed with the idea ‘France’ as to be wholly incapable of generosity +in international affairs. But it was France, with England, that had +chiefly inspired the intellectual integrity which was the rarest and +brightest thread of Western culture, not only within the territories of +these two nations, but throughout Europe and America. In the seventeenth +and eighteenth Christian centuries, the French and English had +conceived, more clearly than other peoples, an interest in the objective +world for its own sake, had founded physical science, and had fashioned +out of scepticism the most brilliantly constructive of mental +instruments. At a later stage it was largely the French and English who, +by means of this instrument, had revealed man and the physical universe +in something like their true proportions; and it was chiefly the elect +of these two peoples that had been able to exult in this bracing +discovery. + +With the eclipse of France and England this great tradition of +dispassionate cognizance began to wane. Europe was now led by Germany. +And the Germans, in spite of their practical genius, their scholarly +contributions to history, their brilliant science and austere +philosophy, were at heart romantic. This inclination was both their +strength and their weakness. Thereby they had been inspired to their +finest art and their most profound metaphysical speculation. But thereby +they were also often rendered un-self-critical and pompous. More eager +than other Western minds to solve the mystery of existence, less +sceptical of the power of human reason, and therefore more inclined to +ignore or argue away recalcitrant facts, the Germans were courageous +systematizes. In this direction they had achieved great things. Without +them, European thought would have been chaotic. But their passion for +order and for a systematic reality behind the disorderly appearances, +rendered their reasoning all too often biased. Upon shifty foundations +they balanced ingenious ladders to reach the stars. Thus, without +constant ribald criticism from across the Rhine and the North Sea, the +Teutonic soul could not achieve full self-expression. A vague uneasiness +about its own sentimentalism and lack of detachment did indeed persuade +this great people to assert its virility now and again by ludicrous acts +of brutality, and to compensate for its dream life by ceaseless +hard-driven and brilliantly successful commerce; but what was needed was +a far more radical self-criticism. + +Beyond Germany, Russia. Here was a people whose genius needed, even more +than that of the Germans, discipline under the critical intelligence. +Since the Bolshevik revolution, there had risen in the scattered towns +of this immense tract of corn and forest, and still more in the +metropolis, an original mode of art and thought, in which were blended a +passion for iconoclasm, a vivid sensuousness, and yet also a very +remarkable and essentially mystical or intuitive power of detachment +from all private cravings. America and Western Europe were interested +first in the individual human life, and only secondarily in the social +whole. For these peoples loyalty involved a reluctant self-sacrifice, +and the ideal was ever a person, excelling in prowess of various kinds. +Society was but the necessary matrix of this jewel. But the Russians, +whether by an innate gift, or through the influence of age-long +political tyranny, religious devotion, and a truly social revolution, +were prone to self-contemptuous interest in groups, prone, indeed, to a +spontaneous worship of whatever was conceived as loftier than the +individual man whether society, or God, or the blind forces of nature. +Western Europe could reach by way of the intellect a precise conception +of man’s littleness and irrelevance when regarded as an alien among the +stars; could even glimpse from this standpoint the cosmic theme in which +all human striving is but one contributory factor. But the Russian mind, +whether orthodox or Tolstoyan or fanatically materialist, could attain +much the same conviction intuitively, by direct perception, instead of +after an arduous intellectual pilgrimage; and, reaching it, could +rejoice in it. But because of this independence of intellect, the +experience was confused, erratic, frequently misinterpreted; and its +effect on conduct was rather explosive than directive. Great indeed was +the need that the West and East of Europe should strengthen and temper +one another. + +After the Bolshevik revolution a new element appeared in Russian +culture, and one which had not been known before in any modern state. +The old regime was displaced by a real proletarian government, which, +though an oligarchy, and sometimes bloody and fanatical, abolished the +old tyranny of class, and encouraged the humblest citizen to be proud of +his partnership in the great community. Still more important, the native +Russian disposition not to take material possessions very seriously +cooperated with the political revolution, and brought about such a +freedom from the snobbery of wealth as was quite foreign to the West. +Attention which elsewhere was absorbed in the amassing or display of +money was in Russia largely devoted either to spontaneous instinctive +enjoyments or to cultural activity. + +In fact, it was among the Russian townsfolk, less cramped by tradition +than other city-dwellers, that the spirit of the First Men was beginning +to achieve a fresh and sincere readjustment to the facts of its changing +world. And from the townsfolk something of the new way of life was +spreading even to the peasants; while in the depths of Asia a hardy and +ever-growing population looked increasingly to Russia, not only for +machinery, but for ideas. There were times when it seemed that Russia +might transform the almost universal autumn of the race into a new +spring. + +After the Bolshevik revolution the new Russia had been boycotted by the +West, and had therefore passed through a stage of self-conscious +extravagance. Communism and naïve materialism became the dogmas of a new +crusading atheist church. All criticism was suppressed, even more +rigorously than was the opposite criticism in other countries; and +Russians were taught to think of themselves as saviours of mankind. +Later, however, as economic isolation began to hamper the Bolshevik +state, the new culture was mellowed and broadened. Bit by bit, economic +intercourse with the West was restored, and with it cultural intercourse +increased. The intuitive mystical detachment of Russia began to define +itself, and so consolidate itself, in terms of the intellectual +detachment of the best thought of the West. Iconoclasm was harnessed. +The life of the senses and of impulse was tempered by a new critical +movement. Fanatical materialism, whose fire had been derived from a +misinterpreted, but intense, mystical intuition of dispassionate +Reality, began to assimilate itself to the far more rational stoicism +which was the rare flower of the West. At the same time, through +intercourse with peasant culture and with the peoples of Asia, the new +Russia began to grasp in one unifying act of apprehension both the grave +disillusion of France and England and the ecstasy of the East. + +The harmonizing of these two moods was now the chief spiritual need of +mankind. Failure to integrate them into an all-dominant sentiment could +not but lead to racial insanity. And so in due course it befell. +Meanwhile this task of integration was coming to seem more and more +urgent to the best minds of Russia, and might have been finally +accomplished had they been longer illumined by the cold light of the +West. + +But this was not to be. The intellectual confidence of France and +England, already shaken through progressive economic eclipse at the +hands of America and Germany, was now undermined. For many decades +England had watched these newcomers capture her markets. The loss had +smothered her with a swarm of domestic problems, such as could never be +solved save by drastic surgery; and this was a course which demanded +more courage and energy than was possible to a people without hope. Then +came the war with France, and harrowing disintegration. No delirium +seized her, such as occurred in France; yet her whole mentality was +changed, and her sobering influence in Europe was lessened. + +As for France, her cultural life was now grievously reduced. It might, +indeed, have recovered from the final blow, had it not already been +slowly poisoned by gluttonous nationalism. For love of France was the +undoing of the French. They prized the truly admirable spirit of France +so extravagantly that they regarded all other nations as barbarians. + +Thus it befell that in Russia the doctrines of communism and +materialism, products of German systematists, survived uncriticized. On +the other hand, the practice of communism was gradually undermined. For +the Russian state came increasingly under the influence of Western, and +especially American, finance. The materialism of the official creed also +became a farce, for it was foreign to the Russian mind. Thus between +practice and theory there was, in both respects, a profound +inconsistency. What was once a vital and promising culture became +insincere. + + + 4. THE RUSSO-GERMAN WAR + +The discrepancy between communist theory and individualist practice in +Russia was one cause of the next disaster which befell Europe. Between +Russia and Germany there should have been close partnership, based on +interchange of machinery and corn. But the theory of communism stood in +the way, and in a strange manner. Russian industrial organization had +proved impossible without American capital; and little by little this +influence had transformed the communistic system. From the Baltic to the +Himalayas and the Bering Straits, pasture, timberlands, machine-tilled +corn-lands, oil-fields, and a spreading rash of industrial towns, were +increasingly dependent on American finance and organization. Yet not +America but the far less individualistic Germany had become in the +Russian mind the symbol of capitalism. Self-righteous hate of Germany +compensated Russia for her own betrayal of the communistic ideal. This +perverse antagonism was encouraged by the Americans; who, strong in +their own individualism and prosperity, and by now contemptuously +tolerant of Russian doctrines, were concerned only to keep Russian +finance to themselves. In truth, of course, it was America that had +helped Russia’s self-betrayal; and it was the spirit of America that was +most alien to the Russian spirit. But American wealth was by now +indispensable to Russia; so the hate due to America had to be borne +vicariously by Germany. + +The Germans, for their part, were aggrieved that the Americans had +ousted them from a most profitable field of enterprise, and in +particular from the exploitation of Russian Asiatic oil. The economic +life of the human race had for some time been based on coal, but +latterly oil had been found a far more convenient source of power, and +as the oil store of the planet was much smaller than its coal store, and +the expenditure of oil had of course been wholly uncontrolled and +wasteful, a shortage was already being felt. Thus the national ownership +of the remaining oil-fields had become a main factor in politics and a +fertile source of wars. America, having used up most of her own +supplies, was now anxious to compete with the still prolific sources +under Chinese control, by forestalling Germany in Russia. No wonder the +Germans were aggrieved. But the fault was their own. In the days when +Russian communism had been seeking to convert the world, Germany had +taken over England’s leadership of individualistic Europe. While greedy +for trade with Russia, she had been at the same time frightened of +contamination by Russian social doctrine, the more so because communism +had at first made some headway among the German workers. Later, even +when sane industrial reorganization in Germany had deprived communism of +its appeal to the workers, and thus had rendered it impotent, the habit +of anti-communist vituperation persisted. + +Thus the peace of Europe was in constant danger from the bickerings of +two peoples who differed rather in ideals than in practice. For the one, +in theory communistic, had been forced to delegate many of the +community’s rights to enterprising individuals; while the other, in +theory organized on a basis of private business, was becoming ever more +socialized. + +Neither party desired war. Neither was interested in military glory, for +militarism as an end was no longer reputable. Neither was professedly +nationalistic, for nationalism, though still potent, was no longer +vaunted. Each claimed to stand for internationalism and peace, but +accused the other of narrow patriotism. Thus Europe, though more pacific +than ever before, was doomed to war. + +Like most wars, the Anglo-French War had increased the desire for peace, +yet made peace less secure. Distrust, not merely the old distrust of +nation for nation, but a devastating distrust of human nature, gripped +men like the dread of insanity. Individuals who thought of themselves as +wholehearted Europeans, feared that at any moment they might succumb to +some ridiculous epidemic of patriotism, and participate in the further +crippling of Europe. + +This dread was one cause of the formation of a European Confederacy, in +which all the nations of Europe, save Russia, surrendered their +sovereignty to a common authority and actually pooled their armaments. +Ostensibly the motive of this act was peace; but America interpreted it +as directed against herself, and withdrew from the League of Nations. +China, the ‘natural enemy’ of America, remained within the League, +hoping to use it against her rival. + +From without, indeed, the Confederacy at first appeared as a close-knit +whole: but from within it was known to be insecure, and in every serious +crisis it broke. There is no need to follow the many minor wars of this +period, though their cumulative effect was serious, both economically +and psychologically. Europe did at last, however, become something like +a single nation in sentiment, though this unity was brought about less +by a common loyalty than by a common fear of America. + +Final consolidation was the fruit of the Russo-German War, the cause of +which was partly economic and partly sentimental. All the peoples of +Europe had long watched with horror the financial conquest of Russia by +the United States, and they dreaded that they also must presently +succumb to the same tyrant. To attack Russia, it was thought, would be +to wound America in her only vulnerable spot. But the actual occasion of +the war was sentimental. Half a century after the Anglo-French War, a +second-rate German author published a typically German book of the baser +sort. For as each nation had its characteristic virtues, so also each +was prone to characteristic follies. This book was one of those +brilliant but extravagant works in which the whole diversity of +existence is interpreted under a single formula, with extreme detail and +plausibility, yet with amazing _naïvéte_. Highly astute within its own +artificial universe, it was none the less in wider regard quite +uncritical. In two large volumes the author claimed that the cosmos was +a dualism in which a heroic and obviously Nordic spirit ruled by divine +right over an un-self-disciplined, yet servile and obviously Slavonic +spirit. The whole of history, and of evolution, was interpreted on this +principle; and of the contemporary world it was said that the Slavonic +element was poisoning Europe. One phrase in particular caused fury in +Moscow, ‘the anthropoid face of the Russian subman’. + +Moscow demanded apology and suppression of the book. Berlin regretted +the insult but with its tongue in its cheek; and insisted on the freedom +of the press. Followed a crescendo of radio hate, and war. + +The details of this war do not matter to one intent upon the history of +mind in the Solar System, but its result was important. Moscow, +Leningrad and Berlin were shattered from the air. The whole West of +Russia was flooded with the latest and deadliest poison gas, so that not +only was all animal and vegetable life destroyed, but also the soil +between the Black Sea and the Baltic was rendered infertile and +uninhabitable for many years. Within a week the war was over, for the +reason that the combatants were separated by an immense territory in +which life could not exist. But the effects of the war were lasting. The +Germans had set going a process which they could not stop. Whiffs of the +poison continued to be blown by fickle winds into every country of +Europe and Western Asia. It was spring-time; but save in the Atlantic +coast-lands the spring flowers shrivelled in the bud, and every young +leaf had a withered rim. Humanity also suffered; though, save in the +regions near the seat of war, it was in general only the children and +the old people who suffered greatly. The poison spread across the +Continent in huge blown tresses, broad as principalities, swinging with +each change of wind. And wherever it strayed, young eyes, throats, and +lungs were blighted like the leaves. + +America, after much debate, had at last decided to defend her interests +in Russia by a punitive expedition against Europe. China began to +mobilize her forces. But long before America was ready to strike, news +of the widespread poisoning changed her policy. Instead of punishment, +help was given. This was a fine gesture of good will. But also, as was +observed in Europe, instead of being costly, it was profitable; for +inevitably it brought more of Europe under American financial control. + +The upshot of the Russo-German war, then, was that Europe was unified in +sentiment by hatred of America, and that European mentality definitely +deteriorated. This was due in part to the emotional influence of the war +itself, partly to the socially damaging effects of the poison. A +proportion of the rising generation had been rendered sickly for life. +During the thirty years which intervened before the Euro-American war, +Europe was burdened with an exceptional weight of invalids. First-class +intelligence was on the whole rarer than before, and was more strictly +concentrated on the practical work of reconstruction. + +Even more disastrous for the human race was the fact that the recent +Russian cultural enterprise of harmonizing Western intellectualism and +Eastern mysticism was now wrecked. + + + + + II _Europe’s Downfall_ + + + 1. EUROPE AND AMERICA + +Over the heads of the European tribes two mightier peoples regarded each +other with increasing dislike. Well might they; for the one cherished +the most ancient and refined of all surviving cultures, while the other, +youngest and most self-confident of the great nations, proclaimed her +novel spirit as the spirit of the future. + +In the Far East, China, already half American, though largely Russian +and wholly Eastern, patiently improved her rice lands, pushed forward +her railways, organized her industries, and spoke fair to all the world. +Long ago, during her attainment of unity and independence, China had +learnt much from militant Bolshevism. And after the collapse of the +Russian state it was in the East that Russian culture continued to live. +Its mysticism influenced India. Its social ideal influenced China. Not +indeed that China took over the theory, still less the practice of +communism; but she learnt to entrust herself increasingly to a vigorous, +devoted, and despotic party, and to feel in terms of the social whole +rather than individualistically. Yet she was honeycombed with +individualism, and in spite of her rulers she had precipitated a +submerged and desperate class of wage-slaves. + +In the Far West, the United States of America openly claimed to be +custodians of the whole planet. Universally feared and envied, +universally respected for their enterprise, yet for their complacency +very widely despised, the Americans were rapidly changing the whole +character of man’s existence. By this time every human being throughout +the planet made use of American products, and there was no region where +American capital did not support local labour. Moreover the American +press, gramophone, radio, cinematograph, and televisor ceaselessly +drenched the planet with American thought. Year by year the ether +reverberated with echoes of New York’s pleasures and the religious +fervours of the Middle West. What wonder, then, that America, even while +she was despised, irresistibly moulded the whole human race. This, +perhaps, would not have mattered, had America been able to give of her +very rare best. But inevitably only her worst could be propagated. Only +the most vulgar traits of that potentially great people could get +through into the minds of foreigners by means of these crude +instruments. And so, by the floods of poison issuing from this people’s +baser members, the whole world, and with it the nobler parts of America +herself, were irrevocably corrupted. + +For the best of America was too weak to withstand the worst. Americans +had indeed contributed amply to human thought. They had helped to +emancipate philosophy from ancient fetters. They had served science by +lavish and rigorous research. In astronomy, favoured by their costly +instruments and clear atmosphere, they had done much to reveal the +dispositions of the stars and galaxies. In literature, though often they +behaved as barbarians, they had also conceived new modes of expression, +and moods of thought not easily appreciated in Europe. They had also +created a new and brilliant architecture. And their genius for +organization worked upon a scale that was scarcely conceivable, let +alone practicable, to other peoples. In fact their best minds faced old +problems of theory and of valuation with a fresh innocence and courage, +so that fogs of superstition were cleared away wherever these choice +Americans were present. But these best were after all a minority in a +huge wilderness of opinionated self-deceivers, in whom, surprisingly, an +outworn religious dogma was championed with the intolerant optimism of +youth. For this was essentially a race of bright, but arrested, +adolescents. Something lacked which should have enabled them to grow up. +One who looks back across the aeons to this remote people can see their +fate already woven of their circumstance and their disposition, and can +appreciate the grim jest that these, who seemed to themselves gifted to +rejuvenate the planet, should have plunged it, inevitably, through +spiritual desolation into senility and age-long night. + +Inevitably. Yet here was a people of unique promise, gifted innately +beyond all other peoples. Here was a race brewed of all the races, and +mentally more effervescent than any. Here were intermingled Anglo-Saxon +stubbornness, Teutonic genius for detail and systematization, Italian +gaiety, the intense fire of Spain, and the more mobile Celtic flame. +Here also was the sensitive and stormy Slav, a youth-giving Negroid +infusion, a faint but subtly stimulating trace of the Red Man, and in +the West a sprinkling of the Mongol. Mutual intolerance no doubt +isolated these diverse stocks to some degree; yet the whole was +increasingly one people, proud of its individuality, of its success, of +its idealistic mission in the world, proud also of its optimistic and +anthropocentric view of the universe. What might not this energy have +achieved, had it been more critically controlled, had it been forced to +attend to life’s more forbidding aspects! Direct tragic experience might +perhaps have opened the hearts of this people. Intercourse with a more +mature culture might have refined their intelligence. But the very +success which had intoxicated them rendered them also too complacent to +learn from less prosperous competitors. + +Yet there was a moment when this insularity promised to wane. So long as +England was a serious economic rival, America inevitably regarded her +with suspicion. But when England was seen to be definitely in economic +decline, yet culturally still at her zenith, America conceived a more +generous interest in the last and severest phase of English thought. +Eminent Americans themselves began to whisper that perhaps their +unrivalled prosperity was not after all good evidence either of their +own spiritual greatness or of the moral rectitude of the universe. A +minute but persistent school of writers began to affirm that America +lacked self-criticism, was incapable of seeing the joke against herself, +was in fact wholly devoid of that detachment and resignation which was +the finest, though of course the rarest mood of latter-day England. This +movement might well have infused throughout the American people that +which was needed to temper their barbarian egotism, and open their ears +once more to the silence beyond man’s strident sphere. Once more, for +only latterly had they been seriously deafened by the din of their own +material success. And indeed, scattered over the continent throughout +this whole period, many shrinking islands of true culture contrived to +keep their heads above the rising tide of vulgarity and superstition. +These it was that had looked to Europe for help, and were attempting a +rally when England and France blundered into that orgy of emotionalism +and murder which exterminated so many of their best minds and +permanently weakened their cultural influence. + +Subsequently it was Germany that spoke for Europe. And Germany was too +serious an economic rival for America to be open to her influence. +Moreover German criticism, though often emphatic, was too heavily +pedantic, too little ironical, to pierce the hide of American +complacency. Thus it was that America sank further and further into +Americanism. Vast wealth and industry, and also brilliant invention, +were concentrated upon puerile ends. In particular the whole of American +life was organized around the cult of the powerful individual, that +phantom ideal which Europe herself had only begun to outgrow in her last +phase. Those Americans who wholly failed to realize this ideal, who +remained at the bottom of the social ladder, either consoled themselves +with hopes for the future, or stole symbolical satisfaction by +identifying themselves with some popular star, or gloated upon their +American citizenship, and applauded the arrogant foreign policy of their +government. Those who achieved power were satisfied so long as they +could merely retain it, and advertise it uncritically in the +conventionally self-assertive manner. + +It was almost inevitable that when Europe had recovered from the +Russo-German disaster she should come to blows with America; for she had +long chafed under the saddle of American finance, and the daily life of +Europeans had become more and more cramped by the presence of a +widespread and contemptuous foreign ‘aristocracy’ of American business +men. Germany alone was comparatively free from this domination, for +Germany was herself still a great economic power. But in Germany, no +less than elsewhere, there was constant friction with the Americans. + +Of course neither Europe nor America desired war. Each was well aware +that war would mean the end of business prosperity, and for Europe very +possibly the end of all things; for it was known that man’s power of +destruction had recently increased, and that if war were waged +relentlessly, the stronger side might exterminate the other. But +inevitably an ‘incident’ at last occurred which roused blind rage on +each side of the Atlantic. A murder in South Italy, a few ill-considered +remarks in the European Press, offensive retaliation in the American +Press accompanied by the lynching of an Italian in the Middle West, an +uncontrollable massacre of American citizens in Rome, the despatch of an +American air fleet to occupy Italy, interception by the European air +fleet, and war was in existence before ever it had been declared. This +aerial action resulted, perhaps unfortunately for Europe, in a momentary +check to the American advance. The enemy was put on his mettle, and +prepared a crushing blow. + + + 2. THE ORIGINS OF A MYSTERY + +While the Americans were mobilizing their whole armament there occurred +the really interesting event of the war. It so happened that an +international society of scientific workers was meeting in England at +Plymouth, and a young Chinese physicist had expressed his desire to make +a report to a select committee. As he had been experimenting to find +means for the utilization of subatomic energy by the annihilation of +matter, it was with some excitement that, according to instruction, the +forty international representatives travelled to the north coast of +Devon and met upon the bare headland called Hartland Point. + +It was a bright morning after rain. Eleven miles to the north-west, the +cliffs of Lundy Island displayed their markings with unusual detail. +Sea-birds wheeled about the heads of the party as they seated themselves +on their raincoats in a cluster upon the rabbit-cropped turf. + +They were a remarkable company, each one of them a unique person, yet +characterized to some extent by his particular national type. And all +were distinctively ‘scientists’ of the period. Formerly this would have +implied a rather uncritical leaning towards materialism, and an +affectation of cynicism; but by now it was fashionable to profess an +equally uncritical belief that all natural phenomena were manifestations +of the cosmic mind. In both periods, when a man passed beyond the sphere +of his own serious scientific work he chose his beliefs irresponsibly, +according to his taste, much as he chose his recreation or his food. + +Of the individuals present we may single out one or two for notice. The +German, an anthropologist, and a product of the long-established cult of +physical and mental health, sought to display in his own athletic person +the characters proper to Nordic man. The Frenchman, an old but still +sparkling psychologist, whose queer hobby was the collecting of weapons, +ancient and modern, regarded the proceedings with kindly cynicism. The +Englishman, one of the few remaining intellectuals of his race, +compensated for the severe study of physics by a scarcely less devoted +research into the history of English expletives and slang, delighting to +treat his colleagues to the fruits of his toil. The West African +president of the Society was a biologist, famous for his interbreeding +of man and ape. + +When all were settled, the President explained the purpose of the +meeting. The utilization of subatomic energy had indeed been achieved, +and they were to be given a demonstration. + +The young Mongol stood up, and produced from a case an instrument rather +like the old-fashioned rifle. Displaying this object, he spoke as +follows, with that quaintly stilted formality which had once been +characteristic of all educated Chinese. ‘Before describing the details +of my rather delicate process, I will illustrate its importance by +showing what can be done with the finished product. Not only can I +initiate the annihilation of matter, but also I can do so at a distance +and in a precise direction. Moreover, I can inhibit the process. As a +means of destruction, my instrument is perfect. As a source of power for +the constructive work of mankind, it has unlimited potentiality. +Gentlemen, this is a great moment in the history of Man. I am about to +render into the hands of organized intelligence the means to stop for +ever man’s internecine brawls. Henceforth this great Society, of which +you are the _élite_, will beneficently rule the planet. With this little +instrument you will stop the ridiculous war; and with another, which I +shall soon perfect, you will dispense unlimited industrial power +wherever you consider it needed. Gentlemen, with the aid of this handy +instrument which I have the honour to demonstrate, you are about to +become absolute masters of this planet.’ + +Here the representative of England muttered an archaism whose +significance was known only to himself, ‘Gawd ’elp us!’ In the minds of +some of those foreigners who were not physicists this quaint expression +was taken to be a technical word having some connexion with the new +source of energy. + +The Mongol continued. Turning towards Lundy, he said, ‘That island is no +longer inhabited, and as it is something of a danger to shipping, I will +remove it.’ So saying he aimed his instrument at the distant cliff, but +continued speaking. ‘This trigger will stimulate the ultimate positive +and negative charges which constitute the atoms at a certain point on +the rock-face to annihilate each other. These stimulated atoms will +infect their neighbours, and so on indefinitely. This second trigger, +however, will stop the actual annihilation. Were I to refrain from using +it, the process would indeed continue indefinitely, perhaps until the +whole of the planet had disintegrated.’ + +There was an anxious movement among the spectators, but the young man +took careful aim, and pressed the two triggers in quick succession. No +sound from the instrument. No visible effect upon the smiling face of +the island. Laughter began to gurgle from the Englishman, but ceased. +For a dazzling point of light appeared on the remote cliff. It increased +in size and brilliance, till all eyes were blinded in the effort to +continue watching. It lit up the under parts of the clouds and blotted +out the sun-cast shadows of gorse bushes beside the spectators. The +whole end of the island facing the mainland was now an intolerable +scorching sun. Presently, however, its fury was veiled in clouds of +steam from the boiling sea. Then suddenly the whole island, three miles +of solid granite, leapt asunder; so that a covey of great rocks soared +heavenwards, and beneath them swelled more slowly a gigantic mushroom of +steam and debris. Then the sound arrived. All hands were clapped to +ears, while eyes still strained to watch the bay, pocked white with the +hail of rocks. Meanwhile a great wall of sea advanced from the centre of +turmoil. This was seen to engulf a coasting vessel, and pass on towards +Bideford and Barnstaple. + +The spectators leaped to their feet and clamoured, while the young +author of this fury watched the spectacle with exultation, and some +surprise at the magnitude of these mere after-effects of his process. + +The meeting was now adjourned to a neighbouring chapel to hear the +report of the research. As the representatives were filing through the +door it was observed that the steam and smoke had cleared, and that open +sea extended where had been Lundy. Within the chapel, the great Bible +was decorously removed and the windows thrown open, to dispel somewhat +the odour of sanctity. For though the early and spiritual +interpretations of relativity and the quantum theory had by now +accustomed men of science to pay their respects to the religions, many +of them were still liable to a certain asphyxia when they were actually +within the precincts of sanctity. When the scientists had settled +themselves upon the archaic and unyielding benches, the President +explained that the chapel authorities had kindly permitted this meeting +because they realized that, since men of science had gradually +discovered the spiritual foundation of physics, science and religion +must henceforth be close allies. Moreover the purpose of this meeting +was to discuss one of those supreme mysteries which it was the glory of +science to discover and religion to transfigure. The President then +complimented the young dispenser of power upon his triumph, and called +upon him to address the meeting. + +At this point, however, the aged representative of France intervened, +and was granted a hearing. Born almost a hundred and forty years +earlier, and preserved more by native intensity of spirit than by the +artifices of the regenerator, this ancient seemed to speak out of a +remote and wiser epoch. For in a declining civilization it is often the +old who see furthest and see with youngest eyes. He concluded a rather +long, rhetorical, yet closely reasoned speech as follows: ‘No doubt we +are the intelligence of the planet; and because of our consecration to +our calling, no doubt we are comparatively honest. But alas, even we are +human. We make little mistakes now and then, and commit little +indiscretions. The possession of such power as is offered us would not +bring peace. On the contrary it would perpetuate our national hates. It +would throw the world into confusion. It would undermine our own +integrity, and turn us into tyrants. Moreover it would ruin science. +And—well, when at last through some little error the world got blown +up, the disaster would not be regrettable. I know that Europe is almost +certainly about to be destroyed by those vigorous but rather spoilt +children across the Atlantic. But distressing as this must be, the +alternative is far worse. No, Sir! Your very wonderful toy would be a +gift for developed minds; but for us, who are still barbarians—no, it +must not be. And so, with deep regret I beg you to destroy your +handiwork, and, if it were possible, your memory of your marvellous +research. But above all breathe no word of your process to us, or to any +man.’ + +The German then protested that to refuse would be cowardly. He briefly +described his vision of a world organized under organized science, and +inspired by a scientifically organized religious dogma. ‘Surely,’ he +said, ‘to refuse were to refuse the gift of God, of that God whose +presence in the humblest quantum we have so recently and so surprisingly +revealed.’ Other speakers followed, for and against; but it soon grew +clear that wisdom would prevail. Men of science were by now definitely +cosmopolitan in sentiment. Indeed so far were they from nationalism, +that on this occasion the representative of America had urged acceptance +of the weapon, although it would be used against his own countrymen. + +Finally, however, and actually by a unanimous vote, the meeting, while +recording its deep respect for the Chinese scientists, requested, nay +ordered, that the instrument and all account of it should be destroyed. + +The young man rose, drew his handiwork from its case, and fingered it. +So long did he remain thus standing in silence with eyes fixed on the +instrument, that the meeting became restless. At last, however, he +spoke. ‘I shall abide by the decision of the meeting. Well, it is hard +to destroy the fruit of ten years’ work, and such fruit, too. I expected +to have the gratitude of mankind; but instead I am an outcast.’ Once +more he paused. Gazing out of the window, he now drew from his pocket a +field-glass, and studied the western sky. ‘Yes, they are American. +Gentlemen, the American air fleet approaches.’ + +The company leapt to its feet and crowded to the windows. High in the +west a sparse line of dots stretched indefinitely into the north and the +south. Said the Englishman, ‘For God’s sake use your damned tool once +more, or England’s done. They must have smashed our fellows over the +Atlantic.’ + +The Chinese scientist turned his eyes on the President. There was a +general cry of ‘Stop them’. Only the Frenchman protested. The +representative of the United States raised his voice and said, ‘They are +my people, I have friends up there in the sky. My own boy is probably +there. But they’re mad. They want to do something hideous. They’re in +the lynching mood. Stop them.’ The Mongol still gazed at the President, +who nodded. The Frenchman broke down in senile tears. Then the young +man, leaning upon the window sill, took careful aim at each black dot in +turn. One by one, each became a blinding star, then vanished. In the +chapel, a long silence. Then whispers; and glances at the Chinese +scientist, expressive of anxiety and dislike. + +There followed a hurried ceremony in a neighbouring field. A fire was +lit. The instrument and the no less murderous manuscript were burnt. And +then the grave young Mongol, having insisted on shaking hands all round, +said, ‘With my secret alive in me, I must not live. Some day a more +worthy race will rediscover it, but today I am a danger to the planet. +And so I, who have foolishly ignored that I live among savages, help +myself now by the ancient wisdom to pass hence.’ So saying, he fell +dead. + + + 3. EUROPE MURDERED + +Rumour spread by voice and radio throughout the world. An island had +been mysteriously exploded. The American fleet had been mysteriously +annihilated in the air. And in the neighbourhood where these events had +occurred, distinguished scientists were gathered in conference. The +European Government sought out the unknown saviour of Europe, to thank +him, and secure his process for their own use. The President of the +scientific society gave an account of the meeting and the unanimous +vote. He and his colleagues were promptly arrested, and ‘pressure’, +first moral and then physical, was brought to bear on them to make them +disclose the secret; for the world was convinced that they really knew +it, and were holding it back for their own purposes. + +Meanwhile it was learnt that the American air commander, after he had +defeated the European fleet, had been instructed merely to ‘demonstrate’ +above England while peace was negotiated. For in America, big business +had threatened the government with boycott if unnecessary violence were +committed in Europe. Big business was by now very largely international +in sentiment, and it was realized that the destruction of Europe would +inevitably unhinge American finance. But the unprecedented disaster to +the victorious fleet roused the Americans to blind hate, and the peace +party was submerged. Thus it turned out that the Chinese scientist’s one +hostile act had not saved England, but doomed her. + +For some days Europeans lived in panic dread, knowing not what horror +might at any moment descend on them. No wonder, then, that the +Government resorted to torture in order to extract the secret from the +scientists. No wonder that out of the forty individuals concerned, one, +the Englishman, saved himself by deceit. He promised to do his best to +’remember’ the intricate process. Under strict supervision, he used his +own knowledge of physics to experiment in search of the Chinese trick. +Fortunately, however, he was on the wrong scent. And indeed he knew it. +For though his first motive was mere self-preservation, later he +conceived the policy of indefinitely preventing the dangerous discovery +by directing research along a blind alley. And so his treason, by +seeming to give the authority of a most eminent physicist to a wholly +barren line of research, saved this undisciplined and scarcely human +race from destroying its planet. + +The American people, sometimes tender even to excess, were now +collectively insane with hate of the English and of all Europeans. With +cold efficiency they flooded Europe with the latest and deadliest of +gases, till all the peoples were poisoned in their cities like rats in +their holes. The gas employed was such that its potency would cease +within three days. It was therefore possible for an American sanitary +force to take charge of each metropolis within a week after the attack. +Of those who first descended into the great silence of the murdered +cities, many were unhinged by the overwhelming presence of dead +populations. The gas had operated first upon the ground level, but, +rising like a tide, it had engulfed the top stories, the spires, the +hills. Thus, while in the streets lay thousands who had been overcome by +the first waves of poison, every roof and pinnacle bore the bodies of +those who had struggled upwards in the vain hope of escaping beyond the +highest reach of the tide. When the invaders arrived they beheld on +every height prostrate and contorted figures. + +Thus Europe died. All centres of intellectual life were blotted out, and +of the agricultural regions only the uplands and mountains were +untouched. The spirit of Europe lived henceforth only in a piece-meal +and dislocated manner in the minds of Americans, Chinese, Indians, and +the rest. + +There were indeed the British Colonies, but they were by now far less +European than American. The war had, of course, disintegrated the +British Empire. Canada sided with the United States. South Africa and +India declared their neutrality at the outbreak of war. Australia, not +through cowardice, but through conflict of loyalties, was soon reduced +to neutrality. The New Zealanders took to their mountains and maintained +an insane but heroic resistance for a year. A simple and gallant folk, +they had almost no conception of the European spirit, yet obscurely and +in spite of their Americanization they were loyal to it, or at least to +that symbol of one aspect of Europeanism, ‘England’. Indeed so +extravagantly loyal were they, or so innately dogged and opinionated, +that when further resistance became impossible, many of them, both men +and women, killed themselves rather than submit. + +But the most lasting agony of this war was suffered, not by the +defeated, but by the victors. For when their passion had cooled the +Americans could not easily disguise from themselves that they had +committed murder. They were not at heart a brutal folk, but rather a +kindly. They liked to think of the world as a place of innocent +pleasure-seeking, and of themselves as the main purveyors of delight. +Yet they had been somehow drawn into this fantastic crime; and +henceforth an all-pervading sense of collective guilt warped the +American mind. They had ever been vainglorious and intolerant; but now +these qualities in them became extravagant even to insanity. Both as +individuals and collectively, they became increasingly frightened of +criticism, increasingly prone to blame and hate, increasingly +self-righteous, increasingly hostile to the critical intelligence, +increasingly superstitious. + +Thus was this once noble people singled out by the gods to be cursed, +and the minister of curses. + + + + + III _America and China_ + + + 1. THE RIVALS + +After the eclipse of Europe, the allegiance of men gradually +crystallized into two great national or racial sentiments, the American +and the Chinese. Little by little all other patriotisms became mere +local variants of one or other of these two major loyalties. At first, +indeed, there were many internecine conflicts. A detailed history of +this period would describe how North America, repeating the welding +process of the ancient ‘American Civil War’, incorporated within itself +the already Americanized Latins of South America; and how Japan, once +the bully of young China, was so crippled by social revolutions that she +fell a prey to American Imperialism; and how this bondage turned her +violently Chinese in sentiment, so that finally she freed herself by an +heroic war of independence, and joined the Asian Confederacy, under +Chinese leadership. + +A full history would also tell of the vicissitudes of the League of +Nations. Although never a cosmopolitan government, but an association of +national governments, each concerned mainly for its own sovereignty, +this great organization had gradually gained a very real prestige and +authority over all its members. And in spite of its many shortcomings, +most of which were involved in its fundamental constitution, it was +invaluable as the great concrete focusing point of the growing loyalty +toward humanity. At first its existence had been precarious; and indeed +it had only preserved itself by an extreme caution, amounting almost to +servility towards the ‘great powers’. Little by little, however, it had +gained moral authority to such an extent that no single power, even the +mightiest, dared openly and in cold blood either to disobey the will of +the League or reject the findings of the High Court. But, since human +loyalty was still in the main national rather than cosmopolitan, +situations were all too frequent in which a nation would lose its head, +run amok, throw its pledges to the winds, and plunge into fear-inspired +aggression. Such a situation had produced the Anglo-French war. At other +times the nations would burst apart into two great camps, and the League +would be temporarily forgotten in their disunion. This happened in the +Russo-German War, which was possible only because America favoured +Russia and China favoured Germany. After the destruction of Europe, the +world had for a while consisted of the League on one side and America on +the other. But the League was dominated by China, and no longer stood +for cosmopolitanism. This being so, those whose loyalty was genuinely +human worked hard to bring America once more into the fold, and at last +succeeded. + +In spite of the League’s failure to prevent the ‘great’ wars, it worked +admirably in preventing all the minor conflicts which had once been a +chronic disease of the race. Latterly, indeed, the world’s peace was +absolutely secure, save when the League itself was almost equally +divided. Unfortunately, with the rise of America and China, this kind of +situation became more and more common. During the war of North and South +America an attempt was made to recreate the League as a Cosmopolitan +Sovereignty, controlling the pooled armaments of all nations. But, +though the cosmopolitan will was strong, tribalism was stronger. The +upshot was that, over the Japanese question, the League definitely split +into two Leagues, each claiming to inherit universal sovereignty from +the old League, but each in reality dominated by a kind of supernational +sentiment, the one American, the other Chinese. + +This occurred within a century after the eclipse of Europe. The second +century completed the process of crystallization into two systems, +political and mental. On the one hand was the wealthy and close-knit +American Continental Federation, with its poor relations, South Africa, +Australia, New Zealand, the bedridden remains of Western Europe, and +part of the soulless body that was Russia. On the other hand were Asia +and Africa. In fact the ancient distinction between East and West had +now become the basis of political sentiment and organization. + +Within each system there were of course real differences of culture, of +which the chief was the difference between the Chinese and Indian +mentalities. The Chinese were interested in appearances, in the sensory, +the urbane, the practical; while the Indians inclined to seek behind +appearances for some ultimate reality, of which this life, they said, +was but a passing aspect. Thus the average Indian never took to heart +the practical social problem in all its seriousness. The ideal of +perfecting this world was never an all-absorbing interest to him; since +he had been taught to believe that this world was mere shadow. There +was, indeed, a time when China had mentally less in common with India +than with the West, but fear of America had drawn the two great Eastern +peoples together. They agreed at least in earnest hate of that strange +blend of the commercial traveller, the missionary, and the barbarian +conqueror, which was the American abroad. + +China, owing to her relative weakness and the irritation caused by the +tentacles of American industry within her, was at this time more +nationalistic than her rival. America, indeed, professed to have +outgrown nationalism, and to stand for political and cultural world +unity. But she conceived this unity as a unity under American +organization; and by culture she meant Americanism. This kind of +cosmopolitanism was regarded by Asia and Africa without sympathy. In +China a concerted effort had been made to purge the foreign element from +her culture. Its success, however, was only superficial. Pigtails and +chopsticks had once more come into vogue among the leisured, and the +study of Chinese classics was once more compulsory in all schools. Yet +the manner of life of the average man remained American. Not only did he +use American cutlery, shoes, gramophones, domestic labour-saving +devices, but also his alphabet was European, his vocabulary was +permeated by American slang, his newspapers and radio were American in +manner, though anti-American in politics. He saw daily on his domestic +television screen every phase of American private life and every +American public event. Instead of opium and joss sticks, he affected +cigarettes and chewing gum. + +His thought also was largely a Mongolian variant of American thought. +For instance, since his was a non-metaphysical mind, but since also some +kind of metaphysics is unavoidable, he accepted the naïvely +materialistic metaphysics which had been popularized by the earliest +Behaviourists. In this view the only reality was physical energy, and +the mind was but the system of the body’s movements in response to +stimulus. Behaviourism had formerly played a great part in purging the +best Western minds of superstition; and indeed at one time it was the +chief growing point of thought. + +This early, pregnant, though extravagant, doctrine it was that had been +absorbed by China. But in its native land Behaviourism had gradually +been infected by the popular demand for comfortable ideas, and had +finally changed into a curious kind of spiritism, according to which, +though the ultimate reality was indeed physical energy, this energy was +identified with the divine spirit. The most dramatic feature of American +thought in this period was the merging of Behaviourism and +Fundamentalism, a belated and degenerate mode of Christianity. +Behaviourism itself, indeed, had been originally a kind of inverted +puritan faith, according to which intellectual salvation involved +acceptance of a crude materialistic dogma, chiefly because it was +repugnant to the self-righteous, and unintelligible to intellectuals of +the earlier schools. The older Puritans trampled down all fleshly +impulses; these newer Puritans trampled no less self-righteously upon +the spiritual cravings. But in the increasingly spiritistic inclination +of physics itself, Behaviourism and Fundamentalism had found a meeting +place. Since the ultimate stuff of the physical universe was now said to +be multitudinous and arbitrary ‘quanta’ of the activity of ‘spirits’, +how easy was it for the materialistic and the spiritistic to agree! At +heart, indeed, they were never far apart in mood, though opposed in +doctrine. The real cleavage was between the truly spiritual view on the +one hand, and the spiritistic and materialistic on the other. Thus the +most materialistic of Christian sects and the most doctrinaire of +scientific sects were not long in finding a formula to express their +unity, their denial of all those finer capacities which had emerged to +be the spirit of man. + +These two faiths were at one in their respect for crude physical +movement. And here lay the deepest difference between the American and +the Chinese minds. For the former, activity, any sort of activity, was +an end in itself; for the latter, activity was but a progress toward the +true end, which was rest, and peace of mind. Action was to be undertaken +only when equilibrium was disturbed. And in this respect China was at +one with India. Both preferred contemplation to action. + +Thus in China and India the passion for wealth was less potent than in +America. Wealth was the power to set things and people in motion; and in +America, therefore, wealth came to be frankly regarded as the breath of +God, the divine spirit immanent in man. God was the supreme Boss, the +universal Employer. His wisdom was conceived as a stupendous efficiency, +his love as munificence towards his employees. The parable of the +talents was made the corner-stone of education; and to be wealthy, +therefore, was to be respected as one of God’s chief agents. The typical +American man of big business was one who, in the midst of a show of +luxury, was at heart ascetic. He valued his splendour only because it +advertised to all men that he was of the elect. The typical Chinese +wealthy man was one who savoured his luxury with a delicate and +lingering palate, and was seldom tempted to sacrifice it to the barren +lust of power. + +On the other hand, since American culture was wholly concerned with the +values of the individual life, it was more sensitive than the Chinese +with regard to the well-being of humble individuals. Therefore +industrial conditions were far better under American than under Chinese +capitalism. And in China both kinds of capitalism existed side by side. +There were American factories in which the Chinese operatives thrived on +the American system, and there were Chinese factories in which the +operatives were by comparison abject wage-slaves. The fact that many +Chinese industrial workers could not afford to keep a motor-car, let +alone an aeroplane, was a source of much self-righteous indignation +amongst American employers. And the fact that this fact did not cause a +revolution in China, and that Chinese employers were able to procure +plenty of labour in spite of the better conditions in American +factories, was a source of perplexity. But in truth what the average +Chinese worker wanted was not symbolical self-assertion through the +control of privately owned machines, but security of life, and +irresponsible leisure. In the earlier phase of ‘modern’ China there had +indeed been serious explosions of class hatred. Almost every one of the +great Chinese industrial centres had, at some point in its career, +massacred its employers, and declared itself an independent communist +city-state. But communism was alien to China, and none of these +experiments was permanently successful. Latterly, when the rule of the +Nationalist Party had become secure, and the worst industrial evils had +been abolished, class feeling had given place to a patriotic loathing of +American interference and American hustle, and those who worked under +American employers were often called traitors. + +The Nationalist Party was not, indeed, the soul of China; but it was, so +to speak, the central nervous system, within which the soul presided as +a controlling principle. The Party was an intensely practical yet +idealistic organization, half civil service, half religious order, +though violently opposed to every kind of religion. Modelled originally +on the Bolshevik Party of Russia, it had also drawn inspiration from the +native and literary civil service of old China, and even from the +tradition of administrative integrity which had been the best, the sole, +contribution of British Imperialism to the East. Thus, by a route of its +own, the Party had approached the ideal of the Platonic governors. In +order to be admitted to the Party, it was necessary to do two things, to +pass a very strict written examination on Western and Chinese social +theory, and to come through a five years apprenticeship in actual +administrative work. Outside the Party, China was still extremely +corrupt; for peculation and nepotism were not censured, so long as they +were kept decently hidden. But the Party set a brilliant example of +self-oblivious devotion; and this unheard-of honesty was one source of +its power. It was universally recognized that the party man was +genuinely interested in social rather than private matters; and +consequently he was trusted. The supreme object of his loyalty was not +the Party, but China, not indeed the mass of Chinese individuals, whom +he regarded with almost the same nonchalance as he regarded himself, but +the corporate unity and culture of the race. + +The whole executive power in China was now in the hands of members of +the Party, and the final legislative authority was the Assembly of Party +Delegates. Between these two institutions stood the President. Sometimes +no more than chairman of the Executive Committee, this individual was +now and then almost a dictator, combining in himself the attributes of +Prime Minister, Emperor, and Pope. For the head of the Party was the +head of the state; and like the ancient emperors, he became the +symbolical object of ancestor worship. + +The Party’s policy was dominated by the Chinese respect for culture. +Just as Western states had been all too often organized under the will +for military prestige, so the new China was organized under the will for +prestige of culture. For this end the American state was reviled as the +supreme example of barbarian vulgarity; and so patriotism was drawn in +to strengthen the cultural policy of the Party. It was boasted that, +while indeed in America every man and woman might hope to fight a way to +material wealth, in China every intelligent person could actually enjoy +the cultural wealth of the race. The economic policy of the party was +based on the principle of affording to all workers security of +livelihood and full educational opportunity. (In American eyes, however, +the livelihood thus secured was scarcely fit for beasts, and the +education provided was out of date and irreligious.) The party took good +care to gather into itself all the best of every social class, and also +to encourage in the unintelligent masses a respect for learning, and the +illusion that they themselves shared to some extent in the national +culture. + +But in truth this culture, which the common people so venerated in their +superiors and mimicked in their own lives, was scarcely less superficial +than the cult of power against which it was pitted. For it was almost +wholly a cult of social rectitude and textual learning; not so much of +the merely literary learning which had obsessed ancient China, as of the +vast corpus of contemporary scientific dogma, and above all of pure +mathematics. In old days the candidate for office had to show minute but +uncritical knowledge of classical writers; now he had to give proof of a +no less barren agility in describing the established formulae of +physics, biology, psychology, and more particularly of economics and +social theory. And though never encouraged to puzzle over the +philosophical basis of mathematics, he was expected to be familiar with +the intricacy of at least one branch of that vast game of skill. So +great was the mass of information forced upon the student, that he had +no time to think of the mutual implications of the various branches of +his knowledge. + +Yet there was a soul in China. And in this elusive soul of China the one +hope of the First Men now lay. Scattered throughout the Party was a +minority of original minds, who were its source of inspiration and the +growing point of the human spirit in this period. Well aware of man’s +littleness, these thinkers regarded him none the less as the crown of +the universe. On the basis of a positivistic and rather perfunctory +metaphysic, they built a social ideal and a theory of art. Indeed, in +the practice and appreciation of art they saw man’s highest achievement. +Pessimistic about the remote future of the race, and contemptuous of +American evangelism, they accepted as the end of living the creation of +an intricately unified pattern of human lives set in a fair environment. +Society, the supreme work of art (so they put it), is a delicate and +perishable texture of human intercourse. They even entertained the +possibility that in the last resort, not only the individual’s life, but +the whole career of the race, might be tragic, and should be valued +according to the standards of tragic art. Contrasting their own spirit +with that of the Americans, one of them had said, ‘America, a backward +youth in a play-room equipped with luxury and electric power, pretends +that his mechanical toy moves the world. China, a gentleman walking in +his garden in the evening, admires the fragrance and the order all the +more because in the air is the first nip of winter, and in his ear +rumour of the irresistible barbarian.’ + +In this attitude there was something admirable, and sorely needed at the +time; but also there was a fatal deficiency. In its best exponents it +rose to a detached yet fervent salutation of existence, but all too +easily degenerated into a supine complacency, and a cult of social +etiquette. In fact it was ever in danger of corruption through the +inveterate Chinese habit of caring only for appearances. In some +respects the spirit of America and the spirit of China were +complementary, since the one was restless and the other bland, the one +zealous and the other dispassionate, the one religious, the other +artistic, the one superficially mystical or at least romantic, the other +classical and rationalistic, though too easy-going for prolonged +rigorous thought. Had they cooperated, these two mentalities might have +achieved much. On the other hand, in both there was an identical and +all-important lack. Neither of them was disturbed and enlightened by +that insatiable lust for the truth, that passion for the free exercise +of critical intelligence, the gruelling hunt for reality, which had been +the glory of Europe and even of the earlier America, but now was no +longer anywhere among the First Men. And, consequent on this lack, +another disability crippled them. Both were by now without that +irreverent wit which individuals of an earlier generation had loved to +exercise upon one another and on themselves, and even on their most +sacred values. + +In spite of this weakness, with good luck they might have triumphed. +But, as I shall tell, the spirit of America undermined the integrity of +China, and thereby destroyed its one chance of salvation. There befell, +in fact, one of those disasters, half inevitable and half accidental, +which periodically descended on the First Men, as though by the express +will of some divinity who cared more for the excellence of his dramatic +creation than for the sentient puppets which he had conceived for its +enacting. + + + 2. THE CONFLICT + +After the Euro-American War there occurred first a century of minor +national conflicts, and then a century of strained peace, during which +America and China became more and more irksome to each other. At the +close of this period the great mass of men were in theory far more +cosmopolitan than nationalist, yet the inveterate tribal spirit lurked +within each mind and was ever ready to take possession. The planet was +now a delicately organized economic unit, and big business in all lands +was emphatically contemptuous of patriotism. Indeed the whole adult +generation of the period was consciously and without reserve +internationalist and pacifist. Yet this logically unassailable +conviction was undermined by a biological craving for adventurous +living. Prolonged peace and improved social conditions had greatly +reduced the danger and hardship of life, and there was no socially +harmless substitute to take the place of war in exercising the primitive +courage and anger of animals fashioned for the wild. Consciously men +desired peace, unconsciously they still needed some such gallantry as +war afforded. And this repressed combative disposition ever and again +expressed itself in explosions of irrational tribalism. + +Inevitably a serious conflict at last occurred. As usual the cause was +both economic and sentimental. The economic cause was the demand for +fuel. A century earlier a very serious oil famine had so sobered the +race that the League of Nations had been able to impose a system of +cosmopolitan control upon the existing oil-fields, and even the coal +fields. It had also imposed strict regulations as to the use of these +invaluable materials. Oil in particular was only to be used for +enterprises in which no other source of power would serve. The +cosmopolitan control of fuel was perhaps the supreme achievement of the +League, and it remained a fixed policy of the race long after the League +had been superseded. Yet, by a choice irony of fate, this quite +unusually sane policy contributed largely to the downfall of +civilization. By means of it, as will later transpire, the end of coal +was postponed into the period when the intelligence of the race was so +deteriorated that it could no longer cope with such a crisis. Instead of +adjusting itself to the novel situation, it simply collapsed. + +But at the time with which we are at present dealing, means had recently +been found of profitably working the huge deposits of fuel in +Antarctica. This vast supply unfortunately lay technically beyond the +jurisdiction of the World Fuel Control Board. America was first in the +field, and saw in Antarctic fuel a means for her advancement, and for +her self-imposed duty of Americanizing the planet. China, fearful of +Americanization, demanded that the new sources should be brought under +the jurisdiction of the Board. For some years feeling had become +increasingly violent on this point, and both peoples had by now relapsed +into the crude old nationalistic mood. War began to seem almost +inevitable. + +The actual occasion of conflict, however, was, as usual, an accident. A +scandal was brought to light about child labour in certain Indian +factories. Boys and girls under twelve were being badly sweated, and in +their abject state their only adventure was precocious sex. The American +Government protested, and in terms which assumed that America was the +guardian of the world’s morals. India immediately held up the reform +which she had begun to impose, and replied to America as to a busy-body. +America threatened an expedition to set things right, ‘backed by the +approval of all the morally sensitive races of the earth’. China now +intervened to keep the peace between her rival and her partner, and +undertook to see that the evil should be abolished, if America would +withdraw her extravagant slanders against the Eastern conscience. But it +was too late. An American bank in China was raided, and its manager’s +severed head was kicked along the street. The tribes of men had once +more smelled blood. War was declared by the West upon the East. + +Of the combatants, Asia, with North Africa, formed geographically the +more compact system, but America and her dependents were economically +more organized. At the outbreak of war neither side had any appreciable +armament, for war had long ago been ‘outlawed’. This fact, however, made +little difference; since the warfare of the period could be carried on +with great effect simply by the vast swarms of civil aircraft, loaded +with poison, high explosives, disease microbes, and the still more +lethal ‘hypo-biological’ organisms, which contemporary science sometimes +regarded as the simplest living matter, sometimes as the most complex +molecules. + +The struggle began with violence, slackened, and dragged on for a +quarter of a century. At the close of this period, Africa was mostly in +the hands of America. But Egypt was an uninhabitable no-man’s land, for +the South Africans had very successfully poisoned the sources of the +Nile. Europe was under Chinese military rule. This was enforced by +armies of sturdy Central-Asians, who were already beginning to wonder +why they did not make themselves masters of China also. The Chinese +language, with European alphabet, was taught in all schools. In England, +however, there were no schools, and no population; for early in the war, +an American air-base had been established in Ireland, and England had +been repeatedly devastated. Airmen passing over what had been London, +could still make out the lines of Oxford Street and the Strand among the +green and grey tangle of ruins. Wild nature, once so jealously preserved +in national ‘beauty spots’ against the incursion of urban civilization, +now rioted over the whole island. At the other side of the world, the +Japanese islands had been similarly devastated in the vain American +effort to establish there an air-base from which to reach the heart of +the enemy. So far, however, neither China nor America had been very +seriously damaged; but recently the American biologists had devised a +new malignant germ, more infectious and irresistible than anything +hitherto known. Its work was to disintegrate the highest levels of the +nervous system, and therefore to render all who were even slightly +affected incapable of intelligent action; while a severe attack caused +paralysis and finally death. With this weapon the American military had +already turned one Chinese city into a bedlam; and wandering bacilli had +got into the brains of several high officials throughout the province, +rendering their behaviour incoherent. It was becoming the fashion to +attribute all one’s blunders to a touch of the new microbe. Hitherto no +effective means of resisting spread of this plague had been discovered. +And as in the early stages of the disease the patient became restlessly +active, undertaking interminable and objectless journeys on the +flimsiest pretexts, it seemed probable that the ‘American madness’ would +spread throughout China. + +On the whole, then, the military advantage lay definitely with the +Americans; but economically they were perhaps the more damaged, for +their higher standard of prosperity depended largely on foreign +investment and foreign trade. Throughout the American continent there +was now real poverty and serious symptoms of class war, not indeed +between private workers and employers, but between workers and the +autocratic military governing caste which inevitably war had created. +Big business had at first succumbed to the patriotic fever, but had soon +remembered that war is folly and ruinous to trade. Indeed, upon both +sides the fervour of nationalism had lasted only a couple of years, +after which the lust of adventure had given place to mere dread of the +enemy. For on each side the populace had been nursed into the belief +that its foe was diabolic. When a quarter of a century had passed since +there had been free intercourse between the two peoples, the real mental +difference which had always existed between them appeared to many almost +as a difference of biological species. Thus in America the Church +preached that no Chinaman had a soul. Satan, it was said, had tampered +with evolution of the Chinese race when first it had emerged from the +prehuman animal. He had contrived that it should be cunning, but wholly +without tenderness. He had induced in it an insatiable sensuality, and +wilful blindness towards the divine, towards that superbly masterful +energy-for-energy’s sake which was the glory of America. Just as in a +prehistoric era the young race of mammals had swept away the sluggish, +brutish and demoded reptiles, so now, it was said, young soulful America +was destined to rid the planet of the reptilian Mongol. In China, on the +other hand, the official view was that the Americans were a typical case +of biological retrogression. Like all parasitic organisms, they had +thriven by specializing in one low-grade mode of behaviour at the +expense of their higher nature; and now, ‘tape-worms of the planet’, +they were starving out the higher capacities of the human race by their +frantic acquisitiveness. + +Such were the official doctrines. But the strain of war had latterly +produced on each side a grave distrust of its own government, and an +emphatic will for peace at any price. The governments hated the peace +party even more than each other, since their existence now depended on +war. They even went so far as to inform one another of the clandestine +operations of the pacifists, discovered by their own secret service in +enemy territory. + +Thus when at last big business and the workers on each side of the +Pacific had determined to stop the war by concerted action, it was very +difficult for their representatives to meet. + + + 3. ON AN ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC + +Save for the governments, the whole human race now earnestly desired +peace; but opinion in America was balanced between the will merely to +effect an economic and political unification of the world, and a +fanatical craving to impose American culture on the East. In China also +there was a balance of the purely commercial readiness to sacrifice +ideals for the sake of peace and prosperity, and the will to preserve +Chinese culture. The two individuals who were to meet in secret for the +negotiation of peace were typical of their respective races; in both of +them the commercial and cultural motives were present, though the +commercial was by now most often dominant. + +It was in the twenty-sixth year of the war that two seaplanes converged +by night from the East and West upon an island in the Pacific, and +settled on a secluded inlet. The moon, destined in another age to +smother this whole equatorial region with her shattered body, now merely +besparkled the waves. From each plane a traveller emerged, and rowed +himself ashore in a rubber coracle. The two men met upon the beach, and +shook hands, the one with ceremony, the other with a slightly forced +brotherliness. Already the sun peered over the wall of the sea, shouting +his brilliance and his heat. The Chinese, taking off his air-helmet, +uncoiled his pigtail with a certain emphasis, stripped off his heavy +coverings, and revealed a sky-blue silk pyjama suit, embroidered with +golden dragons. The other, glancing with scarcely veiled dislike at this +finery, flung off his wraps and displayed the decent grey coat and +breeches with which the American business men of this period +unconsciously symbolized their reversion to Puritanism. Smoking the +Chinese envoy’s cigarettes, the two sat down to re-arrange the planet. + +The conversation was amicable, and proceeded without hitch; for there +was agreement about the practical measures to be adopted. The government +in each country was to be overthrown at once. Both representatives were +confident that this could be done if it could be attempted +simultaneously on each side of the Pacific; for in both countries +finance and the people could be trusted. In place of the national +governments, a World Finance Directorate was to be created. This was to +be composed of the leading commercial and industrial magnates of the +world, along with representatives of the workers’ organizations. The +American representative should be the first president of the +Directorate, and the Chinese the first vice-president. The Directorate +was to manage the whole economic reorganization of the world. In +particular, industrial conditions in the East were to be brought into +line with those of America, while on the other hand the American +monopoly of Antarctica was to be abolished. That rich and almost virgin +land was to be subjected to the control of the Directorate. + +Occasionally during the conversation reference was made to the great +cultural difference between the East and West; but both the negotiants +seemed anxious to believe that this was only a minor matter which need +not be allowed to trouble a business discussion. + +At this point occurred one of those incidents which, minute in +themselves, have disproportionately great effects. The unstable nature +of the First Men made them peculiarly liable to suffer from such +accidents, and especially so in their decline. + +The talk was interrupted by the appearance of a human figure swimming +round a promontory into the little bay. In the shallows she arose, and +walked out of the water towards the creators of the World State. A +bronze young smiling woman, completely nude, with breasts heaving after +her long swim, she stood before them, hesitating. The relation between +the two men was instantly changed, though neither was at first aware of +it. + +‘Delicious daughter of Ocean,’ said the Chinese, in that somewhat +archaic and deliberately un-American English which the Asians now +affected in communication with foreigners, ‘what is there that these two +despicable land animals can do for you? For my friend, I cannot answer, +but I at least am henceforth your slave.’ His eyes roamed caressingly, +yet as it were with perfect politeness, all over her body. And she, with +that added grace which haloes women when they feel the kiss of an +admiring gaze, pressed the sea from her hair and stood at the point of +speech. + +But the American protested, ‘Whoever you are, please do not interrupt +us. We are really very busy discussing a matter of great importance, and +we have no time to spare. Please go. Your nudity is offensive to one +accustomed to civilized manners. In a modern country you would not be +allowed to bathe without a costume. We are growing very sensitive on +this point.’ + +A distressful but enhancing blush spread under the wet bronze, and the +intruder made as if to go. But the Chinese cried, ‘Stay! We have almost +finished our business talk. Refresh us with your presence. Bring the +realities back into our discussion by permitting us to contemplate for a +while the perfect vase line of your waist and thigh. Who are you? Of +what race are you? My anthropological studies fail to place you. Your +skin is fairer than is native here, though rich with sun. Your breasts +are Grecian. Your lips are chiselled with a memory of Egypt. Your hair, +night though it was, is drying with a most bewildering hint of gold. And +your eyes, let me observe them. Long, subtle, as my countrywomen’s, +unfathomable as the mind of India, they yet reveal themselves to your +new slave as not wholly black, but violet as the zenith before dawn. +Indeed this exquisite unity of incompatibles conquers both my heart and +my understanding.’ + +During this harangue her composure was restored, though she glanced now +and then at the American, who kept ever removing his gaze from her. + +She answered in much the same diction as the other; but, surprisingly, +with an old-time English accent, ‘I am certainly a mongrel. You might +call me, not daughter of Ocean, but daughter of Man; for wanderers of +every race have scattered their seed on this island. My body, I know, +betrays its diverse ancestry in a rather queer blend of characters. My +mind is perhaps unusual too, for I have never left this island. And +though it is actually less than a quarter of a century since I was born, +a past century has perhaps had more meaning for me than the obscure +events of today. A hermit taught me. Two hundred years ago he lived +actively in Europe; but towards the end of his long life he retreated to +this island. As an old man he loved me. And day by day he gave me +insight into the great spirit of the past; but of this age he gave me +nothing. Now that he is dead, I struggle to familiarize myself with the +present, but I continue to see everything from the angle of another age. +And so,’ (turning to the American) ‘if I have offended against modern +customs, it is because my insular mind has never been taught to regard +nakedness as indecent. I am very ignorant, truly a savage. If only I +could gain experience of your great world! If ever this war ends, I must +travel.’ + +‘Delectable,’ said the Chinese, ‘exquisitely proportioned, exquisitely +civilized savage! Come with me for a holiday in modern China. There you +can bathe without a costume, so long as you are beautiful.’ + +She ignored this invitation, and seemed to have fallen into a reverie. +Then absently she continued, ‘Perhaps I should not suffer from this +restlessness, this craving to experience the world, if only I were to +experience motherhood instead. Many of the islanders from time to time +have enriched me with their embraces. But with none of them could I +permit myself to conceive. They are dear; but not one of them is at +heart more than a child.’ + +The American became restless. But again the Mongol intervened, with +lowered and deepened voice. ‘I,’ he said, ‘I, the Vice-President of the +World Finance Directorate, shall be honoured to afford you the +opportunity of motherhood.’ + +She regarded him gravely, then smiled as on a child who asks more than +it is reasonable to give. But the American rose hastily. Addressing the +silken Mongol, he said, ‘You probably know that the American Government +is in the act of sending a second poison fleet to turn your whole +population insane, more insane than you are already. You cannot defend +yourselves against this new weapon; and if I am to save you, I must not +trifle any longer. Nor must you, for we must act simultaneously. We have +settled all that matters for the moment. But before I leave, I must say +that your behaviour towards this woman has very forcibly reminded me +that there is something wrong with the Chinese way of thought and life. +In my anxiety for peace, I overlooked my duty in this respect. I now +give you notice that when the Directorate is established, we Americans +must induce you to reform these abuses, for the world’s sake and your +own.’ + +The Chinese rose and answered, ‘This matter must be settled locally. We +do not expect you to accept our standards, so do not you expect us to +accept yours.’ He moved towards the woman, smiling. And the smile +outraged the American. + +We need not follow the wrangle which now ensued between the two +representatives, each of whom, though in a manner cosmopolitan in +sentiment, was heartily contemptuous of the other’s values. Suffice it +that the American became increasingly earnest and dictatorial, the other +increasingly careless and ironical. Finally the American raised his +voice and presented an ultimatum. ‘Our treaty of world-union,’ he said, +‘will remain unsigned unless you add a clause promising drastic reforms, +which, as a matter of fact, my colleagues had already proposed as a +condition of cooperation. I had decided to withhold them, in case they +should wreck our treaty; but now I see they are essential. You must +educate your people out of their lascivious and idle ways, and give them +modern scientific religion. Teachers in your schools and universities +must pledge themselves to the modern fundamentalized physics, and +behaviourism, and must enforce worship of the Divine Mover. The change +will be difficult, but we will help you. You will need a strong order of +Inquisitors, responsible to the Directorate. They will see also to the +reform of your people’s sexual frivolity in which you squander so much +of the Divine Energy. Unless you agree to this, I cannot stop the war. +The law of God must be kept, and those who know it must enforce it.’ + +The woman interrupted him. ‘Tell me, what is this “God” of yours? The +Europeans worshipped love, not energy. What do you mean by energy? Is it +merely to make engines go fast, and to agitate the ether?’ + +He answered flatly, as if repeating a lesson, ‘God is the all-pervading +spirit of movement which seeks to actualize itself wherever it is +latent. God has appointed the great American people to mechanize the +universe.’ He paused, contemplating the clean lines of his sea-plane. +Then he continued with emphasis, ‘But come! Time is precious. Either you +work for God, or we trample you out of God’s way.’ + +The woman approached him, saying, ‘There is certainly something great in +this enthusiasm. But somehow, though my heart says you are right, my +head is doubting still. There must be a mistake somewhere.’ + +‘Mistake!’ he laughed, overhanging her with his mask of power. ‘When a +man’s soul is action, how can he be mistaken that action is divine? I +have served the great God, Energy, all my life, from garage boy to World +President. Has not the whole American people proved its faith by its +success?’ + +With rapture, but still in perplexity, she gazed at him. ‘There’s +something terribly wrong-headed about you Americans,’ she said, ‘but +certainly you are great.’ She looked him in the eyes. Then suddenly she +laid a hand on him, and said with conviction, ‘Being what you are, you +are probably right. Anyhow you are a man, a real man. Take me. Be the +father of my boy. Take me to the dangerous cities of America to work +with you.’ + +The President was surprised with sudden hunger for her body, and she saw +it; but he turned to the Vice-President and said, ‘She has seen where +the truth lies. And you? War, or cooperation in God’s work?’ + +‘The death of our bodies, or the death of our minds,’ said the Chinese, +but with a bitterness that lacked conviction; for he was no fanatic. +‘Well, since the soul is only the harmoniousness of the body’s +behaviour, and since, in spite of this little dispute, we are agreed +that the coordination of activity is the chief need of the planet today, +and since in respect of our differences of temperament this lady has +judged in favour of America, and moreover since, if there is any virtue +in our Asian way of life, it will not succumb to a little propaganda, +but rather will be strengthened by opposition—since all these matters +are so, I accept your terms. But it would be undignified in China to let +this great change be imposed upon her externally. You must give me time +to form in Asia a native and spontaneous party of Energists, who will +themselves propagate your gospel, and perhaps give it an elegance which, +if I may say so, it has not yet. Even this we will do to secure the +cosmopolitan control of Antarctica.’ + +Thereupon the treaty was signed; but a new and secret codicil was drawn +up and signed also, and both were witnessed by the Daughter of Man, in a +clear, round, old-fashioned script. + +Then, taking a hand of each, she said, ‘And so at last the world is +united. For how long, I wonder. I seem to hear my old master’s voice +scolding, as though I had been rather stupid. But he failed me, and I +have chosen a new master, Master of the World.’ + +She released the hand of the Asian, and made as if to draw the American +away with her. And he, though he was a strict monogamist with a better +half waiting for him in New York, longed to crush her sun-clad body to +his Puritan cloth. She drew him away among the palm trees. + +The Vice-President of the World sat down once more, lit a cigarette, and +meditated, smiling. + +[Illustration: Time Scale 1] + + + + + IV _An Americanized Planet_ + + + 1. THE FOUNDATION OF THE FIRST WORLD STATE + +We have now reached that point in the history of the First Men when, +some three hundred and eighty terrestrial years after the European War, +the goal of world unity was at last achieved—not, however, before the +mind of the race had been seriously crippled. + +There is no need to recount in detail the transition from rival national +sovereignties to unitary control by the World Financial Directorate. +Suffice it that by concerted action in America and China the military +governments found themselves hamstrung by the passive resistance of +cosmopolitan big business. In China this process was almost +instantaneous and bloodless; in America there was serious disorder for a +few weeks, while the bewildered government attempted to reduce its +rebels by martial law. But the population was by now eager for peace; +and, although a few business magnates were shot, and a crowd of workers +here and there mown down, the opposition was irresistible. Very soon the +governing clique collapsed. + +The new order consisted of a vast system akin to guild socialism, yet at +bottom individualistic. Each industry was in theory democratically +governed by all its members, but in practice was controlled by its +dominant individuals. Coordination of all industries was effected by a +World Industrial Council, whereon the leaders of each industry discussed +the affairs of the planet as a whole. The status of each industry on the +Council was determined partly by its economic power in the world, partly +by public esteem. For already the activities of men were beginning to be +regarded as either ‘noble’ or ‘ignoble’; and the noble were not +necessarily the most powerful economically. Thus upon the Council +appeared an inner ring of noble ‘industries,’ which were, in approximate +order of prestige, Finance, Flying, Engineering, Surface Locomotion, +Chemical Industry, and Professional Athletics. But the real seat of +power was not the Council, not even the inner ring of the Council, but +the Financial Directorate. This consisted of a dozen millionaires, with +the American President and the Chinese Vice-President at their head. + +Within this august committee internal dissensions were inevitable. +Shortly after the system had been inaugurated the Vice-President sought +to overthrow the President by publishing his connexion with the coloured +woman who now styled herself the Daughter of Man. This piece of scandal +was expected to enrage the virtuous American public against their hero. +But by a stroke of genius the President saved both himself and the unity +of the world. Far from denying the charge, he gloried in it. In that +moment of sexual triumph, he said, a great truth had been revealed to +him. Without this daring sacrifice of his private purity, he would never +have been really fit to be President of the World; he would have +remained simply an American. In this lady’s veins flowed the blood of +all races, and in her mind all cultures mingled. His union with her, +confirmed by many subsequent visits, had taught him to enter into the +spirit of the East, and had given him a broad human sympathy such as his +high office demanded. As a private individual, he insisted, he remained +a monogamist with a wife in New York; and, as a private individual, he +had sinned, and must suffer for ever the pangs of conscience. But as +President of the World, it was incumbent upon him to espouse the World. +And since nothing could be said to be real without a physical basis, +this spiritual union had to be embodied and symbolized by his physical +union with the Daughter of Man. In tones of grave emotion he described +through the microphone how, in the presence of that mystical woman, he +had suddenly triumphed over his private moral scruples; and how, in a +sudden access of the divine energy, he had consummated his marriage with +the World in the shade of a banana tree. + +The lovely form of the Daughter of Man (decently clad) was transmitted +by television to every receiver in the world. Her face, blended of Asia +and the West, became a most potent symbol of human unity. Every man on +the planet became in imagination her lover. Every woman identified +herself with this supreme woman. + +Undoubtedly there was some truth in the plea that the Daughter of Man +had enlarged the President’s mind, for his policy had been unexpectedly +tactful towards the East. Often he had moderated the American demand for +the immediate Americanization of China. Often he had persuaded the +Chinese to welcome some policy which at first they had regarded with +suspicion. + +The President’s explanation of his conduct enhanced his prestige both in +American and Asia. America was hypnotized by the romantic religiosity of +the story. Very soon it became fashionable to be a strict monogamist +with one domestic wife, and one ‘symbolical’ wife in the East, or in +another town, or a neighbouring street, or with several such in various +localities. In China the cold tolerance with which the President was at +first treated was warmed by this incident into something like affection. +And it was partly through his tact, or the influence of his symbolical +wife, that the speeding up of China’s Americanization was effected +without disorder. + +For some months after the foundation of the World State, China had been +wholly occupied in coping with the plague of insanity, called ‘the +American madness,’ with which her former enemy had poisoned her. The +coast region of North China had been completely disorganized. Industry, +agriculture, transport, were at a standstill. Huge mobs, demented and +starving, staggered about the country devouring every kind of vegetable +matter and wrangling over the flesh of their own dead. It was long +before the disease was brought under control; and indeed for years +afterwards an occasional outbreak would occur, and cause panic +throughout the land. + +To some of the more old-fashioned Chinese it appeared as though the +whole population had been mildly affected by the germ; for throughout +China a new sect, apparently a spontaneous native growth, calling +themselves Energists, began to preach a new interpretation of Buddhism +in terms of the sanctity of action. And, strange to say, this gospel +throve to such an extent that in a few years the whole educational +system was captured by its adherents, though not without a struggle with +the reactionary members of the older universities. Curiously enough, +however, in spite of this general acceptance of the New Way, in spite of +the fact that the young of China were now taught to admire movement in +all its forms, in spite of a much increased wage-scale, which put all +workers in possession of private mechanical locomotion, the masses of +China continued at heart to regard action as a mere means towards rest. +And when at last a native physicist pointed out that the supreme +expression of energy was the tense balance of forces within the atom, +the Chinese applied the doctrine to themselves, and claimed that in them +quiescence was the perfect balance of mighty forces. Thus did the East +contribute to the religion of this age. The worship of activity was made +to include the worship of inactivity. And both were founded on the +principles of natural science. + + + 2. THE DOMINANCE OF SCIENCE + +Science now held a position of unique honour among the First Men. This +was not so much because it was in this field that the race long ago +during its high noon had thought most rigorously, nor because it was +through science that men had gained some insight into the nature of the +physical world, but rather because the application of scientific +principles had revolutionized their material circumstances. The once +fluid doctrines of science had by now begun to crystallize into a fixed +and intricate dogma; but inventive scientific intelligence still +exercised itself brilliantly in improving the technique of industry, and +thus completely dominated the imagination of a race in which the pure +intellectual curiosity had waned. The scientist was regarded as an +embodiment, not merely of knowledge, but of power; and no legends of the +potency of science seemed too fantastic to be believed. + +A century after the founding of the first World State a rumour began to +be heard in China about the supreme secret of scientific religion, the +awful mystery of Gordelpus, by means of which it should be possible to +utilize the energy locked up in the opposition of proton and electron. +Long ago discovered by a Chinese physicist and saint, this invaluable +knowledge was now reputed to have been preserved ever since among the +_élite_ of science, and to be ready for publication as soon as the world +seemed fit to possess it. The new sect of Energists claimed that the +young Discoverer was himself an incarnation of Buddha, and that, since +the world was still unfit for the supreme revelation, he had entrusted +his secret to the Scientists. On the side of Christianity a very similar +legend was concerned with the same individual. The Regenerate Christian +Brotherhood, by now overwhelmingly the most powerful of the Western +Churches, regarded the Discoverer as the Son of God, who, in this his +Second Coming, had proposed to bring about the millennium by publishing +the secret of divine power; but, finding the peoples still unable to put +in practice even the more primitive gospel of love which was announced +at his First Coming, he had suffered martyrdom for man’s sake, and had +entrusted his secret to the Scientists. + +The scientific workers of the world had long ago organized themselves as +a close corporation. Entrance to the International College of Science +was to be obtained only by examination and the payment of high fees. +Membership conferred the title of ‘Scientist,’ and the right to perform +experiments. It was also an essential qualification for many lucrative +posts. Moreover, there were said to be certain technical secrets which +members were pledged not to reveal. Rumour had it that in at least one +case of minor blabbing the traitor had shortly afterwards mysteriously +died. + +Science itself, the actual corpus of natural knowledge, had by now +become so complex that only a tiny fraction of it could be mastered by +one brain. Thus students of one branch of science knew practically +nothing of the work of others in kindred branches Especially was this +the case with the huge science called Subatomic Physics. Within this +were contained a dozen studies, any one of which was as complex as the +whole of the physics of the Nineteenth Christian Century. This growing +complexity had rendered students in one field ever more reluctant to +criticize, or even to try to understand, the principles of other fields. +Each petty department, jealous of its own preserves, was meticulously +respectful of the preserves of others. In an earlier period the sciences +had been coordinated and criticized philosophically by their own leaders +and by the technical philosophers. But philosophy, as a rigorous +technical discipline, no longer existed. There was, of course, a vague +framework of ideas, or assumptions, based on science, and common to all +men, a popular pseudo-science, constructed by the journalists from +striking phrases current among scientists. But actual scientific workers +prided themselves on the rejection of this ramshackle structure, even +while they themselves were unwittingly assuming it. And each insisted +that his own special subject must inevitably remain unintelligible even +to most of his brother scientists. + +Under these circumstances, when rumour declared that the mystery of +Gordelpus was known to the physicists, each department of subatomic +physics was both reluctant to deny the charge explicitly in its own +case, and ready to believe that some other department really did possess +the secret. Consequently, the conduct of the scientists as a body +strengthened the general belief that they knew and would not tell. + +About two centuries after the formation of the first World State, the +President of the World declared that the time was ripe for a formal +union of science and religion, and called a conference of the leaders of +these two great disciplines. Upon that island in the Pacific which had +become the Mecca of cosmopolitan sentiment, and was by now one vast +many-storied and cloud-capped Temple of Peace, the heads of Buddhism, +Mohammedanism, Hinduism, the Regenerate Christian Brotherhood, and the +Modern Catholic Church in South America, agreed that their differences +were but differences of expression. One and all were worshippers of the +Divine Energy, whether expressed in activity, or in tense stillness. One +and all recognized the saintly Discoverer as either the last and +greatest of the prophets or an actual incarnation of divine Movement. +And these two concepts were easily shown, in the light of modern +science, to be identical. + +In an earlier age it had been the custom to single out heresy and +extirpate it with fire and sword. But now the craving for uniformity was +fulfilled by explaining away differences, amid universal applause. + +When the Conference had registered the unity of the religions, it went +on to establish the unity of religion and science. All knew, said the +President, that some of the scientists were in possession of the supreme +secret, though, wisely, they would not definitely admit it. It was time, +then, that the organizations of Science and Religion should be merged, +for the better guidance of men. He, therefore, called upon the +International College of Science to nominate from amongst themselves a +select body, which should be sanctified by the Church, and called the +Sacred Order of Scientists. These custodians of the supreme secret were +to be kept at public expense. They were to devote themselves wholly to +the service of science, and in particular to research into the most +scientific manner of worshipping the Divine Gordelpus. + +Of the scientists present, some few looked distinctly uncomfortable, but +the majority scarcely concealed their delight under dignified and +thoughtful hesitation. Amongst the priests also two expressions were +visible; but on the whole it was felt that the Church must gain by thus +gathering into herself the unique prestige of science. And so it was +that the Order was founded which was destined to become the dominant +force in human affairs until the downfall of the first world +civilization. + + + 3. MATERIAL ACHIEVEMENT + +Save for occasional minor local conflicts, easily quelled by the World +Police, the race was now a single social unit for some four thousand +years. During the first of these millennia material progress at least +was rapid, but subsequently there was little change until the final +disintegration. The whole energy of man was concentrated on maintaining +at a constant pitch the furious routine of his civilization, until, +after another three thousand years of lavish expenditure, certain +essential sources of power were suddenly exhausted. Nowhere was there +the mental agility to cope with this novel crisis. The whole social +order collapsed. + +We may pass over the earlier stages of this fantastic civilization, and +examine it as it stood before the fatal change began to be felt. + +The material circumstances of the race at this time would have amazed +all its predecessors, even those who were in the true sense far more +civilized beings. But to us, the Last Men, there is an extreme pathos +and even comicality, not only in this most thorough confusion of +material development with civilization, but also in the actual paucity +of the vaunted material development itself, compared with that of our +own society. + +All the continents, indeed, were by now minutely artificialized. Save +for the many wild reserves which were cherished as museums and +playgrounds, not a square mile of territory was left in a natural state. +Nor was there any longer a distinction between agricultural and +industrial areas. All the continents were urbanized, not of course in +the manner of the congested industrial cities of an earlier age, but +none the less urbanized. Industry and agriculture interpenetrated +everywhere. This was possible partly through the great development of +aerial communication, partly through a no less remarkable improvement of +architecture. Great advances in artificial materials had enabled the +erection of buildings in the form of slender pylons which, rising often +to a height of three miles, or even more, and founded a quarter of a +mile beneath the ground, might yet occupy a ground plan of less than +half a mile across. In section these structures were often cruciform; +and on each floor, the centre of the long-armed cross consisted of an +aerial landing, providing direct access from the air for the dwarf +private aeroplanes which were by now essential to the life of every +adult. These gigantic pillars of architecture, prophetic of the still +mightier structures of an age to come, were scattered over every +continent in varying density. Very rarely were they permitted to +approach one another by a distance less than their height; on the other +hand, save in the arctic, they were very seldom separated by more than +twenty miles. The general appearance of every country was thus rather +like an open forest of lopped tree-trunks, gigantic in stature. Clouds +often encircled the middle heights of these artificial peaks, or blotted +out all but the lower stories. Dwellers in the summits were familiar +with the spectacle of a dazzling ocean of cloud, dotted on all sides +with steep islands of architecture. Such was the altitude of the upper +floors that it was sometimes necessary to maintain in them, not merely +artificial heating, but artificial air pressure and oxygen supply. + +Between these columns of habitation and industry, the land was +everywhere green or brown with the seasonal variations of agriculture, +park, and wild reserve. Broad grey thoroughfares for heavy freight +traffic netted every continent; but lighter transport and the passenger +services were wholly aerial. Over all the more populous districts the +air was ever aswarm with planes up to a height of five miles, where the +giant air-liners plied between the continents. + +The enterprise of an already distant past had brought every land under +civilization. The Sahara was a lake district, crowded with sun-proud +holiday resorts. The arctic islands of Canada, ingeniously warmed by +directed tropical currents, were the homes of vigorous northerners. The +coasts of Antarctica, thawed in the same manner, were permanently +inhabited by those engaged in exploiting the mineral wealth of the +hinterland. + +Much of the power needed to keep this civilization in being was drawn +from the buried remains of prehistoric vegetation, in the form of coal. +Although after the foundation of the World State the fuel of Antarctica +had been very carefully husbanded, the new supply of oil had given out +in less than three centuries, and men were forced to drive their +aeroplanes by electricity generated from coal. It soon became evident, +however that even the unexpectedly rich coal-fields of Antarctica would +not last for ever. The cessation of oil had taught men a much needed +lesson, had made them feel the reality of the power problem. At the same +time the cosmopolitan spirit, which was learning to regard the whole +race as compatriots, was also beginning to take a broader view +temporally, and to see things with the eyes of remote generations. +During the first and sanest thousand years of the World State, there was +a widespread determination not to incur the blame of the future by +wasting power. Thus not only was there serious economy (the first +large-scale cosmopolitan enterprise), but also efforts were made to +utilize more permanent sources of power. Wind was used extensively. On +every building swarms of windmills generated electricity, and every +mountain range was similarly decorated, while every considerable fall of +water forced its way through turbines. More important still was the +utilization of power derived from volcanos and from borings into the +subterranean heat. This, it had been hoped, would solve the whole +problem of power, once and for all. But even in the earlier and more +intelligent period of the World State inventive genius was not what it +had been, and no really satisfactory method was found. Consequently at +no stage of this civilization did volcanic sources do more than +supplement the amazingly rich coal seams of Antarctica. In this region +coal was preserved at far greater depth than elsewhere, because, by some +accident, the earth’s central heat was not here fierce enough (as it was +elsewhere) to turn the deeper beds into graphite. Another possible +source of power was known to exist in the ocean tides; but the use of +this was forbidden by the S.O.S. because, since tidal motion was so +obviously astronomical in origin, it had come to be regarded as sacred. + +Perhaps the greatest physical achievement of the First World State in +its earlier and more vital phase had been in preventive medicine. Though +the biological sciences had long ago become stereotyped in respect of +fundamental theories, they continued to produce many practical benefits. +No longer did men and women have to dread for themselves or those dear +to them such afflictions as cancer, tuberculosis, angina pectoris, the +rheumatic diseases, and the terrible disorders of the nervous system. No +longer were there sudden microbic devastations. No longer was +child-birth an ordeal, and womanhood itself a source of suffering. There +were no more chronic invalids, no more life-long cripples. Only senility +remained; and even this could be repeatedly alleviated by physiological +rejuvenation. The removal of all these ancient sources of weakness and +misery, which formerly had lamed the race and haunted so many +individuals either with definite terrors or vague and scarcely conscious +despond, brought about now a pervading buoyancy and optimism impossible +to earlier peoples. + + + 4. THE CULTURE OF THE FIRST WORLD STATE + +Such was the physical achievement of this civilization. Nothing half so +artificial and intricate and prosperous had ever before existed. An +earlier age, indeed, had held before itself some such ideal as this; but +its nationalistic mania prevented it from attaining the necessary +economic unity. This latter-day civilization, however, had wholly +outgrown nationalism, and had spent many centuries of peace in +consolidating itself. But to what end? The terrors of destitution and +ill-health having been abolished, man’s spirit was freed from a +crippling burden, and might have dared great adventures. But +unfortunately his intelligence had by now seriously declined. And so +this age, far more than the notorious ‘nineteenth century’, was the +great age of barren complacency. + +Every individual was a well-fed and physically healthy human animal. He +was also economically independent. His working day was never more than +six hours, often only four. He enjoyed a fair share of the products of +industry; and in his long holidays he was free to wander in his own +aeroplane all over the planet. With good luck he might find himself +rich, even for those days, at forty; and if fortune had not favoured +him, he might yet expect affluence before he was eighty, when he could +still look forward to a century of active life. + +But in spite of this material prosperity he was a slave. His work and +his leisure consisted of feverish activity, punctuated by moments of +listless idleness which he regarded as both sinful and unpleasant. +Unless he was one of the furiously successful minority, he was apt to be +haunted by moments of brooding, too formless to be called meditation, +and of yearning, too blind to be called desire. For he and all his +contemporaries were ruled by certain ideas which prevented them from +living a fully human life. + +Of these ideas one was the ideal of progress. For the individual, the +goal imposed by his religious teaching was continuous advance in +aeronautical prowess, legal sexual freedom, and millionaireship. For the +race also the ideal was progress, and progress of the same unintelligent +type. Ever more brilliant and extensive aviation, ever more extensive +legal sexual intercourse, ever more gigantic manufacture and +consumption, were to be coordinated in an ever more intricately +organized social system. For the last three thousand years, indeed, +progress even of this rude kind had been minute; but this was a source +of pride rather than of regret. It implied that the goal was already +almost attained, the perfection which should justify the release of the +secret of divine power, and the inauguration of an era of incomparably +mightier activity. + +For the all-pervading idea which tyrannized over the race was the +fanatical worship of movement. Gordelpus, the Prime Mover, demanded of +his human embodiments swift and intricate activity, and the individual’s +prospect of eternal life depended on the fulfilment of this obligation. +Curiously, though science had long ago destroyed the belief in personal +immortality as an intrinsic attribute of man, a complementary belief had +grown up to the effect that those who justified themselves in action +were preserved eternally, by special miracle, in the swift spirit of +Gordelpus. Thus from childhood to death the individual’s conduct was +determined by the obligation to produce as much motion as possible, +whether by his own muscular activity or by the control of natural +forces. In the hierarchy of industry three occupations were honoured +almost as much as the Sacred Order of Scientists, namely flying, +dancing, and athletics. Every one practised all three of these crafts to +some extent, for they were imposed by religion; but the professional +fliers and aeronautical engineers, and the professional dancers and +athletes, were a privileged class. + +Several causes had raised flying to a position of unique honour. As a +means of communication it was of extreme practical importance; and as +the swiftest locomotion it constituted the supreme act of worship. The +accident that the form of the aeroplane was reminiscent of the main +symbol of the ancient Christian religion lent flying an additional +mystical significance. For though the spirit of Christianity was lost, +many of its symbols had been preserved in the new faith. A more +important source of the dominance of flying was that, since warfare had +long ceased to exist, aviation of a gratuitously dangerous kind was the +main outlet for the innate adventurousness of the human animal. Young +men and women risked their lives fervently for the glory of Gordelpus +and their own salvation, while their seniors took vicarious satisfaction +in this endless festival of youthful prowess. Indeed, apart from the +thrills of devotional aerial acrobatics, it is unlikely that the race +would so long have preserved its peace and its unity. On each of the +frequent Days of Sacred Flight special rituals of communal and solo +aviation were performed at every religious centre. On these occasions +the whole sky would be intricately patterned with thousands of planes, +wheeling, tumbling, soaring, plunging, in perfect order and at various +altitudes, the dance at one level being subtly complementary to the +dance at others. It was as though the spontaneous evolutions of many +distinct flocks of redshank and dunlin were multiplied a thousandfold in +complexity, and subordinated to a single ever-developing terpsichorean +theme. Then suddenly the whole would burst asunder to the horizon, +leaving the sky open for the quartets, duets, and solos of the most +brilliant stars of flight. At night also, regiments of planes bearing +coloured lights would inscribe on the zenith ever-changing and +symbolical patterns of fire. Besides these aerial dances, there had +existed for eight hundred years a custom of spelling out periodically in +a dense flight of planes six thousand miles long the sacred rubrics of +the gospel of Gordelpus, so that the living word might be visible to +other planets. + +In the life of every individual, flying played a great part. Immediately +after birth he was taken up by a priestess of flight and dropped, +clinging to a parachute, to be deftly caught upon the wings of his +father’s plane. This ritual served as a substitute for contraception +(forbidden as an interference with the divine energy); for since in many +infants the old simian grasping-instinct was atrophied, a large +proportion of the new-born let go and were smashed upon the paternal +wings. At adolescence the individual (male or female) took charge of a +plane for the first time, and his life was subsequently punctuated by +severe aeronautical tests. From middle-age onwards, namely as a +centenarian, when he could no longer hope to rise in the hierarchy of +active flight, he continued to fly daily for practical purposes. + +The two other forms of ritual activity, dancing and athletics, were +scarcely less important. Nor were they confined wholly to the ground. +For certain rites were celebrated by dances upon the wings of a plane in +mid air. + +Dancing was especially associated with the Negro race, which occupied a +very peculiar position in the world at this time. As a matter of fact +the great colour distinctions of mankind were now beginning to fade. +Increased aerial communication had caused the black, brown, yellow and +white stocks so to mingle that everywhere there was by now a large +majority of the racially indistinguishable. Nowhere was there any great +number of persons of marked racial character. But each of the ancient +types was liable to crop up now and again in isolated individuals, +especially in its ancient homeland. These ‘throw-backs’ were customarily +treated in special and historically appropriate manners. Thus, for +instance, it was to ‘sports’ of definite Negro character that the most +sacred dancing was entrusted. + +In the days of the nations, the descendants of emancipated African +slaves in North America had greatly influenced the artistic and +religious life of the white population, and had inspired a cult of +negroid dancing which survived till the end of the First Men. This was +partly due to the sexual and primitive character of Negro dancing, +sorely needed in a nation ridden by sexual taboos. But it had also a +deeper source. The American nation had acquired its slaves by capture, +and had long continued to spurn their descendants. Later it +unconsciously compensated for its guilt by a cult of the Negro spirit. +Thus when American culture dominated the planet, the pure Negroes became +a sacred cast. Forbidden many of the rights of citizenship, they were +regarded as the private servants of Gordelpus. They were both sacred and +outcast. This dual role was epitomized in an extravagant ritual which +took place once a year in each of the great national parks. A white +woman and Negro, both chosen for their prowess in dance, performed a +long and symbolical ballet, which culminated in a ritual act of sexual +violation, performed in full view of the maddened spectators. This over, +the Negro knifed his victim, and fled through the forest pursued by an +exultant mob. If he reached sanctuary, he became a peculiarly sacred +object for the rest of his life. But if he was caught, he was torn to +pieces, or drenched with inflammable spirit and burned. Such was the +superstition of the First Men at this time that the participants in this +ceremony were seldom reluctant; for it was firmly believed that both +were assured of eternal life in Gordelpus. In America this Sacred +Lynching was the most popular of all festivals; for it was both sexual +and bloody, and afforded a fierce joy to the masses whose sex-life was +restricted and secret. In India and Africa the violator was always an +‘Englishman,’ when such a rare creature could be found. In China the +whole character of the ceremony was altered; for the violation became a +kiss, and the murder a touch with a fan. + +One other race, the Jews, were treated with a similar combination of +honour and contempt, but for very different reasons. In ancient days +their general intelligence, and in particular their financial talent, +had cooperated with their homelessness to make them outcasts; and now, +in the decline of the First Men, they retained the fiction, if not +strictly the fact, of racial integrity. They were still outcasts, though +indispensable and powerful. Almost the only kind of intelligent activity +which the First Men could still respect was financial operation, whether +private or cosmopolitan. The Jews had made themselves invaluable in the +financial organization of the world state, having far outstripped the +other races because they alone had preserved a furtive respect for pure +intelligence. And so, long after intelligence had come to be regarded as +disreputable in ordinary men and women, it was expected of the Jews. In +them it was called satanic cunning, and they were held to be embodiments +of the powers of evil, harnessed in the service of Gordelpus. Thus in +time the Jews had made something like ‘a corner’ in intelligence. This +precious commodity they used largely for their own purposes; for two +thousand years of persecution had long ago rendered them permanently +tribalistic, subconsciously if not consciously. Thus when they had +gained control of the few remaining operations which demanded +originality rather than routine, they used this advantage chiefly to +strengthen their own position in the world. For, though relatively +bright, they had suffered much of the general coarsening and limitation +which had beset the whole world. Though capable to some extent of +criticizing the practical means by which ends should be realized, they +were by now wholly incapable of criticizing the major ends which had +dominated their race for thousands of years. In them intelligence had +become utterly subservient to tribalism. There was thus some excuse for +the universal hate and even physical repulsion with which they were +regarded; for they alone had failed to make the one great advance, from +tribalism to a cosmopolitanism which in other races was no longer merely +theoretical. There was good reason also for the respect which they +received, since they retained and used somewhat ruthlessly a certain +degree of the most distinctively human attribute, intelligence. + +In primitive times the intelligence and sanity of the race had been +preserved by the inability of its unwholesome members to survive. When +humanitarianism came into vogue, and the unsound were tended at public +expense, this natural selection ceased. And since these unfortunates +were incapable alike of prudence and of social responsibility, they +procreated without restraint, and threatened to infect the whole species +with their rottenness. During the zenith of Western Civilization, +therefore, the subnormal were sterilized. But the latter-day worshippers +of Gordelpus regarded both sterilization and contraception as a wicked +interference with the divine potency. Consequently the only restriction +on population was the suspension of the new-born from aeroplanes, a +process which, though it eliminated weaklings, favoured among healthy +infants rather the primitive than the highly developed. Thus the +intelligence of the race steadily declined. And no one regretted it. + +The general revulsion from intelligence was a corollary of the adoration +of instinct, and this in turn was an aspect of the worship of activity. +Since the unconscious source of human vigour was the divine energy, +spontaneous impulse must so far as possible never be thwarted. Reasoning +was indeed permitted to the individual within the sphere of his official +work, but never beyond. And not even specialists might indulge in +reasoning and experiment without obtaining a licence for the particular +research. The licence was expensive, and was only granted if the goal in +view could be shown to be an increase of world activity. In old times +certain persons of morbid curiosity had dared to criticize the +time-honoured methods of doing things, and had suggested ‘better’ +methods not convenient to the Sacred Order of Scientists. This had to be +stopped. By the fourth millennium of the World State the operations of +civilization had become so intricately stereotyped that novel situations +of a major order never occurred. + +One kind of intellectual pursuit in addition to finance was, indeed, +honoured, namely mathematical calculation. All ritual movements, all the +motions of industrial machinery, all observable natural phenomena, had +to be minutely described in mathematical formulae. The records were +filed in the sacred archives of the S.O.S. And there they remained. This +vast enterprise of mathematical description was the main work of the +scientists, and was said to be the only means by which the evanescent +thing, movement, could be passed into the eternal being of Gordelpus. + +The cult of instinct did not result simply in a life of ungoverned +impulse. Far from it. For the fundamental instinct, it was said, was the +instinct to worship Gordelpus in action, and this should rule all the +other instincts. Of these, the most important and sacred was the sexual +impulse, which the First Men had ever tended to regard as both divine +and obscene. Sex, therefore, was now very strictly controlled. Reference +to sexuality, save by circumlocution, was forbidden by law. Persons who +remarked on the obvious sexual significance of the religious dances were +severely punished. No sexual activity and no sex knowledge were +permitted to the individual until he had won his (or her) wings. Much +information, of a distorted and perverted nature could, indeed, be +gained meanwhile by observation of the religious writings and practices; +but officially these sacred matters were all given a metaphysical, not a +sexual interpretation. And though legal maturity, the Wing-Winning, +might occur as early as the age of fifteen, sometimes it was not +attained till forty. If at that age the individual still failed in the +test, he or she was forbidden sexual intercourse and information for +ever. + +In China and India this extravagant sexual taboo was somewhat mitigated. +Many easy-going persons had come to feel that the imparting of sex +knowledge to the ‘immature’ was only wrong when the medium of +communication was the sacred American language. They therefore made use +of the local patois. Similarly, sexual activity of the ‘immature’ was +permissible so long as it was performed solely in the wild reserves, and +without American speech. These subterfuges, however, were condemned by +the orthodox, even in Asia. + +When a man had won his wings, he was formally initiated into the mystery +of sex and all its ‘biologico-religious’ significance. He was also +allowed to take a ‘domestic wife,’ and after a much more severe aviation +test, any number of ‘symbolical’ wives. Similarly with the woman. These +two kinds of partnership differed greatly. The ‘domestic’ husband and +wife appeared in public together, and their union was indissoluble. The +‘symbolic’ union, on the other hand, could be dissolved by either party. +Also it was too sacred ever to be revealed, or even mentioned, in +public. + +A very large number of persons never passed the test which sanctioned +sexuality. These either remained virgin, or indulged in sexual relations +which were not only illegal but sacrilegious. The successful, on the +other hand, were apt to consummate sexually every casual acquaintance. + +Under these circumstances it was natural that there should exist among +the sexually submerged part of the population certain secret cults which +sought escape from harsh reality into worlds of fantasy. Of these +illicit sects, two were most widespread. One was a perversion of the +ancient Christian faith in a God of Love. All love, it was said, is +sexual; therefore in worship, private or public, the individual must +seek a direct sexual relation with God. Hence arose a grossly phallic +cult, very contemptible to those more fortunate persons who had no need +of it. + +The other great heresy was derived partly from the energy of repressed +intellective impulses, and was practised by persons of natural +curiosity, who nevertheless, shared the universal paucity of +intelligence. These pathetic devotees of intellect were inspired by +Socrates. That great primitive had insisted that clear thought is +impossible without clear definition of terms, and that without clear +thinking man misses fullness of being. These his last disciples were +scarcely less fervent admirers of truth than their master, yet they +missed his spirit completely. Only by knowing the truth, they said, can +the individual attain immortality; only by defining can he know the +truth. Therefore, meeting together in secret, and in constant danger of +arrest for illicit intellection, they disputed endlessly about the +definition of things. But the things which they were concerned to define +were not the basic concepts of human thought; for these, they affirmed, +had been settled once for all by Socrates and his immediate followers. +Therefore, accepting these as true, and grossly misunderstanding them, +the ultimate Socratics undertook to define all the processes of the +world state and the ritual of the established religion, all the emotions +of men and women, all the shapes of noses, mouths, buildings, mountains, +clouds, and in fact the whole superficies of their world. Thus they +believed that they emancipated themselves from the philistinism of their +age, and secured comradeship with Socrates in the hereafter. + + + 5. DOWNFALL + +The collapse of this first world-civilization was due to the sudden +failure of the supplies of coal. All the original fields had been sapped +centuries earlier, and it should have been obvious that those more +recently discovered could not last for ever. For some thousands of years +the main supply had come from Antarctica. So prolific was this continent +that latterly a superstition had arisen in the clouded minds of the +world-citizens that it was in some mysterious manner inexhaustible. Thus +when at last, in spite of strict censorship, the news began to leak out +that even the deepest possible borings had failed to reveal further +vegetable deposits of any kind, the world was at first incredulous. + +The sane policy would have been to abolish the huge expense of power on +ritual flying, which used more of the community’s resources than the +whole of productive industry. But to believers in Gordelpus such a +course was almost unthinkable. Moreover it would have undermined the +flying aristocracy. This powerful class now declared that the time had +come for the release of the secret of divine power, and called on the +S.O.S. to inaugurate the new era. Vociferous agitation in all lands put +the scientists in an awkward plight. They gained time by declaring that, +though the moment of revelation was approaching, it had not yet arrived; +for they had received a divine intimation that this failure of coal was +imposed as a supreme test of man’s faith. The service of Gordelpus in +ritual flight must be rather increased than reduced. Spending a bare +minimum of its power on secular matters, the race must concentrate upon +religion. When Gordelpus had evidence of their devotion and trust, he +would permit the scientists to save them. + +Such was the prestige of science that at first this explanation was +universally accepted. The ritual flights were maintained. All luxury +trades were abolished, and even vital services were reduced to a +minimum. Workers thus thrown out of employment were turned over to +agricultural labour; for it was felt that the use of mechanical power in +mere tillage must be as soon as possible abolished. These changes +demanded far more organizing ability than was left in the race. +Confusion was widespread, save here and there where serious organization +was attempted by certain Jews. + +The first result of this great movement of economy and self-denial was +to cause something of a spiritual awakening among many who had formerly +lived a life of bored ease. This was augmented by the widespread sense +of crisis and impending marvels. Religion, which, in spite of its +universal authority in this age, had become a matter of ritual rather +than of inward experience, began to stir in many hearts—not indeed as a +moment of true worship, but rather as a vague awe, not unmixed with +self-importance. + +But as the novelty of this enthusiasm dwindled, and life became +increasingly uncomfortable, even the most zealous began to notice with +horror that in moments of inactivity they were prone to doubts too +shocking to confess. And as the situation worsened, even a life of +ceaseless action could not suppress these wicked fantasies. + +For the race was now entering upon an unprecedented psychological +crisis, brought about by the impact of the economic disaster upon a +permanently unwholesome mentality. Each individual, it must be +remembered, had once been a questioning child, but had been taught to +shun curiosity as the breath of Satan. Consequently the whole race was +suffering from a kind of inverted repression, a repression of the +intellective impulses. The sudden economic change, which affected all +classes throughout the planet, thrust into the focus of attention a +shocking curiosity, an obsessive scepticism, which had hitherto been +buried in the deepest recesses of the mind. + +It is not easy to conceive the strange mental disorder that now +afflicted the whole race, symbolizing itself in some cases by fits of +actual physical vertigo. After centuries of prosperity, of routine, of +orthodoxy, men were suddenly possessed by a doubt which they regarded as +diabolical. No one said a word of it; but in each man’s own mind the +fiend raised a whispering head, and each was haunted by the troubled +eyes of his fellows. Indeed the whole changed circumstances of his life +jibed at his credulity. + +Earlier in the career of the race, this world crisis might have served +to wake men into sanity. Under the first pressure of distress they might +have abandoned the extravagances of their culture. But by now the +ancient way of life was too deeply rooted. Consequently, we observe the +fantastic spectacle of a world engaged, devotedly and even heroically, +on squandering its resources in vast aeronautical displays, not through +single-minded faith in their rightness and efficacy, but solely in a +kind of desperate automatism. Like those little rodents whose migration +became barred by an encroachment of the sea, so that annually they +drowned themselves in thousands, the First Men helplessly continued in +their ritualistic behaviour; but unlike the lemmings, they were human +enough to be at the same time oppressed by unbelief, an unbelief which, +moreover, they dared not recognize. + +Meanwhile the scientists were earnestly and secretly delving in the +ancient literature of their science, in hope of discovering the +forgotten talisman. They undertook also clandestine experiments, but +upon a false trail laid by the wily English contemporary of the +Discoverer. The main results were, that several researchers were +poisoned or electrocuted, and a great college was blown up. This event +impressed the populace, who supposed the accident to be due to an +over-daring exercise of the divine potency. The misunderstanding +inspired the desperate scientists to rig further impressive ‘miracles’, +and moreover to use them to dispel the increasing restlessness of hungry +industrial workers. Thus when a deputation arrived outside the offices +of Cosmopolitan Agriculture to demand more flour for industrialists +Gordelpus miraculously blew up the ground on which they stood, and flung +their bodies among the onlookers. When the agriculturists of China +struck to obtain a reasonable allowance of electric power for their +tillage, Gordelpus affected them with an evil atmosphere, so that they +choked and died in thousands. Stimulated in this manner by direct divine +intervention, the doubting and disloyal elements of the world-population +recovered their faith and their docility. And so the world jogged on for +a while, as nearly as possible as it had done for the last four thousand +years, save for a general increase of hunger and ill-health. + +But inevitably, as the conditions of life became more and more severe, +docility gave place to desperation. Daring spirits began publicly to +question the wisdom, and even the piety, of so vast an expenditure of +power upon ritual flight, when prime necessities such as food and +clothing were becoming so scarce. Did not this helpless devotion merely +ridicule them in the divine eyes? God helps him who helps himself. +Already the death-rate had risen alarmingly. Emaciated and ragged +persons were beginning to beg in public places. In certain districts +whole populations were starving, and the Directorate did nothing for +them. Yet, elsewhere, harvests were being wasted for lack of power to +reap them. In all lands an angry clamour arose for the inauguration of +the new era. + +The scientists were by now panic-stricken. Nothing had come of their +researches, and it was evident that in future all wind- and water-power +must be devoted to the primary industries. Even so, there was starvation +ahead for many. The President of the Physical Society suggested to the +Directorate that ritual flying should at once be reduced by half, as a +compromise with Gordelpus. Immediately the hideous truth, which few +hitherto had dared to admit even to themselves, was blurted out upon the +ether by a prominent Jew: the whole hoary legend of the divine secret +was a lie, else why were the physicists temporizing? Dismay and rage +spread over the planet. Everywhere the people rose against the +scientists, and against the governing authority which they controlled. +Massacres and measures of retaliation soon developed into civil wars. +China and India declared themselves free national states, but could not +achieve internal unity. In America, ever a stronghold of science and +religion, the Government maintained its authority for a while; but as +its seat became less secure, its methods became more ruthless. Finally +it made the mistake of using not merely poison gas, but microbes; and +such was the decayed state of medical science that no one could invent a +means of restraining their ravages. The whole American continent +succumbed to a plague of pulmonary and nervous diseases. The ancient +‘American Madness’, which long ago had been used against China, now +devastated America. The great stations of water-power and wind-power +were wrecked by lunatic mobs who sought vengeance upon anything +associated with authority. Whole populations vanished in an orgy of +cannibalism. + +In Asia and Africa, some semblance of order was maintained for a while. +Presently, however, the American Madness spread to these continents +also, and very soon all living traces of their civilization vanished. + +Only in the most naturally fertile areas of the world could the diseased +remnant of a population now scrape a living from the soil. Elsewhere, +utter desolation. With easy strides the jungle came back into its own. + + + + + V _The Fall of the First Men_ + + + 1. THE FIRST DARK AGE + +We have reached a period in man’s history rather less than five thousand +years after the life of Newton. In this chapter we must cover about one +hundred and fifteen thousand years, and in the next chapter another ten +million years. That will bring us to a point as remotely future from the +First World State as the earliest anthropoids were remotely past. During +the first tenth of the first million years after the fall of the World +State, during a hundred thousand years, man remained in complete +eclipse. Not till the close of this span, which we will call the First +Dark Age, did he struggle once more from savagery through barbarism into +civilization. And then his renaissance was relatively brief. From its +earliest beginnings to its end, it covered only fifteen thousand years; +and in its final agony the planet was so seriously damaged that mind lay +henceforth in deep slumber for ten more millions of years. This was the +Second Dark Age. Such is the field which we must observe in this and the +following chapter. + +It might have been expected that, after the downfall of the First World +State, recovery would have occurred within a few generations. Historians +have, indeed, often puzzled over the cause of this surprisingly complete +and lasting degradation. Innate human nature was roughly the same +immediately after as immediately before the crisis; yet minds that had +easily maintained a world-civilization in being, proved quite incapable +of building a new order on the ruins of the old. Far from recovering, +man’s estate rapidly deteriorated till it had sunk into abject savagery. + +Many causes contributed to this result, some relatively superficial and +temporary, some profound and lasting. It is as though Fate, directing +events toward an allotted end, had availed herself of many diverse +instruments, none of which would have sufficed alone, though all worked +together irresistibly in the same sense. The immediate cause of the +helplessness of the race during the actual crisis of the World State was +of course the vast epidemic of insanity and still more widespread +deterioration of intelligence, which resulted from the use of microbes. +This momentary seizure made it impossible for man to check his downfall +during its earliest and least unmanageable stage. Later, when the +epidemic was spent, even though civilization was already in ruins, a +concerted effort of devotion might yet have rebuilt it on a more modest +plan. But among the First Men only a minority had ever been capable of +wholehearted devotion. The great majority were by nature too much +obsessed by private impulses. And in this black period, such was the +depth of disillusion and fatigue that even normal resolution was +impossible. Not only man’s social structure but the structure of the +universe itself, it seemed, had failed. The only reaction was supine +despair. Four thousand years of routine had deprived human nature of all +its suppleness. To expect these beings to refashion their whole +behaviour, were scarcely less unreasonable than to expect ants, when +their nest was flooded, to assume the habits of water beetles. + +But a far more profound and lasting cause doomed the First Men to lie +prone for a long while, once they had fallen. A subtle physiological +change, which it is tempting to call ‘general senescence of the +species’, was undermining the human body and mind. The chemical +equilibrium of each individual was becoming more unstable, so that, +little by little, man’s unique gift of prolonged youth was being lost. +Far more rapidly than of old, his tissues failed to compensate for the +wear and tear of living. This disaster was by no means inevitable; but +it was brought on by influences peculiar to the make-up of the species, +and aggravated artificially. For during some thousands of years man had +been living at too high a pressure in a biologically unnatural +environment, and had found no means of compensating his nature for the +strain thus put upon it. + +Conceive, then, that after the fall of the First World State, the +generations slid rapidly through dusk into night. To inhabit those +centuries was to live in the conviction of universal decay, and under +the legend of a mighty past. The population was derived almost wholly +from the agriculturists of the old order, and since agriculture had been +considered a sluggish and base occupation, fit only for sluggish +natures, the planet was now peopled with yokels. Deprived of power, +machinery, and chemical fertilizers, these bumpkins were hard put to it +to keep themselves alive. And indeed only a tenth of their number +survived the great disaster. The second generation knew civilization +only as a legend. Their days were filled with ceaseless tillage, and in +banding together to fight marauders. Women became once more sexual and +domestic chattels. The family, or tribe of families, became the largest +social whole. Endless brawls and feuds sprang up between valley and +valley, and between the tillers and the brigand swarms. Small military +tyrants rose and fell; but no permanent unity of control could be +maintained over a wide region. There was no surplus wealth to spend on +such luxuries as governments and trained armies. + +Thus without appreciable change the millennia dragged on in squalid +drudgery. For these latter-day barbarians were hampered by living in a +used planet. Not only were coal and oil no more, but almost no mineral +wealth of any kind remained within reach of their feeble instruments and +wits. In particular the minor metals, needed for so many of the +multifarious activities of developed material civilization, had long ago +disappeared from the more accessible depths of the earth’s crust. +Tillage moreover was hampered by the fact that iron itself, which was no +longer to be had without mechanical mining, was now inaccessible. Men +had been forced to resort once more to stone implements, as their first +human ancestors had done. But they lacked both the skill and the +persistence of the ancients. Not for them the delicate flaking of the +Paleoliths nor the smooth symmetry of the Neoliths. Their tools were but +broken pebbles, chipped improvements upon natural stones. On almost +every one they engraved the same pathetic symbol, the Swastika or cross, +which had been used by the First Men as a sacred emblem throughout their +existence, though with varying significance. In this instance it had +originally been the figure of an aeroplane diving to destruction, and +had been used by the rebels to symbolize the downfall of Gordelpus and +the State. But subsequent generations reinterpreted the emblem as the +sign manual of a divine ancestor, and as a memento of the golden age +from which they were destined to decline for ever, or until the gods +should intervene. Almost one might say that in its persistent use of +this symbol the first human species unwittingly epitomized its own dual +and self-thwarting nature. + +The idea of irresistible decay obsessed the race at this time. The +generation which brought about the downfall of the World State oppressed +its juniors with stories of past amenities and marvels, and hugged to +itself the knowledge that the young men had not the wit to rebuild such +complexity. Generation by generation, as the circumstances of actual +life became more squalid, the legend of past glory became more +extravagant. The whole mass of scientific knowledge was rapidly lost, +save for a few shreds which were of practical service even in savage +life. Fragments of the old culture were indeed preserved in the tangle +of folk lore that meshed the globe, but they were distorted beyond +recognition. Thus there was a widespread belief that the world had begun +as fire, and that life had evolved out of the fire. After the apes had +appeared, evolution ceased (so it was said), until divine spirits came +down and possessed the female apes, thereby generating human beings. +Thus had arisen the golden age of the divine ancestors. But +unfortunately after a while the beast in man had triumphed over the god, +so that progress had given place to age-long decay. And indeed decay was +now unavoidable, until such time as the gods should see fit to come down +to cohabit with women and fire the race once more. This faith in the +second coming of the gods persisted here and there throughout the First +Dark Age, and consoled men for their vague conviction of degeneracy. + +Even at the close of the First Dark Age the ruins of the ancient +residential pylons still characterized every landscape, often with an +effect of senile domination over the hovels of latter-day savages. For +the living races dwelt beneath these relics like puny grandchildren +playing around the feet of their fathers’ once mightier fathers. So well +had the past built, and with such durable materials, that even after a +hundred millennia the ruins were still recognizably artifacts. Though +for the most part they were of course by now little more than pyramids +of debris overgrown with grass and brushwood, most of them retained some +stretch of standing wall, and here and there a favoured specimen still +reared from its rubble-encumbered base a hundred foot or so of cliff, +punctured with windows. Fantastic legends now clustered round these +relics. In one myth the men of old had made for themselves huge palaces +which could fly. For a thousand years (an aeon to these savages) men had +dwelt in unity, and in reverence of the gods; but at last they had +become puffed up with their own glory, and had undertaken to fly to the +sun and moon and the field of stars, to oust the gods from their bright +home. But the gods sowed discord among them, so that they fell +a-fighting one another in the upper air, and their swift palaces crashed +down to the earth in thousands, to be monuments of man’s folly for ever +after. In yet another saga it was the men themselves who were winged. +They inhabited dovecots of masonry, with summits overtopping the stars +and outraging the gods; who therefore destroyed them. Thus in one form +or another, this theme of the downfall of the mighty fliers of old +tyrannized over these abject peoples. Their crude tillage, their +hunting, their defence against the reviving carnivora, were hampered at +every turn by fear of offending the gods by any innovation. + + + 2. THE RISE OF PATAGONIA + +As the centuries piled up, the human species had inevitably diverged +once more into many races in the various geographical areas. And each +race consisted of a swarm of tribes, each ignorant of all but its +immediate neighbours. After many millennia this vast diversification of +stocks and cultures made it possible for fresh biological transfusions +and revivifications to occur. At last, after many racial copulations, a +people arose in whom the ancient dignity of humanity was somewhat +restored. Once more there was a real distinction between the progressive +and the backward regions, between ‘primitive’ and relatively enlightened +cultures. + +This rebirth occurred in the Southern Hemisphere. Complex climatic +changes had rendered the southern part of South America a fit nursery +for civilization. Further, an immense warping of the earth’s crust to +the east and south of Patagonia had turned what was once a relatively +shallow region of the ocean into a vast new land connecting America with +Antarctica by way of the former Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and +stretching thence east and north-east into the heart of the Atlantic. + +It happened also that in South America the racial conditions were more +favourable than elsewhere. After the fall of the First World State the +European element in this region had dwindled, and the ancient ‘Indian’ +and Peruvian stock had come into dominance. Many thousands of years +earlier, this race had achieved a primitive civilization of its own. +After its ruin at the hands of the Spaniards, it had seemed a broken and +negligible thing; yet it had ever kept itself curiously aloof in spirit +from its conquerors. Though the two stocks had mingled inextricably, +there remained ever in the remoter parts of this continent a way of life +which was foreign to the dominant Americanism. Superficially +Americanized, it remained fundamentally ‘Indian’ and unintelligible to +the rest of the world. Throughout the former civilization this spirit +had lain dormant like a seed in winter; but with the return of barbarism +it had sprouted, and quietly spread in all directions. From the +interaction of this ancient primitive culture and the many other racial +elements left over in the continent from the old cosmopolitan +civilization, civil life was to begin once more. Thus in a manner the +Incas were at last to triumph over their conquerors. + +Various causes, then, combined in South America, and especially in the +new and virgin plains of Patagonia, to bring the First Dark Age to an +end. The great theme of mind began to repeat itself. But in a minor key. +For a grave disability hampered the Patagonians. They began to grow old +before their adolescence was completed. In the days of Einstein, an +individual’s youth lasted some twenty-five years, and under the World +State it had been artificially doubled. After the downfall of +civilization the increasing natural brevity of the individual life was +no longer concealed by artifice, and at the end of the First Dark Age a +boy of fifteen was already settling into middle-age. Patagonian +civilization at its height afforded considerable ease and security of +life, and enabled man to live to seventy or even eighty; but the period +of sensitive and supple youth remained at the very best little more than +a decade and a half. Thus the truly young were never able to contribute +to culture before they were already at heart middle-aged. At fifteen +their bones were definitely becoming brittle, their hair grizzled, their +faces lined. Their joints and muscles were stiffening, their brains were +no longer quick to learn new adjustments, their fervour was evaporating. + +It may seem strange that under these circumstances any kind of +civilization could be achieved by the race, that any generation should +ever have been able to do more than learn the tricks of its elders. Yet +in fact, though progress was never swift, it was steady. For though +these beings lacked much of the vigour of youth, they were compensated +somewhat by escaping much of youth’s fevers and distractions. The First +Men, in fact, were now a race whose wild oats had been sown; and though +their youthful escapades had somewhat crippled them, they had now the +advantage of sobriety and singleness of purpose. Though doomed by +lassitude, and a certain fear of extravagance, to fall short of the +highest achievements of their predecessors, they avoided much of the +wasteful incoherence and mental conflict which had tortured the earlier +civilization at its height, though not in its decline. Moreover, because +their animal nature was somewhat subdued, the Patagonians were more +capable of dispassionate cognition, and more inclined toward +intellectualism. They were a people in whom rational behaviour was less +often subverted by passion, though more liable to fail through mere +indolence or faintheartedness. Though they found detachment relatively +easy, theirs was the detachment of mere lassitude, not the leap from the +prison of life’s cravings into a more spacious world. + +One source of the special character of the Patagonian mind was that in +it the sexual impulses was relatively weak. Many obscure causes had +helped to temper that lavish sexuality in respect of which the first +human species differed from all other animals, even the continuously +sexual apes. These causes were diverse, but they combined to produce in +the last phase of the life of the species a general curtailment of +excess energy. In the Dark Ages the severity of the struggle for +existence had thrust the sexual interest back almost into the +subordinate place which it occupies in the animal mind. Coitus became a +luxury only occasionally desired, while self-preservation had become +once more an urgent and ever-present necessity. When at last life began +to be easier, sexuality remained in partial eclipse, for the forces of +racial ‘senescence’ were at work. Thus the Patagonian culture differed +in mood from all the earlier cultures of the First Men. Hitherto it had +been the clash of sexuality and social taboo that had generated half the +fervour and half the delusions of the race. The excess energy of a +victorious species, directed by circumstance into the great river of +sex, and damned by social convention, had been canalized for a thousand +labours. And though often it would break loose and lay all waste before +it, in the main it had been turned to good account. At all times indeed, +it had been prone to escape in all directions and carve out channels for +itself, as a lopped tree stump sends forth not one but a score of +shoots. Hence the richness, diversity, incoherence, violent and +uncomprehended cravings and enthusiasms, of the earlier peoples. In the +Patagonians there was no such luxuriance. That they were not highly +sexual was not in itself a weakness. What mattered was that the springs +of energy which formerly happened to flood into the channel of sex were +themselves impoverished. + +Conceive, then, a small and curiously sober people established east of +the ancient Bahia Blanca, and advancing century by century over the +plains and up the valleys. In time it reached and encircled the heights +which were once the island of South Georgia, while to the north and west +it spread into the Brazilian highlands and over the Andes. Definitely of +higher type than any of their neighbours, definitely more vigorous and +acute, the Patagonians were without serious rivals. And since by +temperament they were peaceable and conciliatory, their cultural +progress was little delayed, either by military imperialism or internal +strife. Like their predecessors in the northern hemisphere, they passed +through phases of disruption and union, retrogression and regeneration; +but their career was on the whole more steadily progressive, and less +dramatic, than anything that had occurred before. Earlier peoples had +leapt from barbarism to civil life and collapsed again within a thousand +years. The slow march of the Patagonians took ten times as long to pass +from a tribal to a civic organization. + +Eventually they comprised a vast and highly organized community of +autonomous provinces, whose political and cultural centre lay upon the +new coast north-east of the ancient Falkland Islands, while its +barbarian outskirts included much of Brazil and Peru. The absence of +serious strife between the various parts of this ‘empire’ was due partly +to an innately pacific disposition, partly to a genius for organization. +These influences were strengthened by a curiously potent tradition of +cosmopolitanism, or human unity, which had been born in the agony of +disunion before the days of the World State, and was so burnt into men’s +hearts that it survived as an element of myth even through the Dark Age. +So powerful was this tradition, that even when the sailing ships of +Patagonia had founded colonies in remote Africa and Australia, these new +communities remained at heart one with the mother country. Even when the +almost Nordic culture of the new and temperate Antarctic coasts had +outshone the ancient centre, the political harmony of the race was never +in danger. + + + 3. THE CULT OF YOUTH + +The Patagonians passed through all the spiritual phases that earlier +races had experienced, but in a distinctive manner. They had their +primitive tribal religion, derived from the dark past, and based on the +fear of natural forces. They had their monotheistic impersonation of +Power as a vindictive Creator. Their most adored racial hero was a +god-man who abolished the old religion of fear. They had their phases, +also, of devout ritual and their phases of rationalism, and again their +phases of empirical curiosity. + +Most significant for the historian who would understand their special +mentality is the theme of the god-man; so curiously did it resemble, yet +differ from, similar themes in earlier cultures of the first human +species. He was conceived as eternally adolescent, and as mystically the +son of all men and women. Far from being the Elder Brother, he was the +Favourite Child; and indeed he epitomises that youthful energy and +enthusiasm which the race now guessed was slipping away from it. Though +the sexual interest of this people was weak, the parental interest was +curiously strong. But the worship of the Favourite Son was not merely +parental; it expressed also both the individual’s craving for his own +lost youth, and his obscure sense that the race itself was senescent. + +It was believed that the prophet had actually lived a century as a fresh +adolescent. He was designated the Boy who Refused to Grow up. And this +vigour of will was possible to him, it was said, because in him the +feeble vitality of the race was concentrated many millionfold. For he +was the fruit of all parental passion that ever was and would be; and as +such he was divine. Primarily he was the Son of Man, but also he was +God. For God, in this religion, was no prime Creator but the fruit of +man’s endeavour. The Creator was brute power, which had quite +inadvertently begotten a being nobler than itself. God, the adorable, +was the eternal outcome of man’s labour in time, the eternally realized +promise of what man himself should become. Yet though this cult was +based on the will for a young-hearted future, it was also overhung by a +dread, almost at times a certainty, that in fact such a future would +never be, that the race was doomed to grow old and die, that spirit +could never conquer the corruptible flesh, but must fade and vanish. +Only by taking to heart the message of the Divine Boy, it was said, +could man hope to escape this doom. + +Such was the legend. It is instructive to examine the reality. The +actual individual, in whom this myth of the Favourite Son was founded, +was indeed remarkable. Born of shepherd parents among the Southern +Andes, he had first become famous as the leader of a romantic ‘youth +movement’; and it was this early stage of his career that won him +followers. He urged the young to set an example to the old, to live +their own life undaunted by conventions, to enjoy, to work hard but +briefly, to be loyal comrades. Above all, he preached the religious duty +of remaining young in spirit. No one, he said, need grow old, if he +willed earnestly not to do so, if he would but keep his soul from +falling asleep, his heart open to all rejuvenating influences and shut +to every breath of senility. The delight of soul in soul, he said, was +the great rejuvenator; it re-created both lover and beloved. If +Patagonians would only appreciate each other’s beauty without jealousy, +the race would grow young again. And the mission of his ever-increasing +Band of Youth was nothing less than the rejuvenation of man. + +The propagation of this attractive gospel was favoured by a seeming +miracle. The prophet turned out to be biologically unique among +Patagonians. When many of his coevals were showing signs of senescence, +he remained physically young. Also he possessed a sexual vigour which to +the Patagonians seemed miraculous. And since sexual taboo was unknown, +he exercised himself so heartily in love-making, that he had paramours +in every village, and presently his offspring were numbered in hundreds. +In this respect his followers strove hard to live up to him, though with +small success. But it was not only physically that the prophet remained +young. He preserved also a strikingly youthful agility of mind. His +sexual prodigality, though startling to his contemporaries, was in him a +temperate overflow of surplus energy. Far from exhausting him, it +refreshed him. Presently, however, this exuberance gave place to a more +sober life of work and meditation. It was in this period that he began +to differentiate himself mentally from his fellows. For at twenty-five, +when most Patagonians were deeply settled into a mental groove, he was +still battling with successive waves of ideas, and striking out into the +unknown. Not till he was forty, and still physically in earliest prime, +did he gather his strength and deliver himself of his mature gospel. +This, his considered view of existence, turned out to be almost +unintelligible to Patagonians. Though in a sense it was an expression of +their own culture, it was an expression upon a plane of vitality to +which very few of them could ever reach. + +The climax came when, during a ceremony in the supreme temple of the +capital city, while the worshippers were all prostrated before the +hideous image of the Creator, the ageless prophet strode up to the +altar, regarded first the congregation and then the god, burst into a +hearty peal of laughter, slapped the image resoundingly, and cried, +‘Ugly, I salute you! Not as almighty, but as the greatest of all jokers. +To have such a face, and yet to be admired for it! To be so empty, and +yet so feared!’ Instantly there was hubbub. But such was the young +iconoclast’s god-like radiance, confidence, unexpectedness, and such his +reputation as the miraculous Boy, that when he turned upon the crowd, +they fell silent, and listened to his scolding. + +‘Fools!’ he cried. ‘Senile infants! If God really likes your adulation, +and all this hugger-mugger, it is because he enjoys the joke against +you, and against himself, too. You are too serious, yet not serious +enough; too solemn, and all for puerile ends. You are so eager for life, +that you cannot live. You cherish your youth so much that it flies from +you. When I was a boy, I said, “Let us keep young”; and you applauded, +and went about hugging your toys and refusing to grow up. What I said +was not bad for a boy, but it was not enough. Now I am a man; and I say, +“For God’s sake, grow up!” Of course we must keep young; but it is +useless to keep young if we do not also grow up, and never stop growing +up. To keep young, surely, is just to keep supple and keen; and to grow +up is not at all a mere sinking into stiffness and into disillusion, but +a rising into ever finer skill in all the actions of the game of living. +There is something else, too, which is a part of growing up—to see that +life is really, after all, a game; a terribly serious game, no doubt, +but none the less a game. When we play a game, as it should be played, +we strain every muscle to win; but all the while we are less for winning +than for the game. And we play the better for it. When barbarians play +against a Patagonian team, they forget that it is a game, and go mad for +victory. And then how we despise them! If they find themselves losing, +they turn savage; if winning, blatant. Either way, the game is murdered, +and they cannot see that they are slaughtering a lovely thing. How they +pester and curse the umpire, too! I have done that myself, of course, +before now; not in games but in life. I have actually cursed the umpire +of life. Better so, anyhow, than to insult him with presents, in the +hope of being favoured; which is what you are doing here, with your +salaams and your vows. I never did that. I merely hated him. Then later +I learned to laugh at him, or rather at the thing you set up in his +place. But now at last I see him clearly, and laugh with him, at myself, +for having missed the spirit of the game. But as for you! Coming here to +fawn and whine and cadge favours of the umpire!’ + +At this point the people rushed toward him to seize him. But he checked +them with a young laugh that made them love while they hated. He spoke +again. + +‘I want to tell you how I came to learn my lesson. I have a queer love +for clambering about the high mountains; and once when I was up among +the snow-fields and precipices of Aconcagua, I was caught in a blizzard. +Perhaps some of you may know what storms can be like in the mountains. +The air became a hurtling flood of snow. I was swallowed up and carried +away. After many hours of floundering, I fell into a snow-drift. I tried +to rise, but fell again and again, till my head was buried. The thought +of death enraged me, for there was still so much that I wanted to do. I +struggled frantically, vainly. Then suddenly—how can I put it?—I saw +the game that I was losing, and it was good. Good, no less to lose than +to win. For it was the game, now, not victory, that mattered. Hitherto I +had been blindfold, and a slave to victory; suddenly I was free, and +with sight. For now I saw myself, and all of us, through the eyes of the +umpire. It was as though a play-actor were to see the whole play, with +his own part in it, through the author’s eyes, from the auditorium. Here +was I, acting the part of a rather fine man who had come to grief +through his own carelessness before his work was done. For me, a +character in the play, the situation was hideous; yet for me, the +spectator, it had become excellent within a wider excellence. I saw that +it was equally so with all of us, and with all the worlds. For I seemed +to see a thousand worlds taking part with us in the great show. And I +saw everything through the calm eyes, the exultant, almost derisive, yet +not unkindly, eyes of the playwright. + +‘Well, it had seemed that my exit had come; but no, there was still a +cue for me. Somehow I was so strengthened by this new view of things +that I struggled out of the snow-drift. And here I am once more. But I +am a new man. My spirit is free. While I was a boy, I said, “Grow more +alive”; but in those days I never guessed that there was an aliveness +far intenser than youth’s flicker, a kind of still incandescence. Is +there no one here who knows what I mean? No one who at least _desires_ +this keener living? The first step is to outgrow this adulation of life +itself, and this cadging obsequiousness toward Power. Come! Put it away! +Break the ridiculous image in your hearts, as I now smash this idol.’ + +So saying he picked up a great candlestick and shattered the image. Once +more there was an uproar, and the temple authorities had him arrested. +Not long afterwards he was tried for sacrilege and executed. For this +final extravagance was but the climax of many indiscretions, and those +in power were glad to have so obvious a pretext for extinguishing this +brilliant but dangerous lunatic. + +But the cult of the Divine Boy had already become very popular, for the +earlier teaching of the prophet expressed the fundamental craving of the +Patagonians. Even his last and perplexing message was accepted by his +followers, though without real understanding. Emphasis was laid upon the +act of iconoclasm, rather than upon the spirit of his exhortation. + +Century by century the new religion, for such it was, spread over the +civilized world. And the race seemed to have been spiritually +rejuvenated to some extent by widespread fervour. Physically also a +certain rejuvenation took place; for before his death this unique +biological ‘sport’, or throw-back to an earlier vitality, produced some +thousands of sons and daughters; and they in turn propagated the good +seed far and wide. Undoubtedly it was this new strain that brought about +the golden age of Patagonia, greatly improving the material conditions +of the race, carrying civilization into the northern continents, and +attacking problems of science and philosophy with renewed ardour. + +But the revival was not permanent. The descendants of the prophet prided +themselves too much on violent living. Physically, sexually, mentally, +they over-reached themselves and became enfeebled. Moreover, little by +little the potent strain was diluted and overwhelmed by intercourse with +the greater volume of the innately ‘senile’; so that, after a few +centuries, the race returned to its middle-aged mood. At the same time +the vision of the Divine Boy was gradually distorted. At first it had +been youth’s ideal of what youth should be, a pattern woven of fanatical +loyalty, irresponsible gaiety, comradeship, physical gusto, and not a +little pure devilry. But insensibly it became a pattern of that which +was expected of youth by sad maturity. The violent young hero was +sentimentalized into the senior’s vision of childhood, naïve and docile. +All that had been violent was forgotten; and what was left became a +whimsical and appealing stimulus to the parental impulses. At the same +time this phantom was credited with all the sobriety and caution which +are so easily appreciated by the middle-aged. + +Inevitably this distorted image of youth became an incubus upon the +actual young men and women of the race. It was held up as the model of +social virtue; but it was a model to which they could never conform +without doing violence to their best nature, since it was not any longer +an expression of youth at all. Just as, in an earlier age, woman had +been idealized and at the same time hobbled, so now youth. + +Some few, indeed, throughout the history of Patagonia, attained a +clearer vision of the prophet. Fewer still were able to enter into the +spirit of his final message, in which his enduring youthfulness raised +him to a maturity alien to Patagonia. For the tragedy of this people was +not so much their ‘senescence’ as their arrested growth. Feeling +themselves old, they yearned to be young again. But, through fixed +immaturity of mind, they could never recognize that the true, though +unlooked-for, fulfilment of youth’s passionate craving is not the mere +achievement of the ends of youth itself, but an advance into a more +awake and far-seeing vitality. + + + 4. THE CATASTROPHE + +It was in these latter days that the Patagonians discovered the +civilization that had preceded them. In rejecting the ancient religion +of fear, they had abandoned also the legend of a remote magnificence, +and had come to regard themselves as pioneers of the mind. In the new +continent which was their homeland there were, of course, no relics of +the ancient order; and the ruins that besprinkled the older regions had +been explained as mere freaks of nature. But latterly, with the advance +of natural knowledge, archaeologists had reconstructed something of the +forgotten world. And the crisis came when, in the basement of a +shattered pylon in China, they found a store of metal plates +(constructed of an immensely durable artificial element), on which were +embossed crowded lines of writing. These objects were, in fact, blocks +from which books were printed a thousand centuries earlier. Other +deposits were soon discovered, and bit by bit the dead language was +deciphered. Within three centuries the outline of the ancient culture +was laid bare; and presently the whole history of man’s rise and ruin +fell upon this latter-day civilization with crushing effect, as though +an ancient pylon were to have fallen on a village of wigwams at its +foot. The pioneers discovered that all the ground which they had so +painfully won from the wild had been conquered long ago, and lost; that +on the material side their glory was nothing beside the glory of the +past; and that in the sphere of mind they had established only a few +scattered settlements where formerly was an empire. The Patagonian +system of natural knowledge had been scarcely further advanced than that +of pre-Newtonian Europe. They had done little more than conceive the +scientific spirit and unlearn a few superstitions. And now suddenly they +came into a vast inheritance of thought. + +This in itself was a gravely disturbing experience for a people of +strong intellectual interest. But even more overwhelming was the +discovery, borne in on them in the course of their research, that the +past had been not only brilliant but crazy, and that in the long run the +crazy element had completely triumphed. For the Patagonian mind was by +now too sane and empirical to accept the ancient knowledge without +testing it. The findings of the archaeologists were handed over to the +physicists and other scientists, and the firm thought and valuation of +Europe and America at their zenith were soon distinguished from the +degenerate products of the World State. + +The upshot of this impact with a more developed civilization was +dramatic and tragic. It divided the Patagonians into loyalists and +rebels, into those who clung to the view that the new learning was a +satanic lie, and those who faced the facts. To the former party the +facts were thoroughly depressing; the latter, though overawed, found in +them a compelling majesty, and also a hope. That the earth was a mote +among the starclouds was the least subversive of the new doctrines, for +the Patagonians had already abandoned the geocentric view. What was so +distressing to the reactionaries was the theory that an earlier race had +long ago possessed and spent the vitality that they themselves so +craved. The party of progress, on the other hand, urged that this vast +new knowledge must be used; and that, thus equipped, Patagonia might +compensate for lack of youthfulness by superior sanity. + +This divergence of will resulted in a physical conflict such as had +never before occurred in the Patagonian world. Something like +nationalism emerged. The more vigorous Antarctic coasts became modern, +while Patagonia itself clung to the older culture. There were several +wars, but as physics and chemistry advanced in Antarctica, the +Southerners were able to devise engines of war which the Northerners +could not resist. In a couple of centuries the new ‘culture’ had +triumphed. The world was once more unified. + +Hitherto Patagonian civilization had been of a medieval type. Under the +influence of physics and chemistry it began to change. Wind- and +water-power began to be used for the generation of electricity. Vast +mining operations were undertaken in search of the metals and other +minerals which no longer occurred at easy depths. Architecture began to +make use of steel. Electrically driven aeroplanes were made, but without +real success. And this failure was symptomatic; for the Patagonians were +not sufficiently foolhardy to master aviation, even had their planes +been more efficient. They themselves naturally attributed their failure +wholly to lack of a convenient source of power, such as the ancient +petrol. Indeed this lack of oil and coal hampered them at every turn. +Volcanic power, of course, was available; but, never having been really +mastered by the more resourceful ancients, it defeated the Patagonians +completely. + +As a matter of fact, in wind and water they had all that was needed. The +resources of the whole planet were available, and the world-population +was less than a hundred million. With this source alone they could +never, indeed, have competed in luxury with the earlier World State, but +they might well have achieved something like Utopia. + +But this was not to be. Industrialism, though accompanied by only a slow +increase of population, produced in time most of the social discords +which had almost ruined their predecessors. To them it appeared that all +their troubles would be solved if only their material power were far +ampler. The strong and scarcely rational conviction was a symptom of +their ruling obsession, the craving for increased vitality. + +Under these circumstances it was natural that one event and one strand +of ancient history should fascinate them. The secret of limitless +material power had once been known and lost. Why should not Patagonians +rediscover it, and use it, with their superior sanity, to bring heaven +on earth? The ancients, no doubt, did well to forego this dangerous +source of power; but the Patagonians, level-headed and single-minded, +need have no fear. Some, indeed, considered it less important to seek +power than to find a means of checking biological senescence; but, +unfortunately, though physical science had advanced so rapidly, the more +subtle biological sciences had remained backward, largely because among +the ancients themselves little more had been done than to prepare their +way. Thus it happened that the most brilliant minds of Patagonia, +fascinated by the prize at stake, concentrated upon the problem of +matter. The state encouraged this research by founding and endowing +laboratories whose avowed end was this sole work. + +The problem was difficult, and the Patagonian scientists, though +intelligent, were somewhat lacking in grit. Only after some five hundred +years of intermittent research was the secret discovered, or partially +so. It was found possible, by means of a huge initial expenditure of +energy, to annihilate the positive and negative electric charges in one +not very common kind of atom. But this limitation mattered not at all; +the human race now possessed an inexhaustible source of power which +could be easily manipulated and easily controlled. But though +controllable, the new gift was not fool-proof; and there was no +guarantee that those who used it might not use it foolishly, or +inadvertently let it get out of hand. + +Unfortunately, at the time when the new source of energy was discovered, +the Patagonians were more divided than of old. Industrialism, combined +with the innate docility of the race, had gradually brought about a +class cleavage more extreme even than that of the ancient world, though +a cleavage of a curiously different kind. The strongly parental +disposition of the average Patagonian prevented the dominant class from +such brutal exploitation as had formerly occurred. Save during the first +century of industrialism, there was no serious physical suffering among +the proletariat. A paternal government saw to it that all Patagonians +were at least properly fed and clothed, that all had ample leisure and +opportunities of amusement. At the same time they saw to it also that +the populace became more and more regimented. As in the First World +State, civil authority was once more in the hands of a small group of +masters of industry, but with a difference. Formerly the dominant motive +of big business had been an almost mystical passion for the creation of +activity; now the ruling minority regarded themselves as standing +towards the populace _in loco parentis_, and aimed at creating ‘a +young-hearted people, simple, gay, vigorous, and loyal’. Their ideal of +the state was something between a preparatory school under a sympathetic +but strict adult staff, and a joint-stock company, in which the +shareholders retained only one function, to delegate their powers +thankfully to a set of brilliant directors. + +That the system had worked so well and survived so long was due not only +to innate Patagonian docility, but also to the principle by which the +governing class recruited itself. One lesson at least had been learnt +from the bad example of the earlier civilization, namely respect for +intelligence. By a system of careful testing the brightest children were +selected from all classes and trained to be governors. Even the children +of the governors themselves were subjected to the same examination, and +only those who qualified were sent to the ‘schools for young governors’. +Some corruption no doubt existed, but in the main this system worked. +The children thus selected were very carefully trained in theory and +practice, as organizers, scientists, priests, and logicians. + +The less brilliant children of the race were educated very differently +from the young governors. It was impressed on them that they were less +able than the others. They were taught to respect the governors as +superior beings, who were called upon to serve the community in +specially skilled and arduous work, simply because of their ability. It +would not be true to say that the less intelligent were educated merely +to be slaves; rather they were expected to be the docile, diligent, and +happy sons and daughters of the fatherland. They were taught to be loyal +and optimistic. They were given vocational training for their various +occupations, and encouraged to use their intelligence as much as +possible upon the plane suited to it; but the affairs of the state and +the problems of religion and theoretical science were strictly +forbidden. The official doctrine of the beauty of youth was fundamental +in their education. They were taught all the conventional virtues of +youth, and in particular modesty and simplicity. As a class they were +extremely healthy, for physical training was a very important part of +education in Patagonia. Moreover, the universal practice of sun-bathing, +which was a religious rite, was especially encouraged among the +proletariat, as it was believed to keep the body ‘young’ and the mind +placid. The leisure of the governed class was devoted mostly to +athletics and other sport, physical and mental. Music and other forms of +art were also practised, for these were considered fit occupations for +juveniles. The government exercised a censorship over artistic products, +but it was seldom enforced; for the common folk of Patagonia were mostly +too phlegmatic and too busy to conceive anything but the most obvious +and respectable art. They were fully occupied with work and pleasure. +They suffered no sexual restraints. Their impersonal interests were +satisfied with the official religion of youth-worship and loyalty to the +community. This placid condition lasted for some four hundred years +after the first century of industrialism. But as time passed the mental +difference between the two classes increased. Superior intelligence +became rarer and rarer among the proletariat; the governors were +recruited more and more from their own offspring, until finally they +became an hereditary caste. The gulf widened. The governors began to +lose all mental contact with the governed. They made a mistake which +could never have been committed had their psychology kept pace with +their other sciences. Ever confronted with the workers’ lack of +intelligence, they came to treat them more and more as children, and +forgot that, though simple, they were grown men and women who needed to +feel themselves as free partners in a great human enterprise. Formerly +this illusion of responsibility had been sedulously encouraged. But as +the gulf widened the proletarians were treated rather as infants than as +adolescents, rather as well-cared-for domestic animals than as human +beings. Their lives became more and more minutely, though benevolently, +systematized for them. At the same time less care was taken to educate +them up to an understanding and appreciation of the common human +enterprise. Under these circumstances the temper of the people changed. +Though their material condition was better than had ever been known +before, save under the first World State, they became listless, +discontented, mischievous, ungrateful to their superiors. + +Such was the state of affairs when the new source of energy was +discovered. The world-community consisted of two very different +elements, first a small, highly intellectual caste, passionately devoted +to the state and to the advancement of culture amongst themselves; and, +second, a much more numerous population of rather obtuse, physically +well-cared-for, and spiritually starved industrialists. A serious clash +between the two classes had already occurred over the use of a certain +drug, favoured by the people for the bliss it produced, forbidden by the +governors for its evil after-effects. The drug was abolished; but the +motive was misinterpreted by the proletariat. This incident brought to +the surface a hate that had for long been gathering strength in the +popular mind, though unwittingly. + +When rumour got afoot that in future mechanical power would be +unlimited, the people expected a millennium. Every one would have his +own limitless source of energy. Work would cease. Pleasure would be +increased to infinity. Unfortunately the first use made of the new power +was extensive mining at unheard-of depths in search of metals and other +minerals which had long ago ceased to be available near the surface. +This involved difficult and dangerous work for the miners. There were +casualties. Riots occurred. The new power was used upon the rioters with +murderous effect, the governors declaring that, though their paternal +hearts bled for their foolish children, this chastisement was necessary +to prevent worse evils. The workers were urged to face their troubles +with that detachment which the Divine Boy had preached in his final +phase; but this advice was greeted with the derision which it deserved. +Further strikes, riots, assassinations. The proletariat had scarcely +more power against their masters than sheep against the shepherd, for +they had not the brains for large-scale organization. But it was through +one of these pathetically futile rebellions that Patagonia was at last +destroyed. + +A petty dispute had occurred in one of the new mines. The management +refused to allow miners to teach their trade to their sons; for +vocational education, it was said, should be carried on professionally. +Indignation against this interference with parental authority caused a +sudden flash of the old rage. A power unit was seized, and after a bout +of insane monkeying with the machinery, the mischief-makers +inadvertently got things into such a state that at last the awful djinn +of physical energy was able to wrench off his fetters and rage over the +planet. The first explosion was enough to blow up the mountain range +above the mine. In those mountains were huge tracts of the critical +element, and these were detonated by rays from the initial explosion. +This sufficed to set in action still more remote tracts of the element. +An incandescent hurricane spread over the whole of Patagonia, +reinforcing itself with fresh atomic fury wherever it went. It raged +along the line of the Andes and the Rockies, scorching both continents +with its heat. It undermined and blew up the Bering Straits, spread like +a brood of gigantic fiery serpents into Asia, Europe, and Africa. +Martians, already watching the earth as a cat a bird beyond its spring, +noted that the brilliance of the neighbour planet was suddenly enhanced. +Presently the oceans began to boil here and there with submarine +commotion. Tidal waves mangled the coasts and floundered up the valleys. +But in time the general sea level sank considerably through evaporation +and the opening of chasms in the ocean floor. All volcanic regions +became fantastically active. The polar caps began to melt, but prevented +the arctic regions from being calcined like the rest of the planet. The +atmosphere was a continuous dense cloud of moisture, fumes, and dust, +churned in ceaseless hurricanes. As the fury of the electro-magnetic +collapse proceeded, the surface temperature of the planet steadily +increased, till only in the Arctic and a few favoured corners of the +sub-Arctic could life persist. + +Patagonia’s death agony was brief. In Africa and Europe a few remote +settlements escaped the actual track of the eruptions, but succumbed in +a few weeks to hurricanes of steam. Of the two hundred million members +of the human race, all were burnt or roasted or suffocated within three +months—all but thirty-five, who happened to be in the neighbourhood of +the North Pole. + + + + + VI _Transition_ + + + 1. THE FIRST MEN AT BAY + +By one of those rare tricks of fortune, which are as often favourable as +hostile to humanity, an Arctic exploration ship had recently been +embedded in the pack-ice for a long drift across the Polar sea. She was +provisioned for four years, and when the catastrophe occurred she had +already been at sea for six months. She was a sailing vessel; the +expedition had been launched before it was practicable to make use of +the new source of power. The crew consisted of twenty-eight men and +seven women. Individuals of an earlier and more sexual race, +proportioned thus, in such close proximity and isolation, would almost +certainly have fallen foul of one another sooner or later. But to +Patagonians the arrangement was not intolerable. Besides managing the +whole domestic side of the expedition, the seven women were able to +provide moderate sexual delight for all, for in this people the female +sexuality was much less reduced than the male. There were, indeed, +occasional jealousies and feuds in the little community, but these were +subordinated to a strong _esprit de corps_. The whole company had, of +course, been very carefully chosen for comradeship, loyalty, and health, +as well as for technical skill. All claimed descent from the Divine Boy. +All were of the governing class. One quaint expression of the strongly +parental Patagonian temperament was that a pair of diminutive pet +monkeys was taken with the expedition. + +The crew’s first intimation of the catastrophe was a furious hot wind +that melted the surface of the ice. The sky turned black. The Arctic +summer became a weird and sultry night, torn by fantastic thunderstorms. +Rain crashed on the ship’s deck in a continuous waterfall. Clouds of +pungent smoke and dust irritated the eyes and nose. Submarine +earthquakes buckled the pack-ice. + +A year after the explosion, the ship was labouring in tempestuous and +berg-strewn water near the Pole. The bewildered little company now began +to feel its way south; but, as they proceeded, the air became more +fiercely hot and pungent, storms more savage. Another twelve months were +spent in beating about the Polar sea, ever and again retreating north +from the impossible southern weather. But at length conditions improved +slightly, and with great difficulty these few survivors of the human +race approached their original objective in Norway, to find that the +lowlands were a scorched and lifeless desert, while on the heights the +valley vegetation was already struggling to establish itself, in patches +of sickly green. Their base town had been flattened by a hurricane, and +the skeletons of its population still lay in the streets. They coasted +further south. Everywhere the same desolation. Hoping that the +disturbance might be merely local, they headed round the British Isles +and doubled back on France. But France turned out to be an appalling +chaos of volcanoes. With a change of wind, the sea around them was +infuriated with falling debris, often red hot. Miraculously they got +away and fled north again. After creeping along the Siberian coast they +were at last able to find a tolerable resting-place at the mouth of one +of the great rivers. The ship was brought to anchor, and the crew +rested. They were a diminished company, for six men and two women had +been lost on the voyage. + +Conditions even here must recently have been far more severe, since much +of the vegetation had been scorched, and dead animals were frequent. But +evidently the first fury of the vast explosion was now abating. + +By this time the voyagers were beginning to realize the truth. They +remembered the half jocular prophecies that the new power would sooner +or later wreck the planet, prophecies which had evidently been all too +well founded. There had been a world-wide disaster; and they themselves +had been saved only by their remoteness and the Arctic ice from a fate +that had probably overwhelmed all their fellow-men. + +So desperate was the outlook for a handful of exhausted persons on a +devastated planet, that some urged suicide. All dallied with the idea, +save a woman, who had unexpectedly become pregnant. In her the strong +parental disposition of her race was now awakened, and she implored the +party to make a fight for the sake of her child. Reminded that the baby +would only be born into a life of hardship, she reiterated with more +persistence than reason, ‘My baby must live’. + +The men shrugged their shoulders. But as their tired bodies recovered +after the recent struggle, they began to realize the solemnity of their +position. It was one of the biologists who expressed a thought which was +already present to all. There was at least a chance of survival, and if +ever men and women had a sacred duty, surely these had. For they were +now the sole trustees of the human spirit. At whatever cost of toil and +misery they must people the earth again. + +This common purpose now began to exalt them, and brought them all into a +rare intimacy. ‘We are ordinary folk,’ said the biologist, ‘but somehow +we must become great.’ And they were, indeed, in a manner made great by +their unique position. In generous minds a common purpose and common +suffering breed a deep passion of comradeship, expressed perhaps not in +words but in acts of devotion. These, in their loneliness and their +sense of obligation, experienced not only comradeship, but a vivid +communion with one another as instruments of a sacred cause. + +The party now began to build a settlement beside the river. Though the +whole area had, of course, been devastated, vegetation had soon revived, +from roots and seeds, buried or wind-borne. The countryside was now +green with those plants that had been able to adjust themselves to the +new climate. Animals had suffered far more seriously. Save for the +Arctic fox, a few small rodents, and one herd of reindeer, none were +left but the dwellers in the actual Arctic seas, the Polar bear, various +cetaceans, and seals. Of fish there were plenty. Birds in great numbers +had crowded out of the south, and had died off in thousands through lack +of food, but certain species were already adjusting themselves to the +new environment. Indeed, the whole remaining fauna and flora of the +planet was passing through a phase of rapid and very painful +readjustment. Many well-established species had wholly failed to get a +footing in the new world, while certain hitherto insignificant types +were able to forge ahead. + +The party found it possible to grow maize and even rice from seed +brought from a ruined store in Norway. But the great heat, frequent +torrential rain, and lack of sunlight made agriculture laborious and +precarious. Moreover, the atmosphere had become seriously impure, and +the human organism had not yet succeeded in adapting itself. +Consequently the party were permanently tired and liable to disease. + +The pregnant woman had died in child-birth, but her baby lived. It +became the party’s most sacred object, for it kindled in every mind the +strong parental disposition so characteristic of Patagonians. + +Little by little the numbers of the settlement were reduced by sickness, +hurricanes, and volcanic gases. But in time they achieved a kind of +equilibrium with their environment, and even a certain strenuous amenity +of life. As their prosperity increased, however, their unity diminished. +Differences of temperament began to be dangerous. Among the men two +leaders had emerged, or rather one leader and a critic. The original +head of the expedition had proved quite incapable of dealing with the +new situation, and had at last committed suicide. The company had then +chosen the second navigating officer as their chief and had chosen him +unanimously. The other born leader of the party was a junior biologist, +a man of very different type. The relations of these two did much to +determine the future history of man, and are worthy of study in +themselves; but here we can only glance at them. In all times of stress +the navigator’s authority was absolute, for everything depended on his +initiative and heroic example. But in less arduous periods, murmurs +arose against him for exacting discipline when discipline seemed +unnecessary. Between him and the young biologist there grew up a strange +blend of hostility and affection; for the latter, though critical, loved +and admired the other, and declared that the survival of the party +depended on this one man’s practical genius. + +Three years after their landing, the community, though reduced in +numbers and in vitality, was well established in a routine of hunting, +agriculture, and building. Three fairly healthy infants rejoiced and +exasperated their elders. With security, the navigator’s genius for +action found less scope, while the knowledge of the scientists became +more valuable. Plant and poultry-breeding were beyond the range of the +heroic leader, and in prospecting for minerals he was equally helpless. +Inevitably as time passed he and the other navigators grew restless and +irritable; and at last, when the leader decreed that the party should +take to the ship and explore for better land, a serious dispute +occurred. All the sea-farers applauded; but the scientists, partly +through clearer understanding of the calamity that had befallen the +planet, partly through repugnance at the hardship involved, refused to +go. + +Violent emotions were aroused; but both sides restrained themselves +through well-tried mutual respect and loyalty to the community. Then +suddenly sexual passion set a light to the tinder. The woman who, by +general consent, had come to be queen of the settlement, and was +regarded as sacred to the leader, asserted her independence by sleeping +with one of the scientists. The leader surprised them, and in sudden +rage killed the young man. The little community at once fell into two +armed factions, and more blood was shed. Very soon, however, the folly +and sacrilege of this brawl became evident to these few survivors of a +civilized race, and after a parley a grave decision was made. + +The company was to be divided. One party, consisting of five men and two +women, under the young biologist, was to remain in the settlement. The +leader himself, with the remaining nine men and two women, was to +navigate the ship toward Europe, in search of a better land. They +promised to send word, if possible, during the following year. + +With this decision taken the two parties once more became amicable. All +worked to equip the pioneers. When at last it was the time of departure, +there was a solemn leave-taking. Every one was relieved at the cessation +of a painful incompatibility; but more poignant than relief was the +distressed affection of those who had so long been comrades in a sacred +enterprise. + +It was a parting even more momentous than was supposed. For from this +act arose at length two distinct human species. + +Those who stayed behind heard no more of the wanderers, and finally +concluded that they had come to grief. But in fact they were driven west +and south-west past Iceland, now a cluster of volcanoes, to Labrador. On +this voyage through fantastic storms and oceanic convulsions they lost +nearly half their number, and were at last unable to work the ship. When +finally they were wrecked on a rocky coast, only the carpenter’s mate, +two women, and the pair of monkeys succeeded in clambering ashore. + +These found themselves in a climate far more sultry than Siberia; but +like Siberia, Labrador contained uplands of luxuriant vegetation. The +man and his two women had at first great difficulty in finding food, but +in time they adapted themselves to a diet of berries and roots. As the +years passed, however, the climate undermined their mentality, and their +descendants sank into abject savagery, finally degenerating into a type +that was human only in respect of its ancestry. + +The little Siberian settlement was now hard-pressed but single-minded. +Calculation had convinced the scientists that the planet would not +return to its normal state for some millions of years; for though the +first and superficial fury of the disaster had already ceased, the +immense pent-up energy of the central explosions would take millions of +years to leak out through volcanic vents. The leader of the party, by +rare luck a man of genius, conceived their situation thus. For millions +of years the planet would be uninhabitable save for a fringe of Siberian +coast. The human race was doomed for ages to a very restricted and +uncongenial environment. All that could be hoped for was the persistence +of a mere remnant of civilized humanity, which should be able to lie +dormant until a more favourable epoch. With this end in view the party +must propagate itself, and make some possibility of cultured life for +its offspring. Above all it must record in some permanent form as much +as it could remember of Patagonian culture. ‘We are the germ,’ he said. +‘We must play for safety, mark time, preserve man’s inheritance. The +chances against us are almost overwhelming, but just possibly we shall +win through.’ + +And so in fact they did. Several times almost exterminated at the +outset, these few harassed individuals preserved their spark of +humanity. A close inspection of their lives would reveal an intense +personal drama; for, in spite of the sacred purpose which united them, +almost as muscles in one limb, they were individuals of different +temperaments. The children, moreover, caused jealousy between their +parentally hungry elders. There was ever a subdued, and sometimes an +open, rivalry to gain the affection of these young things, these few and +precious buds on the human stem. Also there was sharp disagreement about +their education. For though all the elders adored them simply for their +childishness, one at least, the visionary leader of the party, thought +of them chiefly as potential vessels of the human spirit, to be moulded +strictly for their great function. In this perpetual subdued antagonism +of aims and temperaments the little society lived from day to day, much +as a limb functions in the antagonism of its muscles. + +The adults of the party devoted much of their leisure during the long +winters to the heroic labour of recording the outline of man’s whole +knowledge. This task was very dear to the leader, but the others often +grew weary of it. To each person a certain sphere of culture was +assigned; and after he or she had thought out a section and scribbled it +down on slate, it was submitted to the company for criticism, and +finally engraved deeply on tablets of hard stone. Many thousands of such +tablets were produced in the course of years, and were stored in a cave +which was carefully prepared for them. Thus was recorded something of +the history of the earth and of man, the outlines of physics, chemistry, +biology, psychology, and geometry. Each scribe set down also in some +detail a summary of his own special study, and added a personal +manifesto of his own views about existence. Much ingenuity was spent in +devising a vast pictorial dictionary and grammar, with which, it was +hoped, the remote future might interpret the whole library. + +Years passed while this immense registration of human thought was still +in progress. The founders of the settlement grew feebler while the +eldest of the next generation were still adolescent. Of the two women, +one had died and the other was almost a cripple, both martyrs to the +task of motherhood. A youth, an infant boy, and four girls of various +ages—on these the future of man now depended. Unfortunately these +precious beings had suffered from their very preciousness. Their +education had been bungled. They had been both pampered and oppressed. +Nothing was thought too good for them, but they were overwhelmed with +cherishing and teaching. Thus they came to hold the elders at arm’s +length, and to weary of the ideals imposed on them. Brought into a +ruined world without their own consent, they refused to accept the +crushing obligation toward an improbable future. Hunting, and the daily +struggle of a pioneering age, afforded their spirits full exercise in +courage, mutual loyalty, and interest in one another’s personality. They +would live for the present only, and for the tangible reality, not for a +culture which they knew only by hearsay. In particular, they loathed the +hardship of engraving endless verbiage upon granitic slabs. + +The crisis came when the eldest girl had crossed the threshold of +physical maturity. The leader told her that it was her duty to begin +bearing children at once, and ordered her to have intercourse with her +half-brother, his own son. Having herself assisted at the last birth, +which had destroyed her mother, she refused; and when pressed she +dropped her graving tool and fled. This was the first serious act of +rebellion. In a few years the older generation was deposed from +authority. A new way of life, more active, more dangerous, zestful, and +careless, resulted in a lowering of the community’s standard of comfort +and organization, but also in greater health and vitality. Experiments +in plant and stock-breeding were neglected, buildings went out of +repair; but great feats of hunting and exploration were undertaken. +Leisure was given over to games of hazard and calculation, to dancing, +singing, and romantic story-telling. Music and romance, indeed, were now +the main expression of the finer nature of these beings, and became the +vehicles of obscure religious experience. The intellectualism of the +elders was ridiculed. What could their poor sciences tell of reality, of +the many-faced, never-for-a-moment-the-same, superbly inconsequent, and +ever-living Real? Man’s intelligence was all right for hunting and +tillage in the world of common sense; but if he rode it further afield, +he would find himself in a desert, and his soul would starve. Let him +live as nature prompted. Let him keep the young god in his heart alive. +Let him give free play to the struggling, irrational, dark vitality that +sought to realize itself in him not as logic but as beauty. + +The tablets were now engraved only by the aged. + +But one day, after the infant boy had reached the early Patagonian +adolescence, his curiosity was roused by the tail-like hind limbs of a +seal. The old people timidly encouraged him. He made other biological +observations, and was led on to envisage the whole drama of life on the +planet, and to conceive loyalty to the cause which they had served. + +Meanwhile, sexual and parental nature had triumphed where schooling had +failed. The young things inevitably fell in love with each other, and in +time several infants appeared. + +Thus, generation by generation, the little settlement maintained itself +with varying success, varying zestfulness, and varying loyalty toward +the future. With changing conditions the population fluctuated, sinking +as low as two men and one woman, but increasing gradually up to a few +thousand, the limit set by the food capacity of their strip of coast. In +the long run, though circumstances did not prevent material survival, +they made for mental decline. For the Siberian coast remained a tropical +land, bounded on the south by a forest of volcanoes; and consequently in +the long run the generations declined in mental vigour and subtlety. +This result was perhaps due in part to too intensive inbreeding; but +this factor had also one good effect. Though mental vigour waned, +certain desirable characteristics were consolidated. The founders of the +group represented the best remaining stock of the first human species. +They had been chosen for their hardihood and courage, their native +loyalty, their strong cognitive interest. Consequently, in spite of +phases of depression, the race not only survived but retained its +curiosity and its group feeling. Even while the ability of men +decreased, their will to understand, and their sense of racial unity, +remained. Though their conception of man and the universe gradually sank +into crude myth, they preserved a strong unreasoning loyalty towards the +future, and toward the now sacred stone library which was rapidly +becoming unintelligible to them. For thousands and even millions of +years, after the species had materially changed its nature, there +remained a vague admiration for mental prowess, a confused tradition of +a noble past, and pathetic loyalty toward a still nobler future. Above +all, internecine strife was so rare that it served only to strengthen +the clear will to preserve the unity and harmony of the race. + + + 2. THE SECOND DARK AGE + +We must now pass rapidly over the Second Dark Age, observing merely +those influences which were to affect the future of humanity. + +Century by century the pent energy of the vast explosion dispersed +itself; but not till many hundred thousand years had passed did the +swarms of upstart volcanoes begin to die, and not till after millions of +years did the bulk of the planet become once more a possible home for +life. + +During this period many changes took place. The atmosphere became +clearer, purer, and less turbulent. With the fall of temperature, frost +and snow appeared occasionally in the Arctic regions, and in due course +the Polar caps were formed again. Meanwhile, ordinary geological +processes, augmented by the strains to which the planet was subjected by +increased internal pressure, began to change the continents. South +America mostly collapsed into the hollows blasted beneath it, but a new +land rose to join Brazil with West Africa. The East Indies and Australia +became a continuous continent. The huge mass of Tibet sank deeply into +its disturbed foundations, lunged West, and buckled Afghanistan into a +range of peaks nearly forty thousand feet above the sea. Europe sank +under the Atlantic. Rivers writhed shiftingly hither and thither upon +the continents, like tortured worms. New alluvial areas were formed. New +strata were laid upon one another under new oceans. New animals and +plants developed from the few surviving Arctic species, and spread south +through Asia and America. In the new forests and grasslands appeared +various specialized descendants of the reindeer, and swarms of rodents. +Upon these preyed the large and small descendants of the Arctic fox, of +which one species, a gigantic wolf-like creature, rapidly became the +‘King of Beasts’ in the new order, and remained so, until it was ousted +by the more slowly-modified offspring of the polar bears. A certain +genus of seals, reverting to the ancient terrestrial habit, had +developed a slender snake-like body and an almost swift, and very +serpentine, mode of locomotion among the coastal sand-dunes. There it +was wont to stalk its rodent prey, and even follow them into their +burrows. Everywhere there were birds. Many of the places left vacant by +the destruction of the ancient fauna were now filled by birds which had +discarded flight and developed pedestrian habits. Insects, almost +exterminated by the great conflagration, had afterwards increased so +rapidly, and had refashioned their types with such versatility, that +they soon reached almost to their ancient profusion. Even more rapid was +the establishment of the new micro-organisms. In general, among all the +beasts and plants of the earth there was a great change of habit, and a +consequent overlaying of old body-forms with new forms adapted to a new +way of life. + +The two human settlements had fared very differently. That of Labrador, +oppressed by a more sweltering climate, and unsupported by the Siberian +will to preserve human culture, sank into animality; but ultimately it +peopled the whole West with swarming tribes. The human beings in Asia +remained a mere handful throughout the ten million years of the Second +Dark Age. An incursion of the sea cut them off from the south. The old +Taimyr Peninsula, where their settlements clustered, became the northern +promontory of an island whose coasts were the ancient valley-edges of +the Yenessi, the Lower Tunguska, and the Lena. As the climate became +less oppressive, the families spread towards the southern coast of the +island, but there the sea checked them. Temperate conditions enabled +them to regain a certain degree of culture. But they had no longer the +capacity to profit much from the new clemency of nature, for the +previous ages of tropical conditions had undermined them. Moreover, +towards the end of the ten million years of the Second Dark Age, the +Arctic climate spread south into their island. The crops failed, the +rodents that formed their chief cattle dwindled, their few herds of deer +faded out through lack of food. Little by little this scanty human race +degenerated into a mere remnant of Arctic savages. And so they remained +for a million years. Psychologically they were so crippled that they had +almost completely lost the power of innovation. When their sacred +quarries in the hills were covered with ice, they had not the wit to use +stone from the valleys, but were reduced to making implements of bone. +Their language degenerated into a few grunts to signify important acts, +and a more complex system of emotional expressions. For emotionally +these creatures still preserved a certain refinement. Moreover, though +they had almost wholly lost the power of intelligent innovation, their +instinctive responses were often such as a more enlightened intelligence +would justify. They were strongly social, deeply respectful of the +individual human life, deeply parental, and often terribly earnest in +their religion. + +Not till long after the rest of the planet was once more covered with +life, not till nearly ten million years after the Patagonian disaster, +did a group of these savages, adrift on an iceberg, get blown southward +across the sea to the mainland of Asia. Luckily, for Arctic conditions +were increasing, and in time the islanders were extinguished. + +The survivors settled in the new land and spread, century by century, +into the heart of Asia. Their increase was very slow for they were an +infertile and inflexible race. But conditions were now extremely +favourable. The climate was temperate; for Russia and Europe were now a +shallow sea warmed by currents from the Atlantic. There were no +dangerous animals save the small grey bears, an offshoot from the polar +species, and the large wolf-like foxes. Various kinds of rodents and +deer provided meat in plenty. There were birds of all sizes and habits. +Timber, fruit, wild grains, and other nourishing plants throve on the +well-watered volcanic soil. The prolonged eruptions, moreover, had once +more enriched the upper layers of the rocky crust with metals. + +A few hundred thousand years in this new world sufficed for the human +species to increase from a handful of individuals to a swarm of races. +It was in the conflict and interfusion of these races, and also through +the absorption of certain chemicals from the new volcanic soil, that +humanity at last recovered its vitality. + + + + + VII _The Rise of the Second Men_ + + + 1. THE APPEARANCE OF A NEW SPECIES + +It was some ten million years after the Patagonian disaster that the +first elements of a new human species appeared, in an epidemic of +biological variations, many of which were extremely valuable. Upon this +raw material the new and stimulating environment worked for some hundred +thousand years until at last there appeared the Second Man. + +Though of greater stature and more roomy cranium, these beings were not +wholly unlike their predecessors in general proportions. Their heads, +indeed, were large even for their bodies, and their necks massive. Their +hands were huge, but finely moulded. Their almost titanic size entailed +a seemingly excessive strength of support; their legs were stouter, even +proportionately, than the legs of the earlier species. Their feet had +lost the separate toes, and, by a strengthening and growing together of +the internal bones, had become more efficient instruments of locomotion. +During the Siberian exile the First Men had acquired a thick hairy +covering, and most races of the Second Man retained something of this +blonde hirsute appearance throughout their career. Their eyes were +large, and often jade green, their features firm as carved granite, yet +mobile and lucent. Of the second human species one might say that Nature +had at last repeated and far excelled the noble but unfortunate type +which she had achieved once, long ago, with the first species, in +certain prehistoric cave-dwelling hunters and artists. + +[Illustration: Time Scale 2] + +Inwardly the Second Men differed from the earlier species in that they +had shed most of those primitive relics which had hampered the First Men +more than was realized. Not only were they free of appendix, tonsils, +and other useless excrescences, but also their whole structure was more +firmly knit into unity. Their chemical organization was such that their +tissues were kept in better repair. Their teeth, though proportionately +small and few, were almost completely immune from caries. Such was their +glandular equipment that puberty did not begin till twenty; and not till +they were fifty did they reach maturity. At about one hundred and ninety +their powers began to fail, and after a few years of contemplative +retirement they almost invariably died before true senility could begin. +It was as though, when a man’s work was finished, and he had meditated +in peace upon his whole career, there were nothing further to hold his +attention and prevent him from falling asleep. Mothers carried the +foetus for three years, suckled the infant for five years, and were +sterile during this period and for another seven years. Their +climacteric was reached at about a hundred and sixty. Architecturally +massive like their mates, they would have seemed to the First Men very +formidable titanesses; but even those early half-human beings would have +admired the women of the second species both for their superb vitality +and for their brilliantly human expression. + +In temperament the Second Men were curiously different from the earlier +species. The same factors were present, but in different proportions, +and in far greater subordination to the considered will of the +individual. Sexual vigour had returned. But sexual interest was +strangely altered. Around the ancient core of delight in physical and +mental contact with the opposite sex there now appeared a kind of +innately sublimated, and no less poignant, appreciation of the unique +physical and mental forms of all kinds of live things. It is difficult +for less ample natures to imagine this expansion of the innate sexual +interest; for to them it is not apparent that the lusty admiration which +at first directs itself solely on the opposite sex is the appropriate +attitude to all the beauties of flesh and spirit in beast and bird and +plant. Parental interest also was strong in the new species, but it too +was universalized. It had become a strong innate interest in, and a +devotion to, all beings that were conceived as in need of help. In the +earlier species this passionate spontaneous altruism occurred only in +exceptional persons. In the new species, however, all normal men and +women experienced altruism as a passion. And yet at the same time +primitive parenthood had become tempered to a less possessive and more +objective love, which among the First Men was less common than they +themselves were pleased to believe. Assertiveness had also greatly +changed. Formerly very much of a man’s energy had been devoted to the +assertion of himself as a private individual over against other +individuals; and very much of his generosity had been at bottom selfish. +But in the Second Men this competitive self-assertion, this championship +of the most intimately known animal against all others, was greatly +tempered. Formerly the major enterprises of society would never have +been carried through had they not been able to annex to themselves the +egoism of their champions. But in the Second Men the parts were +reversed. Few individuals could ever trouble to exert themselves to the +last ounce for merely private ends, save when those ends borrowed +interest or import from some public enterprise. It was only his vision +of a world-wide community of persons, and of his own function therein, +that could rouse the fighting spirit in a man. Thus it was inwardly, +rather than in outward physical characters, that the Second Men differed +from the First. And in nothing did they differ more than in their native +aptitude for cosmopolitanism. They had their tribes and nations. War was +not quite unknown amongst them. But even in primitive times a man’s most +serious loyalty was directed toward the race as a whole; and wars were +so hampered by impulses of kindliness towards the enemy that they were +apt to degenerate into rather violent athletic contests, leading to an +orgy of fraternization. + +It would not be true to say that the strongest interest of these beings +was social. They were never prone to exalt the abstraction called the +state, or the nation, or even the world-commonwealth. For their most +characteristic factor was not mere gregariousness but something novel, +namely an innate interest in personality, both in the actual diversity +of persons and in the ideal of personal development. They had a +remarkable power of vividly intuiting their fellows as unique persons +with special needs. Individuals of the earlier species had suffered from +an almost insurmountable spiritual isolation from one another. Not even +lovers, and scarcely even the geniuses with special insight into +personality, ever had anything like accurate vision of one another. But +the Second Men, more intensely and accurately self-conscious, were also +more intensely and accurately conscious of one another. This they +achieved by no unique faculty, but solely by a more ready interest in +each other, a finer insight, and a more active imagination. + +They had also a remarkable innate interest in the higher kinds of mental +activity, or rather in the subtle objects of these activities. Even +children were instinctively inclined towards a genuinely aesthetic +interest in their world and their own behaviour, and also towards +scientific inquiry and generalization. Small boys, for instance, would +delight in collecting not merely such things as eggs or crystals, but +mathematical formulae expressive of the different shapes of eggs and +crystals, or of the innumerable rhythms of shells, fronds, leaflets, +grass-nodes. And there was a wealth of traditional fairy-stories whose +appeal was grounded in philosophical puzzles. Little children delighted +to hear how the poor things called Illusions were banished from the +Country of the Real, how one-dimensional Mr Line woke up in a +two-dimensional world, and how a brave young tune slew cacophonous +beasts and won a melodious bride in that strange country where the +landscape is all of sound and all living things are music. The First Men +had attained to interest in science, mathematics, philosophy, only after +arduous schooling, but in the Second Men there was a natural propensity +for these activities, no less vigorous than the primitive instincts. +Not, of course, that they were absolved from learning; but they had the +same zest and facility in these matters as their predecessors had +enjoyed only in humbler spheres. + +In the earlier species, indeed, the nervous system had maintained only a +very precarious unity, and was all too liable to derangement by the +rebellion of one of its subordinate parts. But in the second species the +highest centres maintained an almost absolute harmony among the lower. +Thus the moral conflict between momentary impulse and considered will, +and again between private and public interest, played a very subordinate +part among the Second Men. + +In actual cognitive powers, also, this favoured species far outstripped +its predecessor. For instance, vision had greatly developed. The Second +Men distinguished in the spectrum a new primary colour between green and +blue; and beyond blue they saw, not a reddish blue, but again a new +primary colour, which faded with increasing ruddiness far into the old +ultra-violet. These two new primary colours were complementary to one +another. At the other end of the spectrum they saw the infra-red as a +peculiar purple. Further, owing to the very great size of their retinae, +and the multiplication of rods and cones, they discriminated much +smaller fractions of their field of vision. + +Improved discrimination combined with a wonderful fertility of mental +imagery to produce a greatly increased power of insight into the +character of novel situations. Whereas among the First Men, native +intelligence had increased only up to the age of fourteen, among the +Second Men it progressed up to forty. Thus an average adult was capable +of immediate insight into problems which even the most brilliant of the +First Men could only solve by prolonged reasoning. This superb clarity +of mind enabled the second species to avoid most of those age-long +confusions and superstitions which had crippled its predecessor. And +along with great intelligence went a remarkable flexibility of will. In +fact the Second Men were far more able than the First to break habits +that were seen to be no longer justified. + +To sum the matter, circumstance had thrown up a very noble species. +Essentially it was of the same type as the earlier species, but it had +undergone extensive improvements. Much that the First Men could only +achieve by long schooling and self-discipline the Second Men performed +with effortless fluency and delight. In particular, two capacities which +for the First Men had been unattainable ideals were now realized in +every normal individual, namely the power of wholly dispassionate +cognition, and the power of loving one’s neighbour as oneself, without +reservation. Indeed, in this respect the Second Men might be called +‘Natural Christians’, so readily and constantly did they love one +another in the manner of Jesus, and infuse their whole social policy +with loving-kindness. Early in their career they conceived the religion +of love, and they were possessed by it again and again, in diverse +forms, until their end. On the other hand, their gift of dispassionate +cognition helped them to pass speedily to the admiration of fate. And +being by nature rigorous thinkers, they were peculiarly liable to be +disturbed by the conflict between their religion of love and their +loyalty to fate. + +Well might it seem that the stage was now set for a triumphant and rapid +progress of the human spirit. But though the second human species +constituted a real improvement on the first, it lacked certain faculties +without which the next great mental advance could not be made. + +Moreover its very excellence involved one novel defect from which the +First Men were almost wholly free. In the lives of humble individuals +there are many occasions when nothing but an heroic effort can wrest +their private fortunates from stagnation or decline, and set them +pioneering in new spheres. Among the First Men this effort was often +called forth by passionate regard for self. And it was upon the tidal +wave of innumerable egoisms, blindly surging in one direction, that the +first species was carried forward. But, to repeat, in the Second Men +self-regard was never an over-mastering motive. Only at the call of +social loyalty or personal love would a man spur himself to desperate +efforts. Whenever the stake appeared to be mere private advancement, he +was apt to prefer peace to enterprise, the delights of sport, +companionship, art or intellect, to the slavery of self-regard. And so +in the long run, though the Second Men were fortunate in their almost +complete immunity from the lust of power and personal ostentation (which +cursed the earlier species with industrialism and militarism), and +though they enjoyed long ages of idyllic peace, often upon a high +cultural plane, their progress towards full self-conscious mastery of +the planet was curiously slow. + + + 2. THE INTERCOURSE OF THREE SPECIES + +In a few thousand years the new species filled the region from +Afghanistan to the China Sea, overran India, and penetrated far into the +new Australasian continent. Its advance was less military than cultural. +The remaining tribes of the First Men, with whom the new species could +not normally interbreed, were unable to live up to the higher culture +that flooded round them and over them. They faded out. + +For some further thousands of years the Second Men remained as noble +savages, then passed rapidly through the pastoral into the agricultural +stage. In this era they sent an expedition across the new and gigantic +Hindu Kush to explore Africa. Here it was that they came upon the +subhuman descendants of the ship’s crew that had sailed from Siberia +millions of years earlier. These animals had spread south through +America and across the new Atlantic Isthmus into Africa. + +Dwarfed almost to the knees of the superior species, bent so that as +often as not they used their arms as aids to locomotion, flat-headed and +curiously long-snouted, these creatures were by now more baboon-like +than human. Yet in the wild state they maintained a very complicated +organization into castes, based on the sense of smell. Their powers of +scent, indeed, had developed at the expense of their intelligence. +Certain odours, which had become sacred through their very +repulsiveness, were given off only by individuals having certain +diseases. Such individuals were treated with respect by their fellows; +and though, in fact, they were debilitated by their disease, they were +so feared that no healthy individual dared resist them. The +characteristic odours were themselves graded in nobility, so that those +individuals who bore only the less repulsive perfume, owed respect to +those in whom a widespread rotting of the body occasioned the most +nauseating stench. These plagues had the special effect of stimulating +reproductive activity; and this fact was one cause both of the respect +felt for them, and of the immense fertility of the species, such a +fertility that, in spite of plagues and obtuseness, it had flooded two +continents. For though the plagues were fatal, they were slow to +develop. Further, though individuals far advanced in disease were often +incapable of feeding themselves, they profited by the devotion of the +healthy, who were well-pleased if they also became infected. + +But the most startling fact about these creatures was that many of them +had become enslaved to another species. When the Second Men had +penetrated further into Africa they came to a forest region where +companies of diminutive monkeys resisted their intrusion. It was soon +evident that any interference with the imbecile and passive subhumans in +this district was resented by the monkeys. And as the latter made use of +a primitive kind of bow and poisoned arrows, their opposition was +seriously inconvenient to the invaders. The use of weapons and other +tools, and a remarkable coordination in warfare, made it clear that in +intelligence this simian species had far outstripped all creatures save +man. Indeed, the Second Men were now face to face with the only +terrestrial species which ever evolved so far as to compete with man in +versatility and practical shrewdness. + +As the invaders advanced, the monkeys were seen to round up whole flocks +of the submen and drive them out of reach. It was noticed also that +these domesticated submen were wholly free from the diseases that +infected their wild kinsfolk, who on this account greatly despised the +healthy drudges. Later it transpired that the submen were trained as +beasts of burden by the monkeys and that their flesh was a much relished +article of diet. An arboreal city of woven branches was discovered, and +was apparently in course of construction, for the submen were dragging +timber and hauling it aloft, goaded by the boneheaded spears of the +monkeys. It was evident also that the authority of the monkeys was +maintained less by force than by intimidation. They anointed themselves +with the juice of a rare aromatic plant, which struck terror into their +poor cattle, and reduced them to abject docility. + +Now the invaders were only a handful of pioneers. They had come over the +mountains in search of metals, which had been brought to the earth’s +surface during the volcanic era. An amiable race, they felt no hostility +toward the monkeys, but rather amusement at their habits and ingenuity. +But the monkeys resented the mere presence of these mightier beings; +and, presently collecting in the tree-tops in thousands, they +annihilated the party with their poisoned arrows. One man alone escaped +into Asia. In a couple of years he returned, with a host. Yet this was +no punitive expedition, for the bland Second Men were strangely lacking +in resentment. Establishing themselves on the outskirts of the forest +region, they contrived to communicate and barter with the little people +of the trees, so that after a while they were allowed to enter the +territory unmolested, and begin their great metallurgical survey. + +A close study of the relations of these very different intelligences +would be enlightening, but we have no time for it. Within their own +sphere the monkeys showed perhaps a quicker wit than the men; but only +within very narrow limits did their intelligence work at all. They were +deft at finding new means for the better satisfaction of their +appetites. But they wholly lacked self-criticism. Upon a normal outfit +of instinctive needs they had developed many acquired, traditional +cravings, most of which were fantastic and harmful. The Second Men, on +the other hand, though often momentarily outwitted by the monkeys, were +in the long run incomparably more able and more sane. + +The difference between the two species is seen clearly in their reaction +to metals. The Second Men sought metal solely for the carrying on of an +already well-advanced civilization. But the monkeys, when for the first +time they saw the bright ingots, were fascinated. They had already begun +to hate the invaders for their native superiority and their material +wealth; and now this jealousy combined with primitive acquisitiveness to +make the slabs of copper and tin become in their eyes symbols of power. +In order to remain unmolested in their work, the invaders had paid a +toll of the wares of their own country, of baskets, pottery, and various +specially designed miniature tools. But at the sight of the crude metal, +the monkeys demanded a share of this noblest product of their own land. +This was readily granted, since it did away with the need of bringing +goods from Asia. But the monkeys had no real use for metal. They merely +hoarded it, and became increasingly avaricious. No one had respect among +them who did not laboriously carry a great ingot about with him wherever +he went. And after a while it came to be considered actually indecent to +be seen without a slab of metal. In conversation between the sexes this +symbol of refinement was always held so as to conceal the genitals. + +The more metal the monkeys acquired the more they craved. Blood was +often shed in disputes over the possession of hoards. But this +internecine strife gave place at length to a concerted movement to +prevent the whole export of metal from their land. Some even suggested +that the ingots in their possession should be used for making more +effective weapons, with which to expel the invaders. This policy was +rejected, not merely because there were none who could work up the crude +metal, but because it was generally agreed that to put such a sacred +material to any kind of service would be base. + +The will to be rid of the invader was augmented by a dispute about the +submen. These abject beings were treated very harshly by their masters. +Not only were they overworked, but also they were tortured in cold +blood, not precisely through lust in cruelty, but through a queer sense +of humour, or delight in the incongruous. For instance, it afforded the +monkeys a strangely innocent and extravagant pleasure to compel these +cattle to carry on their work in an erect posture, which was by now +quite unnatural to them, or to eat their own excrement or even their own +young. If ever these tortures roused some exceptional subman to rebel, +the monkeys flared into contemptuous rage at such a lack of humour, so +incapable were they of realizing the subjective processes of others. To +one another they could, indeed, be kindly and generous; but even among +themselves the imp of humour would sometimes run riot. In any matter in +which an individual was misunderstood by his fellows, he was sure to be +gleefully baited, and often harried to death. But in the main it was +only the slave-species that suffered. + +The invaders were outraged by this cruel imbecility, and ventured to +protest. To the monkeys the protest was unintelligible. What were cattle +for, but to be used in the service of superior beings? Evidently, the +monkeys thought, the invaders were after all lacking in the finer +capacities of mind, since they failed to appreciate the beauty of the +fantastic. + +This and other causes of friction finally led the monkeys to conceive a +means of freeing themselves for ever. The Second Men had proved to be +terribly liable to the diseases of their wretched subhuman kinsfolk. +Only by very rigorous quarantine had they stamped out the epidemic that +had revealed this fact. Now partly for revenge, but partly also through +malicious delight in the topsy-turvy, the monkeys determined to make use +of this human weakness. There was a certain nut, very palatable to both +men and monkeys, which grew in a remote part of the country. The monkeys +had already begun to barter this nut for extra metal; and the pioneering +Second Men were arranging to send caravans laden with nuts into their +own country. In this situation the monkeys found their opportunity. They +carefully infected large quantities of nuts with the plagues rampant +among those herds of submen which had not been domesticated. Very soon +caravans of infected nuts were scattered over Asia. The effect upon a +race wholly fresh to these microbes was disastrous. Not only were the +pioneering settlements wiped out, but the bulk of the species also. The +submen themselves had become adjusted to the microbes, and even +reproduced more rapidly because of them. Not so the more delicately +organized species. They died off like autumn leaves. Civilization fell +to pieces. In a few generations Asia was peopled only by a handful of +scattered savages, all diseased and mostly crippled. + +But in spite of this disaster the species remained potentially the same. +Within a few centuries it had thrown off the infection and had begun +once more the ascent towards civilization. After another thousand years, +pioneers again crossed the mountain and entered Africa. They met with no +opposition. The precarious flicker of simian intelligence had long ago +ceased. The monkeys had so burdened their bodies with metal and their +minds with the obsession of metal, that at length the herds of subhuman +cattle were able to rebel and devour their masters. + + + 3. THE ZENITH OF THE SECOND MEN + +For nearly a quarter of a million years the Second Men passed through +successive phases of prosperity and decline. Their advance to developed +culture was not nearly so steady and triumphal as might have been +expected from a race of such brilliance. As with individuals, so with +species, accidents are all too likely to defeat even the most cautious +expectations. For instance, the Second Men were for a long time +seriously hampered by a ‘glacial epoch’ which at its height imposed +Arctic conditions even as far south as India. Little by little the +encroaching ice crowded their tribes into the extremity of that +peninsula, and reduced their culture to the level of the Esquimaux. In +time, of course, they recovered, but only to suffer other scourges, of +which the most devastating were epidemics of bacteria. The more recently +developed and highly organized tissues of this species were peculiarly +susceptible to disease, and not once but many times a promising +barbarian culture or ‘medieval’ civilization was wiped out by plagues. + +But of all the natural disasters which befell the Second Men, the worst +was due to a spontaneous change in their own physical constitution. Just +as the fangs of the ancient sabre-toothed tiger had finally grown so +large that the beast could not eat, so the brain of the second human +species threatened to outgrow the rest of its body. In a cranium that +was originally roomy enough, this rare product of nature was now +increasingly cramped; while a circulatory system, that was formerly +quite adequate, was becoming more and more liable to fail in pumping +blood through so cramped a structure. These two causes at last began to +take serious effect. Congenital imbecility became increasingly common, +along with all manner of acquired mental diseases. For some thousands of +years the race remained in a most precarious condition, now almost dying +out, now rapidly attaining an extravagant kind of culture in some region +where physical nature happened to be peculiarly favourable. One of these +precarious flashes of spirit occurred in the Yang-tze valley as a sudden +and brief effulgence of city states peopled by neurotics, geniuses and +imbeciles. The lasting upshot of this civilization was a brilliant +literature of despair, dominated by a sense of the difference between +the actual and the potential in man and the universe. Later, when the +race had attained its noontide glory, it was wont to brood upon this +tragic voice from the past in order to remind itself of the underlying +horror of existence. + +Meanwhile, brains became more and more overgrown, and the race more and +more disorganized. There is no doubt that it would have gone the way of +the sabre-toothed tiger, simply through the fatal direction of its own +physiological evolution, had not a more stable variety of this second +human species at last appeared. It was in North America, into which, by +way of Africa, the Second Men had long ago spread, that the +roomier-skulled and stronger-hearted type first occurred. By great good +fortune this new variety proved to be a dominant Mendelian character. +And as it interbred freely with the older variety, a superbly healthy +race soon peopled America. The species was saved. + +But another hundred thousand years were to pass before the Second Men +could reach their zenith. I must not dwell on this movement of the human +symphony, though it is one of great richness. Inevitably many themes are +now repeated from the career of the earlier species, but with special +features, and transposed, so to speak, from the minor to the major key. +Once more primitive cultures succeed one another, or pass into +civilization, barbarian or ‘medieval’; and in turn these fall or are +transformed. Twice, indeed, the planet became the home of a single +world-wide community which endured for many thousands of years, until +misfortune wrecked it. The collapse is not altogether surprising, for +unlike the earlier species, the Second Men had no coal and oil. In both +these early world societies of the Second Men there was a complete lack +of mechanical power. Consequently, though world-wide and intricate, they +were in a manner ‘medieval’. In every continent intensive and highly +skilled agriculture crept from the valleys up the mountain sides and +over the irrigated deserts. In the rambling garden-cities each citizen +took his share of drudgery, practised also some fine handicraft, and yet +had leisure for gaiety and contemplation. Intercourse within and between +the five great continental communities had to be maintained by coaches, +caravans, and sailing ships. Sail, indeed, now came back into its own, +and far surpassed its previous achievements. On every sea, fleets of +great populous red-sailed clippers, wooden, with carved poops and prows, +but with the sleek flanks of the dolphin, carried the produce of every +land, and the many travellers who delighted to spend a sabbatical year +among foreigners. + +So much, in the fullness of time, could be achieved, even without +mechanical power, by a species gifted with high intelligence and immune +from anti-social self-regard. But inevitably there came an end. A virus, +whose subtle derangement of the glandular system was never suspected by +a race still innocent of physiology, propagated throughout the world a +mysterious fatigue. Century by century, agriculture withdrew from the +hills and deserts, craftsmanship deteriorated, thought became +stereotyped. And the vast lethargy produced a vast despond. At length +the nations lost touch with one another, forgot one another, forgot +their culture, crumbled into savage tribes. Once more Earth slept. + +Many thousand years later, long after the disease was spent, several +great peoples developed in isolation. When at last they made contact, +they were so alien that in each there had to occur a difficult cultural +revolution, not unaccompanied by bloodshed, before the world could once +more feel as one. But this second world-order endured only a few +centuries, for profound subconscious differences now made it impossible +for the races to keep whole-heartedly loyal to each other. Religion +finally severed the unity which all willed but none could trust. An +heroic nation of monotheists sought to impose its faith on a vaguely +pantheist world. For the first and last time the Second Men stumbled +into a world-wide civil war; and just because the war was religious it +developed a brutality hitherto unknown. With crude artillery, but with +fanaticism, the two groups of citizen armies harried one another. The +fields were laid waste, the cities burned, the rivers, and finally the +winds, were poisoned. Long after that pitch of horror had been passed, +at which an inferior species would have lost heart, these heroic madmen +continued to organize destruction. And when at last the inevitable +breakdown came, it was the more complete. In a sensitive species the +devastating enlightenment which at last began to invade every mind, the +overwhelming sense of treason against the human spirit, the tragic +comicality of the whole struggle, sapped all energy. Not for thousands +of years did the Second Men achieve once more a world-community. But +they had learnt their lesson. + +The third and most enduring civilization of the Second Men repeated the +glorified medievalism of the first, and passed beyond it into a phase of +brilliant natural science. Chemical fertilizers increased the crops, and +therefore the world-population. Wind- and water-power was converted into +electricity to supplement human and animal labour. At length, after many +failures, it became possible to use volcanic and subterranean energy to +drive dynamos. In a few years the whole physical character of +civilization was transformed. Yet in this headlong passage into +industrialism the Second Men escaped the errors of ancient Europe, +America, and Patagonia. This was due partly to their greater gift of +sympathy, which, save during the one great aberration of the religious +war, made them all in a very vivid manner members one of another. But +partly also it was due to their combination of a practical commonsense +that was more than British, with a more than Russian immunity from the +glamour of wealth, and a passion for the life of the mind that even +Greece had never known. Mining and manufacture, even with plentiful +electric power, were occupations scarcely less arduous than of old; but +since each individual was implicated by vivid sympathy in the lives of +all persons within his ken, there was little or no obsession with +private economic power. The will to avoid industrial evils was +effective, because sincere. + +At its height, the culture of the Second Men was dominated by respect +for the individual human personality. Yet contemporary individuals were +regarded both as end and as means, as a stage towards far ampler +individuals in the remote future. For, although they themselves were +more long-lived than their predecessors, the Second Men were oppressed +by the brevity of human life, and the pettiness of the individual’s +achievement in comparison with the infinity round about him which +awaited apprehension and admiration. Therefore they were determined to +produce a race endowed with much greater natural longevity. Again, +though they participated in one another far more than their +predecessors, they themselves were dogged by despair at the distortion +and error which spoiled every mind’s apprehension of others. Like their +predecessors, they had passed through all the more naïve phases of +self-consciousness and other-consciousness, and through idealizations of +various modes of personality. They had admired the barbarian hero, the +romantical, the sensitive-subtle, the bluff and hearty, the decadent, +the bland, the severe. And they had concluded that each person, while +being himself an expression of some one mode of personality, should seek +to be also sensitive to every other mode. They even conceived that the +ideal community should be knit into one mind by each unique individual’s +direct telepathic apprehension of the experience of all his fellows. And +the fact that this ideal seemed utterly unattainable wove through their +whole culture a thread of darkness, a yearning for spiritual union, a +horror of loneliness, which never seriously troubled their far more +insulated predecessors. + +This craving for union influenced the sexual life of the species. In the +first place, so closely was the mental related to the physiological in +their composition, that when there was no true union of minds, the +sexual act failed to give conception. Casual sexual relations thus came +to be regarded very differently from those which expressed a deeper +intimacy. They were treated as a delightful embroidery on life, +affording opportunity of much elegance, light-hearted tenderness, +banter, and of course physical inebriation; but they were deemed to +signify nothing more than the delight of friend in friend. Where there +was a marriage of minds, but then only during the actual passion of +communion, sexual intercourse almost always resulted in conception. +Under these circumstances, intimate persons had often to practise +contraception, but acquaintances never. And one of the most beneficial +inventions of the psychologists was a technique of auto-suggestion, +which, at will, either facilitated conception, or prevented it, surely, +harmlessly, and without inaesthetic accompaniments. + +The sexual morality of the Second Men passed through all the phases +known to the First Men; but by the time that they had established a +single world-culture it had a form not known before. Not only were both +men and women encouraged to have as much casual sexual intercourse as +they needed for their enrichment, but also, on the higher plane of +spiritual union, strict monogamy was deprecated. For in sexual union of +this higher kind they saw a symbol of that communion of minds which they +longed to make universal. Thus the most precious gift that a lover could +bring to the beloved was not virginity but sexual experience. The union, +it was felt, was the more pregnant the more each party could contribute +from previous sexual and spiritual intimacy with others. Yet, though as +a principle monogamy was not applauded, the higher kind of union would +in practice sometimes result in a life-long partnership. But since the +average life was so much longer than among the First Men, such +fortuitously perennial unions were often deliberately interrupted for a +while, by a change of partners, and then restored with their vitality +renewed. Sometimes, on the other hand, a group of persons of both sexes +would maintain a composite and permanent marriage together. Sometimes +such a group would exchange a member, or members, with another group, or +disperse itself completely among other groups, to come together again +years afterwards with enriched experience. In one form or another, this +‘marriage of groups’ was much prized, as an extension of the vivid +sexual participation into an ampler sphere. Among the First Men the +brevity of life made these novel forms of union impossible; for +obviously no sexual, and no spiritual, relation can be developed with +any richness in less than thirty years of close intimacy. It would be +interesting to examine the social institutions of the Second Men at +their zenith; but we have not time to spare for this subject, nor even +for the brilliant intellectual achievements in which the species so far +outstripped its predecessor. Obviously any account of the natural +science and the philosophy of the Second Men would be unintelligible to +readers of this book. Suffice it that they avoided the errors which had +led the First Men into false abstraction, and into metaphysical theories +which were at once sophisticated and naïve. + +Not until after they had passed beyond the best work of the First Men in +science and philosophy did the Second Men discover the remains of the +great stone library in Siberia. A party of engineers happened upon it +while they were preparing to sink a shaft for subterranean energy. The +tablets were broken, disordered, weathered. Little by little, however, +they were reconstructed and interpreted, with the aid of the pictorial +dictionary. The finds were of extreme interest to the Second Men, but +not in the manner which the Siberian party had intended, not as a store +of scientific and philosophic truth, but as a vivid historical document. +The view of the universe which the tablets recorded was both too naïve +and too artificial; but the insight which they afforded into the mind of +the earlier species was invaluable. So little of the old world had +survived the volcanic epoch that the Second Men had failed hitherto to +get a clear picture of their predecessors. + +One item alone in this archaeological treasure had more than historical +interest. The biologist leader of the little party in Siberia had +recorded much of the sacred text of the Life of the Divine Boy. At the +end of the record came the prophet’s last words, which had so baffled +Patagonia. This theme was full of meaning for the Second Men, as indeed +it would have been even for the First Men in their prime. But whereas +for the First Men the dispassionate ecstasy which the Boy had preached +was rather an ideal than a fact of experience, the Second Men recognized +in the prophet’s words an intuition familiar to themselves. Long ago the +tortured geniuses of the Yang-tze cities had expressed this same +intuition. Subsequently also it had often been experienced by the more +healthy generations, but always with a certain shame. For it had become +associated with morbid mentality. But now with growing conviction that +it was wholesome, the Second Men had begun to grope for a wholesome +expression of it. In the life and the last words of the remote apostle +of youth they found an expression which was not wholly inadequate. The +species was presently to be in sore need of this gospel. + +The world-community reached at length a certain relative perfection and +equilibrium. There was a long summer of social harmony, prosperity, and +cultural embellishment. Almost all that could be done by mind in the +stage to which it had then reached seemed to have been done. Generations +of long-lived, eager, and mutually delightful beings succeeded one +another. There was a widespread feeling that the time had come for man +to gather all his strength for a flight into some new sphere of +mentality. The present type of human being, it was recognized, was but a +rough and incoherent natural product. It was time for man to take +control of himself and remake himself upon a nobler pattern. With this +end in view, two great works were set afoot, research into the ideal of +human nature, and research into practical means of remaking human +nature. Individuals in all lands, living their private lives, delighting +in each other, keeping the tissue of society alive and vigorous, were +deeply moved by the thought that their world-community was at last +engaged upon this heroic task. + +But elsewhere in the solar system life of a very different kind was +seeking, in its own strange manner, ends incomprehensible to man, yet at +bottom identical with his own ends. And presently the two were to come +together, not in cooperation. + + + + + VIII _The Martians_ + + + 1. THE FIRST MARTIAN INVASION + +Upon the foothills of the new and titanic mountains that were once the +Hindu Kush, were many holiday centres, whence the young men and women of +Asia were wont to seek Alpine dangers and hardships for their souls’ +refreshment. It was in this district, and shortly after a summer dawn, +that the Martians were first seen by men. Early walkers noticed that the +sky had an unaccountably greenish tinge, and that the climbing sun, +though free from cloud, was wan. Observers were presently surprised to +see the green concentrate itself into a thousand tiny cloudlets, with +clear blue between. Field-glasses revealed within each fleck of green +some faint hint of a ruddy nucleus, and shifting strands of an infra-red +colour, which would have been invisible to the earlier human race. These +extraordinary specks of cloud were all of about the same size, the +largest of them appearing smaller than the moon’s disc; but in form they +varied greatly, and were seen to be changing their shapes more rapidly +than the natural cirrus which they slightly resembled. In fact, though +there was much that was cloud-like in their form and motion, there was +also something definite about them, both in their features and +behaviour, which suggested life. Indeed they were strongly reminiscent +of primitive amoeboid organisms seen through a microscope. + +The whole sky was strewn with them, here and there in concentrations of +unbroken green, elsewhere more sparsely. And they were observed to be +moving. A general drift of the whole celestial population was setting +toward one of the snowy peaks that dominated the landscape. Presently +the foremost individuals reached the mountain’s crest, and were seen to +be creeping down the rock-face with a very slow amoeboid action. + +Meanwhile a couple of aeroplanes, electrically driven, had climbed the +sky to investigate the strange phenomenon at close quarters. They passed +among the drifting cloudlets, and actually through many of them, without +hindrance, and almost without being obscured from view. + +On the mountain a vast swarm of the cloudlets was collecting, and +creeping down the precipices and snow-fields into a high glacier valley. +At a certain point, where the glacier dropped steeply to a lower level, +the advance guard slowed down and stopped, while hosts of their fellows +continued to pack in on them from behind. In half an hour the whole sky +was once more clear, save for normal clouds; but upon the glacier lay +what might almost have been an exceptionally dark solid-looking +thundercloud, save for its green tinge and seething motion. For some +minutes this strange object was seen to concentrate itself into a +somewhat smaller bulk and become darker. Then it moved forward again, +and passed over the cliffy end of the glacier into the pine-clad valley. +An intervening ridge now hid it from its first observers. + +Lower down the valley there was a village. Many of the inhabitants, when +they saw the mysterious dense fume advancing upon them, took to their +mechanical vehicles and fled; but some waited out of curiosity. They +were swallowed up in a murky olive-brown fog, shot here and there with +queer shimmering streaks of a ruddier tint. Presently there was complete +darkness. Artificial lights were blotted out almost at arm’s length. +Breathing became difficult. Throats and lungs were irritated. Every one +was seized with a violent attack of sneezing and coughing. The cloud +streamed through the village, and seemed to exercise irregular pressures +upon objects, not always in the general direction of movement but +sometimes in the opposite direction, as though it were getting a +purchase upon human bodies and walls, and actually elbowing its way +along. Within a few minutes the fog lightened; and presently it left the +village behind it, save for a few strands and whiffs of its smoke-like +substance, which had become entangled in side-streets and isolated. Very +soon, however, these seemed to get themselves clear and hurry to +overtake the main body. + +When the gasping villagers had somewhat recovered, they sent a radio +message to the little town lower down the valley, urging temporary +evacuation. The message was not broadcast, but transmitted on a slender +beam of rays. It so happened that the beam had to be directed through +the noxious matter itself. While the message was being given, the +cloud’s progress ceased, and its outlines became vague and ragged. +Fragments of it actually drifted away on the wind and dissipated +themselves. Almost as soon as the message was completed, the cloud began +to define itself again, and lay for a quarter of an hour at rest. A +dozen bold young men from the town now approached the dark mass out of +curiosity. No sooner did they come face to face with it, round a bend in +the valley, than the cloud rapidly contracted, till it was no bigger +than a house. Looking now something between a dense, opaque fume and an +actual jelly, it lay still until the party had ventured within a few +yards. Evidently their courage failed, for they were seen to turn. But +before they had retreated three paces, a long proboscis shot out of the +main mass with the speed of a chameleon’s tongue, and enveloped them. +Slowly it withdrew; but the young men had been gathered in with it. The +cloud, or jelly, churned itself violently for some seconds, then ejected +the bodies in a single chewed lump. + +The murderous thing now elbowed itself along the road towards the town, +leaned against the first house, crushed it, and proceeded to wander +hither and thither, pushing everything down before it, as though it were +a lava-stream. The inhabitants took to their heels, but several were +licked up and slaughtered. + +Powerful beam radiation was now poured into the cloud from all the +neighbouring installations. Its destructive activity slackened, and once +more it began to disintegrate and expand. Presently it streamed upwards +as a huge column of smoke; and, at a great altitude, it dissipated +itself again into a swarm of the original green cloudlets, noticeably +reduced in numbers. These again faded into a uniform greenish tinge, +which gradually vanished. + +Thus ended the first invasion of the Earth from Mars. + + + 2. LIFE ON MARS + +Our concern is with humanity, and with the Martians only in relation to +men. But in order to understand the tragic intercourse of the two +planets, it is necessary to glance at conditions on Mars, and conceive +something of those fantastically different yet fundamentally similar +beings, who were now seeking to possess man’s home. + +To describe the biology, psychology, and history of a whole world in a +few pages is as difficult as it would be to give the Martians themselves +in the same compass a true idea of man. Encyclopaedias, libraries, would +be needed in either case. Yet, somehow, I must contrive to suggest the +alien sufferings and delights, and the many aeons of struggle, which +went to the making of these strange non-human intelligences, in some +ways so inferior yet in others definitely superior to the human species +which they encountered. + +Mars was a world whose mass was about one-tenth that of the earth. +Gravity therefore had played a less tyrannical part in Martian than in +terrestrial history. The weakness of Martian gravity combined with the +paucity of the planet’s air envelope to make the general atmospheric +pressure far lighter than on earth. Oxygen was far less plentiful. Water +also was comparatively rare. There were no oceans or seas, but only +shallow lakes and marshes, many of which dried up in summer. The climate +of the planet was in general very dry, and yet very cold. Being without +cloud, it was perennially bright with the feeble rays of a distant sun. + +Earlier in the history of Mars, when there were more air, more water, +and a higher temperature from internal heat, life had appeared in the +coastal waters of the seas, and evolution had proceeded in much the same +manner as on earth. Primitive life was differentiated into the +fundamental animal and vegetable types. Multicellular structures +appeared, and specialized themselves in diverse manners to suit diverse +environments. A great variety of plant forms clothed the lands, often +with forests of gigantic and slender-stemmed plumes. Mollusc-like and +insect-like animals crept or swam, or shot themselves hither and thither +in fantastic jumps. Huge spidery creatures of a type not wholly unlike +crustaceans, or gigantic grasshoppers, bounded after their prey, and +developed a versatility and cunning which enabled them to dominate the +planet almost as, at a much later date, early man was to dominate the +terrestrial wild. + +But meanwhile a rapid loss of atmosphere, and especially of +water-vapour, was changing Martian conditions beyond the limits of +adaptability of this early fauna and flora. At the same time a very +different kind of vital organization was beginning to profit by the +change. On Mars, as on the Earth, life had arisen from one of many +‘subvital’ forms. The new type of life on Mars evolved from another of +these subvital kinds of molecular organization, one which had hitherto +failed to evolve at all, and had played an insignificant part, save +occasionally as a rare virus in the respiratory organs of animals. These +fundamental subvital units of organization were ultra-microscopic, and +indeed far smaller than the terrestrial bacteria, or even the +terrestrial viruses. They originally occurred in the marshy ponds, which +dried up every spring, and became depressions of baked mud and dust. +Certain of their species, borne into the air upon dust-particles, +developed an extremely dry habit of life. They maintained themselves by +absorbing chemicals from the wind-borne dust, and a very slight amount +of moisture from the air. Also they absorbed sunlight by a +photosynthesis almost identical with that of the plants. + +To this extent they were similar to the other living things, but they +had also certain capacities which the other stock had lost at the very +outset of its evolutionary career. Terrestrial organisms, and Martian +organisms of the terrestrial type, maintained themselves as vital +unities by means of nervous systems, or other forms of material contact +between parts. In the most developed forms, an immensely complicated +neural ‘telephone’ system connected every part of the body with a vast +central exchange, the brain. Thus on the earth a single organism was +without exception a continuous system of matter, which maintained a +certain constancy of form. But from the distinctively Martian subvital +unit there evolved at length a very different kind of complex organism, +in which material contact of parts was not necessary either to +coordination of behaviour or unity of consciousness. These ends were +achieved upon a very different physical basis. The ultra-microscopic +subvital members were sensitive to all kinds of ethereal vibrations, +directly sensitive, in a manner impossible to terrestrial life; and they +could also initiate vibrations. Upon this basis Martian life developed +at length the capacity of maintaining vital organization as a single +conscious individual without continuity of living matter. Thus the +typical Martian organism was a cloudlet, a group of free-moving members +dominated by a ‘group-mind’. But in one species individuality came to +inhere, for certain purposes, not in distinct cloudlets only, but in a +great fluid system of cloudlets. Such was the single-minded Martian host +which invaded the Earth. + +The Martian organism depended, so to speak, not on ‘telephone’ wires, +but on an immense crowd of mobile ‘wireless stations’, transmitting and +receiving different wave-lengths according to their function. The +radiation of a single unit was of course very feeble; but a great system +of units could maintain contact with its wandering parts over a +considerable distance. + +One other important characteristic distinguished the dominant form of +life on Mars. Just as a cell, in the terrestrial form of life, has often +the power of altering its shape (whence the whole mechanism of muscular +activity), so in the Martian form the free-floating ultra-microscopic +unit might be specialized for generating around itself a magnetic field, +and so either repelling or attracting its neighbours. Thus a system of +materially disconnected units had a certain cohesion. Its consistency +was something between a smoke-cloud and a very tenuous jelly. It had a +definite though ever-changing contour and resistant surface. By massed +mutual repulsions of its constituent units it could exercise pressure on +surrounding objects; and in its most concentrated form the Martian +cloud-jelly could bring to bear immense forces which could also be +controlled for very delicate manipulation. Magnetic forces were also +responsible for the mollusc-like motion of the cloud as a whole over the +ground, and again for the transport of lifeless material and living +units from region to region within the cloud. + +The magnetic field of repulsion and attraction generated by a subvital +unit was much more restricted than its field of ‘wireless’ +communication. Similarly with organized systems of units. Thus each of +the cloudlets which the Second Men saw in their sky was an independent +motor unit; but also it was in a kind of ‘telepathic’ communication with +all its fellows. Indeed in every public enterprise, such as the +terrestrial campaigns, almost perfect unity of consciousness was +maintained within the limits of a huge field of radiation. Yet only when +the whole population concentrated itself into a small and relatively +dense cloud-jelly, did it become a single magnetic motor unit. The +Martians, it should be noted, had three possible forms, or formations, +namely: first, an ‘open order’ of independent and very tenuous cloudlets +in ‘telepathic’ communication, and often in strict unity as a +group-mind; second, a more concentrated and less vulnerable corporate +cloud; and third, an extremely concentrated and formidable cloud-jelly. + +Save for these very remarkable characteristics, there was no really +fundamental difference between the distinctively Martian and the +distinctively terrestrial forms of life. The chemical basis of the +former was somewhat more complicated than that of the latter; and +selenium played a part in it, to which nothing corresponded in +terrestrial life. The Martian organism, moreover, was unique in that it +fulfilled within itself the functions of both animal and vegetable. But, +save for these peculiarities, the two types of life were biochemically +much the same. Both needed material from the ground, both needed +sunlight. Each lived in the chemical changes occurring in its own +‘flesh’. Each, of course, tended to maintain itself as an organic unity. +There was a certain difference, indeed, in respect of reproduction; for +the Martian subvital units retained the power of growth and subdivision. +Thus the birth of a Martian cloud arose from the subdivision of myriads +of units within the parent cloud, followed by their ejection as a new +individual. And, as the units were highly specialized for different +functions, representatives of many types had to pass into the new cloud. + +In the earliest stages of evolution on Mars the units had become +independent of each other as soon as they parted in reproduction. But +later the hitherto useless and rudimentary power of emitting radiation +was specialized, so that, after reproduction, free individuals came to +maintain radiant contact with one another, and to behave with +ever-increasing coordination. Still later, these organized groups +themselves maintained radiant contact with groups of their offspring, +thus constituting larger individuals with specialized members. With each +advance in complexity the sphere of radiant influence increased; until, +at the zenith of Martian evolution, the whole planet (save for the +remaining animal and vegetable representatives of the other and +unsuccessful kind of life) constituted sometimes a single biological and +psychological individual. But this occurred as a rule only in respect of +matters which concerned the species as a whole. At most times the +Martian individual was a cloudlet, such as those which first astonished +the Second Men. But in great public crises each cloudlet would suddenly +wake up to find himself the mind of the whole race, sensing through many +individuals, and interpreting his sensations in the light of the +experience of the whole race. + +The life which dominated Mars was thus something between an extremely +well-disciplined army of specialized units, and a body possessed by one +mind. Like an army, it could take any form without destroying its +organic unity. Like an army it was sometimes a crowd of free-wandering +units, yet at other times also it disposed itself in very special orders +to fulfil special functions. Like an army it was composed of free, +experiencing individuals who voluntarily submitted themselves to +discipline. On the other hand, unlike an army, it woke occasionally into +unified consciousness. + +The same fluctuation between individuality and multiplicity which +characterized the race as a whole, characterized also each of the +cloudlets themselves. Each was sometimes an individual, sometimes a +swarm of more primitive individuals. But while the race rather seldom +rose to full individuality, the cloudlets declined from it only in very +special circumstances. Each cloudlet was an organization of specialized +groups formed of minor specialized groups, which in turn were composed +of the fundamental specialized varieties of subvital units. Each +free-roving group of free-roving units constituted a special organ, +fulfilling some particular function in the whole. Thus some were +specialized for attraction and repulsion, some for chemical operations, +some for storing the sun’s energy, some for emitting radiation, some for +absorbing and storing water, some for special sensitivities, such as +awareness of mechanical pressure and vibration, or temperature changes, +or light rays. Others again were specialized to fulfil the function of +the brain of man; but in a peculiar manner. The whole volume of the +cloudlet vibrated with innumerable ‘wireless’ messages in very many +wave-lengths from the different ‘organs’. It was the function of the +‘brain’ units to receive, and correlate, and interpret these messages in +the light of past experience, and to initiate responses in the +wave-lengths appropriate to the organs concerned. + +All these subvital units, save a few types that were too highly +specialized, were capable of independent life as air-borne bacteria or +viruses. And whenever they lost touch with the radiation of the whole +system, they continued to live their own simple lives until they were +once more controlled. All were free-floating units, but normally they +were under the influence of the cloudlet’s system of electro-magnetic +fields, and were directed hither and thither for their special +functions. And under this influence some of them might be held rigidly +in position in relation to one another. Such was the case of the organs +of sight. In early stages of evolution, some of the units had +specialized for carrying minute globules of water. Later, much larger +droplets were carried, millions of units holding between them a still +microscopic globule of life’s most precious fluid. Ultimately this +function was turned to good account in vision. Aqueous lenses as large +as the eye of an ox were supported by a scaffolding of units; while, at +focal length from the lens, a rigid retina of units was held in +position. Thus the Martian could produce eyes of every variety whenever +he wanted them, and telescopes and microscopes too. This production and +manipulation of visual organs was of course largely subconscious, like +the focusing mechanism in man. But latterly the Martians had greatly +increased their conscious control of physiological processes; and it was +this achievement which facilitated their remarkable optical triumphs. + +One other physiological function we must note before considering the +Martian psychology. The fully evolved, but as yet uncivilized, Martian +had long ago ceased to depend for his chemicals on wind-borne volcanic +dust. Instead, he rested at night on the ground, like a knee-high mist +on terrestrial meadows, and projected specialized tubular groups of +units into the soil, like rootlets. Part of the day also had to be +occupied in this manner. Somewhat later this process was supplemented by +devouring the declining plant-life of the planet. But the final +civilized Martians had greatly improved their methods of exploiting the +ground and the sunlight, both by mechanical means and by artificial +specialization of their own organs. Even so, however, as their +activities increased, these vegetable functions became an ever more +serious problem for them. They practised agriculture; but only a very +small area of the arid planet could be induced to bear. It was +terrestrial water and terrestrial vegetation that finally determined +them to make the great voyage. + + + 3. THE MARTIAN MIND + +The Martian mind was of a very different type from the terrestrial, +different, yet at bottom identical. In so strange a body, the mind was +inevitably equipped with alien cravings, and alien manners of +apprehending its environment. And with so different a history, it was +confused by prejudices very unlike those of man. Yet it was none the +less mind, concerned in the last resort with the maintenance and +advancement of life, and the exercise of vital capacities. Fundamentally +the Martian was like all other living beings, in that he delighted in +the free working of his body and his mind. Yet superficially, he was as +unlike man in mind as in body. + +The most distinctive feature of the Martian, compared with man, was that +his individuality was both far more liable to disruption, and at the +same time immeasurably more capable of direct participation in the minds +of other individuals. The human mind in its solid body maintained its +unity and its dominance over its members in all normal circumstances. +Only in disease was man liable to mental or physical dissociation. On +the other hand, he was incapable of direct contact with other +individuals, and the emergence of a ‘super-mind’ in a group of +individuals was quite impossible. The Martian cloudlet, however, though +he fell to pieces physically, and also mentally, far more readily than a +man, might also at any moment wake up to be the intelligent mind of his +race, might begin to perceive with the sense-organs of all other +individuals, and experience thoughts and desires which were, so to +speak, the resultant of all individual thoughts and desires upon some +matter of general interest. But unfortunately, as I shall tell, the +common mind of the Martians never woke into any order of mentality +higher than that of the individual. + +These differences between the Martian and the human psyche entailed +characteristic advantages and disadvantages. The Martian, immune from +man’s inveterate selfishness and spiritual isolation from his fellows, +lacked the mental coherence, the concentrated attention and far-reaching +analysis and synthesis, and again the vivid self-consciousness and +relentless self-criticism, which even the First Men, at their best, had +attained in some degree, and which in the Second Men were still more +developed. The Martians, moreover, were hampered by being almost +identical in character. They possessed perfect harmony; but only through +being almost wholly in temperamental unison. They were all hobbled by +their sameness to one another. They were without that rich diversity of +personal character, which enabled the human spirit to cover so wide a +field of mentality. This infinite variety of human nature entailed, +indeed, endless wasteful and cruel personal conflicts in the first, and +even to some extent in the second, species of man; but also it enabled +every individual of developed sympathy to enrich his spirit by +intercourse with individuals whose temperament, thought, and ideals +differed from his own. And while the Martians were little troubled by +internecine strife and the passion of hate, they were also almost wholly +devoid of the passion of love. The Martians individual could admire, and +be utterly faithful to, the object of his loyalty; but his admiration +was given, not to concrete and uniquely charactered persons of the same +order as himself, but at best to the vaguely conceived ‘spirit of the +race’. Individuals like himself he regarded merely as instruments or +organs of the ‘super-mind’. + +This would not have been amiss, had the mind of the race, into which he +so frequently awoke under the influence of the general radiation, been +indeed a mind of higher rank than his own. But it was not. It was but a +pooling of the percipience and thought and will of the cloudlets. Thus +it was that the superb loyalty of the Martians was squandered upon +something which was not greater than themselves in mental calibre, but +only in mere bulk. + +The Martian cloudlet, like the human animal, had a complex instinctive +nature. By night and day, respectively, he was impelled to perform the +vegetative functions of absorbing chemicals from the ground and energy +from the sunlight. Air and water he also craved, though he dealt with +them, of course, in his own manner. He had also his own characteristic +instinctive impulses to move his ‘body’, both for locomotion and +manipulation. Martian civilization provided an outlet for these +cravings, both in the practice of agriculture and in intricate and +wonderfully beautiful cloud-dances and gymnastics. For these perfectly +supple beings rejoiced in executing aerial evolutions, flinging out wild +rhythmical streamers, intertwining with one another in spirals, +concentrating into opaque spheres, cubes, cones, and all sorts of +fantastical volumes. Many of these movements and shapes had intense +emotional significance for them in relation to the operations of their +life, and were executed with a religious fervour and solemnity. + +The Martian had also his impulses of fear and pugnacity. In the remote +past these had often been directed against hostile members of his own +species; but since the race had become unified, they found exercise only +upon other types of life and upon inanimate nature. Instinctive +gregariousness was, of course, extremely developed in the Martian at the +expense of instinctive self-assertion. Sexuality the Martian had not; +there were not partners in reproduction. But his impulse to merge +physically and mentally with other individuals, and wake up as the +super-mind, had in it much that was characteristic of sex in man. +Parental impulses, of a kind, he knew; but they were scarcely worthy of +the name. He cared only to eject excessive living matter from his +system, and to keep _en rapport_ with the new individual thus formed, as +he would with any other individual. He knew no more of the human +devotion to children as budding personalities than of the subtle +intercourse of male and female temperaments. By the time of the first +invasion, however, reproduction had been greatly restricted; for the +planet was fully populated, and each individual cloudlet was potentially +immortal. Among the Martians there was no ‘natural death’, no +spontaneous death through mere senility. Normally the cloudlet’s members +kept themselves in repair indefinitely by the reproduction of their +constituent units. Diseases, indeed, were often fatal. And chief among +them was a plague, corresponding to terrestrial cancer, in which the +subvital units lost their sensitivity to radiation, so that they +proceeded to live as primitive organisms and reproduce without +restraint. As they also became parasitic on the unaffected units, the +cloudlet inevitably died. + +Like the higher kinds of terrestrial mammal, the Martians had strong +impulses of curiosity. Having also many practical needs to fulfil as a +result of their civilization, and being extremely well equipped by +nature for physical experiment and microscopy, they had gone far in the +natural sciences. In physics, astronomy, chemistry, and even in the +chemistry of life, man had nothing to teach them. + +The vast corpus of Martian knowledge had taken many thousands of years +to grow. All its stages, and its current achievements, were recorded on +immense scrolls of paper made from vegetable pulp, and stored in +libraries of stone. For the Martians, curiously enough, had become great +masons, and had covered much of their planet with buildings of feathery +and toppling design, such as would have been quite impossible on earth. +They had no need of buildings for habitation, save in the arctic +regions; but as workshops, granaries, and store rooms of all sorts, +buildings had become very necessary to the Martians. Moreover these +extremely tenuous creatures took a peculiar joy in manipulating solids. +Even their most utilitarian architecture blossomed with a sort of gothic +or arabesque ornateness and fantasy, wherein the ethereal seemed to +torture the substance of solid rock into its own likeness. + +At the time of the invasion, the Martians were still advancing +intellectually; and, indeed, it was through an achievement in +theoretical physics that they were able to leave their planet. They had +long known that minute particles at the upper limit of the atmosphere +might be borne into space by the pressure of the sun’s rays at dawn and +sunset. And at length they discovered how to use this pressure as the +wind is used in sailing. Dissipating themselves into their +ultra-microscopic units, they contrived to get a purchase on the +gravitational fields of the solar system, as a boat’s keel and rudder +get a purchase on the water. Thus they were able to tack across to the +earth as an armada of ultra-microscopic vessels. Arrived in the +terrestrial sky, they re-formed themselves as cloudlets, swam through +the dense air to the alpine summit, and climbed downwards, as a swimmer +may climb down a ladder under water. + +This achievement involved very intricate calculations and chemical +inventions, especially for the preservation of life in transit and on an +alien planet. It could never have been done save by beings with +far-reaching and accurate knowledge of the physical world. But though in +respect of ‘natural knowledge’ the Martians were so well advanced, they +were extremely backward in all those spheres which may be called +‘spiritual knowledge’. They had little understanding of their own +mentality, and less of the place of mind in the cosmos. Though in a +sense a highly intelligent species, they were at the same time wholly +lacking in philosophical interest. They scarcely conceived, still less +tackled, the problems which even the First Men had faced so often, +though so vainly. For the Martians there was no mystery in the +distinction between reality and appearance or in the relation of the one +and the many, or in the status of good and evil. Nor were they ever +critical of their own ideals. They aimed whole-heartedly at the +advancement of the Martian super-individual. But what should constitute +individuality, and its advancement, they never seriously considered. And +the idea that they were under obligation also towards beings not +included in the Martian system of radiation, proved wholly beyond them. +For, though so clever, they were the most naïve of self-deceivers, and +had no insight to see what it is that is truly desirable. + + + 4. DELUSIONS OF THE MARTIANS + +To understand how the Martians tricked themselves, and how they were +finally undone by their own insane will, we must glance at their +history. + +The civilized Martians constituted the sole remaining variety of a +species. That species itself, in the remote past, had competed with, and +exterminated, many other species of the same general type. Aided by the +changing climate, it had also exterminated almost all the species of the +more terrestrial kind of fauna, and had thereby much reduced the +vegetation which it was subsequently to need and foster so carefully. +This victory of the species had been due partly to its versatility and +intelligence, partly to a remarkable zest in ferocity, partly to its +unique powers of radiation and sensitivity to radiation, which enabled +it to act with a coordination impossible even to the most gregarious of +animals. But, as with other species in biological history, the capacity +by which it triumphed became at length a source of weakness. When the +species reached a stage corresponding to primitive human culture, one of +its races, achieving a still higher degree of radiant intercourse and +physical unity, was able to behave as a single vital unit; and so it +succeeded in exterminating all its rivals. Racial conflict had persisted +for many thousands of years, but as soon as the favoured race had +developed this almost absolute solidarity of will, its victory was +sweeping, and was clinched by joyous massacre of the enemy. + +But ever afterwards the Martians suffered from the psychological effects +of their victory at the close of the epoch of racial wars. The extreme +brutality with which the other races had been exterminated conflicted +with the generous impulses which civilization had begun to foster, and +left a scar upon the conscience of the victors. In self-defence they +persuaded themselves that since they were so much more admirable than +the rest, the extermination was actually a sacred duty. And their unique +value, they said, consisted in their unique radiational development. +Hence arose a gravely insincere tradition and culture, which finally +ruined the species. They had long believed that the physical basis of +consciousness must necessarily be a system of units directly sensitive +to ethereal vibrations, and that organisms dependent on the physical +contact of their parts were too gross to have any experience whatever. +After the age of the racial massacres they sought to persuade themselves +that the excellence, or ethical worth, of any organism depended upon the +degree of complexity and unity of its radiation. Century by century they +strengthened their faith in this vulgar doctrine, and developed also a +system of quite irrational delusions and obsessions based upon an +obsessive and passionate lust in radiation. + +It would take too long to tell of all these subsidiary fantasies, and of +the ingenious ways in which they were reconciled with the main body of +sane knowledge. But one at least must be mentioned, because of the part +it played in the struggle with man. The Martians knew, of course, that +‘solid matter’ was solid by virtue of the interlocking of the minute +electro-magnetic systems called atoms. Now rigidity had for them +somewhat the same significance and prestige that air, breath, spirit, +had for early man. It was in the quasi-solid form that Martians were +physically most potent; and the maintenance of this form was exhausting +and difficult. These facts combined in the Martian consciousness with +the knowledge that rigidity was after all the outcome of interlocked +electro-magnetic systems. Rigidity was thus endowed with a peculiar +sanctity. The superstition was gradually consolidated, by a series of +psychological accidents, into a fanatical admiration of all very rigid +materials, but especially of hard crystals, and above all of diamonds. +For diamonds were extravagantly resistant; and at the same time, as the +Martians themselves put it, diamonds were superb jugglers with the +ethereal radiation called light. Every diamond was therefore a supreme +embodiment of the tense energy and eternal equilibrium of the cosmos, +and must be treated with reverence. In Mars, all known diamonds were +exposed to sunlight on the pinnacles of sacred buildings; and the +thought that on the neighbour planet might be diamonds which were not +properly treated, was one motive of the invasion. + +Thus did the Martian mind, unwittingly side-tracked from its true +development, fall sick, and strive ever more fanatically towards mere +phantoms of its goal. In the early stages of the disorder, radiation was +merely regarded as an infallible _sign_ of mentality, and radiative +complexity was taken as an infallible _measure_, merely, of spiritual +worth. But little by little, radiation and mentality failed to be +distinguished, and radiative organization was actually mistaken for +spiritual worth. + +In this obsession the Martians resembled somewhat the First Men during +their degenerate phase of servitude to the idea of movement; but with a +difference. For the Martian intelligence was still active, though its +products were severely censored in the name of the ‘spirit of the race’. +Every Martian was a case of dual personality. Not merely was he +sometimes a private consciousness, sometimes the consciousness of the +race, but further, even as a private individual he was in a manner +divided against himself. Though his practical allegiance to the +super-individual was absolute, so that he condemned or ignored all +thoughts and impulses that could not be assimilated to the public +consciousness, he did in fact have such thoughts and impulses, as it +were in the deepest recesses of his being. He very seldom noticed that +he was having them, and whenever he did notice it, he was shocked and +terrified; yet he did have them. They constituted an intermittent, +sometimes almost a continuous, critical commentary on all his more +reputable experience. + +This was the great tragedy of the spirit on Mars. The Martians were in +many ways extremely well equipped for mental progress and for true +spiritual adventure, but through a trick of fortune which had persuaded +them to prize above all else unity and uniformity, they were driven to +thwart their own struggling spirits at every turn. + +Far from being superior to the private mind, the public mind which +obsessed every Martian was in many ways actually inferior. It had come +into dominance in a crisis which demanded severe military coordination; +and though, since that remote age, it had made great intellectual +progress, it remained at heart a military mind. Its disposition was +something between that of a field-marshal and the God of the ancient +Hebrews. A certain English philosopher once described and praised the +fictitious corporate personality of the state, and named it ‘Leviathan’. +The Martian super-individual was Leviathan endowed with consciousness. +In this consciousness there was nothing but what was easily assimilated +and in accord with tradition. Thus the public mind was always +intellectually and culturally behind the times. Only in respect of +practical social organization did it keep abreast of its own +individuals. Intellectual progress had always been initiated by private +individuals, and had only penetrated the public mind when the mass of +individuals had been privately infected by intercourse with the +pioneers. The public consciousness itself initiated progress only in the +sphere of social, military, and economic organization. + +The novel circumstances which were encountered on the earth put the +mentality of the Martians to a supreme test. For the unique enterprise +of tackling a new world demanded the extremes of both public and private +activity, and so led to agonizing conflicts within each private mind. +For, while the undertaking was essentially social and even military, and +necessitated very strict coordination and unity of action, the extreme +novelty of the new environment demanded all the resources of the +untrammelled private consciousness. Moreover the Martians encountered +much on the earth which made nonsense of their fundamental assumptions. +And in their brightest moment of private consciousness they sometimes +recognized this fact. + + + + + IX _Earth and Mars_ + + + 1. THE SECOND MEN AT BAY + +Such were the beings that invaded the earth when the Second Men were +gathering their strength for a great venture in artificial evolution. +The motives of the invasion were both economic and religious. The +Martians sought water and vegetable matter; but they came also in a +crusading spirit, to ‘liberate’ the terrestrial diamonds. + +Conditions on the earth were very unfavourable to the invaders. +Excessive gravitation troubled them less than might have been expected. +Only in their most concentrated form did they find it oppressive. More +harmful was the density of the terrestrial atmosphere, which constricted +the tenuous animate cloudlets very painfully, hindering their vital +processes, and deadening all their movements. In their native atmosphere +they swam hither and thither with ease and considerable speed; but the +treacly air of the earth hampered them as a bird’s wings are hampered +under water. Moreover, owing to their extreme buoyancy as individual +cloudlets, they were scarcely able to dive down so far as the +mountain-tops. Excessive oxygen was also a source of distress; it tended +to put them into a violent fever, which they had only been able to guard +against very imperfectly. Even more damaging was the excessive moisture +of the atmosphere, both through its solvent effect upon certain factors +in the subvital units, and because heavy rain interfered with the +physiological processes of the cloudlets and washed many of their +materials to the ground. + +The invaders had also to cope with the tissue of ‘radio’ messages that +constantly enveloped the planet, and tended to interfere with their own +organic systems of radiation. They were prepared for this to some +extent; but ‘beam wireless’ at close range surprised, bewildered, +tortured, and finally routed them; so that they fled back to Mars, +leaving many of their number disintegrated in the terrestrial air. + +But the pioneering army (or individual, for throughout the adventure it +maintained unity of consciousness) had much to report at home. As was +expected, there was rich vegetation, and water was even too abundant. +There were solid animals, of the type of the prehistoric Martian fauna, +but mostly two-legged and erect. Experiment had shown that these +creatures died when they were pulled to pieces, and that though the +sun’s rays affected them by setting up chemical action in their visual +organs, they had no really direct sensitivity to radiation. Obviously, +therefore, they must be unconscious. On the other hand, the terrestrial +atmosphere was permanently alive with radiation of a violent and +incoherent type. It was still uncertain whether these crude ethereal +agitations were natural phenomena, mere careless offshoots of the cosmic +mind, or whether they were emitted by a terrestrial organism. There was +reason to suppose this last to be the case, and that the solid organisms +were used by some hidden terrestrial intelligence as instruments; for +there were buildings, and many of the bipeds were found within the +buildings. Moreover, the sudden violent concentration of beam radiation +upon the Martian cloud suggested purposeful and hostile behaviour. +Punitive action had therefore been taken, and many buildings and bipeds +had been destroyed. The physical basis of such a terrestrial +intelligence was still to be discovered. It was certainly not in the +terrestrial clouds, for these had turned out to be insensitive to +radiation. Anyhow, it was obviously an intelligence of very low order, +for its radiation was scarcely at all systematic, and was indeed +excessively crude. One or two unfortunate diamonds had been found in a +building. There was no sign that they were properly venerated. + +The Terrestrials, on their side, were left in complete bewilderment by +the extraordinary events of that day. Some had jokingly suggested that +since the strange substance had behaved in a manner obviously +vindictive, it must have been alive and conscious; but no one took the +suggestion seriously. Clearly, however, the thing had been dissipated by +beam radiation. That at least was an important piece of practical +knowledge. But theoretical knowledge about the real nature of the +clouds, and their place in the order of the universe, was for the +present wholly lacking. To a race of strong cognitive interest and +splendid scientific achievement, this ignorance was violently +disturbing. It seemed to shake the foundations of the great structure of +knowledge. Many frankly hoped, in spite of the loss of life in the first +invasion, that there would soon be another opportunity for studying +these amazing objects, which were not quite gaseous and not quite solid, +not (apparently) organic, yet capable of behaving in a manner suggestive +of life. An opportunity was soon afforded. + +Some years after the first invasion, the Martians appeared again, and in +far greater force. This time, moreover, they were almost immune from +man’s offensive radiation. Operating simultaneously from all the alpine +regions of the earth, they began to dry up the great rivers at their +sources; and, venturing further afield, they spread over jungle and +agricultural land, and stripped off every leaf. Valley after valley was +devastated as though by endless swarms of locusts, so that in whole +countries there was not a green blade left. The booty was carried off to +Mars. Myriads of the subvital units, specialized for transport of water +and food materials, were loaded each with a few molecules of the +treasure, and dispatched to the home planet. The traffic continued +indefinitely. Meanwhile the main body of the Martians proceeded to +explore and loot. They were irresistible. For the absorption of water +and leafage, they spread over the countryside as an impalpable mist +which man had no means to dispel. For the destruction of civilization, +they became armies of gigantic cloud-jellies, far bigger than the brute +which had formed itself during the earlier invasion. Cities were knocked +down and flattened, human beings masticated into pulp. Man tried weapon +after weapon in vain. + +Presently the Martians discovered the sources of terrestrial radiation +in the innumerable wireless transmitting stations. Here at last was the +physical basis of the terrestrial intelligence! But what a lowly +creature! What a caricature of life! Obviously in respect of complexity +and delicacy of organization these wretched immobile systems of glass, +metal, and vegetable compounds were not to be compared with the Martian +cloud. Their only feat seemed to be that they had managed to get control +of the unconscious bipeds who tended them. + +In the course of their explorations the Martians also discovered a few +more diamonds. The second human species had outgrown the barbaric lust +for jewellery; but they recognized the beauty of gems and precious +metals, and used them as badges of office. Unfortunately, the Martians, +in sacking a town, came upon a woman who was wearing a large diamond +between her breasts; for she was mayor of the town, and in charge of the +evacuation. That the sacred stone should be used thus, apparently for +the mere identification of cattle, shocked the invaders even more than +the discovery of fragments of diamonds in certain cutting-instruments. +The war now began to be waged with all the heroism and brutality of a +crusade. Long after a rich booty of water and vegetable matter had been +secured, long after the Terrestrials had developed an effective means of +attack, and were slaughtering the Martian clouds with high-tension +electricity in the form of artificial lightning flashes, the misguided +fanatics stayed on to rescue the diamonds and carry them away to the +mountain-tops, where, years afterwards, climbers discovered them, +arranged along the rock-edges in glittering files, like sea-bird’s eggs. +Thither the dying remnant of the Martian host had transported them with +its last strength, scorning to save itself before the diamonds were +borne into the pure mountain air, to be lodged with dignity. When the +Second Men learned of this great hoard of diamonds, they began to be +seriously persuaded that they had been dealing, not with a freak of +physical nature, nor yet (as some said) with swarms of bacteria, but +with organisms of a higher order. For how could the jewels have been +singled out, freed from their metallic settings, and so carefully +regimented on the rocks, save by conscious purpose? The murderous clouds +must have had at least the pilfering mentality of jackdaws, since +evidently they had been fascinated by the treasure. But the very action +which revealed their consciousness suggested also that they were no more +intelligent than the merely instinctive animals. There was no +opportunity of correcting this error, since all the clouds had been +destroyed. + +The struggle had lasted only a few months. Its material effects on Man +were serious but not insurmountable. Its immediate psychological effect +was invigorating. The Second Men had long been accustomed to a security +and prosperity that were almost utopian. Suddenly they were overwhelmed +by a calamity which was quite unintelligible in terms of their own +systematic knowledge. Their predecessors, in such a situation, would +have behaved with their own characteristic vacillation between the human +and the subhuman. They would have contracted a fever of romantic +loyalty, and have performed many random acts of secretly self-regarding +self-sacrifice. They would have sought profit out of the public +disaster, and howled at all who were more fortunate than themselves. +They would have cursed their gods, and looked for more useful ones. But +also, in an incoherent manner, they would sometimes have behaved +reasonably, and would even have risen now and again to the standards of +the Second Men. Wholly unused to large-scale human bloodshed, these more +developed beings suffered an agony of pity for their mangled fellows. +But they said nothing about their pity, and scarcely noticed their own +generous grief; for they were busy with the work of rescue. Suddenly +confronted with the need of extreme loyalty and courage, they exulted in +complying, and experienced that added keenness of spirit which comes +when danger is well faced. But it did not occur to them that they were +bearing themselves heroically; for they thought they were merely +behaving reasonably, showing commonsense. And if any one failed in a +tight place, they did not call him coward, but gave him a drug to clear +his head; or, if that failed, they put him under a doctor. No doubt, +among the First Men such a policy would not have been justified, for +these bewildered beings had not the clear and commanding vision which +kept all sane members of the second species constant in loyalty. + +The immediate psychological effect of the disaster was that it afforded +this very noble race healthful exercise for its great reserves of +loyalty and heroism. Quite apart from this immediate invigoration, +however, the first agony, and those many others which were to follow, +influenced the Second Men for good and ill in a train of effects which +may be called spiritual. They had long known very well that the universe +was one in which there could be not only private but also great public +tragedies; and their philosophy did not seek to conceal this fact. +Private tragedy they were able to face with a bland fortitude, and even +an ecstasy of acceptance, such as the earlier species had but rarely +attained. Public tragedy, even world-tragedy, they declared should be +faced in the same spirit. But to know world-tragedy in the abstract, is +very different from the direct acquaintance with it. And now the Second +Men, even while they held their attention earnestly fixed upon the +practical work of defence, were determined to absorb this tragedy into +the very depths of their being, to scrutinize it fearlessly, savour it, +digest it, so that its fierce potency should henceforth be added to +them. Therefore they did not curse their gods, nor supplicate them. They +said to themselves, ‘Thus, and thus, and thus, is the world. Seeing the +depth we shall see also the height; and we shall praise both.’ + +But their schooling was yet scarcely begun. The Martian invaders were +all dead, but their subvital units were dispersed over the planet as a +virulent ultra-microscopic dust. For, though as members of the living +cloud they could enter the human body without doing permanent harm, now +that they were freed from their functions within the higher organic +system, they became a predatory virus. Breathed into man’s lungs, they +soon adapted themselves to the new environment, and threw his tissues +into disorder. Each cell that they entered overthrew its own +constitution, like a state which the enemy has successfully infected +with lethal propaganda through a mere handful of agents. Thus, though +man was temporarily victor over the Martian super-individual, his own +vital units were poisoned and destroyed by the subvital remains of his +dead enemy. A race whose physique had been as Utopian as its body +politic, was reduced to timid invalidity. And it was left in possession +of a devastated planet. The loss of water proved negligible; but the +destruction of vegetation in all the war areas produced for a while a +world famine such as the Second Men had never known. And the material +fabric of civilization had been so broken that many decades would have +to be spent in rebuilding it. + +But the physical damage proved far less serious than the physiological. +Earnest research discovered, indeed, a means of checking the infection; +and, after a few years of rigorous purging the atmosphere and man’s +flesh were clean once more. But the generations that had been stricken +never recovered; their tissues had been too seriously corroded. Little +by little, of course, there arose a fresh population of undamaged men +and women. But it was a small population; for the fertility of the +stricken had been much reduced. Thus the earth was now occupied by a +small number of healthy persons below middle-age and a very large number +of ageing invalids. For many years these cripples had contrived to carry +on the work of the world in spite of their frailty, but gradually they +began to fail both in endurance and competence. For they were rapidly +losing their grip on life, and sinking into a long-drawn-out senility, +from which the Second Men had never before suffered; and at the same +time the young, forced to take up work for which they were not equipped, +committed all manner of blunders and crudities of which their elders +would never have been guilty. But such was the general standard of +mentality in the second human species, that what might have been an +occasion for recrimination produced an unparalleled example of human +loyalty at its best. The stricken generations decided almost unanimously +that whenever an individual was declared by his generation to have +outlived his competence, he should commit suicide. The younger +generations, partly through affection, partly through dread of their own +incompetence, were at first earnestly opposed to this policy. ‘Our +elders’, one young man said, ‘may have declined in vigour, but they are +still beloved, and still wise. We dare not carry on without them.’ But +the elders maintained their point. Many members of the rising generation +were no longer juveniles. And, if the body politic was to survive the +economic crisis, it must now ruthlessly cut out all its damaged tissues. +Accordingly the decision was carried out. One by one, as occasion +demanded, the stricken ‘chose the peace of annihilation,’ leaving a +scanty, inexperienced, but vigorous, population to rebuild what had been +destroyed. + +Four centuries passed, and then again the Martian clouds appeared in the +sky. Once more devastation and slaughter. Once more a complete failure +of the two mentalities to conceive one another. Once more the Martians +were destroyed. Once more the pulmonary plague, the slow purging, a +crippled population, and generous suicide. + +Again, and again they appeared, at irregular intervals for fifty +thousand years. On each occasion the Martians came irresistibly +fortified against whatever weapon humanity had last used against them. +And so, by degrees, men began to recognize that the enemy was no merely +instinctive brute, but intelligent. They therefore made attempts to get +in touch with these alien minds, and make overtures for a peaceful +settlement. But since obviously the negotiations had to be performed by +human beings, and since the Martians always regarded human beings as the +mere cattle of the terrestrial intelligence, the envoys were always +either ignored or destroyed. + +During each invasion the Martians contrived to dispatch a considerable +bulk of water to Mars. And every time, not satisfied with this material +gain, they stayed too long crusading, until man had found a weapon to +circumvent their new defences; and then they were routed. After each +invasion man’s recovery was slower and less complete, while Mars, in +spite of the loss of a large proportion of its population, was in the +long run invigorated with the extra water. + + + 2. THE RUIN OF TWO WORLDS + +Rather more than fifty thousand years after their first appearance, the +Martians secured a permanent footing on the Antarctic tableland and +overran Australasia and South Africa. For many centuries they remained +in possession of a large part of the earth’s surface, practising a kind +of agriculture, studying terrestrial conditions, and spending much +energy on the ‘liberation’ of diamonds. + +During the considerable period before their settlement their mentality +had scarcely changed; but actual habitation of the earth now began to +undermine their self-complacency and their unity. It was borne in upon +certain exploring Martians that the terrestrial bipeds, though +insensitive to radiation, were actually the intelligences of the planet. +At first this fact was studiously shunned, but little by little it +gripped the attention of all terrestrial Martians. At the same time they +began to realize that the whole work of research into terrestrial +conditions, and even the social construction of their colony, depended, +not on the public mind, but on private individuals, acting in their +private capacity. The colonial super-individual inspired only the +diamond crusade, and the attempt to extirpate the terrestrial +intelligence, or radiation. These various novel acts of insight woke the +Martian colonists from an age-long dream. They saw that their revered +super-individual was scarcely more than the least common measure of +themselves, a bundle of atavistic fantasies and cravings, knit into one +mind and gifted with a certain practical cunning. A rapid and +bewildering spiritual renascence now came over the whole Martian colony. +The central doctrine of it was that what was valuable in the Martian +species was not radiation but mentality. These two utterly different +things had been confused, and even identified, since the dawn of Martian +civilization. At last they were clearly distinguished. A fumbling but +sincere study of mind now began; and distinction was even made between +the humbler and loftier mental activities. + +There is no telling whither this renascence might have led, had it run +its course. Possibly in time the Martians might have recognized worth +even in minds other than Martian minds. But such a leap was at first far +beyond them. Though they now understood that human animals were +conscious and intelligent, they regarded them with no sympathy, rather +indeed, with increased hostility. They still rendered allegiance to the +Martian race, or brotherhood, just because it was in a sense one flesh, +and, indeed, one mind. For they were concerned not to abolish but to +recreate the public mind of the colony, and even that of Mars itself. + +But the colonial public mind still largely dominated them in their more +somnolent periods, and actually sent some of those who, in their private +phases, were revolutionaries across to Mars for help against the +revolutionary movement. The home planet was quite untouched by the new +ideas. Its citizens cooperated whole-heartedly in an attempt to bring +the colonists to their senses. But in vain. The colonial public mind +itself changed its character as the centuries passed, until it became +seriously alienated from Martian orthodoxy. Presently, indeed, it began +to undergo a very strange and thorough metamorphosis, from which, +conceivably, it might have emerged as the noblest inhabitant of the +solar system. Little by little it fell into a kind of hypnotic trance. +That is to say, it ceased to possess the attention of its private +members, yet remained as a unity of their subconscious, or unnoticed +mentality. Radiational unity of the colony was maintained, but only in +this subconscious manner; and it was at that depth that the great +metamorphosis began to take place under the fertilizing influence of the +new ideas; which, so to speak, were generated in the tempest of the +fully conscious mental revolution, and kept on spreading down into the +oceanic depth of the subconsciousness. Such a condition was likely to +produce in time the emergence of a qualitatively new and finer +mentality, and to waken at last into a fully conscious super-individual +of higher order than its own members. But meanwhile this trance of the +public consciousness incapacitated the colony for that prompt and +coordinated action which had been the most successful faculty of Martian +life. The public mind of the home planet easily destroyed its disorderly +offspring, and set about re-colonizing the earth. + +Several times during the next three hundred thousand years this process +repeated itself. The changeless and terribly efficient super-individual +of Mars extirpated its own offspring on the earth, before it could +emerge from the chrysalis. And the tragedy might have been repeated +indefinitely, but for certain changes that took place in humanity. + +The first few centuries after the foundation of the Martian colony had +been spent in ceaseless war. But at last, with terribly reduced +resources, the Second Men had reconciled themselves to the fact that +they must live in the same world with their mysterious enemy. Moreover, +constant observation of the Martians began to restore somewhat man’s +shattered self-confidence. For during the fifty thousand years before +the Martian colony was founded his opinion of himself had been +undermined. He had formerly been used to regarding himself as the sun’s +ablest child. Then suddenly a stupendous new phenomenon had defeated his +intelligence. Slowly he had learned that he was at grips with a +determined and versatile rival, and that this rival hailed from a +despised planet. Slowly he had been forced to suspect that he himself +was outclassed, outshone, by a race whose very physique was +incomprehensible to man. But after the Martians had established a +permanent colony, human scientists began to discover the real +physiological nature of the Martian organism, and were comforted to find +that it did not make nonsense of human science. Man also learned that +the Martians, though very able in certain spheres, were not really of a +high mental type. These discoveries restored human self-confidence. Man +settled down to make the best of the situation. Impassable barriers of +high-power electric current were devised to keep the Martians out of +human territory, and men began patiently to rebuild their ruined homes +as best they could. At first there was little respite from the crusading +zeal of the Martians, but in the second millennium this began to abate, +and the two races left one another alone, save for occasional revivals +of Martian fervour. Human civilization was at last reconstructed and +consolidated, though upon a modest scale. Once more, though interrupted +now and again by decades of agony, human beings lived in peace and +relative prosperity. Life was somewhat harder than formerly, and the +physique of the race was definitely less reliable than of old; but men +and women still enjoyed conditions which most nations of the earlier +species would have envied. The age of ceaseless personal sacrifice in +service of the stricken community had ended at last. Once more a +wonderful diversity of untrammelled personalities was put forth. Once +more the minds of men and women were devoted without hindrance to the +joy of skilled work, and all the subtleties of personal intercourse. +Once more the passionate interest in one’s fellows, which had for so +long been hushed under the all-dominating public calamity, refreshed and +enlarged the mind. Once more there was music, sweet, and +backward-hearkening towards a golden past. Once more a wealth of +literature, and of the visual arts. Once more intellectual exploration +into the nature of the physical world and the potentiality of mind. And +once more the religious experience, which had for so long been coarsened +and obscured by all the violent distractions and inevitable +self-deceptions of war, seemed to be refining itself under the influence +of reawakened culture. + +In such circumstances the earlier and less sensitive human species might +well have prospered indefinitely. Not so the Second Men. For their very +refinement of sensibility made them incapable of shunning an +ever-present conviction that in spite of all their prosperity they were +undermined. Though superficially they seemed to be making a slow but +heroic recovery they were at the same time suffering from a still slower +and far more profound spiritual decline. Generation succeeded +generation. Society became almost perfected, within its limited +territory and its limitations of material wealth. The capacities of +personality were developed with extreme subtlety and richness. At last +the race proposed to itself once more its ancient project of remaking +human nature upon a loftier plane. But somehow it had no longer the +courage and self-respect for such work. And so, though there was much +talk, nothing was done. Epoch succeeded epoch, and everything human +remained apparently the same. Like a twig that has been broken but not +broken off, man settled down to retain his life and culture, but could +make no progress. + +It is almost impossible to describe in a few words the subtle malady of +the spirit that was undermining the Second Men. To say that they were +suffering from an inferiority complex, would not be wholly false, but it +would be a misleading vulgarization of the truth. To say that they had +lost faith, both in themselves and in the universe, would be almost as +inadequate. Crudely stated, their trouble was that, as a species, they +had attempted a certain spiritual feat beyond the scope of their +still-primitive nature. Spiritually they had over-reached themselves, +broken every muscle (so to speak) and incapacitated themselves for any +further effort. For they had determined to see their own racial tragedy +as a thing of beauty, and they had failed. It was the obscure sense of +this defeat that had poisoned them. For, being in many respects a very +noble species, they could not simply turn their backs upon their failure +and pursue the old way of life with the accustomed zest and +thoroughness. + +During the earliest Martian raids, the spiritual leaders of humanity had +preached that the disaster must be an occasion for a supreme religious +experience. While striving mightily to save their civilization, men must +yet (so it was said) learn not merely to endure, but to admire, even the +sternest issue. ‘Thus and thus is the world. Seeing the depth, we shall +see also the height, and praise both.’ The whole population had accepted +this advice. At first they had seemed to succeed. Many noble literary +expressions were given forth, which seemed to define and elaborate, and +even actually to create in men’s hearts, this supreme experience. But as +the centuries passed and the disasters were repeated, men began to fear +that their forefathers had deceived themselves. Those remote generations +had earnestly longed to feel the racial tragedy as a factor in the +cosmic beauty; and at last they had persuaded themselves that this +experience had actually befallen them. But their descendants were slowly +coming to suspect that no such experience had ever occurred, that it +would never occur to any man, and that there was in fact no such cosmic +beauty to be experienced. The First Men would probably, in such a +situation, have swung violently either into spiritual nihilism, or else +into some comforting religious myth. At any rate, they were of too +coarse-grained a nature to be ruined by a trouble so impalpable. Not so +the Second Men. For they realized all too clearly that they were faced +with the supreme crux of existence. And so, age after age the +generations clung desperately to the hope that, if only they could +endure a little longer, the light would break in on them. Even after the +Martian colony had been three times established and destroyed by the +orthodox race in Mars, the supreme preoccupation of the human species +was with this religious crux. But afterwards, and very gradually, they +lost heart. For it was borne in on them that either they themselves were +by nature too obtuse to perceive this ultimate excellence of things (an +excellence which they had strong reason to believe in intellectually, +although they could not actually experience it), or the human race had +utterly deceived itself, and the course of cosmic events after all was +not significant, but a meaningless rigmarole. + +It was this dilemma that poisoned them. Had they been still physically +in their prime, they might have found fortitude to accept it, and +proceed to the patient exfoliation of such very real excellences as they +were still capable of creating. But they had lost the vitality which +alone could perform such acts of spiritual abnegation. All the wealth of +personality, all the intricacies of personal relationship, all the +complex enterprise of a very great community, all art, all intellectual +research, had lost their savour. It is remarkable that a purely +religious disaster should have warped even the delight of lovers in one +another’s bodies, actually taken the flavour out of food, and drawn a +veil between the sunbather and the sun. But individuals of this species, +unlike their predecessors, were so closely integrated, that none of +their functions could remain healthy while the highest was disordered. +Moreover, the general slight failure of physique, which was the legacy +of age-long war, had resulted in a recurrence of those shattering brain +disorders which had dogged the earliest races of their species. The very +horror of the prospect of racial insanity increased their aberration +from reasonableness. Little by little, shocking perversions of desire +began to terrify them. Masochistic and sadistic orgies alternated with +phases of extravagant and ghastly revelry. Acts of treason against the +community, hitherto almost unknown, at last necessitated a strict police +system. Local groups organized predatory raids against one another. +Nations appeared, and all the phobias that make up nationalism. + +The Martian colonists, when they observed man’s disorganization, +prepared, at the instigation of the home planet, a very great offensive. +It so happened that at this time the colony was going through its phase +of enlightenment, which had always hitherto been followed sooner or +later by chastisement from Mars. Many individuals were at the moment +actually toying with the idea of seeking harmony with man, rather than +war. But the public mind of Mars, outraged by this treason, sought to +overwhelm it by instituting a new crusade. Man’s disunion offered a +great opportunity. + +The first attack produced a remarkable change in the human race. Their +madness seemed suddenly to leave them. Within a few weeks the national +governments had surrendered their sovereignty to a central authority. +Disorders, debauchery, perversions, wholly ceased. The treachery and +self-seeking and corruption, which had by now been customary for many +centuries, suddenly gave place to universal and perfect devotion to the +social cause. The species was apparently once more in its right mind. +Everywhere, in spite of the war’s horrors, there was gay brotherliness, +combined with a heroism, which clothed itself in an odd extravagance of +jocularity. + +The war went ill for man. The general mood changed to cold resolution. +And still victory was with the Martians. Under the influence of the huge +fanatical armies which were poured in from the home planet, the +colonists had shed their tentative pacifism, and sought to vindicate +their loyalty by ruthlessness. In reply the human race deserted its +sanity, and succumbed to an uncontrollable lust for destruction. It was +at this stage that a human bacteriologist announced that he had bred a +virus of peculiar deadliness and transmissibility, with which it would +be possible to infect the enemy, but at the cost of annihilating also +the human race. It is significant of the insane condition of the human +population at this time that, when these facts were announced and +broadcast, there was no discussion of the desirability of using this +weapon. It was immediately put in action, the whole human race +applauding. + +Within a few months the Martian colony had vanished, their home planet +itself had received the infection, and its population was already aware +that nothing could save it. Man’s constitution was tougher than that of +the animate clouds, and he appeared to be doomed to a somewhat more +lingering death. He made no effort to save himself, either from the +disease which he himself had propagated, or from the pulmonary plague +which was caused by the disintegrated substance of the dead Martian +colony. All the public processes of civilization began to fall to +pieces; for the community was paralysed by disillusion, and by the +expectation of death. Like a bee-hive that has no queen, the whole +population of the earth sank into apathy. Men and women stayed in their +homes, idling, eating whatever food they could procure, sleeping far +into the mornings, and, when at last they rose, listlessly avoiding one +another. Only the children could still be gay, and even they were +oppressed by their elders’ gloom. Meanwhile the disease was spreading. +Household after household was stricken, and was left unaided by its +neighbours. But the pain in each individual’s flesh was strangely numbed +by his more poignant distress in the spiritual defeat of the race. For +such was the high development of this species, that even physical agony +could not distract it from the racial failure. No one wanted to save +himself; and each knew that his neighbours desired not his aid. Only the +children, when the disease crippled them, were plunged into agony and +terror. Tenderly, yet listlessly, their elders would then give them the +last sleep. Meanwhile the unburied dead spread corruption among the +dying. Cities fell still and silent. The corn was not harvested. + + + 3. THE THIRD DARK AGE + +So contagious and so lethal was the new bacterium, that its authors +expected the human race to be wiped out as completely as the Martian +colony. Each dying remnant of humanity, isolated from its fellows by the +breakdown of communications, imagined its own last moments to be the +last of man. But by accident, almost one might say by miracle, a spark +of human life was once more preserved, to hand on the sacred fire. A +certain stock or strain of the race, promiscuously scattered throughout +the continents, proved less susceptible than the majority. And, as the +bacterium was less vigorous in a hot climate, a few of these favoured +individuals, who happened to be in the tropical jungle, recovered from +the infection. And of these few a minority recovered also from the +pulmonary plague which, as usual, was propagated from the dead Martians. + +It might have been expected that from this human germ a new civilized +community would have soon arisen. With such brilliant beings as the +Second Men, surely a few generations, or at the most a few thousand +years, should have sufficed to make up the lost ground. + +But no. Once more it was in a manner the very excellence of the species +that prevented its recovery, and flung the spirit of Earth into a trance +which lasted longer than the whole previous career of mammals. Again and +again, some thirty million times, the seasons were repeated; and +throughout this period man remained as fixed in bodily and mental +character as, formerly, the platypus. Members of the earlier human +species must find it difficult to understand this prolonged impotence of +a race far more developed than themselves. For here apparently were both +the requisites of progressive culture, namely a world rich and +unpossessed, and a race exceptionally able. Yet nothing was done. + +When the plagues, and all the immense consequent putrefactions, had +worked themselves off, the few isolated groups of human survivors +settled down to an increasingly indolent tropical life. The fruits of +past learning were not imparted to the young, who therefore grew up in +extreme ignorance of almost everything beyond their immediate +experience. At the same time the elder generation cowed their juniors +with vague suggestions of racial defeat and universal futility. This +would not have mattered, had the young themselves been normal; they +would have reacted with fervent optimism. But they themselves were now +by nature incapable of any enthusiasm. For, in a species in which the +lower functions were so strictly disciplined under the higher, the +long-drawn-out spiritual disaster had actually begun to take effect upon +the germ-plasm; so that individuals were doomed before birth to +lassitude, and to mentality in a minor key. The First Men, long ago, had +fallen into a kind of racial senility through a combination of vulgar +errors and indulgences. But the second species, like a boy whose mind +has been too soon burdened with grave experience, lived henceforth in a +sleep-walk. + +As the generations passed, all the lore of civilization was shed, save +the routine of tropical agriculture and hunting. Not that intelligence +itself had waned. Not that the race had sunk into mere savagery. +Lassitude did not prevent it from readjusting itself to suit its new +circumstances. These sleep-walkers soon invented convenient ways of +making, in the home and by hand, much that had hitherto been made in +factories and by mechanical power. Almost without mental effort they +designed and fashioned tolerable instruments out of wood and flint and +bone. But though still intelligent, they had become by disposition, +supine, indifferent. They would exert themselves only under the pressure +of urgent primitive need. No man seemed capable of putting forth the +full energy of a man. Even suffering had lost its poignancy. And no ends +seemed worth pursuing that could not be realized speedily. The sting had +gone out of experience. The soul was calloused against every goad. Men +and women worked and played, loved and suffered; but always in a kind of +rapt absent-mindedness. It was as though they were ever trying to +remember something important which escaped them. The affairs of daily +life seemed too trivial to be taken seriously. Yet that other, and +supremely important thing, which alone deserved consideration, was so +obscure that no one had any idea what it was. Nor indeed was anyone +aware of this hypnotic subjection, any more than a sleeper is aware of +being asleep. + +The minimum of necessary work was performed, and there was even a +certain dreamy zest in the performance, but nothing which would entail +extra toil ever seemed worth while. And so, when adjustment to the new +circumstances of the world had been achieved, complete stagnation set +in. Practical intelligence was easily able to cope with a slowly +changing environment, and even with sudden natural upheavals such as +floods, earthquakes, and disease epidemics. Man remained in a sense +master of his world, but he had no idea what to do with his mastery. It +was everywhere assumed that the sane end of living was to spend as many +days as possible in indolence, lying in the shade. Unfortunately human +beings had, of course, many needs which were irksome if not appeased, +and so a good deal of hard work had to be done. Hunger and thirst had to +be satisfied. Other individuals beside oneself had to be cared for, +since man was cursed with sympathy and with a sentiment for the welfare +of his group. The only fully rational behaviour, it was thought, would +be general suicide, but irrational impulses made this impossible. +Beatific drugs offered a temporary heaven. But, far as the Second Men +had fallen, they were still too clear-sighted to forget that such +beatitude is outweighed by subsequent misery. + +Century by century, epoch by epoch, man glided on in this seemingly +precarious, yet actually unshakable equilibrium. Nothing that happened +to him could disturb his easy dominance over the beasts and over +physical nature; nothing could shock him out of his racial sleep. +Long-drawn-out climatic changes made desert, jungle, and grass-land +fluctuate like the clouds. As the years advanced by millions, ordinary +geological processes, greatly accentuated by the immense strains set up +by the Patagonian upheaval, remodelled the surface of the planet. +Continents were submerged, or lifted out of the sea, till presently +there was little of the old configuration. And along with these +geological changes went changes in the fauna and flora. The bacterium +which had almost exterminated man had also wrought havoc amongst other +mammals. Once more the planet had to be re-stocked, this time from the +few surviving tropical species. Once more there was a great remaking of +old types, only less revolutionary than that which had followed the +Patagonian disaster. And since the human race remained minute, through +the effects of its spiritual fatigue, other species were favoured. +Especially the ruminants and the large carnivora increased and +diversified themselves into many habits and forms. + +But the most remarkable of all the biological trains of events in this +period was the history of the Martian subvital units that had been +disseminated by the slaughter of the Martian colony, and had then +tormented men and animals with pulmonary diseases. As the ages passed, +certain species of mammals so readjusted themselves that the Martian +virus became not only harmless but necessary to their well-being. A +relationship which was originally that of parasite and host became in +time a true symbiosis, a cooperative partnership, in which the +terrestrial animals gained something of the unique attributes of the +vanished Martian organisms. The time was to come when Man himself should +look with envy on these creatures, and finally make use of the Martian +‘virus’ for his own enrichment. + +But meanwhile, and for many million years, almost all kinds of life were +on the move, save Man. Like a ship-wrecked sailor, he lay exhausted and +asleep on his raft, long after the storm had abated. + +But his stagnation was not absolute. Imperceptibly, he was drifting on +the oceanic currents of life, and in a direction far out of his original +course. Little by little, his habit was becoming simpler, less +artificial, more animal. Agriculture faded out, since it was no longer +necessary in the luxuriant garden where man lived. Weapons of defence +and of the chase became more precisely adapted to their restricted +purposes, but at the same time less diversified and more stereotyped. +Speech almost vanished; for there was no novelty left in experience. +Familiar facts and familiar emotions were conveyed increasingly by +gestures which were mostly unwitting. Physically, the species had +changed little. Though the natural period of life was greatly reduced, +this was due less to physiological change than to a strange and fatal +increase of absent-mindedness in middle-age. The individual gradually +ceased to react to his environment; so that even if he escaped a violent +death, he died of starvation. + +Yet in spite of this great change, the species remained essentially +human. There was no bestialization, such as had formerly produced a race +of submen. These tranced remnants of the second human species were not +beasts but innocents, simples, children of nature, perfectly adjusted to +their simple life. In many ways their state was idyllic and enviable. +But such was their dimmed mentality that they were never clearly aware +even of the blessings they had, still less, of course, of the loftier +experiences which had kindled and tortured their ancestors. + + + + + X _The Third Men in the Wilderness_ + + + 1. THE THIRD HUMAN SPECIES + +We have now followed man’s career during some forty million years. The +whole period to be covered by this chronicle is about two thousand +million. In this chapter, and the next, therefore, we must accomplish a +swift flight at great altitude over a tract of time more than three +times as long as that which we have hitherto observed. This great +expanse is no desert, but a continent teeming with variegated life, and +many successive and very diverse civilizations. The myriads of human +beings who inhabit it far outnumber the First and Second Men combined. +And the content of each one of these lives is a universe, rich and +poignant as that of any reader of this book. + +In spite of the great diversity of this span of man’s history, it is a +single movement within the whole symphony, just as the careers of the +First and of the Second Men are each a single movement. Not only is it a +period dominated by a single natural human species and the artificial +human species into which the natural species at length transformed +itself; but, also, in spite of innumerable digressions, a single theme, +a single mood of the human will, informs the whole duration. For now at +last man’s main energy is devoted to remaking his own physical and +mental nature. Throughout the rise and fall of many successive cultures +this purpose is progressively clarifying itself, and expressing itself +in many tragic and even devastating experiments; until, towards the +close of this immense period, it seems almost to achieve its end. + +When the Second Men had remained in their strange racial trance for +about thirty million years, the obscure forces that make for advancement +began to stir in them once more. This reawakening was favoured by +geological accident. An incursion of the sea gradually isolated some of +their number in an island continent, which was once part of the North +Atlantic ocean-bed. The climate of this island gradually cooled from +sub-tropical to temperate and sub-arctic. The vast change of conditions +caused in the imprisoned race a subtle chemical re-arrangement of the +germ-plasm, such that there ensued an epidemic of biological variation. +Many new types appeared, but in the long run one, more vigorous and +better adapted than the rest, crowded out all competitors and slowly +consolidated itself as a new species, the Third Men. + +[Illustration: Time Scale 3] + +Scarcely more than half the stature of their predecessors, these beings +were proportionately slight and lithe. Their skin was of a sunny brown, +covered with a luminous halo of red-gold hairs, which on the head became +a russet mop. Their golden eyes, reminiscent of the snake, were more +enigmatic than profound. Their faces were compact as cat’s muzzles, +their lips full, but subtle at the corners. Their ears, objects of +personal pride and of sexual admiration, were extremely variable both in +individuals and races. These surprising organs, which would have seemed +merely ludicrous to the First Men, were expressive both of temperament +and passing mood. They were immense, delicately involuted, of a silken +texture, and very mobile. They gave an almost bat-like character to the +otherwise somewhat feline heads. But the most distinctive feature of the +Third Men was their great lean hands, on which were six versatile +fingers, six antennae of living steel. + +Unlike their predecessors, the Third Men were short-lived. They had a +brief childhood and a brief maturity, followed (in the natural course) +by a decade of senility, and death at about sixty. But such was their +abhorrence of decrepitude, that they seldom allowed themselves to grow +old. They preferred to kill themselves when their mental and physical +agility began to decline. Thus, save in exceptional epochs of their +history, very few lived to be fifty. + +But though in some respects the third human species fell short of the +high standard of its predecessor, especially in certain of the finer +mental capacities, it was by no means simply degenerate. The admirable +sensory equipment of the second species was retained, and even improved. +Vision was no less ample and precise and colourful. Touch was far more +discriminate, especially in the delicately pointed sixth finger-tip. +Hearing was so developed that a man could run through wooded country +blindfold without colliding with the trees. Moreover the great range of +sounds and rhythms had acquired an extremely subtle gamut of emotional +significance. Music was therefore one of the main preoccupations of the +civilizations of this species. + +Mentally the Third Men were indeed very unlike their predecessors. Their +intelligence was in some ways no less agile; but it was more cunning +than intellectual, more practical than theoretical. They were interested +more in the world of sense-experience than in the world of abstract +reason, and again far more in living things than in the lifeless. They +excelled in certain kinds of art, and indeed also in some fields of +science. But they were led into science more through practical, +aesthetic, or religious needs than through intellectual curiosity. In +mathematics, for instance (helped greatly by the duo-decimal system, +which resulted from their having twelve fingers), they became wonderful +calculators; yet they never had the curiosity to inquire into the +essential nature of number. Nor, in physics, were they ever led to +discover the more obscure properties of space. They were, indeed, +strangely devoid of curiosity. Hence, though sometimes capable of a +penetrating mystical intuition, they never seriously disciplined +themselves under philosophy, nor tried to relate their mystical +intuitions with the rest of their experience. + +In their primitive phases the Third Men were keen hunters; but also, +owing to their strong parental impulses, they were much addicted to +making pets of captured animals. Throughout their career they displayed +what earlier races would have called an uncanny sympathy with, and +understanding of, all kinds of animals and plants. This intuitive +insight into the nature of living things, and this untiring interest in +the diversity of vital behaviour, constituted the dominating impulse +throughout the whole career of the third human species. At the outset +they excelled not only as hunters but as herdsmen and domesticators. By +nature they were very apt in every kind of manipulation, but especially +in the manipulation of living things. As a species they were also +greatly addicted to play of all kinds, but especially to manipulative +play, and above all to the playful manipulation of organisms. From the +first they performed great feats of riding on the moose-like deer which +they had domesticated. They tamed also a certain gregarious coursing +beast. The pedigree of this great leonine wolf led, through the tropical +survivors of the Martian plague, back to those descendants of the arctic +fox which had over-run the world after the Patagonian disaster. This +animal the Third Men trained not only to help them in shepherding and in +the chase, but also to play intricate hunting games. Between this hound +and its master or mistress there frequently arose a very special +relation, a kind of psychical symbiosis, a dumb intuitive mutual +insight, a genuine love, based on economic cooperation, but strongly +toned also, in a manner peculiar to the third human species, with +religious symbolism and frankly sexual intimacy. + +As herdsmen and shepherds the Third Men very early practised selective +breeding; and increasingly they became absorbed in the perfecting and +enriching of all types of animals and plants. It was the boast of every +local chieftain not only that the men of his tribe were more manly and +the women more beautiful than all others, but also that the bears in his +territory were the noblest and most bear-like of all bears, that the +birds built more perfect nests and were more skilful fliers and singers +than birds elsewhere. And so on, through all the animal and vegetable +races. + +This biological control was achieved at first by simple breeding +experiments, but later and increasingly by crude physiological +manipulation of the young animal, the foetus and (later, still) the +germ-plasm. Hence arose a perennial conflict, which often caused wars of +a truly religious bitterness, between the tender-hearted, who shrank +from the infliction of pain, and the passionately manipulative, who +willed to create at whatever cost. This conflict, indeed, was waged not +only between individuals but within each mind; for all were innately +hunters and manipulators, but also all had intuitive sympathy even with +the quarry which they tormented. The trouble was increased by a strain +of sheer cruelty which occurred even in the most tender-hearted. This +sadism was at bottom an expression of an almost mystical reverence for +sensory experience. Physical pain, being the most intense of all sensed +qualities, was apt to be thought the most excellent. It might be +expected that this would lead rather to self-torture than to cruelty. +Sometimes it did. But in general those who could not appreciate pain in +their own flesh were yet able to persuade themselves that in inflicting +pain on lower animals they were creating vivid psychic reality, and +therefore high excellence. It was just the intense reality of pain, they +said, that made it intolerable to men and animals. Seen with the +detachment of the divine mind, it appeared in its true beauty. And even +man, they declared, could appreciate its excellence when it occurred not +in men but in animals. + +Though the Third Men lacked interest in systematic thought, their minds +were often concerned with matters outside the fields of private and +social economy. They experienced not only aesthetic but mystical +cravings. And though they were without any appreciation of those finer +beauties of human personality, which their predecessors had admired as +the highest attainment of life on the planet, the Third Men themselves, +in their own way, sought to make the best of human nature, and indeed of +animal nature. Man they regarded in two aspects. In the first place he +was the noblest of all animals, gifted with unique aptitudes. He was, as +was sometimes said, God’s chief work of art. But secondly, since his +special virtues were his insight into the nature of all living things +and his manipulative capacity, he was himself God’s eye and God’s hand. +These convictions were expressed over and over again in the religions of +the Third Men by the image of the deity as a composite animal, with +wings of the albatross, jaws of the great wolf-fox, feet of the deer, +and so on. For the human element was represented in this deity by the +hands, the eyes, and the sexual organs of man. And between the divine +hands lay the world, with all its diverse population. Often the world +was represented as being the fruit of God’s primitive potency, but also +as in process of being drastically altered and tortured into perfection +by the hands. + +Most of the cultures of the Third Men were dominated by this obscure +worship of Life as an all-pervading spirit, expressing itself in myriad +diverse individuals. And at the same time the intuitive loyalty to +living things and to a vaguely conceived life-force was often +complicated by sadism. For in the first place it was recognized, of +course, that what is valued by higher beings may be intolerable to +lower; and, as has been said, pain itself was thought to be a superior +excellence of this kind. And again in a second manner sadism expressed +itself. The worship of Life, as agent or subject, was complemented by +worship of environment, as object to life’s subjectivity, as that which +remains ever foreign to life, thwarting its enterprises, torturing it, +yet making it possible, and, by its very resistance, goading it into +nobler expressions. Pain, it was said, was the most vivid apprehension +of the sacred and universal Object. + +The thought of the third human species was never systematic. But in some +such manner as the foregoing it strove to rationalize its obscure +intuition of the beauty which includes at once Life’s victory and +defeat. + + + 2. DIGRESSIONS OF THE THIRD MEN + +Such, in brief, was the physical and mental nature of the third human +species. In spite of innumerable distractions, the spirit of the Third +Men kept on returning to follow up the thread of biological interest +through a thousand variegated cultures. Again and again folk after folk +would clamber out of savagery and barbarism into relative enlightenment; +and mostly, though not always, the main theme of this enlightenment was +some special mood either of biological creativeness or of sadism, or of +both. To a man born into such a society, no dominant characteristic +would be apparent. He would be impressed rather by the many-sidedness of +human activities in his time. He would note a wealth of personal +intercourse, of social organization and industrial invention, of art and +speculation, all set in that universal matrix, the private struggle to +preserve or express the self. Yet the historian may often see in a +society, over and above this multifarious proliferation, some one +controlling theme. + +Again and again, then, at intervals of a few thousand or a few hundred +thousand years, man’s whim was imposed upon the fauna and flora of the +earth, and at length directed to the task of remaking man himself. Again +and again, through a diversity of causes, the effort collapsed, and the +species sank once more into chaos. Sometimes indeed there was an +interlude of culture in some quite different key. Once, early in the +history of the species, and before its nature had become fixed, there +occurred a non-industrial civilization of a genuinely intellectual kind, +almost like that of Greece. Sometimes, but not often, the third human +species fooled itself into an extravagantly industrial world +civilization, in the manner of the Americanized First Men. In general +its interest was too much concerned with other matters to become +entangled with mechanical devices. But on three occasions at least it +succumbed. Of these civilizations one derived its main power from wind +and falling water, one from the tides, one from the earth’s internal +heat. The first, saved from the worst evils of industrialism by the +limitations of its power, lasted some hundred thousand years in barren +equilibrium, until it was destroyed by an obscure bacterium. The second +was fortunately brief; but its fifty thousand years of unbridled waste +of tidal energy was enough to interfere appreciably with the orbit of +the moon. This world-order collapsed at length in a series of industrial +wars. The third endured a quarter of a million years as a brilliantly +sane and efficient world organization. Throughout most of its existence +there was almost complete social harmony with scarcely as much internal +strife as occurs in a bee-hive. But once more civilization came at +length to grief, this time through the misguided effort to breed special +human types for specialized industrial pursuits. + +Industrialism, however, was never more than a digression, a lengthy and +disastrous irrelevance in the life of this species. There were other +digressions. There were for instance cultures, enduring sometimes for +several thousand years, which were predominantly musical. This could +never have occurred among the First Men; but, as was said, the third +species was peculiarly developed in hearing, and in emotional +sensitivity to sound and rhythm. Consequently, just as the First Men at +their height were led into the wilderness by an irrational obsession +with mechanical contrivances, just as the Third Men themselves were many +times undone by their own interest in biological control, so, now and +again, it was their musical gift that hypnotized them. + +Of these predominantly musical cultures the most remarkable was one in +which music and religion combined to form a tyranny no less rigid than +that of religion and science in the remote past. It is worth while to +dwell on one of these episodes for a few moments. + +The Third Men were very subject to a craving for personal immortality. +Their lives were brief, their love of life intense. It seemed to them a +tragic flaw in the nature of existence that the melody of the individual +life must either fade into a dreary senility or be cut short, never to +be repeated. Now, music had a special significance for this race. So +intense was their experience of it, that they were ready to regard it as +in some manner the underlying reality of all things. In leisure hours, +snatched from a toilful and often tragic life, groups of peasants would +seek to conjure about them by song or pipe or viol a universe more +beautiful, more real, than that of daily labour. Concentrating their +sensitive hearing upon the inexhaustible diversity of tone and rhythm, +they would seem to themselves to be possessed by the living presence of +music, and to be transported thereby into a lovelier world. No wonder +they believed that every melody was a spirit, leading a life of its own +within the universe of music. No wonder they imagined that a symphony or +chorus was itself a single spirit inhering in all its members. No wonder +it seemed to them that when men and women listened to great music, the +barriers of their individuality were broken down, so that they became +one soul through communion with the music. + +The prophet was born in a highland village where the native faith in +music was intense, though quite unformulated. In time he learnt to raise +his peasant audiences to the most extravagant joy and the most delicious +sorrow. Then at last he began to think, and to expound his thoughts with +the authority of a great bard. Easily he persuaded men that music was +the reality, and all else illusion, that the living spirit of the +universe was pure music, and that each individual animal and man, though +he had a body that must die and vanish for ever, had also a soul that +was music and eternal. A melody, he said, is the most fleeting of +things. It happens and ceases. The great silence devours it, and +seemingly annihilates it. Passage is essential to its being. Yet though +for a melody, to halt is to die a violent death, all music, the prophet +affirmed, has also eternal life. After silence it may occur again, with +all its freshness and aliveness. Time cannot age it; for its home is in +a country outside time. And that country, thus the young musician +earnestly preached, is also the homeland of every man and woman, nay of +every living thing that has any gift of music. Those who seek +immortality, must strive to waken their tranced souls into melody and +harmony. And according to their degree of musical originality and +proficiency will be their standing in the eternal life. + +The doctrine, and the impassioned melodies of the prophet, spread like +fire. Instrumental and vocal music sounded from every pasture and corn +plot. The government tried to suppress it, partly because it was thought +to interfere with agricultural productivity, largely because its +passionate significance reverberated even in the hearts of courtly +ladies, and threatened to undo the refinement of centuries. Nay, the +social order itself began to crumble. For many began openly to declare +that what mattered was not aristocratic birth, nor even proficiency in +the time-honoured musical forms (so much prized by the leisured), but +the gift of spontaneous emotional expression in rhythm and harmony. +Persecution strengthened the new faith with a glorious company of +martyrs who, it was affirmed, sang triumphantly even in the flames. + +One day the sacred monarch himself, hitherto a prisoner within the +conventions, declared half sincerely, half by policy, that he was +converted to his people’s faith. Bureaucracy gave place to an +enlightened dictatorship, the monarch assumed the title of Supreme +Melody, and the whole social order was refashioned, more to the taste of +the peasants. The subtle prince, backed by the crusading zeal of his +people, and favoured by the rapid spontaneous spread of the faith in all +lands, conquered the whole world, and founded the universal Church of +Harmony. The prophet himself, meanwhile, dismayed by his own too facile +success, had retired into the mountains to perfect his art under the +influence of their great quiet, or the music of wind, thunder, and +waterfall. Presently, however, the silence of the fells was shattered by +the blare of military bands and ecclesiastical choirs, which the emperor +had sent to salute him and conduct him to the metropolis. He was +secured, though not without a scrimmage, and lodged in the High Temple +of Music. There he was kept a prisoner, dubbed God’s Big Noise, and used +by the world-government as an oracle needing interpretation. In a few +years the official music of the temple, and of deputations from all over +the world, drove him into raving madness; in which state he was the more +useful to the authorities. + +Thus was founded the Holy Empire of Music, which gave order and purpose +to the species for a thousand years. The sayings of the prophet, +interpreted by a series of able rulers, became the foundation of a great +system of law which gradually supplanted all local codes by virtue of +its divine authority. Its root was madness; but its final expression was +intricate commonsense, decorated with harmless and precious flowers of +folly. Throughout, the individual was wisely, but tacitly, regarded as a +biological organism having definite needs or rights and definite social +obligations; but the language in which this principle was expressed and +elaborated was a jargon based on the fiction that every human being was +a melody, demanding completion within a greater musical theme of +society. + +Toward the close of this millennium of order a schism occurred among the +devout. A new and fervent sect declared that the true spirit of the +musical religion had been stifled by ecclesiasticism. The founder of the +religion had preached salvation by individual musical experience, by an +intensely emotional communion with the Divine Music. But little by +little, so it was said, the church had lost sight of this central truth, +and had substituted a barren interest in the objective forms and +principles of melody and counterpoint. Salvation, in the official view, +was not to be had by subjective experience, but by keeping the rules of +an obscure musical technique. And what was this technique? Instead of +making the social order a practical expression of the divine law of +music, churchmen and statesmen had misinterpreted these divine laws to +suit mere social convenience, until the true spirit of music had been +lost. Meanwhile on the other side a counter-revival took place. The +self-centred and soul-saving mood of the rebels was ridiculed. Men were +urged to care rather for the divine and exquisitely ordered forms of +music itself than for their own emotion. + +It was amongst the rebel peoples that the biological interest of the +race, hitherto subordinate, came into its own. Mating, at least among +the more devout sort of women, began to be influenced by the desire to +have children who should be of outstanding musical brilliance and +sensitivity. Biological sciences were rudimentary, but the general +principle of selective breeding was known. Within a century this policy +of breeding for music, or breeding ‘soul’, developed from a private +idiosyncrasy into a racial obsession. It was so far successful that +after a while a new type became common, and thrived upon the approbation +and devotion of ordinary persons. These new beings were indeed +extravagantly sensitive to music, so much so that the song of a skylark +caused them serious torture by its banality, and in response to any +human music of the kind which they approved, they invariably fell into a +trance. Under the stimulus of music which was not to their taste they +were apt to run amok and murder the performers. + +We need not pause to trace the stages by which an infatuated race +gradually submitted itself to the whims of these creatures of human +folly, until for a brief period they became the tyrannical ruling caste +of a musical theocracy. Nor need we observe how they reduced society to +chaos; and how at length an age of confusion and murder brought mankind +once more to its senses, but also into so bitter a disillusionment that +the effort to re-orientate the whole direction of its endeavour lacked +determination. Civilization fell to pieces and was not rebuilt till +after the race had lain fallow for some thousands of years. + +So ended perhaps the most pathetic of racial delusions. Born of a +genuine and potent aesthetic experience, it retained a certain crazy +nobility even to the end. + +Many scores of other cultures occurred, separated often by long ages of +barbarism, but they must be ignored in this brief chronicle. The great +majority of them were mainly biological in spirit. Thus one was +dominated by an obsessive interest in flight, and therefore in birds, +another by the concept of metabolism, several by sexual creativity, and +very many by some general but mostly unenlightened policy of eugenics. +All these we must pass over, so that we may descend to watch the +greatest of all the races of the third species torture itself into a new +form. + + + 3. THE VITAL ART + +It was after an unusually long period of eclipse that the spirit of the +third human species attained its greatest brilliance. We need not watch +the stages by which this enlightenment was reached. Suffice it that the +upshot was a very remarkable civilization, if such a word can be applied +to an order in which agglomerations of architecture were unknown, +clothing was used only when needed for warmth, and such industrial +development as occurred was wholly subordinated to other activities. + +Early in the history of this culture the requirements of hunting and +agriculture, and the spontaneous impulse to manipulate live things, gave +rise to a primitive but serviceable system of biological knowledge. Not +until the culture had unified the whole planet, did biology itself give +rise to chemistry and physics. At the same time a well-controlled +industrialism, based first on wind and water, and later on subterranean +heat, afforded the race all the material luxuries it desired, and much +leisure from the business of keeping itself in existence. Had there not +already existed a more powerful and all-dominating interest, +industrialism itself would probably have hypnotized the race, as it had +so many others. But in this race the interest in live things, which +characterized the whole species, was dominant before industrialism +began. Egotism among the Third Men could not be satisfied by the +exercise of economic power, nor by the mere ostentation of wealth. Not +that the race was immune from egotism. On the contrary, it had lost +almost all that spontaneous altruism which had distinguished the Second +Men. But in most periods the only kind of personal ostentation which +appealed to the Third Men was directly connected with the primitive +interest in ‘pecunia’. To own many and noble beasts, whether they were +economically productive or not, was ever the mark of respectability. The +vulgar, indeed, were content with mere numbers, or at most with the +convential virtues of the recognized breeds. But the more refined +pursued, and flaunted, certain very exact principles of aesthetic +excellence in their control of living forms. + +In fact, as the race gained biological insight, it developed a very +remarkable new art, which we may call ‘plastic vital art’. This was to +become the chief vehicle of expression of the new culture. It was +practised universally, and with religious fervour; for it was very +closely connected with the belief in a life-god. The canons of this art, +and the precepts of this religion, fluctuated from age to age, but in +general certain basic principles were accepted. Or rather, though there +was almost always universal agreement that the practice of vital art was +the supreme goal, and should not be treated in a utilitarian spirit, +there were two conflicting sets of principles which were favoured by +opposed sects. One mode of vital art sought to evoke the full +potentiality of each natural type as a harmonious and perfected nature, +or to produce new types equally harmonious. The other prided itself on +producing monsters. Sometimes a single capacity was developed at the +expense of the harmony and welfare of the organism as a whole. Thus a +bird was produced which could fly faster than any other bird; but it +could neither reproduce nor even feed, and therefore had to be +maintained artificially. Sometimes, on the other hand, certain +characters incompatible in nature were forced upon a single organism, +and maintained in precarious and torturing equilibrium. To give +examples, one much-talked-of feat was the production of a carnivorous +mammal in which the fore-limbs had assumed the structure of a bird’s +wings, complete with feathers. This creature could not fly, since its +body was wrongly proportioned. Its only mode of locomotion was a +staggering run with outstretched wings. Other examples of monstrosity +were an eagle with twin heads, and a deer in which, with incredible +ingenuity, the artists had induced the tail to develop as a head, with +brain, sense-organs, and jaws. In this monstrous art, interest in living +things was infected with sadism through the preoccupation with fate, +especially internal fate, as the divinity that shapes our ends. In its +more vulgar forms, of course, it was a crude expression of egotistical +lust in power. + +This _motif_ of the monstrous and the self-discrepant was less prominent +than the other, the _motif_ of harmonious perfection; but at all times +it was apt to exercise at least a subconscious influence. The supreme +aim of the dominant, perfection-seeking movement was to embellish the +planet with a very diverse fauna and flora, with the human race as at +once the crown and the instrument of terrestrial life. Each species, and +each variety, was to have its place and fulfil its part in the great +cycle of living types. Each was to be internally perfected to its +function. It must have no harmful relics of a past manner of life; and +its capacities must be in true accord with one another. But, to repeat, +the supreme aim was not concerned merely with individual types, but with +the whole vital economy of the planet. Thus, though there were to be +types of every order from the most humble bacterium up to man, it was +contrary to the canon of orthodox sacred art that any type should thrive +by the destruction of a type higher than itself. In the sadistic mode of +the art, however, a peculiarly exquisite tragic beauty was said to +inhere in situations in which a lowly type exterminated a higher. There +were occasions in the history of the race when the two sects indulged in +bloody conflict because the sadists kept devising parasites to undermine +the noble products of the orthodox. + +Of those who practised vital art, and all did so to some extent, a few, +though they deliberately rejected the orthodox principles, gained +notoriety and even fame by their grotesques; while others, less +fortunate, were ready to accept ostracism and even martyrdom, declaring +that what they had produced was a significant symbol of the universal +tragedy of vital nature. The great majority, however, accepted the +sacred canon. They had therefore to choose one or other of certain +recognized modes of expression. For instance, they might seek to enhance +some extant type of organism, both by perfecting its capacities and by +eliminating from it all that was harmful or useless. Or else, a more +original and precarious work, they might set about creating a new type +to fill a niche in the world, which had not yet been occupied. For this +end they would select a suitable organism, and seek to remake it upon a +new plan, striving to produce a creature of perfectly harmonious nature +precisely adapted to the new way of life. In this kind of work sundry +strict aesthetic principles must be observed. Thus it was considered bad +art to reduce a higher type to a lower, or in any manner to waste the +capacities of a type. And further, since the true end of art was not the +production of individual types, but the production of a world-wide and +perfectly systematic fauna and flora, it was inadmissible to harm even +accidentally any type higher than that which it was intended to produce. +For the practice of orthodox vital art was regarded as a cooperative +enterprise. The ultimate artist, under God, was mankind as a whole; the +ultimate work of art must be an ever more subtle garment of living forms +for the adornment of the planet, and the delight of the supreme Artist, +in relation to whom man was both creature and instrument. + +Little was achieved, of course, until the applied biological sciences +had advanced far beyond the high-water mark attained long ago during the +career of the Second Men. Much more was needed than the rule-of-thumb +principles of earlier breeders. It took this brightest of all the races +of the third species many thousands of years of research to discover the +more delicate principles of heredity, and to devise a technique by which +the actual hereditary factors in the germ could be manipulated. It was +this increasing penetration of biology itself that opened up the deeper +regions of chemistry and physics. And owing to this historical sequence +the latter sciences were conceived in a biological manner, with the +electron as the basic organism, and the cosmos as an organic whole. + +Imagine, then, a planet organized almost as a vast system of botanical +and zoological gardens, or wild parks, interspersed with agriculture and +industry. In every great centre of communications occurred annual and +monthly shows. The latest creations were put through their paces, judged +by the high priests of vital art, awarded distinctions, and consecrated +with religious ceremony. At these shows some of the exhibits would be +utilitarian, others purely aesthetic. There might be improved grains, +vegetables, cattle, some exceptionally intelligent or sturdy variety of +herdsman’s dog, or a new micro-organism with some special function in +agriculture or in human digestion. But also there would be the latest +achievements in pure vital art. Great sleek-limbed, hornless, racing +deer, birds or mammals adapted to some hitherto unfulfilled role, bears +intended to outclass all existing varieties in the struggle for +existence, ants with specialized organs and instincts, improvements in +the relations of parasite and host, so as to make a true symbiosis in +which the host profited by the parasite. And so on. And everywhere there +would be the little unclad ruddy faun-like beings who had created these +marvels. Shy forest-dwelling folk of Gurkha physique would stand beside +their antelopes, vultures, or new great cat-like prowlers. A grave young +woman might cause a stir by entering the grounds followed by several +gigantic bears. Crowds would perhaps press round to examine the +creatures’ teeth or limbs, and she might scold the meddlers away from +her patient flock. For the normal relation between man and beast at this +time was one of perfect amity, rising, sometimes, in the case of +domesticated animals, to an exquisite, almost painful, mutual adoration. +Even the wild beasts never troubled to avoid man, still less to attack +him, save in the special circumstances of the hunt and the sacred +gladiatorial show. + +These last need special notice. The powers of combat in beasts were +admired no less than other powers. Men and women alike experienced a +savage joy, almost an ecstasy, in the spectacle of mortal combat. +Consequently there were formal occasions when different kinds of beasts +were enraged against one another and allowed to fight to the death. Not +only so, but also there were sacred contests between beast and man, +between man and man, between woman and woman, and, most surprising to +the readers of this book, between woman and man. For in this species, +woman in her prime was not physically weaker than her partner. + + + 4. CONFLICTING POLICIES + +Almost from the first, vital art had been applied to some extent to man +himself, though with hesitation. Certain great improvements had been +effected, but only improvements about which there could be no two +opinions. The many diseases and abnormalities left over from past +civilizations were patiently abolished, and various more fundamental +defects were remedied. For instance, teeth, digestion, glandular +equipment, and the circulatory system were greatly improved. Extreme +good health and considerable physical beauty became universal. +Child-bearing was made a painless and health-giving process. Senility +was postponed. The standard of practical intelligence was appreciably +raised. These reforms were made possible by a vast concerted effort of +research and experiment supported by the world-community. But private +enterprise was also effective, for the relation between the sexes was +much more consciously dominated by the thought of offspring than among +the First Men. Every individual knew the characteristics of his or her +hereditary composition, and knew what kinds of offspring were to be +expected from intercourse of different hereditary types. Thus in +courtship the young man was not content to persuade his beloved that his +mind was destined by nature to afford her mind joyful completion; he +sought also to persuade her that with his help she might bear children +of a peculiar excellence. Consequently there was at all times going on a +process of selective breeding towards the conventionally ideal type. In +certain respects the ideal remained constant for many thousands of +years. It included health, cat-like agility, manipulative dexterity, +musical sensitivity, refined perception of rightness and wrongness in +the sphere of vital art, and an intuitive practical judgement in all the +affairs of life. Longevity, and the abolition of senility, were also +sought, and partially attained. Waves of fashion sometimes directed +sexual selection toward prowess in combat, or some special type of +facial expression or vocal powers. But these fleeting whims were +negligible. Only the permanently desired characters were actually +intensified by private selective breeding. + +But at length there came a time when more ambitious aims were +entertained. The world-community was now a highly organized theocratic +hierarchy, strictly but on the whole benevolently ruled by a supreme +council of vital priests and biologists. Each individual, down to the +humblest agricultural worker, had his special niche in society, allotted +him by the supreme council or its delegates, according to his known +heredity and the needs of society. This system, of course, sometimes led +to abuse, but mostly it worked without serious friction. Such was the +precision of biological knowledge that each person’s mental calibre and +special aptitudes were known beyond dispute, and rebellion against his +lot in society would have been rebellion against his own heredity. This +fact was universally known, and accepted without regret. A man had +enough scope for emulation and triumph among his peers, without +indulging in vague attempts to transcend his own nature, by rising into +a superior hierarchical order. This state of affairs would have been +impossible had there not been universal faith in the religion of life +and the truth of biological science. Also it would have been impossible +had not all normal persons been active practitioners of the sacred vital +art, upon a plane suited to their capacity. Every individual adult of +the rather scanty world-population regarded himself or herself as a +creative artist, in however humble a sphere. And in general he, or she, +was so fascinated by the work, that he was well content to leave social +organization and control to those who were fitted for it. Moreover, at +the back of every mind was the conception of society itself as an +organism of specialized members. The strong sentiment for organized +humanity tended, in this race, to master even its strong egotistical +impulses, though not without a struggle. + +It was such a society, almost unbelievable to the First Men, that now +set about remaking human nature. Unfortunately there were conflicting +views about the goal. The orthodox desired only to continue the work +that had for long been on foot; though they proposed greater enterprise +and coordination. They would perfect man’s body, but upon its present +plan; they would perfect his mind, but without seeking to introduce +anything new in essence. His physique, percipience, memory, +intelligence, and emotional nature should be improved almost beyond +recognition; but they must, it was said, remain essentially what they +had always been. + +A second party, however, finally persuaded orthodox opinion to amplify +itself in one important respect. As has already been said, the Third Men +were prone to phases of preoccupation with the ancient craving for +personal immortality. This craving had often been strong among the First +Men; and even the Second Men, in spite of their great gift of +detachment, had sometimes allowed their admiration for human personality +to persuade them that souls must live for ever. The short-lived and +untheoretical Third Men, with their passion for living things of all +kinds, and all the diversity of vital behaviour, conceived immortality +in a variety of manners. In their final culture they imagined that at +death all living things whom the Life God approved passed into another +world, much like the familiar world, but happier. There they were said +to live in the presence of the deity, serving him in untrammelled vital +creativeness of sundry kinds. + +Now it was believed that communication might occur between the two +worlds, and that the highest type of terrestrial life was that which +communicated most effectively, and further that the time had now arrived +for much fuller revelation of the life to come. It was therefore +proposed to breed highly specialized communicants whose office should be +to guide this world by means of advice from the other. As among the +First Men, this communication with the unseen world was believed to take +place in the mediumistic trance. The new enterprise, then, was to breed +extremely sensitive mediums, and to increase the mediumistic powers of +the average individual. + +There was yet another party, whose aim was very different. Man, they +said, is a very noble organism. We have dealt with other organisms so as +to enhance in each its noblest attributes. It is time to do the same +with man. What is most distinctive in man is intelligent manipulation, +brain and hand. Now hand is really outclassed by modern mechanisms, but +brain will never be outclassed. Therefore we must breed strictly for +brain, for intelligent coordination of behaviour. All the organic +functions which can be performed by machinery, must be relegated to +machinery, so that the whole vitality of the organism may be devoted to +brain-building and brain-working. We must produce an organism which +shall be no mere bundle of relics left over from its primitive ancestors +and precariously ruled by a glimmer of intelligence. We must produce a +man who is nothing but man. When we have done this we can, if we like, +ask him to find out the truth about immortality. And also, we can safely +surrender to him the control of all human affairs. + +The governing caste were strongly opposed to this policy. They declared +that, if it succeeded, it would only produce a most inharmonious being +whose nature would violate all the principles of vital aesthetics. Man, +they said, was essentially an animal, though uniquely gifted. His whole +nature must be developed, not one faculty at the expense of others. In +arguing thus, they were probably influenced partly by the fear of losing +their authority; but their arguments were cogent, and the majority of +the community agreed with them. Nevertheless a small group of the +governors themselves were determined to carry through the enterprise in +secret. + +There was no need of secrecy in breeding communicants. The world state +encouraged this policy and even set up institutions for its pursuit. + + + + + XI _Man Remakes Himself_ + + + 1. THE FIRST OF THE GREAT BRAINS + +Those who sought to produce a super-brain embarked upon a great +enterprise of research and experiment in a remote corner of the planet. +It is unnecessary to tell in detail how they fared. Working first in +secret, they later strove to persuade the world to approve of their +scheme, but only succeeded in dividing mankind into two parties. The +body politic was torn asunder. There were religious wars. But after a +few centuries of intermittent bloodshed the two sects, those who sought +to produce communicants and those who sought the super-brain, settled +down in different regions to pursue their respective aims unmolested. In +time each developed into a kind of nation, united by a religious faith +and crusading spirit. There was little cultural intercourse between the +two. + +Those who desired to produce the super-brain employed four methods, +namely selective breeding, manipulation of the hereditary factors in +germ cells (cultivated in the laboratory), manipulation of the +fertilized ovum (cultivated also in the laboratory), and manipulation of +the growing body. At first they produced innumerable tragic abortions. +These we need not observe. But at length, several thousand years after +the earliest experiments, something was produced which seemed to promise +success. A human ovum had been carefully selected, fertilized in the +laboratory, and largely reorganized by artificial means. By inhibiting +the growth of the embryo’s body, and the lower organs of the brain +itself, and at the same time greatly stimulating the growth of the +cerebral hemispheres, the dauntless experimenters succeeded at last in +creating an organism which consisted of a brain twelve feet across, and +a body most of which was reduced to a mere vestige upon the +under-surface of the brain. The only parts of the body which were +allowed to attain the natural size were the arms and hands. These sinewy +organs of manipulation were induced to key themselves at the shoulders +into the solid masonry which formed the creature’s house. Thus they were +able to get a purchase for their work. The hands were the normal +six-fingered hands of the Third Men, very greatly enlarged and improved. +The fantastic organism was generated and matured in a building designed +to house both it and the complicated machinery which was necessary to +keep it alive. A self-regulating pump, electrically driven, served it as +a heart. A chemical factory poured the necessary materials into its +blood and removed waste products, thus taking the place of digestive +organs and the normal battery of glands. Its lungs consisted of a great +room full of oxidizing tubes, through which a constant wind was driven +by an electric fan. The same fan forced air through the artificial +organs of speech. These organs were so constructed that the natural +nerve-fibres, issuing from the speech centres of the brain, could +stimulate appropriate electrical controls so as to produce sounds +identical with those which they would have produced from a living throat +and mouth. The sensory equipment of this trunkless brain was a blend of +the natural and the artificial. The optic nerves were induced to grow +out along two flexible probosces, five feet long, each of which bore a +huge eye at the end. But by a very ingenious alteration of the structure +of the eye, the natural lens could be moved aside at will, so that the +retina could be applied to any of a great diversity of optical +instruments. The ears also could be projected upon stalks, and were so +arranged that the actual nerve endings could be brought into contact +with artificial resonators of various kinds, or could listen directly to +the microscopic rhythms of the most minute organisms. Scent and taste +were developed as a chemical sense, which could distinguish almost all +compounds and elements by their flavour. Pressure, warmth, and cold were +detected only by the fingers, but there with great subtlety. Sensory +pain was to have been eliminated from the organism altogether; but this +end was not achieved. + +The creature was successfully launched upon life, and was actually kept +alive for four years. But though at first all went well, in his second +year the unfortunate child, if such he may be called, began to suffer +severe pain, and to show symptoms of mental derangement. In spite of all +that his devoted foster-parents could do, he gradually sank into +insanity and died. He had succumbed to his own brain weight and to +certain failures in the chemical regulation of his blood. + +We may overlook the next four hundred years, during which sundry vain +attempts were made to repeat the great experiment more successfully. Let +us pass on to the first true individual of the fourth human species. He +was produced in the same artificial manner as his forerunners, and was +designed upon the same general plan. His mechanical and chemical +machinery, however, was far more efficient; and his makers expected +that, owing to careful adjustments of the mechanisms of growth and +decay, he would prove to be immortal. His general plan, also, was +changed in one important respect. His makers built a large circular +‘brain turret’ which they divided with many partitions, radiating from a +central space, and covered everywhere with pigeon-holes. By a technique +which took centuries to develop, they induced the cells of the growing +embryonic brain to spread outwards, not as normal hemispheres of +convolutions, but into the pigeon-holes which had been prepared for +them. Thus the artificial ‘cranium’ had to be a roomy turret of +ferro-concrete some forty feet in diameter. A door and a passage led +from the outer world into the centre of the turret, and thence other +passages radiated between tiers of little cupboards. Innumerable tubes +of glass, metal, and a kind of vulcanite conveyed blood and chemicals +over the whole system. Electric radiators preserved an even warmth in +every cupboard, and throughout the innumerable carefully protected +channels of the nerve fibres. Thermometers, dials, pressure gauges, +indicators of all sorts, informed the attendants of every physical +change in this strange half-natural, half-artificial system, this +preposterous factory of mind. + +Eight years after its inception the organism had filled its brain room, +and attained the mentality of a new-born infant. His advance to maturity +seemed to his foster-parents dishearteningly slow. Not till almost at +the end of his fifth decade could he be said to have reached the mental +standard of a bright adolescent. But there was no real reason for +disappointment. Within another decade this pioneer of the Fourth Men had +learned all that the Third Men could teach him, and had also seen that a +great part of their wisdom was folly. In manual dexterity he could +already vie with the best; but though manipulation afforded him intense +delight, he used his hands almost wholly in service of his tireless +curiosity. In fact, it was evident that curiosity was his main +characteristic. He was a huge bump of curiosity equipped with most +cunning hands. A department of state had been created to look after his +nurture and education. An army of learned persons was kept in readiness +to answer his impatient questions and assist him in his own scientific +experiments. Now that he had attained maturity these unfortunate pundits +found themselves hopelessly outclassed, and reduced to mere clerks, +bottle-washers, and errand-boys. Hundreds of his servants were for ever +scurrying into every corner of the planet to seek information and +specimens; and the significance of their errands was by now often quite +beyond the range of their own intelligence. They were careful, however, +not to let their ignorance appear to the public. On the contrary, they +succeeded in gaining much prestige from the mere mysteriousness of their +errands. + +The great brain was wholly lacking in all normal instinctive responses, +save curiosity and constructiveness. Instinctive fear he knew not, +though of course he was capable of cold caution in any circumstances +which threatened to damage him and hinder his passionate research. Anger +he knew not, but only an adamantine firmness in the face of opposition. +Normal hunger and thirst he knew not, but only an experience of +faintness when his blood was not properly supplied with nutriment. Sex +was wholly absent from his mentality. Instinctive tenderness and +instinctive group-feeling were not possible to him, for he was without +the bowels of mercy. The heroic devotion of his most intimate servants +called forth no gratitude, but only cold approval. + +At first he interested himself not at all in the affairs of the society +which maintained him, served his every whim, and adored him. But in time +he began to take pleasure in suggesting brilliant solutions of all the +current problems of social organization. His advice was increasingly +sought and accepted. He became autocrat of the state. His own +intelligence and complete detachment combined with the people’s +superstitious reverence to establish him far more securely than any +ordinary tyrant. He cared nothing for the petty troubles of his people, +but he was determined to be served by a harmonious, healthy, and potent +race. And as relaxation from the more serious excitement of research in +physics and astronomy, the study of human nature was not without +attractions. It may seem strange that one so completely devoid of human +sympathy could have the tact to govern a race of the emotional Third +Men. But he had built up for himself a very accurate behaviouristic +psychology; and like the skilful master of animals, he knew unerringly +how much could be expected of his people, even though their emotions +were almost wholly foreign to him. Thus, for instance, while he +thoroughly despised their admiration of animals and plants, and their +religion of life, he soon learned not to seem hostile to these +obsessions, but rather to use them for his own ends. He himself was +interested in animals only as material for experiments. In this respect +his people readily helped him, partly because he assured them that his +goal was the further improvement of all types, partly because they were +fascinated by his complete disregard, in his experimentation, of the +common techniques for preventing pain. The orgy of vicarious suffering +awakened in his people the long-suppressed lust in cruelty which, in +spite of their intuitive insight into animal nature, was so strong a +factor in the third human species. + +Little by little the great brain probed the material universe and the +universe of mentality. He mastered the principles of biological +evolution, and constructed for his own delight a detailed history of +life on earth. He learned, by marvellous archaeological technique, the +story of all the earlier human peoples, and of the Martian episode, +matters which had remained hidden from the Third Men. He discovered the +principles of relativity and the quantum theory, the nature of the atom +as a complex system of wave trains. He measured the cosmos; and with his +delicate instruments he counted the planetary systems in much of the +remote universe. He casually solved, to his own satisfaction at least, +the ancient problems of good and evil, of mind and its object, of the +one and the many, and of truth and error. He created many new +departments of state for the purpose of recording his discoveries in an +artificial language which he devised for the purpose. Each department +consisted of many colleges of carefully bred and educated specialists +who could understand the subject of their own department to some extent. +But the coordination of all, and true insight into each, lay with the +great brain alone. + + + 2. THE TRAGEDY OF THE FOURTH MEN + +When some three thousand years had passed since his beginning, the +unique individual determined to create others of his kind. Not that he +suffered from loneliness. Not that he yearned for love, or even for +intellectual companionship. But solely for the undertaking of more +profound research, he needed the cooperation of beings of his own mental +stature. He therefore designed, and had built in various regions of the +planet, turrets and factories like his own, though greatly improved. +Into each he sent, by his servants, a cell of his own vestigial body, +and directed how it should be cultivated so as to produce a new +individual. At the same time he caused far-reaching operations to be +performed upon himself, so that he should be remade upon a more ample +plan. Of the new capacities which he inculcated in himself and his +progeny the most important was direct sensitivity to radiation. This was +achieved by incorporating in each brain-tissue a specially bred strain +of Martian parasites. These henceforth were to live in the great brain +as integral members of each one of its cells. Each brain was also +equipped with a powerful wireless transmitting apparatus. Thus should +the widely scattered sessile population maintain direct ‘telepathic’ +contact with one another. + +The undertaking was successfully accomplished. Some ten thousand of +these new individuals, each specialized for his particular locality and +office, now constituted the Fourth Men. On the highest mountains were +super-astronomers with vast observatories, whose instruments were partly +artificial, partly natural excrescences of their own brains. In the very +entrails of the planet others, specially adapted to heat, studied the +subterranean forces, and were kept in ‘telepathic’ union with the +astronomers. In the tropics, in the Arctic, in the forests, the deserts, +and on the ocean floor, the Fourth Men indulged their immense curiosity; +and in the homeland, around the father of the race, a group of great +buildings housed a hundred individuals. In the service of this +world-wide population, those races of Third Men which had originally +cooperated to produce the new human species tilled the land, tended the +cattle, manufactured the immense material requisites of the new +civilization, and satisfied their spirits with an ever more stereotyped +ritual of their vital art. This degradation of the whole race to a +menial position had occurred slowly, imperceptibly. But the result was +none the less irksome. Occasionally there were sparks of rebellion, but +they always failed to kindle serious trouble; for the prestige and +persuasiveness of the Fourth Men were irresistible. + +At length, however, a crisis occurred. For some three thousand years the +Fourth Men had pursued their research with constant success, but +latterly progress had been slow. It was becoming increasingly difficult +to devise new lines of research. True, there was still much detail to be +filled in, even in their knowledge of their own planet, and very much in +their knowledge of the stars. But there was no prospect of opening up +entirely new fields which might throw some light on the essential nature +of things. Indeed, it began to dawn on them that they had scarcely +plumbed a surface ripple of the ocean of mystery. Their knowledge seemed +to them perfectly systematic, yet wholly enigmatic. They had a growing +sense that though in a manner they knew almost everything, they really +knew nothing. + +The normal mind, when it experiences intellectual frustration, can seek +recreation in companionship, or physical exercise, or art. But for the +Fourth Men there was no such escape. These activities were impossible +and meaningless to them. The Great Brains were whole-heartedly +interested in the objective world, but solely as a vast stimulus to +intellection, never for its own sake. They admired only the intellective +process itself and the interpretative formulae and principles which it +devised. They cared no more for men and women than for material in a +test-tube, no more for one another than for mechanical calculators. Nay, +of each one of them it might almost be said that he cared ever for +himself solely as an instrument of knowing. Many of the species had +actually sacrificed their sanity, even in some cases their lives, to the +obsessive lust of intellection. + +As the sense of frustration became more and more oppressive, the Fourth +Men suffered more and more from the onesidedness of their nature. Though +so completely dispassionate while their intellectual life proceeded +smoothly, now that it was thwarted they began to be confused by foolish +whims and cravings which they disguised from themselves under a cloak of +excuses. Sessile and incapable of affection, they continually witnessed +the free movement, the group life, the love-making of their menials. +Such activities became an offence to them, and filled them with a cold +jealousy, which it was altogether beneath their dignity to notice. The +affairs of the serf-population began to be conducted by their masters +with less than the accustomed justice. Serious grievances arose. + +The climax occurred in connexion with a great revival of research, +which, it was said, would break down the impalpable barriers and set +knowledge in progress again. The Great Brains were to be multiplied a +thousandfold, and the resources of the whole planet were to be devoted +far more strictly than before to the crusade of intellection. The menial +Third Men would therefore have to put up with more work and less +pleasure. Formerly they would willingly have accepted this fate for the +glory of serving the superhuman brains. But the days of their blind +devotion were past. It was murmured among them that the great experiment +of their forefathers had proved a great disaster, and that the Fourth +Men, the Great Brains, in spite of their devilish cunning, were mere +abortions. + +Matters came to a head when the tyrants announced that all useless +animals must be slaughtered, since their upkeep was too great an +economic burden upon the world-community. The vital art, moreover, was +to be practised in future only by the Great Brains themselves. This +announcement threw the Third Men into violent excitement, and divided +them into two parties. Many of those whose lives were spent in direct +service of the Great Brains favoured implicit obedience, though even +these were deeply distressed. The majority, on the other hand, +absolutely refused to permit the impious slaughter, or even to surrender +their privileges as vital artists. For, they said, to kill off the fauna +of the planet would be to violate the fair form of the universe by +blotting out many of its most beautiful features. It would be an outrage +to the Life God, and he would surely avenge it. They therefore urged +that the time was come for all true human beings to stand together and +depose the tyrants. And this, they pointed out, could easily be done. It +was only necessary to cut a few electric cables, connecting the Great +Brains with the subterranean generating stations. The electric pumps +would then cease to supply the brain-turrets with aerated blood. Or, in +the few cases in which the Great Brains were so located that they could +control their own source of power in wind or water, it was necessary +merely to refrain from transporting food to their digestion +laboratories. + +The personal attendants of the Great Brains shrank from such action; for +their whole lives had been devoted, proudly and even in a manner +lovingly, to service of the revered beings. But the agriculturists +determined to withhold supplies. The Great Brains, therefore, armed +their servitors with a diversity of ingenious weapons. Immense +destruction was done; but since the rebels were decimated, there were +not enough hands to work the fields. Some of the Great Brains, and many +of their servants, actually died of starvation. And as hardship +increased, the servants themselves began to drift over to the rebels. It +now seemed certain to the Third Men that the Great Brains would very +soon be impotent, and the plant once more under the control of natural +beings. But the tyrants were not to be so easily defeated. Already for +some centuries they had been secretly experimenting with a means of +gaining a far more thorough dominion over the natural species. At the +eleventh hour they succeeded. + +In this undertaking they had been favoured by the results which a +section of the natural species itself had produced long ago in the +effort to breed specialized communicants to keep in touch with the +unseen world. That sect, or theocratic nation, which had striven for +many centuries toward this goal, had finally attained what they regarded +as success. There came into existence an hereditary caste of +communicants. Now, though these beings were subject to mediumistic +trances in which they apparently conversed with denizens of the other +world and received instructions about the ordering of matters +terrestrial, they were in fact merely abnormally suggestible. Trained +from childhood in the lore of the unseen world, their minds, during the +trance, were amazingly fertile in developing fantasies based on that +lore. Left to themselves, they were merely folk who were abnormally +lacking in initiative and intelligence. Indeed, so naïve were they, and +so sluggish, that they were mentally more like cattle than human beings. +Yet under the influence of suggestion they became both intelligent and +vigorous. Their intelligence, however, operating strictly in service of +the suggestion, was wholly incapable of criticizing the suggestion +itself. + +There is no need to revert to the downfall of this theocratic society, +beyond saying that, since both private and public affairs were regulated +by reference to the sayings of the communicants, inevitably the state +fell into chaos. The other community of the Third Men, that which was +engaged upon breeding the Great Brains, gradually dominated the whole +planet. The mediumistic stock, however, remained in existence, and was +treated with a half-contemptuous reverence. The mediums were still +generally regarded as in some manner specially gifted with the divine +spirit, but they were now thought to be too holy for their sayings to +have any relation to mundane affairs. + +It was by means of this mediumistic stock that the Great Brains had +intended to consolidate their position. Their earlier efforts may be +passed over. But in the end they produced a race of living and even +intelligent machines whose will they could control absolutely, even at a +great distance. For the new variety of Third Men was ‘telepathically’ +united with its masters. Martian units had been incorporated in its +nervous system. + +At the last moment the Great Brains were able to put into the field an +army of these perfect slaves, which they equipped with the most +efficient lethal weapons. The remnant of original servants discovered +too late that they had been helping to produce their supplanters. They +joined the rebels, only to share in the general destruction. In a few +months all the Third Men, save the new docile variety, were destroyed; +except for a few specimens which were preserved in cages for +experimental purposes. And in a few years every type of animal that was +not known to be directly or indirectly necessary to human life had been +exterminated. None were preserved even as specimens, for the Great +Brains had already studied them through and through. + +But though the Great Brains were now absolute possessors of the Earth, +they were after all no nearer their goal than before. The actual +struggle with the natural species had provided them with an aim; but now +that the struggle was over, they began to be obsessed once more with +their intellectual failure. With painful clarity they realized that, in +spite of their vast weight of neural tissue, in spite of their immense +knowledge and cunning, they were practically no nearer the ultimate +truth than their predecessors had been. Both were infinitely far from +it. + +For the Fourth Men, the Great Brains, there was no possible life but the +life of intellect; and the life of intellect had become barren. +Evidently something more than mere bulk of brain was needed for the +solving of the deeper intellectual problems. They must, therefore, +somehow create a new brain-quality, or organic formation of brain, +capable of a mode of vision or insight impossible in their present +state. They must learn somehow to remake their own brain-tissues upon a +new plan. With this aim, and partly through unwitting jealousy of the +natural and more balanced species which had created them, they began to +use their captive specimens of that species for a great new enterprise +of research into the nature of human brain-tissue. It was hoped thus to +find some hint of the direction in which the new evolutionary leap +should take place. The unfortunate specimens were therefore submitted to +a thousand ingenious physiological and psychological tortures. Some were +kept alive with their brains spread out permanently on a laboratory +table, for microscopic observation during their diverse psychological +reactions. Others were put into fantastic states of mental abnormality. +Others were maintained in perfect health of body and mind, only to be +felled at last by some ingeniously contrived tragic experience. New +types were produced which, it was hoped, might show evidence of +emergence into a qualitatively higher mode of mentality; but in fact +they succeeded only in ranging through the whole gamut of insanity. + +The research continued for some thousands of years, but gradually +slackened, so utterly barren did it prove to be. As this frustration +became more and more evident, a change began to come over the minds of +the Fourth Men. + +They knew, of course, that the natural species valued many things and +activities which they themselves did not appreciate at all. Hitherto +this had seemed a symptom merely of the low mental development of the +natural species. But the behaviour of the unfortunate specimens upon +whom they had been experimenting had gradually given the Fourth Men a +greater insight into the likings and admirations of the natural species, +so that they had learned to distinguish between those desires which were +fundamental and those merely accidental cravings which clear thinking +would have dismissed. In fact, they came to see that certain activities +and certain objects were appreciated by these beings with the same +clear-sighted conviction as they themselves appreciated knowledge. For +instance, the natural human beings valued one another, and were +sometimes capable of sacrificing themselves for the sake of others. They +also valued love itself. And again they valued very seriously their +artistic activities; and the activities of their bodies and of animal +bodies appeared to them to have intrinsic excellence. + +Little by little the Fourth Men began to realize that what was wrong +with themselves was not merely their intellectual limitation, but, far +more seriously, the limitation of their insight into values. And this +weakness, they saw, was the result, not of paucity of intellective +brain, but of paucity of body and lower brain tissues. This defect they +could not remedy. It was obviously impossible to remake themselves so +radically that they should become of a more normal type. Should they +concentrate their efforts upon the production of new individuals more +harmonious than themselves? Such a work, it might be supposed, would +have seemed unattractive to them. But no. They argued thus. ‘It is our +nature to care most for knowing. Full knowledge is to be attained only +by minds both more penetrating and more broadly based than ours. Let us, +therefore, waste no more time in seeking to achieve the goal in +ourselves. Let us seek rather to produce a kind of being, free from our +limitations, in whom we may attain the goal of perfect knowledge +vicariously. The producing of such a being will exercise all our powers, +and will afford the highest kind of fulfilment possible to us. To +refrain from this work would be irrational.’ + +Thus it came about that the artificial Fourth Men began to work in a new +spirit upon the surviving specimens of the Third Men to produce their +own supplanters. + + + 3. THE FIFTH MEN + +The plan of the proposed new human being was worked out in great detail +before any attempt was made to produce an actual individual. Essentially +he was to be a normal human organism, with all the bodily functions of +the natural type; but he was to be perfected through and through. Care +must be taken to give him the greatest possible bulk of brain compatible +with such a general plan, but no more. Very carefully his creators +calculated the dimensions and internal proportions which their creature +must have. His brain could not be nearly as large as their own, since he +would have to carry it about with him, and maintain it with his own +physiological machinery. On the other hand, if it was to be at all +larger than the natural brain, the rest of the organism must be +proportionately sturdy. Like the Second Men, the new species must be +titanic. Indeed, it must be such as to dwarf even those natural giants. +The body, however, must not be so huge as to be seriously hampered by +its own weight, and by the necessity of having bones so massive as to be +unmanageable. + +In working out the general proportions of the new man, his makers took +into account the possibility of devising more efficient bone and muscle. +After some centuries of patient experiment they did actually invent a +means of inducing in germ cells a tendency toward far stronger +bone-tissues and far more powerful muscle. At the same time they devised +nerve-tissues more highly specialized for their particular functions. +And in the new brain, so minute compared with their own, smallness was +to be compensated for by efficiency of design, both in the individual +cells and in their organization. + +Further, it was found possible to economize somewhat in bulk and vital +energy by improvements in the digestive system. Certain new models of +micro-organisms were produced, which, living symbiotically in the human +gut, should render the whole process of digestion easier, more rapid, +and less erratic. + +Special attention was given to the system of self-repair in all tissues, +especially in those which had hitherto been the earliest to wear out. +And at the same time the mechanism regulating growth and general +senescence was so designed that the new man should reach maturity at the +age of two hundred years, and should remain in full vigour for at least +three thousand years, when, with the first serious symptom of decay, his +heart should suddenly cease functioning. There had been some dispute +whether the new being should be endowed with perennial life, like his +makers. But in the end it had been decided that, since he was intended +only as a transitional type, it would be safer to allow him only a +finite, though a prolonged lifetime. There must be no possibility that +he should be tempted to regard himself as life’s final expression. + +In sensory equipment, the new man was to have all the advantages of the +Second and Third Men, and, in addition a still wider range and finer +discrimination in every sense organ. More important was the +incorporation of Martian units in the new model of germ cell. As the +organism developed, these should propagate themselves and congregate in +the cells of the brain, so that every brain area might be sensitive to +ethereal vibrations, and the whole might emit a strong system of +radiation. But care was taken so that this ‘telepathic’ faculty of the +new species should remain subordinate. There must be no danger that the +individual should become a mere resonator of the herd. + +Long drawn out chemical research enabled the Fourth Men to design also +far-reaching improvements in the secretions of the new man, so that he +should maintain both a perfect physiological equilibrium, and a +well-balanced temperament. For they were determined that though he +should experience all the range of emotional life, his passions should +not run into disastrous excess; nor should he be prone to some one +emotion in season and out of season. It was necessary also to revise in +great detail the whole system of natural reflexes, abolishing some, +modifying others, and again strengthening others. All the more complex, +‘instinctive’ responses, which had persisted in man since the days of +Pithecanthropus Erectus, had also to be meticulously revised, both in +respect of the form of the activity and the objects upon which they +should be instinctively directed. Anger, fear, curiosity, humour, +tenderness, egoism, sexual passion, and sociality must all be possible, +but never uncontrollable. In fact, as with the Second Men, but more +emphatically, the new type was to have an innate aptitude for, and +inclination toward, all those higher activities and objects which, in +the First Men, were only achieved after laborious discipline. Thus, +while the design included self-regard, it also involved a disposition to +prize the self chiefly as a social and intellectual being, rather than +as a primeval savage. And while it included strong sociality, the group +upon which instinctive interest was to be primarily directed was to be +nothing less than the organized community of all minds. And again, while +it included vigorous primitive sexuality and parenthood, it provided +also those innate ‘sublimations’ which had occurred in the second +species; for instance, the native aptitude for altruistic love of +individual spirits of every kind, and for art and religion. Only by a +miracle of pure intellectual skill could the cold-natured Great Brains, +who were themselves doomed never to have actual experience of such +activities, contrive, merely by study of the Third Men, to see their +importance, and to design an organism splendidly capable of them. It was +much as though a blind race, after studying physics, should invent +organs of sight. + +It was recognized, of course, that in a race in which the average +life-span should be counted in thousands of years, procreation must be +very rare. Yet it was also recognized that, for full development of +mind, not only sexual intercourse but parenthood was necessary in both +sexes. This difficulty was overcome partly by designing a very prolonged +infancy and childhood; which, necessary in themselves for the proper +mental and physical growth of these complicated organisms, provided also +a longer exercise of parenthood for the mature. At the same time the +actual process of child-birth was designed to be as easy as among the +Third Men. And it was expected that with its greatly improved +physiological organization the infant would not need that anxious and +absorbing care which had so seriously hobbled most mothers among the +earlier races. + +The mere sketching out of these preliminary specifications of an +improved human being involved many centuries of research and calculation +which taxed even the ingenuity of the Great Brains. Then followed a +lengthy period of tentative experiment in the actual production of such +a type. For some thousands of years little was done but to show that +many promising lines of attack were after all barren. And several times +during this period the whole work was held up by disagreements among the +Great Brains themselves as to the policy to be adopted. Once, indeed, +they took to violence, one party attacking the other with chemicals, +microbes, and armies of human automata. + +In short it was only after many failures, and after many barren epochs +during which, for a variety of reasons, the enterprise was neglected, +that the Fourth Men did at length fashion two individuals almost +precisely of the type they had originally designed. These were produced +from a single fertilized ovum, in laboratory conditions. Identical +twins, but of opposite sexes, they became the Adam and Eve of a new and +glorious human species, the Fifth Men. + +It may fittingly be said of the Fifth Men that they were the first to +attain true human proportions of body and mind. On the average they were +more than twice as tall as the First Men, and much taller than the +Second Men. Their lower limbs had therefore to be extremely massive +compared with the torso which they had to support. Thus, upon the ample +pedestal of their feet, they stood like columns of masonry. Yet though +their proportions were in a manner elephantine, there was a remarkable +precision and even delicacy in the volumes that composed them. Their +great arms and shoulders, dwarfed somewhat by their still mightier legs, +were instruments not only of power but also of fine adjustment. Their +hands also were fashioned both for power and for minute control; for, +while the thumb and forefinger constituted a formidable vice, the +delicate sixth finger had been induced to divide its tip into two +Lilliputian fingers and a corresponding thumb. The contours of the limbs +were sharply visible, for the body bore no hair, save for a close, thick +skullcap which, in the original stock, was of ruddy brown. The +well-marked eyebrows, when drawn down, shaded the sensitive eyes from +the sun. Elsewhere there was no need of hair, for the brown skin had +been so ingeniously contrived that it maintained an even temperature +alike in tropical and sub-Arctic climates, with no aid either from hair +or clothes. Compared with the great body, the head was not large, though +the brain-capacity was twice that of the Second Men. In the original +pair of individuals the immense eyes were of a deep violet, the features +strongly moulded and mobile. These facial characters had not been +specially designed, for they seemed unimportant to the Fourth Men; but +the play of biological forces resulted in a face not unlike that of the +Second Men, though with an added and indescribable expression which no +human face had hitherto attained. + +How from this pair of individuals the new population gradually arose; +how at first it was earnestly fostered by its creators; how it +subsequently asserted its independence and took control of its own +destiny; how the Great Brains failed piteously to understand and +sympathize with the mentality of their creatures, and tried to tyrannize +over them; how for a while the planet was divided into two mutually +intolerant communities, and was at last drenched with man’s blood, until +the human automata were exterminated, the Great Brains starved or blown +to pieces, and the Fifth Men themselves decimated; how, as a result of +these events, a dense fog of barbarism settled once more upon the +planet, so that the Fifth Men, like so many other races, had after all +to start rebuilding civilization and culture from its very foundations; +how all these things befell we must not in detail observe. + + + 4. THE CULTURE OF THE FIFTH MEN + +It is not possible to recount the stages by which the Fifth Men advanced +toward their greatest civilization and culture; for it is that fully +developed culture itself which concerns us. And even of their highest +achievement, which persisted for so many millions of years, I can say +but little, not merely because I must hasten to the end of my story, but +also because so much of that achievement lies wholly beyond the +comprehension of those for whom this book is intended. For I have at +last reached that period in the history of man when he first began to +reorganize his whole mentality to cope with matters whose very existence +had been hitherto almost completely hidden from him. The old aims +persist, and are progressively realized as never before; but also they +become increasingly subordinate to the requirements of new aims which +are more and more insistently forced upon him by his deepening +experience. Just as the interests and ideals of the First Men lie beyond +the grasp of their ape contemporaries, so the interests and ideals of +the Fifth Men in their full development lie beyond the grasp of the +First Men. On the other hand, just as, in the life of primitive man, +there is much which would be meaningful even to the ape, so in the life +of the Fifth Men much remains which is meaningful even to the First Men. + +Conceive a world-society developed materially far beyond the wildest +dreams of America. Unlimited power, derived partly from the artificial +disintegration of atoms, partly from the actual annihilation of matter +through the union of electrons and protons to form radiation, completely +abolished the whole grotesque burden of drudgery which hitherto had +seemed the inescapable price of civilization, nay of life itself. The +vast economic routine of the world-community was carried on by the mere +touching of appropriate buttons. Transport, mining, manufacture, and +even agriculture, were performed in this manner. And indeed in most +cases the systematic coordination of these activities was itself the +work of self-regulating machinery. Thus, not only was there no longer +need for any human beings to spend their lives in unskilled monotonous +labour, but further, much that earlier races would have regarded as +highly skilled though stereotyped work was now carried on by machinery. +Only the pioneering of industry, the endless exhilarating research, +invention, design, and reorganization, which is incurred by an +ever-changing society, still engaged the minds of men and women. And +though this work was of course immense, it could not occupy the whole +attention of a great world-community. Thus very much of the energy of +the race was free to occupy itself with other no less difficult and +exacting matters, or to seek recreation in its many admirable sports and +arts. Materially every individual was a multi-millionaire, in that he +had at his beck and call a great diversity of powerful mechanisms; but +also he was a penniless friar, for he had no vestige of economic control +over any other human being. He could fly through the upper air to the +ends of the earth in an hour, or hang idle among the clouds all day +long. His flying machine was no cumbersome aeroplane, but either a +wingless aerial boat, or a mere suit of overalls in which he could +disport himself with the freedom of a bird. Not only in the air, but in +the sea also, he was free. He could stroll about the ocean bed, or +gambol with the deep-sea fishes. And for habitation he could make his +home, as he willed, either in a shack in the wilderness or in one of the +great pylons which dwarfed the architecture even of the American age. He +could possess this huge palace in loneliness and fill it with his +possessions, to be automatically cared for without human service; or he +could join with others and create a hive of social life. All these +amenities he took for granted as the savage takes for granted the air +which he breathes. And because they were as universally available as +air, no one craved them in excess, and no one grudged another the use of +them. + +Yet the population of the earth was now very numerous. Some ten thousand +million persons had their homes in the snow-capped pylons which covered +the continents with an open forest of architecture. Between these great +obelisks lay corn-land, park, and wilderness. For there were very many +areas of hill-country and forest which were preserved as playgrounds. +And indeed one whole continent, stretching from the Tropical to the +Arctic, was kept as nearly as possible in its natural state. This region +was chosen mainly for its mountains; for since most of the Alpine tracts +had by now been worn into insignificance by water and frost, mountains +were much prized. Into this Wild Continent individuals of all ages +repaired to spend many years at a time in living the life of primitive +man without any aid whatever for civilization. For it was recognized +that a highly sophisticated race, devoted almost wholly to art and +science, must take special measures to preserve its contact with the +primitive. Thus in the Wild Continent was to be found at any time a +sparse population of ‘savages’, armed with flint and bone, or more +rarely with iron, which they or their friends had wrested from the +earth. These voluntary primitives were intent chiefly upon hunting and +simple agriculture. Their scanty leisure was devoted to art, and +meditation, and to savouring fully all the primeval human values. Indeed +it was a hard life and a dangerous one that these intellectuals +periodically imposed on themselves. And though of course they had zest +in it, they often dreaded its hardship and the uncertainty that they +would ever return from it. For the danger was very real. The Fifth Men +had compensated for the Fourth Men’s foolish destruction of the animals +by creating a whole system of new types, which they set at large in the +Wild Continent; and some of these creatures were extremely formidable +carnivora, which man himself, armed only with primitive weapons, had +very good reason to fear. In the Wild Continent there was inevitably a +high death-rate. Many promising lives were tragically cut short. But it +was recognized that from the point of view of the race this sacrifice +was worth while, for the spiritual effects of the institution of +periodic savagery were very real. Beings whose natural span was three +thousand years, given over almost wholly to civilized pursuits, were +greatly invigorated and enlightened by an occasional decade in the wild. + +The culture of the Fifth Men was influenced in many respects by their +‘telepathic’ communication with one another. The obvious advantages of +this capacity were now secured without its dangers. Each individual +could isolate himself at will from the radiation of his fellows, either +wholly or in respect of particular elements of his mental process; and +thus he was in no danger of losing his individuality. But, on the other +hand, he was immeasurably more able to participate in the experience of +others than were beings for whom the only possible communication was +symbolic. The result was that, though conflict of wills was still +possible, it was far more easily resolved by mutual understanding than +had ever been the case in earlier species. Thus there were no lasting +and no radical conflicts, either of thought or desire. It was +universally recognized that every discrepancy of opinion and of aim +could be abolished by telepathic discussion. Sometimes the process would +be easy and rapid; sometimes it could not be achieved without a patient +and detailed ‘laying of mind to mind’, so as to bring to light the point +where the difference originated. + +One result of the general ‘telepathic’ facility of the species was that +speech was no longer necessary. It was still preserved and prized, but +only as a medium of art, not as a means of communication. Thinking, of +course, was still carried on largely by means of words; but in +communication there was no more need actually to speak the words than in +thinking in private. Written language remained essential for the +recording and storing of thought. Both language and the written +expression of it had become far more complex and accurate than they had +ever been, more faithful instruments for the expression and creation of +thought and emotion. + +‘Telepathy’ combined with longevity and the extremely subtle +brain-structure of the species to afford each individual an immense +number of intimate friendships, and some slight acquaintance actually +with the whole race. This, I fear, must seem incredible to my readers, +unless they can be persuaded to regard it as a symptom of the high +mental development of the species. However that may be, it is a fact +that each person was aware of every other, at least as a face, or a +name, or the holder of a certain office. It is impossible to exaggerate +the effects of this facility of personal intercourse. It meant that the +species constituted at any moment, if not strictly a community of +friends, at least a vast club or college. Further, since each individual +saw his own mind reflected, as it were, in very many other minds, and +since there was great variety of psychological types, the upshot in each +individual was a very accurate self-consciousness. + +In the Martians, ‘telepathic’ intercourse had resulted in a true +group-mind, a single psychical process embodied in the electro-magnetic +radiation of the whole race; but this group-mind was inferior in calibre +to the individual minds. All that was distinctive of an individual at +his best failed to contribute to the group-mind. But in the fifth human +species ‘telepathy’ was only a means of intercourse between individuals; +there was no true group-mind. On the other hand, telepathic intercourse +occurred even on the highest planes of experience. It was by +‘telepathic’ intercourse in respect of art, science, philosophy, and the +appreciation of personalities, that the public mind, or rather the +public culture, of the Fifth Men had being. With the Martians, +‘telepathic’ union took place chiefly by elimination of the differences +between individuals; with the Fifth Men ‘telepathic’ communication was, +as it were, a kind of spiritual multiplication of mental diversity, by +which each mind was enriched with the wealth of ten thousand million. +Consequently each individual was, in a very real sense, the cultured +mind of the species; but there were as many such minds as there were +individuals. There was no additional racial mind over and above the +minds of the individuals. Each individual himself was a conscious centre +which participated in, and contributed to, the experience of all other +centres. + +This state of affairs would not have been possible had not the +world-community been able to direct so much of its interest and energy +into the higher mental activities. The whole structure of society was +fashioned in relation to its best culture. It is almost impossible to +give even an inkling of the nature and aims of this culture, and to make +it believable that a huge population should have spent scores of +millions of years not wholly, not even chiefly, on industrial +advancement, but almost entirely on art, science, and philosophy, +without ever repeating itself or falling into ennui I can only point out +that, the higher a mind’s development, the more it discovers in the +universe to occupy it. + +Needless to say, the Fifth Men had early mastered all those paradoxes of +physical science which had so perplexed the First Men. Needless to say, +they had a very complete knowledge of the geography of the cosmos and of +the atom. But again and again the very foundations of their science were +shattered by some new discovery, so that they had patiently to +reconstruct the whole upon an entirely new plan. At length, however, +with the clear formulation of the principles of psycho-physics, in which +the older psychology and the older physics were held, so to speak, in +chemical combination, they seemed to have built upon the rock. In this +science, the fundamental concepts of psychology were given a physical +meaning, and the fundamental concepts of physics were stated in a +psychological manner. Further, the most fundamental relations of the +physical universe were found to be of the same nature as the fundamental +principles of art. But, and herein lay mystery and horror even for the +Fifth Men, there was no shred of evidence that this aesthetically +admirable cosmos was the work of a conscious artist, nor yet that any +mind would ever develop so greatly as to be able to appreciate the Whole +in all its detail and unity. + +Since art seemed to the Fifth Men to be in some sense basic to the +cosmos, they were naturally very much preoccupied with artistic +creation. Consequently, all those who were not social or economic +organizers, or scientific researchers, or pure philosophers, were by +profession creative artists or handicraftsmen. That is to say, they were +engaged on the production of material objects of various kinds, whose +form should be aesthetically significant to the receiver. In some cases +the material object was a pattern of spoken words, in others pure music, +in others moving coloured shapes, in others a complex of steel cubes and +bars, in others some translation of the human figure into a particular +medium, and so on. But also the aesthetic impulse expressed itself in +the production, by hand, of innumerable common utensils, indulging +sometimes in lavish decoration, trusting at other times to the beauty of +function. Every medium of art that had ever been employed was employed +by the Fifth Men, and innumerable new vehicles were also used. They +prized on the whole more highly those kinds of art which were not +static, but involved time as well as space, for as a race they were +peculiarly fascinated by time. + +These innumerable artists held that they were doing something of great +importance. The cosmos was to be regarded as an aesthetic unity in four +dimensions, and of inconceivable complexity. Human works of pure art +were thought of as instruments through which man might behold and admire +some aspect of the cosmic beauty. They were said to focus together +features of the cosmos too vast and elusive for man otherwise to +apprehend their form. The work of art was sometimes likened to a +compendious mathematical formula expressive of some immense and +apparently chaotic field of facts. But in the case of art, it was said, +the unity which the artistic object elicited was one in which factors of +vital nature and of mind itself were essential members. + +The race thus deemed itself to be engaged upon a great enterprise both +of discovery and creation in which each individual was both an +originator of some unique contribution, and an appraiser of all. + +Now, as the years advanced in millions and in decades of millions, it +began to be noticed that the movement of world-culture was in a manner +spiral. There would be an age during which the interest of the race was +directed almost wholly upon certain tracts or aspects of existence; and +then, after perhaps a hundred thousand years, these would seem to have +been fully cultivated, and would be left fallow. During the next epoch +attention would be in the main directed to other spheres, and then +afterwards to yet others, and again others. But at length a return would +be made to the fields that had been deserted, and it would be discovered +that they could now miraculously bear a millionfold the former crop. +Thus, in both science and art man kept recurring again and again to the +ancient themes, to work over them once more in meticulous detail and +strike from them new truth and new beauty, such as, in the earlier +epoch, he could never have conceived. Thus it was that, though science +gathered to itself unfalteringly an ever wider and more detailed view of +existence, it periodically discovered some revolutionary general +principle in terms of which its whole content had to be given a new +significance. And in art there would appear in one age works +superficially almost identical with works of another age, yet to the +discerning eye incomparably more significant. Similarly, in respect of +human personality itself, those men and women who lived at the close of +the aeon of the Fifth Men could often discover in the remote beginning +of their own race beings curiously like themselves, yet, as it were, +expressed in fewer dimensions than their own many-dimensional natures. +As a map is like the mountainous land, or the picture like the +landscape, or indeed as the point and the circle are like the sphere, +so, and only so, the earlier Fifth Men resembled the flower of the +species. + +Such statements would be in a manner true of any period of steady +cultural progress. But in the present instance they have a peculiar +significance which I must now somehow contrive to suggest. + + + + + XII _The Last Terrestrials_ + + + 1. THE CULT OF EVANESCENCE + +The Fifth Men had not been endowed with that potential immortality which +their makers themselves possessed. And from the fact that they were +mortal and yet long-lived, their culture drew its chief brilliance and +poignancy. Beings for whom the natural span was three thousand years, +and ultimately as much as fifty thousand, were peculiarly troubled by +the prospect of death, and by the loss of those dear to them. The more +ephemeral kind of spirit, that comes into being and then almost +immediately ceases, before it has entered at all deeply into +consciousness of itself, can face its end with a courage that is half +unwitting. Even its smart in the loss of other beings with whom it has +been intimate is but a vague and dream-like suffering. For the ephemeral +spirit has no time to grow fully awake, or fully intimate with another, +before it must lose its beloved, and itself once more fade into +unconsciousness. But with the long-lived yet not immortal Fifth Men the +case was different. Gathering to themselves experience of the cosmos, +acquiring an ever more precise and vivid insight and appreciation, they +knew that very soon all this wealth of the soul must cease to be. And in +love, though they might be fully intimate not merely with one but with +very many persons, the death of one of these dear spirits seemed an +irrevocable tragedy, an utter annihilation of the most resplendent kind +of glory, an impoverishment of the cosmos for evermore. + +In their brief primitive phase, the Fifth Men, like so many other races, +sought to console themselves by unreasoning faith in a life after death. +They conceived, for instance, that at death terrestrial beings embarked +upon a career continuous with earthly life, but far more ample, either +in some remote planetary system, or in some wholly distinct orb of +space-time. But though such theories were never disproved in the +primitive era, they gradually began to seem not merely improbable but +ignoble. For it came to be recognized that the resplendent glories of +personality, even in that degree of beauty which now for the first time +was attained, were not after all the extreme of glory. It was seen with +pain, but also with exultation, that even love’s demand that the beloved +should have immortal life is a betrayal of man’s paramount allegiance. +And little by little it became evident that those who used great gifts, +and even genius, to establish the truth of the after life, or to seek +contact with their beloved dead, suffered from a strange blindness, an +obtuseness of the spirit. Though the love which had misled them was +itself a very lovely thing, yet they were misled. Like children, +searching for lost toys, they wandered. Like adolescents seeking to +recapture delight in the things of childhood, they shunned those more +difficult admirations which are proper to the grown mind. + +And so it became a constant aim of the Fifth Men to school themselves to +admire chiefly even in the very crisis of bereavement, not persons, but +that great music of innumerable personal lives, which is the life of the +race. And quite early in their career they discovered an unexpected +beauty in the very fact that the individual must die. So that, when they +had actually come into possession of the means to make themselves +immortal, they refrained, choosing rather merely to increase the +life-span of succeeding generations to fifty thousand years. Such a +period seemed to be demanded for the full exercise of human capacity; +but immortality, they held, would lead to spiritual disaster. + +Now as their science advanced they saw that there had been a time, +before the stars were formed, when there was no possible footing for +minds in the cosmos; and that there would come a time when mentality +would be driven out of existence. Earlier human species had not needed +to trouble about mind’s ultimate fate; but for the long-lived Fifth Men +the end, though remote, did not seem infinitely distant. The prospect +distressed them. They had schooled themselves to live not for the +individual but for the race; and now the life of the race itself was +seen to be a mere instant between the endless void of the past and the +endless void of the future. Nothing within their ken was more worthy of +admiration than the organized progressive mentality of mankind; and the +conviction that this most admired thing must soon cease filled many of +their less ample minds with horror and indignation. But in time the +Fifth Men, like the Second Men long before them, came to suspect that +even in this tragic brevity of mind’s course there was a quality of +beauty, more difficult than the familiar beauty, but also more +exquisite. Even thus imprisoned in an instant, the spirit of man might +yet plumb the whole extent of space, and also the whole past and the +whole future; and so, from behind his prison bars, he might render the +universe that intelligent worship which, they felt, it demanded of him. +Better so, they said, than that he should fret himself with puny efforts +to escape. He is dignified by his very weakness, and the cosmos by its +very indifference to him. + +For aeons they remained in this faith. And they schooled their hearts to +acquiesce in it, saying, if it is so, it is best, and somehow we must +learn to see that it is best. But what they meant by ‘best’ was not what +their predecessors would have meant. They did not, for instance, deceive +themselves by pretending that after all they themselves actually +preferred life to be evanescent. On the contrary, they continued to long +that it might be otherwise. But having discovered, both behind the +physical order and behind the desires of minds, a fundamental principle +whose essence was aesthetic, they were faithful to the conviction that +whatever was fact must somehow in the universal view be fitting, right, +beautiful, integral to the form of the cosmos. And so they accepted as +right a state of affairs which in their own hearts they still felt +grievously wrong. + +This conviction of the irrevocability of the past and of the evanescence +of mind induced in them a great tenderness for all beings that had lived +and ceased. Deeming themselves to be near the crest of life’s +achievement, blessed also with longevity and philosophic detachment, +they were often smitten with pity for those humbler, briefer, and less +free spirits whose lot had fallen in the past. Moreover, themselves +extremely complex, subtle, conscious, they conceived a generous +admiration for all simple minds, for the early men, and for the beasts. +Very strongly they condemned the action of their predecessors in +destroying so many joyous and delectable creatures. Earnestly they +sought to reconstruct in imagination all those beings that blind +intellectualism had murdered. Earnestly they delved in the near and the +remote past so as to recover as much as possible of the history of life +on the planet. With meticulous love they would figure out the life +stories of extinct types, such as the brontosaurus, the hippopotamus, +the chimpanzee, the Englishman, the American, as also of the still +extant amoeba. And while they could not but relish the comicality of +these remote beings, their amusement was the outgrowth of affectionate +insight into simple natures, and was but the obverse of their +recognition that the primitive is essentially tragic, because blind. And +so, while they saw that the main work of man must have regard to the +future, they felt that he owed also a duty toward the past. He must +preserve it in his own mind, if not actually in life at least in being. +In the future lay glory, joy, brilliance of the spirit. The future +needed service, not pity, not piety; but in the past lay darkness, +confusion, waste, and all the cramped primitive minds, bewildered, +torturing one another in their stupidity, yet one and all in some unique +manner beautiful. + +The reconstruction of the past, not merely as abstract history but with +the intimacy of the novel, thus became one of the main preoccupations of +the Fifth Men. Many devoted themselves to this work, each individual +specializing very minutely in some particular episode of human or animal +history, and transmitting his work into the culture of the race. Thus +increasingly the individual felt himself to be a single flicker between +the teeming gulf of the never-more and the boundless void of the +not-yet. Himself a member of a very noble and fortunate race, his zest +in existence was tempered, deepened, by a sense of the presence, the +ghostly presence, of the myriad less fortunate beings in the past. +Sometimes, and especially in epochs when the contemporary world seemed +most satisfactory and promising, this piety toward the primitive and the +past became the dominant activity of the race, giving rise to +alternating phases of rebellion against the tyrannical nature of the +cosmos, and faith that in the universal view, after all, this horror +must be right. In this latter mood it was held that the very +irrevocability of the past dignified all past existence, and dignified +the cosmos, as a work of tragic art is dignified by the irrevocability +of disaster. It was this mood of acquiescence and faith which in the end +became the characteristic attitude of the Fifth Men for many millions of +years. + +But a bewildering discovery was in store for the Fifth Men, a discovery +which was to change their whole attitude toward existence. Certain +obscure biological facts began to make them suspect, on purely empirical +grounds, that past events were not after all simply non-existent, that +though no longer existent in the temporal manner, they had eternal +existence in some other manner. The effect of this increasing suspicion +about the past was that a once harmonious race was divided for a while +into two parties, those who insisted that the formal beauty of the +universe demanded the tragic evanescence of all things, and those who +determined to show that living minds could actually reach back into past +events in all their pastness. + +The readers of this book are not in a position to realize the poignancy +of the conflict which now threatened to wreck humanity. They cannot +approach it from the point of view of a race whose culture had consisted +of an age-long schooling in admiration of an ever-vanishing cosmos. To +the orthodox it seemed that the new view was iconoclastic, impertinent, +vulgar. Their opponents, on the other hand, insisted that the matter +must be decided dispassionately, according to the evidence. They were +also able to point out that this devotion to evanescence was after all +but the outcome of the conviction that the cosmos must be supremely +noble. No one, it was said, really had direct vision of evanescence as +in itself an excellence. So heartfelt was the dispute that the orthodox +party actually broke off all ‘telepathic’ communication with the rebels, +and even went so far as to plan their destruction. There can be no doubt +that if violence had actually been used the human race would have +succumbed; for in a species of such high mental development internecine +war would have been a gross violation of its nature. It would never have +been able to live down so shameful a spiritual disaster. Fortunately, +however, at the eleventh hour, commonsense prevailed. The iconoclasts +were permitted to carry on their research, and the whole race awaited +the result. + + + 2. EXPLORATION OF TIME + +This first attack upon the nature of time involved an immense +cooperative work, both theoretical and practical. It was from biology +that the first hint had come that the past persisted. And it would be +necessary to restate the whole of biology and the physical sciences in +terms of the new idea. On the practical side it was necessary to +undertake a great campaign of experiment, physiological and +psychological. We cannot stay to watch this work. Millions of years +passed by. Sometimes, for thousands of years at a spell, temporal +research was the main preoccupation of the race; sometimes it was thrust +into the background, or completely ignored, during epochs which were +dominated by other interests. Age after age passed, and always the +effort of man in this sphere remained barren. Then at last there was a +real success. + +A child had been selected from among those produced by an age-long +breeding enterprise, directed towards the mastery of time. From infancy +this child’s brain had been very carefully controlled physiologically. +Psychologically also he had been subjected to a severe treatment, that +he might be properly schooled for his strange task. In the presence of +several scientists and historians he was put into a kind of trance, and +brought out of it again, half an hour later. He was then asked to give +an account ‘telepathically’ of his experiences during the trance. +Unfortunately he was now so shattered that his evidence was almost +unintelligible. After some months of rest he was questioned again, and +was able to describe a curious episode which turned out to be a +terrifying incident in the girlhood of his dead mother. He seemed to +have seen the incident through her eyes, and to have been aware of all +her thoughts. This alone proved nothing, for he might have received the +information from some living mind. Once more, therefore, and in spite of +his entreaties, he was put into the peculiar trance. On waking he told a +rambling story of ‘little red people living in a squat white tower’. It +was clear that he was referring to the Great Brains and their +attendants. But once more, this proved nothing; and before the account +was finished the child died. + +Another child was chosen, but was not put to the test until late in +adolescence. After an hour of the trance, he woke and became terribly +agitated, but forced himself to describe an episode which the historians +assigned to the age of the Martian invasions. The importance of this +incident lay in his account of a certain house with a carved granite +portico, situated at the head of a waterfall in a mountain valley. He +said he had found himself to be an old woman, and that he, or she, was +being hurriedly helped out of the house by the other inmates. They +watched a formless monster creep down the valley, destroy their house, +and mangle two persons who failed to get away in time. Now this house +was not at all typical of the Second Men, but must have expressed the +whim of some freakish individual. From evidence derived from the boy +himself, it proved possible to locate the valley with reference to a +former mountain, known to history. No valley survived in that spot; but +deep excavations revealed the ancient slopes, the fault that had +occasioned the waterfall, and the broken pillars. + +This and many similar incidents confirmed the Fifth Men in their new +view of time. There followed an age in which the technique of direct +inspection of the past was gradually improved, but not without tragedy. +In the early stages it was found impossible to keep the ‘medium’ alive +for more than a few weeks after his venture into the past. The +experience seemed to set up a progressive mental disintegration which +produced first insanity, then paralysis, and, within a few months, +death. This difficulty was at last overcome. By one means and another a +type of brain was produced capable of undergoing the strain of +supra-temporal experience without fatal results. An increasingly large +proportion of the rising generation had now direct access to the past, +and were engaged upon a great re-statement of history in relation to +their first-hand experience; but their excursions into the past were +uncontrollable. They could not go where they wanted to go, but only +where fate flung them. Nor could they go of their own will, but only +through a very complicated technique, and with the cooperation of +experts. After a time the process was made much easier, in fact, too +easy. The unfortunate medium might slip so easily into the trance that +his days were eaten up by the past. He might suddenly fall to the +ground, and lie rapt, inert, dependent on artificial feeding, for weeks, +months, even for years. Or a dozen times in the same day he might be +flung into a dozen different epochs of history. Or, still more +distressing, his experience of past events might not keep pace with the +actual rhythm of those events themselves. Thus he might behold the +events of a month, or even a lifetime, fantastically accelerated so as +to occupy a trance of no more than a day’s duration. Or, worse, he might +find himself sliding backwards down the vista of the hours and +experiencing events in an order the reverse of the natural order. Even +the magnificent brains of the Fifth Men could not stand this. The result +was maniacal behaviour, followed by death. Another trouble also beset +these first experimenters. Supra-temporal experience proved to be like a +dangerous and habit-forming drug. Those who ventured into the past might +become so intoxicated that they would try to spend every moment of their +natural lives in roaming among past events. Thus gradually they would +lose touch with the present, live in absentminded brooding, fail to +react normally to their environment, turn socially worthless, and often +come actually to physical disaster through inability to look after +themselves. + +Many more thousands of years passed before these difficulties and +dangers were overcome. At length, however, the technique of +supra-temporal experience was so perfected that every individual could +at will practise it with safety, and could, within limits, project his +vision into any locality of space-time which he desired to inspect. It +was only possible, however, to see past events through the mind of some +past organism, no longer living. And in practice only human minds, and +to some extent the minds of the higher mammals, could be entered. The +explorer retained throughout his adventure his own personality and +system of memory. While experiencing the past individual’s perceptions, +memories, thoughts, desires, and in fact the whole process and content +of the past mind, the explorer continued to be himself, and to react in +terms of his own character, now condemning, now sympathizing, now +critically enjoying the spectacle. + +The task of explaining the mechanism of this new faculty occupied the +scientists and philosophers of the species for a very long period. The +final account, of course, cannot be presented save by parable; for it +was found necessary to recast many fundamental concepts in order to +interpret the facts coherently. The only hint that I can give of the +explanation is in saying, metaphorically of course, that the living +brain had access to the past, not by way of some mysterious kind of +racial memory, nor by some equally impossible journey up the stream of +time, but by a partial awakening, as it were, into eternity, and into +inspection of a minute tract of space-time through some temporal mind in +the past, as though through an optical instrument. In the early +experiments the fantastic speeding, slowing, and reversal of the +temporal process resulted from disorderly inspection. As a reader may +either skim the pages of a book, or read at a comfortable pace, or dwell +upon one word, or spell the sentence backwards, so, unintentionally, the +novice in eternity might read or misread the mind that was presented to +him. + +This new mode of experience, it should be noted, was the activity of +living brains, though brains of a novel kind. Hence what was to be +discovered ‘through the medium of eternity’ was limited by the +particular exploring brain’s capacity of understanding what was +presented to it. And, further, though the actual supra-temporal contact +with past events occupied no time in the brain’s natural life, the +assimilating of that moment of vision, the reduction of it to normal +temporal memory in the normal brain structures, took time, and had to be +done during the period of the trance. To expect the neural structure to +record the experience instantaneously would be to expect a complicated +machine to effect a complicated readjustment without a process of +readjusting. + +The new access to the past had, of course, far-reaching effects upon the +culture of the Fifth Men. Not only did it give them an incomparably more +accurate knowledge of past events, and insight into the motives of +historical personages, and into large-scale cultural movements, but also +it effected a subtle change in their estimate of the importance of +things. Though intellectually they had, of course, realized both the +vastness and the richness of the past, now they realized it with an +overwhelming vividness. Matters that had been known hitherto only +historically, schematically, were now available to be lived through by +intimate acquaintance. The only limit to such acquaintance was set by +the limitations of the explorer’s own brain-capacity. Consequently the +remote past came to enter into a man and shape his mind in a manner in +which only the recent past, through memory, had shaped him hitherto. +Even before the new kind of experience was first acquired, this race had +been, as was said, peculiarly under the spell of the past; but now it +was infinitely more so. Hitherto the Fifth Men had been like +stay-at-home folk who had read minutely of foreign parts, but had never +travelled; now they had become travellers experienced in all the +continents of human time. The presences that had hitherto been ghostly +were now presences of flesh and blood seen in broad daylight. And so the +moving instant called the present appeared no longer as the only, and +infinitesimal, real, but as the growing surface of an everlasting tree +of existence. It was now the past that seemed most real, while the +future still seemed void, and the present merely the impalpable +becomingness of the indestructible past. + +The discovery that past events were after all persistent, and +accessible, was of course for the Fifth Men a source of deep joy; but +also it caused them a new distress. While the past was thought of as a +mere gulf of non-existence, the inconceivably great pain, misery, +baseness, that had fallen into that gulf, could be dismissed as done +with; and the will could be concentrated wholly on preventing such +horrors from occurring in the future. But now, along with past joy, past +distress was found to be everlasting. And those who, in the course of +their voyaging in the past, encountered regions of eternal agony, came +back distraught. It was easy to remind these harrowed explorers that if +pain was eternal, so also was joy. Those who had endured travel in the +tragic past were apt to dismiss such assurances with contempt, affirming +that all the delights of the whole population of time could not +compensate for the agony of one tortured individual. And anyhow, they +declared, it was obvious that there had been no preponderance of joy +over pain. Indeed, save in the modern age, pain had been overwhelmingly +in excess. + +So seriously did these convictions prey upon the minds of the Fifth Men, +that in spite of their own almost perfect social order, in which +suffering had actually to be sought out as a tonic, they fell into +despair. At all times, in all pursuits, the presence of the tragic past +haunted them, poisoning their lives, sapping their strength. Lovers were +ashamed of the delight in one another. As in the far-off days of sexual +taboo, guilt crept between them, and held their spirits apart even while +their bodies were united. + + + 3. VOYAGING IN SPACE + +It was while they were struggling in the grip of this vast social +melancholy, and anxiously craving some new vision by which to +reinterpret or transcend the agony of the past, that the Fifth Men were +confronted with a most unexpected physical crisis. It was discovered +that something queer was happening to the moon; in fact, that the orbit +of the satellite was narrowing in upon the earth in a manner contrary to +all the calculations of the scientists. + +The Fifth Men had long ago fashioned for themselves an all-embracing and +minutely coherent system of natural sciences, every factor in which had +been put to the test a thousand times and had never been shaken. +Imagine, then, their bewilderment at this extraordinary discovery. In +ages when science was still fragmentary, a subversive discovery entailed +merely a reorganization of some one department of science; but by now, +such was the coherence of knowledge, that any minute discrepancy of fact +and theory must throw man into a state of complete intellectual vertigo. + +The evolution of the lunar orbit had, of course, been studied from time +immemorial. Even the First Men had learned that the moon must first +withdraw from and subsequently once more approach the earth, till it +should reach a critical proximity and begin to break up into a swarm of +fragments like the rings of Saturn. This view had been very thoroughly +confirmed by the Fifth Men themselves. The satellite should have +continued to withdraw for yet many hundreds of millions of years; but in +fact it was now observed that not only had the withdrawal ceased, but a +comparatively rapid approach had begun. + +Observations and calculations were repeated, and ingenious theoretical +explanations were suggested; but the truth remained completely hidden. +It was left to a future and more brilliant species to discover the +connexion between a planet’s gravitation and its cultural development. +Meanwhile, the Fifth Men knew only that the distance between the earth +and the moon was becoming smaller with ever-increasing rapidity. + +This discovery was a tonic to a melancholy race. Men turned from the +tragic past to the bewildering present and the uncertain future. + +For it was evident that, if the present acceleration of approach were to +be maintained, the moon would enter the critical zone and disintegrate +in less than ten million years; and, further, that the fragments would +not maintain themselves as a ring, but would soon crash upon the earth. +Heat generated by their impact would make the surface of the earth +impossible as the home of life. A short-lived and short-sighted species +might well have considered ten million years as equivalent to eternity. +Not so the Fifth Men. Thinking primarily in terms of the race, they +recognized at once that their whole social policy must now be dominated +by this future catastrophe. Some there were indeed who at first refused +to take the matter seriously, saying that there was no reason to believe +that the moon’s odd behaviour would continue indefinitely. But as the +years advanced, this view became increasingly improbable. Some of those +who had spent much of their lives in exploration of the past now sought +to explore the future also, hoping to prove that human civilization +would always be discoverable on the earth in no matter how remote a +future. But the attempt to unveil the future by direct inspection failed +completely. It was surmised, erroneously, that future events, unlike +past events, must be strictly non-existent until their creation by the +advancing present. + +Clearly humanity must leave its native planet. Research was therefore +concentrated on the possibility of flight through empty space, and the +suitability of neighbouring worlds. The only alternatives were Mars and +Venus. The former was by now without water and without atmosphere. The +latter had a dense moist atmosphere, but one which lacked oxygen. The +surface of Venus, moreover, was known to be almost completely covered +with a shallow ocean. Further the planet was so hot by day that, even at +the poles, man in his present state would scarcely survive. + +It did not take the Fifth Men many centuries to devise a tolerable means +of voyaging in interplanetary space. Immense rockets were constructed, +the motive power of which was derived from the annihilation of matter. +The vehicle was propelled simply by the terrific pressure of radiation +thus produced. ‘Fuel’ for a voyage of many months, or even years, could, +of course, easily be carried, since the annihilation of a minute amount +of matter produced a vast wealth of energy. Moreover, when once the +vessel had emerged from the earth’s atmosphere, and had attained full +speed, she would, of course, maintain it without the use of power from +the rocket apparatus. The task of rendering the ‘ether-ship’ properly +manageable and decently habitable proved difficult, but not +insurmountable. The first vessel to take the ether was a cigar-shaped +hull some three thousand feet long, and built of metals whose artificial +atoms were incomparably more rigid than anything hitherto known. +Batteries of ‘rocket’ apparatus at various points on the hull enabled +the ship not only to travel forward, but to reverse, turn in any +direction, or side-step. Windows of an artificial transparent element, +scarcely less strong than the metal of the hull, enabled the voyagers to +look around them. Within there was ample accommodation for a hundred +persons and their provisions for three years. Air for the same period +was manufactured in transit from protons and electrons stored under +pressure comparable to that in the interior of a star. Heat was, of +course, provided by the annihilation of matter. Powerful refrigeration +would permit the vessel to approach the sun almost to the orbit of +Mercury. An ‘artificial gravity’ system, based on the properties of the +electro-magnetic field, could be turned on and regulated at will, so as +to maintain a more or less normal environment for the human organism. + +This pioneer ship was manned with a navigating crew and a company of +scientists, and was successfully dispatched upon a trial trip. The +intention was to approach close to the surface of the moon, possibly to +circumnavigate it at an altitude of ten thousand feet, and to return +without landing. For many days those on earth received radio messages +from the vessel’s powerful installation, reporting that all was going +well. But suddenly the messages ceased, and no more was ever heard of +the vessel. Almost at the moment of the last message, telescopes had +revealed a sudden flash of light at a point on the vessel’s course. It +was therefore surmised that she had collided with a meteor and fused +with the heat of the impact. + +Other vessels were built and dispatched on trial voyages. Many failed to +return. Some got out of control, and reported that they were heading for +outer space or plunging towards the sun, their hopeless messages +continuing until the last of the crew succumbed to suffocation. Other +vessels returned successfully, but with crews haggard and distraught +from long confinement in bad atmosphere. One, venturing to land on the +moon, broke her back, so that the air rushed out of her, and her people +died. After her last message was received, she was detected from the +earth, as an added speck on the stippled surface of a lunar ‘sea’. + +As time passed, however, accidents became rarer; indeed, so rare that +trips in the void began to be a popular form of amusement. Literature of +the period reverberates with the novelty of such experiences, with the +sense that man had at last learned true flight, and acquired the freedom +of the solar system. Writers dwelt upon the shock of seeing, as the +vessel soared and accelerated, the landscape dwindle to a mere +illuminated disc or crescent, surrounded by constellations. They +remarked also the awful remoteness and mystery which travellers +experienced on these early voyages, with dazzling sunlight on one side +of the vessel and dazzlingly bespangled night on the other. They +described how the intense sun spread his corona against a black and +star-crowded sky. They expatiated also on the overwhelming interest of +approaching another planet; of inspecting from the sky the still visible +remains of Martian civilization; of groping through the cloud banks of +Venus to discover islands in her almost coastless ocean; of daring an +approach to Mercury, till the heat became insupportable in spite of the +best refrigerating mechanism; of feeling a way across the belt of the +asteroids and onwards toward Jupiter, till shortage of air and +provisions forced a return. + +But though the mere navigation of space was thus easily accomplished, +the major task was still untouched. It was necessary either to remake +man’s nature to suit another planet, or to modify conditions upon +another planet to suit man’s nature. The former alternative was +repugnant to the Fifth Men. Obviously it would entail an almost complete +refashioning of the human organism. No existing individual could +possibly be so altered as to live in the present conditions of Mars or +Venus. And it would probably prove impossible to create a new being, +adapted to these conditions, without sacrificing the brilliant and +harmonious constitution of the extant species. + +On the other hand, Mars could not be made habitable without first being +stocked, with air and water; and such an undertaking seemed impossible. +There was nothing for it, then, but to attack Venus. The polar surfaces +of that planet, shielded by impenetrable depths of cloud, proved after +all not unendurably hot. Subsequent generations might perhaps be +modified so as to withstand even the sub-arctic and ‘temperate’ +climates. Oxygen was plentiful, but it was all tied up in chemical +combination. Inevitably so, since oxygen combines very readily, and on +Venus there was no vegetable life to exhale the free gas and replenish +the ever-vanishing supply. It was necessary, then, to equip Venus with +an appropriate vegetation, which in the course of ages should render the +planet’s atmosphere hospitable to man. The chemical and physical +conditions on Venus had therefore to be studied in great detail, so that +it might be possible to design a kind of life which would have a chance +of flourishing. This research had to be carried out from within the +ether-ships, or with gas helmets, since no human being could live in the +natural atmosphere of the planet. + +We must not dwell upon the age of heroic research and adventure which +now began. Observations of the lunar orbit were showing that ten million +years was too long an estimate of the future habitability of the earth; +and it was soon realized that Venus could not be made ready soon enough +unless some more rapid change was set on foot. It was therefore decided +to split up some of the ocean of the planet into hydrogen and oxygen by +a vast process of electrolysis. This would have been a more difficult +task, had not the ocean been relatively free from salt, owing to the +fact that there was so little dry land to be denuded of salts by rain +and river. The oxygen thus formed by electrolysis would be allowed to +mix with the atmosphere. The hydrogen had to be got rid of somehow, and +an ingenious method was devised by which it should be ejected beyond the +limits of the atmosphere at so great a speed that it would never return. +Once sufficient free oxygen had been produced, the new vegetation would +replenish the loss due to oxidation. This work was duly set on foot. +Great automatic electrolysing stations were founded on several of the +islands; and biological research produced at length a whole flora of +specialized vegetable types to cover the land surface of the planet. It +was hoped that in less than a million years Venus would be fit to +receive the human race, and the race fit to live on Venus. + +Meanwhile a careful survey of the planet had been undertaken. Its land +surface, scarcely more than a thousandth that of the earth, consisted of +an unevenly distributed archipelago of mountainous islands. The planet +had evidently not long ago been through a mountain-forming era, for +soundings proved its whole surface to be extravagantly corrugated. The +ocean was subject to terrific storms and currents; for since the planet +took several weeks to rotate, there was a great difference of +temperature and atmospheric pressure between the almost Arctic +hemisphere of night and the sweltering hemisphere of day. So great was +the evaporation, that open sky was almost never visible from any part of +the planet’s surface; and indeed the average daytime weather was a +succession of thick fogs and fantastic thunderstorms. Rain in the +evening was a continuous torrent. Yet before night was over the waves +clattered with fragments of ice. + +Man looked upon his future home with loathing, and on his birthplace +with an affection which became passionate. With its blue sky, its +incomparable starry nights, its temperate and varied continents, its +ample spaces of agriculture, wilderness, and park, its well-known beasts +and plants, and all the material fabric of the most enduring of +terrestrial civilizations, it seemed to the men and women who were +planning flight almost a living thing imploring them not to desert it. +They looked often with hate at the quiet moon, now visibly larger than +the moon of history. They revised again and again their astronomical and +physical theories, hoping for some flaw which should render the moon’s +observed behaviour less mysterious, less terrifying. But they found +nothing. It was as though a fiend out of some ancient myth had come to +life in the modern world, to interfere with the laws of nature for man’s +undoing. + + + 4. PREPARING A NEW WORLD + +Another trouble now occurred. Several electrolysis stations on Venus +were wrecked, apparently by submarine eruption. Also, a number of +ether-ships, engaged in surveying the ocean, mysteriously exploded. The +explanation was found when one of these vessels, though damaged, was +able to return to the earth. The commander reported that, when the +sounding line was drawn up, a large spherical object was seen to be +attached to it. Closer inspection showed that this object was fastened +to the sounding apparatus by a hook, and was indeed unmistakably +artificial, a structure of small metal plates riveted together. While +preparations were being made to bring the object within the ship, it +happened to bump against the hull, and then it exploded. + +Evidently there must be intelligent life somewhere in the ocean of +Venus. Evidently the marine Venerians resented the steady depletion of +their aqueous world, and were determined to stop it. The terrestrials +had assumed that water in which no free oxygen was dissolved could not +support life. But observation soon revealed that in this world-wide +ocean there were many living species, some sessile, others +free-swimming, some microscopic, others as large as whales. The basis of +life in these creatures lay not in photosynthesis and chemical +combination, but in the controlled disintegration of radio-active atoms. +Venus was particularly rich in these atoms, and still contained certain +elements which had long ago ceased to exist on the earth. The oceanic +fauna subsisted in the destruction of minute quantities of radio-active +atoms throughout its tissues. + +Several of the Venerian species had attained considerable mastery over +their physical environment, and were able to destroy one another very +competently with various mechanical contrivances. Many types were indeed +definitely intelligent and versatile within certain limits. And of these +intelligent types, one had come to dominate all the others by virtue of +its superior intelligence, and had constructed a genuine civilization on +the basis of radio-active power. These most developed of all the +Venerian creatures were beings of about the size and shape of a +swordfish. They had three manipulative organs, normally sheathed within +the long ‘sword’, but capable of extension beyond its point, as three +branched muscular tentacles. They swam with a curious screw-like motion +of their bodies and triple tails. Three fins enabled them to steer. They +had also organs of phosphorescence, vision, touch, and something +analogous to hearing. They appeared to reproduce asexually, laying eggs +in the ooze of the ocean bed. They had no need of nutrition in the +ordinary sense; but in infancy they seemed to gather enough radio-active +matter to keep them alive for many years. Each individual, when his +stock was running out and he began to be feeble, was either destroyed by +his juniors or buried in a radio-active mine, to rise from this living +death in a few months completely rejuvenated. + +At the bottom of the Venerian ocean these creatures thronged in cities +of proliferated coral-like buildings, equipped with many complex +articles, which must have constituted the necessities and luxuries of +their civilization. So much was ascertained by the Terrestrials in the +course of their submarine exploration. But the mental life of the +Venerians remained hidden. It was clear, indeed, that like all living +things, they were concerned with self-maintenance and the exercise of +their capacities; but of the nature of these capacities little was +discoverable. Clearly they used some kind of symbolic language, based on +mechanical vibrations set up in the water by the snapping claws of their +tentacles. But their more complex activities were quite unintelligible. +All that could be recorded with certainty was that they were much +addicted to warfare, even to warfare between groups of one species; and +that even in the stress of military disaster they maintained a feverish +production of material articles of all sorts, which they proceeded to +destroy and neglect. + +One activity was observed which was peculiarly mysterious. At certain +seasons three individuals, suddenly developing unusual luminosity, would +approach one another with rhythmic swayings and tremors, and would then +rise on their tails and press their bodies together. Sometimes at this +stage an excited crowd would collect, whirling around the three like +driven snow. The chief performers would now furiously tear one another +to pieces with their crab-like pincers, till nothing was left but +tangled shreds of flesh, the great swords, and the still twitching +claws. The Terrestrials, observing these matters with difficulty, at +first suspected some kind of sexual intercourse; but no reproduction was +ever traced to this source. Possibly the behaviour had once served a +biological end, and had now become a useless ritual. Possibly it was a +kind of voluntary religious sacrifice. More probably it was of a quite +different nature, unintelligible to the human mind. + +As man’s activities on Venus became more extensive, the Venerians became +more energetic in seeking to destroy him. They could not come out of the +ocean to grapple with him, for they were deep-sea organisms. Deprived of +oceanic pressure, they would have burst. But they contrived to hurl high +explosives into the centres of the islands, or to undermine them from +tunnels. The work of electrolysis was thus very seriously hampered. And +as all efforts to parley with the Venerians failed completely, it was +impossible to effect a compromise. The Fifth Men were thus faced with a +grave moral problem. What right had man to interfere in a world already +possessed by beings who were obviously intelligent, even though their +mental life was incomprehensible to man? Long ago man himself had +suffered at the hands of Martian invaders, who doubtless regarded +themselves as more noble than the human race. And now man was committing +a similar crime. On the other hand, either the migration to Venus must +go forward, or humanity must be destroyed; for it seemed quite certain +by now that the moon would fall, and at no very distant date. And though +man’s understanding of the Venerians was so incomplete, what he did know +of them strongly suggested that they were definitely inferior to himself +in mental range. This judgement might, of course, be mistaken; the +Venerians might after all be so superior to man that man could not get +an inkling of their superiority. But this argument would apply equally +to jelly-fish and micro-organisms. Judgement had to be passed according +to the evidence available. So far as man could judge at all in the +matter, he was definitely the higher type. + +There was another fact to be taken into account. The life of the +Venerian organism depended on the existence of radio-active atoms. Since +those atoms are subject to disintegration, they must become rarer. Venus +was far better supplied than the earth in this respect, but there must +inevitably come a time when there would be no more radio-active matter +in Venus. Now submarine research showed that the Venerian fauna had once +been much more extensive, and that the increasing difficulty of +procuring radio-active matter was already the great limiting factor of +civilization. Thus the Venerians were doomed, and man would merely +hasten their destruction. + +It was hoped, of course, that in colonizing Venus mankind would be able +to accommodate itself without seriously interfering with the native +population. But this proved impossible for two reasons. In the first +place, the natives seemed determined to destroy the invader even if they +should destroy themselves in the process. Titanic explosions were +engineered, which caused the invaders serious damage, but also strewed +the ocean surface with thousands of dead Venerians. Secondly, it was +found that, as electrolysis poured more and more free oxygen into the +atmosphere, the ocean absorbed some of the potent element back into +itself by solution; and this dissolved oxygen had a disastrous effect +upon the oceanic organisms. Their tissues began to oxidize. They were +burnt up, internally and externally, by a slow fire. Man dared not stop +the process of electrolysis until the atmosphere had become as rich in +oxygen as his native air. Long before this state was reached, it was +already clear that the Venerians were beginning to feel the effects of +the poison, and that in a few thousand years, at most, they would be +exterminated. It was therefore determined to put them out of their +misery as quickly as possible. Men could by now walk abroad on the +islands of Venus, and indeed the first settlements were already being +founded. They were thus able to build a fleet of powerful submarine +vessels to scour the ocean and destroy the whole native fauna. + +This vast slaughter influenced the mind of the fifth human species in +two opposite directions, now flinging it into despair, now rousing it to +grave elation. For on the one hand the horror of the slaughter produced +a haunting guiltiness in all men’s minds, an unreasoning disgust with +humanity for having been driven to murder in order to save itself. And +this guiltiness combined with the purely intellectual loss of +self-confidence which had been produced by the failure of science to +account for the moon’s approach. It reawakened, also, that other quite +irrational sense of guilt which had been bred of sympathy with the +everlasting distress of the past. Together, these three influences +tended toward racial neurosis. + +On the other hand a very different mood sometimes sprang from the same +three sources. After all, the failure of science was a challenge to be +gladly accepted; it opened up a wealth of possibilities hitherto +unimagined. Even the unalterable distress of the past constituted a +challenge; for in some strange manner the present and future, it was +said, must transfigure the past. As for the murder of Venerian life, it +was, indeed, terrible, but right. It had been committed without hate; +indeed, rather in love. For as the navy proceeded with its relentless +work, it had gathered much insight into the life of the natives, and had +learned to admire, even in a sense to love, while it killed. This mood, +of inexorable yet not ruthless will, intensified the spiritual +sensibility of the species, refined, so to speak, its spiritual hearing, +and revealed to it tones and themes in the universal music which were +hitherto obscure. + +Which of these two moods, despair or courage, would triumph? All +depended on the skill of the species to maintain a high degree of +vitality in untoward circumstances. + +Man now busied himself in preparing his new home. Many kinds of plant +life, derived from the terrestrial stock, but bred for the Venerian +environment, now began to swarm on the islands and in the sea. For so +restricted was the land surface, that great areas of ocean had to be +given over to specially designed marine plants, which now formed immense +floating continents of vegetable matter. On the least torrid islands +appeared habitable pylons, forming an architectural forest, with +vegetation on every acre of free ground. Even so, it would be impossible +for Venus ever to support the huge population of the earth. Steps had +therefore been taken to ensure that the birth-rate should fall far short +of the death-rate; so that, when the time should come, the race might +emigrate without leaving any living members behind. No more than a +hundred million, it was reckoned, could live tolerably on Venus. The +population had therefore to be reduced to a hundredth of its former +size. And since, in the terrestrial community, with its vast social and +cultural activity, every individual had fulfilled some definite function +in society, it was obvious that the new community must be not merely +small but mentally impoverished. Hitherto, each individual had been +enriched by intercourse with a far more intricate and diverse social +environment that would be possible on Venus. + +Such was the prospect when at length it was judged advisable to leave +the earth to its fate. The moon was now so huge that it periodically +turned day into night, and night into a ghastly day. Prodigious tides +and distressful weather conditions had already spoilt the amenities of +the earth, and done great damage to the fabric of civilization. And so +at length humanity reluctantly took flight. Some centuries passed before +the migration was completed, before Venus had received, not only the +whole remaining human population, but also representatives of many other +species of organisms, and all the most precious treasure of man’s +culture. + + + + + XIII _Humanity on Venus_ + + + 1. TAKING ROOT AGAIN + +Man’s sojourn on Venus lasted somewhat longer than his whole career on +the Earth. From the days of Pithecanthropus to the final evacuation of +his native planet he passed, as we have seen, through a bewildering +diversity of form and circumstance. On Venus, though the human type was +somewhat more constant biologically, it was scarcely less variegated in +culture. + +To give an account of this period, even on the minute scale that has +been adopted hitherto, would entail another volume. I can only sketch +its bare outline. The sapling, humanity, transplanted into foreign soil, +withers at first almost to the root, slowly readjusts itself, grows into +strength and a certain permanence of form, burgeons, season by season, +with leaf and flower of many successive civilizations and cultures, +sleeps winter by winter, through many ages of reduced vitality, but at +length (to force the metaphor), avoids this recurrent defeat by +attaining an evergreen constitution and a continuous efflorescence. Then +once more, through the whim of Fate, it is plucked up by the roots and +cast upon another world. + +The first human settlers on Venus knew well that life would be a sorry +business. They had done their best to alter the planet to suit human +nature, but they could not make Venus into another Earth. The land +surface was minute. The climate was almost unendurable. The extreme +difference of temperature between the protracted day and night produced +incredible storms, rain like a thousand contiguous waterfalls, +terrifying electrical disturbances, and fogs in which a man could not +see his own feet. To make matters worse, the oxygen supply was as yet +barely enough to render the air breathable. Worse still, the liberated +hydrogen was not always successfully ejected from the atmosphere. It +would sometimes mingle with the air to form an explosive mixture, and +sooner or later there would occur a vast atmospheric flash. Recurrent +disasters of this sort destroyed the architecture and the human +inhabitants of many islands, and further reduced the oxygen supply. In +time, however, the increasing vegetation made it possible to put an end +to the dangerous process of electrolysis. + +Meanwhile, these atmospheric explosions crippled the race so seriously +that it was unable to cope with a more mysterious trouble which beset it +some time after the migration. A new and inexplicable decay of the +digestive organs, which first occurred as a rare disease, threatened +within a few centuries to destroy mankind. The physical effects of this +plague were scarcely more disastrous than the psychological effects of +the complete failure to master it; for, what with the mystery of the +moon’s vagaries and the deep-seated, unreasoning sense of guilt produced +by the extermination of the Venerians, man’s self-confidence was already +seriously shaken, and his highly organized mentality began to show +symptoms of derangement. The new plague was, indeed, finally traced to +something in the Venerian water, and was supposed to be due to certain +molecular groupings, formerly rare, but subsequently fostered by the +presence of terrestrial organic matter in the ocean. No cure was +discovered. + +And now another plague seized upon the enfeebled race. Human tissues had +never perfectly assimilated the Martian units which were the means of +‘telepathic’ communication. The universal ill-health now favoured a kind +of ‘cancer’ of the nervous system, which was due to the ungoverned +proliferation of these units. The harrowing results of this disease may +be left unmentioned. Century by century it increased; and even those who +did not actually contract the sickness lived in constant terror of +madness. + +These troubles were aggravated by the devastating heat. The hope that, +as the generations passed, human nature would adapt itself even to the +more sultry regions, seemed to be unfounded. Far otherwise, within a +thousand years the once-populous arctic and antarctic islands were +almost deserted. Out of each hundred of the great pylons, scarcely more +than two were inhabited, and these only by a few plague-stricken and +broken-spirited human relics. These alone were left to turn their +telescopes upon the earth and watch the unexpectedly delayed bombardment +of their native world by the fragments of the moon. + +Population decreased still further. Each brief generation was slightly +less well developed than its parents. Intelligence declined. Education +became superficial and restricted. Contact with the past was no longer +possible. Art lost its significance, and philosophy its dominion over +the minds of men. Even applied science began to be too difficult. +Unskilled control of the subatomic sources of power led to a number of +disasters, which finally gave rise to a superstition that all ‘tampering +with nature’ was wicked, and all the ancient wisdom a snare of Man’s +Enemy. Books, instruments, all the treasures of human culture, were +therefore burnt. Only the perdurable buildings resisted destruction. Of +the incomparable world-order of the Fifth Men nothing was left but a few +island tribes cut off from one another by the ocean, and from the rest +of space-time by the depths of their own ignorance. + +After many thousands of years human nature did begin to adapt itself to +the climate and to the poisoned water without which life was impossible. +At the same time a new variety of the fifth species now began to appear, +in which the Martian units were not included. Thus at last the race +regained a certain mental stability, at the expense of its faculty of +‘telepathy’, which man was not to regain until almost the last phase of +his career. Meanwhile, though he had recovered somewhat from the effects +of an alien world, the glory that had been was no more. Let us therefore +hurry through the ages that passed before noteworthy events again +occurred. + +In early days on Venus men had gathered their foodstuff from the great +floating islands of vegetable matter which had been artificially +produced before the migration. But as the oceans became populous with +modifications of the terrestrial fauna, the human tribes turned more and +more to fishing. Under the influence of its marine environment, one +branch of the species assumed such an aquatic habit that in time it +actually began to develop biological adaptations for marine life. It is +perhaps surprising that man was still capable of spontaneous variation; +but the fifth human species was artificial, and had always been prone to +epidemics of mutation. After some millions of years of variation and +selection there appeared a very successful species of seal-like submen. +The whole body was moulded to stream-lines. The lung capacity was +greatly developed. The spine had elongated, and increased in +flexibility. The legs were shrunken, grown together, and flattened into +a horizontal rudder. The arms also were diminutive and fin-like, though +they still retained the manipulative forefinger and thumb. The head had +sunk into the body and looked forward in the direction of swimming. +Strong carnivorous teeth, emphatic gregariousness, and a new, almost +human, cunning in the chase, combined, to make these seal-men lords of +the ocean. And so they remained for many million years, until a more +human race, annoyed at their piscatorial successes, harpooned them out +of existence. + +For another branch of the degenerated fifth species had retained a more +terrestrial habit and the ancient human form. Sadly reduced in stature +and in brain, these abject beings were so unlike the original invaders +that they are rightly considered a new species, and may therefore be +called the Sixth Men. Age after age they gained a precarious livelihood +by grubbing roots upon the forest-clad islands, trapping the innumerable +birds, and catching fish in the tidal inlets with ground bait. Not +infrequently they devoured, or were devoured by, their seal-like +relatives. So restricted and constant was the environment of these human +remnants, that they remained biologically and culturally stagnant for +some millions of years. + +At length, however, geological events afforded man’s nature once more +the opportunity of change. A mighty warping of the planet’s crust +produced an island almost as large as Australia. In time this was +peopled, and from the clash of tribes a new and versatile race emerged. +Once more there was methodical tillage, craftsmanship, complex social +organization, and adventure in the realm of thought. + +During the next two hundred million years all the main phases of man’s +life on earth were many times repeated on Venus with characteristic +differences. Theocratic empires; free and intellectualistic island +cities; insecure overlordships of feudal archipelagos; rivalries of high +priest and emperor; religious feuds over the interpretation of sacred +scriptures; recurrent fluctuations of thought from naïve animism, +through polytheism, conflicting monotheisms, and all the desperate +‘isms’ by which mind seeks to blur the severe outline of truth; +recurrent fashions of comfort-seeking fantasy and cold intelligence; +social disorders through the misuse of volcanic or wind-power in +industry; business empires and pseudo-communistic empires—all these +forms flitted over the changing substance of mankind again and again, as +in an enduring hearth-fire there appear and vanish the infinitely +diverse forms of flame and smoke. But all the while the brief spirits, +in whose massed configurations these forms inhered, were intent chiefly +on the primitive needs of food, shelter, companionship, crowd-lust, +love-making, the two-edged relationship of parent and child, the +exercise of muscle and intelligence in facile sport. Very seldom, only +in rare moments of clarity, only after ages of misapprehension, did a +few of them, here and there, now and again, begin to have the deeper +insight into the world’s nature and man’s. And no sooner had this +precious insight begun to propagate itself, than it would be blotted out +by some small or great disaster, by epidemic disease, by the spontaneous +disruption of society, by an access of racial imbecility, by a prolonged +bombardment of meteorites, or by the mere cowardice and vertigo that +dared not look down the precipice of the fact. + + + 2. THE FLYING MEN + +We need not dwell upon these multitudinous reiterations of culture, but +must glance for a moment at the last phase of this sixth human species, +so that we may pass on to the artificial species which it produced. + +Throughout their career the Sixth Men had often been fascinated by the +idea of flight. The bird was again and again their most sacred symbol. +Their monotheism was apt to be worship not of a god-man, but of a +god-bird, conceived now as the divine sea eagle, winged with power, now +as the giant swift, winged with mercy, now as a disembodied spirit of +air, and once as the bird-god that became man to endow the human race +with flight, physical and spiritual. + +It was inevitable that flight should obsess man on Venus, for the planet +afforded but a cramping home for groundlings; and the riotous +efflorescence of avian species shamed man’s pedestrian habit. When in +due course the Sixth Men attained knowledge and power comparable to that +of the First Men at their height, they invented flying machines of +various types. Many times, indeed, mechanical flight was rediscovered +and lost again with the downfall of civilization. But at its best it was +regarded only as a makeshift. And when at length, with the advance of +the biological sciences, the Sixth Men were in a position to influence +the human organism itself, they determined to produce a true flying man. +Many civilizations strove vainly for this result, sometimes +half-heartedly, sometimes with religious earnestness. Finally the most +enduring and brilliant of all the civilizations of the Sixth Men +actually attained the goal. + +The Seventh Men were pigmies, scarcely heavier than the largest of +terrestrial flying birds. Through and through they were organized for +flight. A leathery membrane spread from the foot to the tip of the +immensely elongated and strengthened ‘middle finger’. The three ‘outer’ +fingers, equally elongated, served as ribs to the membrane; while the +index, and thumb remained free for manipulation. The body assumed the +stream-lines of a bird, and was covered with a deep quilt of feathery +wool. This, and the silken down of the flight-membranes, varied greatly +from individual to individual in colouring and texture. On the ground +the Seventh Men walked much as other human beings, for the +flight-membranes were folded close to the legs and body, and hung from +the arms like exaggerated sleeves. In flight the legs were held extended +as a flattened tail, with the feet locked together by the big toes. The +breastbone was greatly developed as a keel, and as a base for the +muscles of flight. The other bones were hollow, for lightness, and their +internal surfaces were utilized as supplementary lungs. For, like the +birds, these flying men had to maintain a high rate of oxidation. A +state which others would regard as fever was normal to them. + +Their brains were given ample tracts for the organization of prowess in +flight. In fact, it was found possible to equip the species with a +system of reflexes for aerial balance, and a true, though artificial, +instinctive aptitude for flight, and interest in flight. Compared with +their makers their brain volume was of necessity small, but their whole +neural system was very carefully organized. Also it matured rapidly, and +was extremely facile in the acquirement of new modes of activity. This +was very desirable; for the individual’s natural life period was but +fifty years, and in most cases it was deliberately cut short by some +impossible feat at about forty, or whenever the symptoms of old age +began to be felt. + +Of all human species these bat-like Flying Men, the Seventh Men, were +probably the most carefree. Gifted with harmonious physique and gay +temperament, they came into a social heritage well adapted to their +nature. There was no occasion for them, as there had often been for some +others, to regard the world as fundamentally hostile to life, or +themselves as essentially deformed. Of quick intelligence in respect of +daily personal affairs and social organization, they were untroubled by +the insatiable lust of understanding. Not that they were an +unintellectual race, for they soon formulated a beautifully systematic +account of experience. They clearly perceived, however, that the perfect +sphere of their thought was but a bubble adrift in chaos. Yet it was an +elegant bubble. And the system was true, in its own gay and frankly +insincere manner, true as significant metaphor, not literally true. What +more, it was asked, could be expected of human intellect? Adolescents +were encouraged to study the ancient problems of philosophy, for no +reason but to convince themselves of the futility of probing beyond the +limits of the orthodox system. ‘Prick the bubble of thought at any +point’, it was said, ‘and you shatter the whole of it. And since thought +is one of the necessities of human life, it must be preserved.’ + +Natural science was taken over from the earlier species with +half-contemptuous gratitude, as a necessary means of sane adjustment to +the environment. Its practical applications were valued as the ground of +the social order; but as the millennia advanced, and society approached +that remarkable perfection and stability which was to endure for many +million years, scientific inventiveness became less and less needful, +and science itself was relegated to the infant schools. History also was +given in outline during childhood, and subsequently ignored. + +This curiously sincere intellectual insincerity was due to the fact that +the Seventh Men were chiefly concerned with matters other than abstract +thought. It is difficult to give to members of the first human species +an inkling of the great preoccupation of these Flying Men. To say that +it was flight would be true, yet far less than the truth. To say that +they sought to live dangerously and vividly, to crowd as much experience +as possible into each moment, would again be a caricature of the truth. +On the physical plane, indeed, ‘the universe of flight’, with all the +variety of peril and skill afforded by a tempestuous atmosphere, was +every individual’s chief medium of self-expression. Yet it was not +flight itself, but the spiritual aspect of flight which obsessed the +species. + +In the air and on the ground the Seventh Men were different beings. +Whenever they exercised themselves in flight they suffered a remarkable +change of spirit. Much of their time had to be spent on the ground, +since most of the work upon which civilization rested was impossible in +the air. Moreover, life in the air was life at high pressure, and +necessitated spells of recuperation on the ground. In their pedestrian +phase the Seventh Men were sober folk, mildly bored, yet in the main +cheerful, humorously impatient of the drabness and irk of pedestrian +affairs, but ever supported by memory and anticipation of the vivid life +of the air. Often they were tired, after the strain of that other life, +but seldom were they despondent or lazy. Indeed, in the routine of +agriculture and industry they were industrious as the wingless ants. Yet +they worked in a strange mood of attentive absent-mindedness; for their +hearts were ever in the air. So long as they could have frequent periods +of aviation, they remained bland even on the ground. But if for any +reason such as illness they were confined to the ground for a long +period, they pined, developed acute melancholia, and died. Their makers +had so contrived them that with the onset of any very great pain or +misery their hearts should stop. Thus they were to avoid all serious +distress. But, in fact, this merciful device worked only on the ground. +In the air they assumed a very different and more heroic nature, which +their makers had not foreseen, though indeed it was a natural +consequence of their design. + +In the air the flying man’s heart beat more powerfully. His temperature +rose. His sensation became more vivid and more discriminate, his +intelligence more agile and penetrating. He experienced a more intense +pleasure or pain in all that happened to him. It would not be true to +say that he became more emotional; rather the reverse, if by +emotionality is meant enslavement to the emotions. For the most +remarkable feature of the aerial phase was that this enhanced power of +appreciation was dispassionate. So long as the individual was in the +air, whether in lonely struggle with the storm, or in the ceremonial +ballet with sky-darkening hosts of his fellows; whether in the ecstatic +love dance with a sexual partner, or in solitary and meditative +circlings far above the world; whether his enterprise was fortunate, or +he found himself dismembered by the hurricane, and crashing to death; +always the gay and the tragic fortunes of his own person were regarded +equally with detached aesthetic delight. Even when his dearest companion +was mutilated or destroyed by some aerial disaster, he exulted; though +also he would give his own life in the hope of effecting a rescue. But +very soon after he had returned to the ground he would be overwhelmed +with grief, would strive vainly to recapture the lost vision, and would +perhaps die of heart failure. + +Even when, as happened occasionally in the wild climate of Venus, a +whole aerial population was destroyed by some world-wide atmospheric +tumult, the few broken survivors, so long as they could remain in the +air, exulted. And actually while at length they sank exhausted towards +the ground, towards certain disillusionment and death, they laughed +inwardly. Yet an hour after they had alighted, their constitution would +be changed, their vision lost. They would remember only the horror of +the disaster, and the memory would kill them. + +No wonder the Seventh Men grudged every moment that was passed on the +ground. While they were in the air, of course, the prospect of a +pedestrian interlude, or indeed of endless pedestrianism, though in a +manner repugnant, would be accepted with unswerving gaiety; but while +they were on the ground, they grudged bitterly to be there. Early in the +career of the species the proportion of aerial to terrestrial hours was +increased by a biological invention. A minute food-plant was produced +which spent the winter rooted in the ground, and the summer adrift in +the sunlit upper air, engaged solely in photosynthesis. Henceforth the +populations of the Flying Men were able to browse upon the bright +pastures of the sky, like swallows. As the ages passed, material +civilization became more and more simplified. Needs which could not be +satisfied without terrestrial labour tended to be outgrown. Manufactured +articles became increasingly rare. Books were no longer written or read. +In the main, indeed, they were no longer necessary; but to some extent +their place was taken by verbal tradition and discussion, in the upper +air. Of the arts, music, spoken lyric and epic verse, and the supreme +art of winged dance, were constantly practised. The rest vanished. Many +of the sciences inevitably faded into tradition; yet the true scientific +spirit was preserved in a very exact meteorology, a sufficient biology, +and a human psychology surpassed only by the second and fifth species at +their height. None of these sciences, however, was taken very seriously, +save in its practical applications. For instance, psychology explained +the ecstasy of flight very neatly as a febrile and ‘irrational’ +beatitude. But no one was disconcerted by this theory; for every one, +while on the wing, felt it to be merely an amusing half-truth. + +The social order of the Seventh Men was in essence neither utilitarian, +nor humanistic, nor religious, but aesthetic. Every act and every +institution were to be justified as contributing to the perfect form of +the community. Even social prosperity was conceived as merely the medium +in which beauty should be embodied, the beauty, namely, of vivid +individual lives harmoniously related. Yet not only for the individual, +but even for the race itself (so the wise insisted), death on the wing +was more excellent than prolonged life on the ground. Better, far +better, would be racial suicide than a future of pedestrianism. Yet +though both the individual and the race were conceived as instrumental +to objective beauty, there was nothing religious, in any ordinary sense, +in this conviction. The Seventh Men were completely without interest in +the universal and the unseen. The beauty which they sought to create was +ephemeral and very largely sensuous. And they were well content that it +should be so. Personal immortality, said a dying sage, would be as +tedious as an endless song. Equally so with the race. The lovely flame, +of which we all are members, must die, he said, must die; for without +death she would fall short of beauty. + +For close on a hundred million terrestrial years this aerial society +endured with little change. On many of the islands throughout this +period stood even yet a number of the ancient pylons, though repaired +almost beyond recognition. In these nests the men and women of the +seventh species slept through the long Venerian nights, crowded like +roosting swallows. By day the same great towers were sparsely peopled +with those who were serving their turn in industry, while in the fields +and on the sea others laboured. But most were in the air. Many would be +skimming the ocean, to plunge, gannet-like, for fish. Many, circling +over land or sea, would now and again stoop like hawks upon the wildfowl +which formed the chief meat of the species. Others, forty or fifty +thousand feet above the waves, where even the plentiful atmosphere of +Venus was scarcely capable of supporting them, would be soaring, +circling, sweeping, for pure joy of flight. Others, in the calm and +sunshine of high altitudes, would be hanging effortless upon some steady +up-current of air for meditation and the rapture of mere percipience. +Not a few love-intoxicated pairs would be entwining their courses in +aerial patterns, in spires, cascades, and true-love knots of flight, +presently to embrace and drop ten thousand feet in bodily union. Some +would be driving hither and thither through the green mists of vegetable +particles, gathering the manna in their open mouths. Companies, circling +together, would be discussing matters social or aesthetic; others would +be singing together, or listening to recitative epic verse. Thousands, +gathering in the sky like migratory birds, would perform massed +convolutions, reminiscent of the vast mechanical aerial choreography of +the First World State, but more vital and expressive, as a bird’s flight +is more vital than the flight of any machine. And all the while there +would be some, solitary or in companies, who, either in the pursuit of +fish and wildfowl, or out of pure devilment, pitted their strength and +skill against the hurricane, often tragically, but never without zest, +and laughter of the spirit. + +It may seem to some incredible that the culture of the Seventh Men +should have lasted so long. Surely it must either have decayed through +mere monotony and stagnation or have advanced into richer experience. +But no. Generation succeeded generation, and each was too short-lived to +outlast its young delight and discover boredom. Moreover, so perfect was +the adjustment of these beings to their world, that even if they had +lived for centuries they would have felt no need of change. Flight +provided them with intense physical exhilaration, and with the physical +basis of a genuine and ecstatic, though limited, spiritual experience. +In this their supreme attainment they rejoiced not only in the diversity +of flight itself, but also in the perceived beauties of their variegated +world, and most of all, perhaps, in the thousand lyric and epic ventures +of human intercourse in an aerial community. + +The end of this seemingly everlasting elysium was nevertheless involved +in the very nature of the species. In the first place, as the ages +lengthened into aeons, the generations preserved less and less of the +ancient scientific lore. For it became insignificant to them. The aerial +community had no need of it. This loss of mere information did not +matter so long as their condition remained unaltered; but in due course +biological changes began to undermine them. The species had always been +prone to a certain biological instability. A proportion of infants, +varying with circumstances, had always been misshapen; and the deformity +had generally been such as to make flight impossible. The normal infant +was able to fly early in its second year. If some accident prevented it +from doing so, it invariably fell into a decline and died before its +third year was passed. But many of the deformed types, being the result +of a partial reversion to the pedestrian nature, were able to live on +indefinitely without flight. According to a merciful custom these +cripples had always to be destroyed. But at length, owing to the gradual +exhaustion of a certain marine salt essential to the high-strung nature +of the Seventh Men, infants were more often deformed than true to type. +The world-population declined so seriously that the organized aerial +life of the community could no longer be carried on according to the +time-honoured aesthetic principles. No one knew how to check this racial +decay, but many felt that with greater biological knowledge it might be +avoided. A disastrous policy was now adopted. It was decided to spare a +carefully selected proportion of the deformed infants, those namely +which, though doomed to pedestrianism, were likely to develop high +intelligence. Thus it was hoped to raise a specialized group of persons +whose work should be biological research untrammelled by the +intoxication of flight. + +The brilliant cripples that resulted from this policy looked at +existence from a new angle. Deprived of the supreme experience for which +their fellows lived, envious of a bliss which they knew only by report, +yet contemptuous of the naïve mentality which cared for nothing (it +seemed) but physical exercise, love-making, the beauty of nature, and +the elegances of society, these flightless intelligences sought +satisfaction almost wholly in the life of research and scientific +control. At the best, however, they were a tortured and resentful race. +For their natures were fashioned for the aerial life which they could +not lead. Although they received from the winged folk just treatment and +a certain compassionate respect, they writhed under this kindness, +locked their hearts against all the orthodox values, and sought out new +ideals. Within a few centuries they had rehabilitated the life of +intellect, and, with the power that knowledge gives, they had made +themselves masters of the world. The amiable fliers were surprised, +perplexed, even pained; and yet withal amused. Even when it became +evident that the pedestrians were determined to create a new world-order +in which there would be no place for the beauties of natural flight, the +fliers were only distressed while they were on the ground. + +The islands were becoming crowded with machinery and flightless +industrialists. In the air itself the winged folk found themselves +outstripped by the base but effective instruments of mechanical flight. +Wings became a laughing stock, and the life of natural flight was +condemned as a barren luxury. It was ordained that in future every flier +must serve the pedestrian world-order, or starve. And as the cultivation +of wind-borne plants had been abandoned, and fishing and fowling rights +were strictly controlled, this law was no empty form. At first it was +impossible for the fliers to work on the ground for long hours, day +after day, without incurring serious ill-health and an early death. But +the pedestrian physiologists invented a drug which preserved the poor +wage-slaves in something like physical health, and actually prolonged +their life. No drug, however, could restore their spirit, for their +normal aerial habit was reduced to a few tired hours of recreation once +a week. Meanwhile, breeding experiments were undertaken to produce a +wholly wingless large-brained type. And finally a law was enacted by +which all winged infants must be either mutilated or destroyed. At this +point the fliers made an heroic but ineffectual bid for power. They +attacked the pedestrian population from the air. In reply the enemy rode +them down in his great aeroplanes and blew them to pieces with high +explosive. + +The fighting squadrons of the natural fliers were finally driven to the +ground in a remote and barren island. Thither the whole flying +population, a mere remnant of its former strength, fled out of every +civilized archipelago in search of freedom: the whole population—save +the sick, who committed suicide, and all infants that could not yet fly. +These were stifled by their mothers or next-of-kin, in obedience to a +decree of the leaders. About a million men, women and children, some of +whom were scarcely old enough for the prolonged flight, now gathered on +the rocks, regardless that there was not food in the neighbourhood for a +great company. + +Their leaders, conferring together, saw clearly that the day of Flying +Man was done, and that it would be more fitting for a high-souled race +to die at once than to drag on in subjection to contemptuous masters. +They therefore ordered the population to take part in an act of racial +suicide that should at least make death a noble gesture of freedom. The +people received the message while they were resting on the stony +moorland. A wail of sorrow broke from them. It was checked by the +speaker, who bade them strive to see, even on the ground, the beauty of +the thing that was to be done. They could not see it; but they knew that +if they had the strength to take wing again they would see it clearly, +almost as soon as their tired muscles bore them aloft. There was no time +to waste, for many were already faint with hunger, and anxious lest they +should fail to rise. At the appointed signal the whole population rose +into the air with a deep roar of wings. Sorrow was left behind. Even the +children, when their mothers explained what was to be done, accepted +their fate with zest; though, had they learned of it on the ground, they +would have been terror-stricken. The company now flew steadily West, +forming themselves into a double file many miles long. The cone of a +volcano appeared over the horizon, and rose as they approached. The +leaders pressed on towards its ruddy smoke plume; and unflinchingly, +couple by couple, the whole multitude darted into its fiery breath and +vanished. So ended the career of Flying Man. + + + 3. A MINOR ASTRONOMICAL EVENT + +The flightless yet still half avian race that now possessed the planet +settled down to construct a society based on industry and science. After +many vicissitudes of fortune and of aim, they produced a new human +species, the Eighth Men. These long-headed and substantial folk were +designed to be strictly pedestrian, physically and mentally. Apt for +manipulation, calculation, and invention, they very soon turned Venus +into an engineer’s paradise. With power drawn from the planet’s central +heat, their huge electric ships bored steadily through the perennial +monsoons and hurricanes, which also their aircraft treated with +contempt. Islands were joined by tunnels and by millipede bridges. Every +inch of land served some industrial or agricultural end. So successfully +did the generations amass wealth that their rival races and rival castes +were able to indulge, every few centuries, in vast revelries of mutual +slaughter and material destruction without, as a rule, impoverishing +their descendants. And so insensitive had man become that these orgies +shamed him not at all. Indeed, only by the ardours of physical violence +could this most philistine species wrench itself for a while out of its +complacency. Strife, which to nobler beings would have been a grave +spiritual disaster, was for these a tonic, almost a religious exercise. +These cathartic paroxysms, it should be observed, were but the rare and +brief crises which automatically punctuated ages of stolid peace. At no +time did they threaten the existence of the species; seldom did they +even destroy its civilization. + +It was after a lengthy period of peace and scientific advancement that +the Eighth Men made a startling astronomical discovery. Ever since the +First Men had learned that in the life of every star there comes a +critical moment when the great orb collapses, shrinking to a minute, +dense grain with feeble radiation, man had periodically suspected that +the sun was about to undergo this change, and become a typical ‘White +Dwarf’. The Eighth Men detected sure signs of the catastrophe, and +predicted its date. Twenty thousand years they gave themselves before +the change should begin. In another fifty thousand years, they guessed, +Venus would probably be frozen and uninhabitable. The only hope was to +migrate to Mercury during the great change, when that planet was already +ceasing to be intolerably hot. It was necessary then to give Mercury an +atmosphere, and to breed a new species which should be capable of +adapting itself finally to a world of extreme cold. + +This desperate operation was already on foot when a new astronomical +discovery rendered it futile. Astronomers detected, some distance from +the solar system, a volume of non-luminous gas. Calculation showed that +this object and the sun were approaching one another at a tangent, and +that they would collide. Further calculation revealed the probable +results of this event. The sun would flare up and expand prodigiously. +Life would be quite impossible on any of the planets save, just +possibly, Uranus, and more probably Neptune. The three planets beyond +Neptune would escape roasting, but were unsuitable for other reasons. +The two outermost would remain glacial, and, moreover, lay beyond the +range of the imperfect ether-ships of the Eighth Men. The innermost was +practically a bald globe of iron, devoid not merely of atmosphere and +water, but also of the normal covering of rock. Neptune alone might be +able to support life; but how could even Neptune be populated? Not only +was its atmosphere very unsuitable, and its gravitational pull such as +to make man’s body an intolerable burden, but also up to the time of the +collision it would remain excessively cold. Not till after the collision +could it support any kind of life known to man. + +How these difficulties were overcome I have no time to tell, though the +story of man’s attack upon his final home is well worthy of recording. +Nor can I tell in detail of the conflict of policy which now occurred. +Some, realizing that the Eighth Men themselves could never live on +Neptune, advocated an orgy of pleasure-living till the end. But at +length the race excelled itself in an almost unanimous resolve to devote +its remaining centuries to the production of a human being capable of +carrying the torch of mentality into a new world. + +Ether-vessels were able to reach that remote world and set up chemical +changes for the improvement of the atmosphere. It was also possible, by +means of the lately rediscovered process of automatic annihilation of +matter, to produce a constant supply of energy for the warming of an +area where life might hope to survive until the sun should be +rejuvenated. + +When at last the time for migration was approaching, a specially +designed vegetation was shipped to Neptune and established in the warm +area to fit it for man’s use. Animals, it was decided, would be +unnecessary. Subsequently a specially designed human species, the Ninth +Men, was transported to man’s new home. The giant Eighth Men could not +themselves inhabit Neptune. The trouble was not merely that they could +scarcely support their own weight, let alone walk, but that the +atmospheric pressure on Neptune was unendurable. For the great planet +bore a gaseous envelope thousands of miles deep. The solid globe was +scarcely more than the yolk of a huge egg. The mass of the air itself +combined with the mass of the solid to produce a gravitational pressure +greater than that upon the Venerian ocean floor. The Eighth Men, +therefore, dared not emerge from their ether-ships to tread the surface +of the planet save for brief spells in steel diving suits. For them +there was nothing else to do but to return to the archipelagos of Venus, +and make the best of life until the end. They were not spared for long. +A few centuries after the settlement of Neptune had been completed by +transferring thither all the most precious material relics of humanity, +the great planet itself narrowly missed collision with the dark stranger +from space. Uranus and Jupiter were at the time well out of its track. +Not so Saturn, which, a few years after Neptune’s escape, was engulfed +with all its rings and satellites. The sudden incandescence which +resulted from this minor collision was but a prelude. The huge foreigner +rushed on. Like a finger poked into a spider’s web, it tangled up the +planetary orbits. Having devoured its way through the asteroids, it +missed Mars, caught Earth and Venus in its blazing hair, and leapt at +the sun. Henceforth the centre of the solar system was a star nearly as +wide as the old orbit of Mercury and the system was transformed. + + + + + XIV _Neptune_ + + + 1. BIRD’S-EYE VIEW + +I have told man’s story up to a point about half-way from his origin to +his annihilation. Behind lies the vast span which includes the whole +Terrestrial and Venerian ages, with all their slow fluctuations of +darkness and enlightenment. Ahead lies the Neptunian age, equally long, +equally tragic perhaps, but more diverse, and in its last phase +incomparably more brilliant. It would not be profitable to recount the +history of man on Neptune on the scale of the preceding chronicle. Very +much of it would be incomprehensible to terrestrials, and much of it +repeats again and again, in the many Neptunian modes, themes that we +have already observed in the Terrestrial or the Venerian movements of +the human symphony. To appreciate fully the range and subtlety of the +great living epic, we ought, no doubt, to dwell on its every movement +with the same faithful care. But this is impossible to any human mind. +We can but attend to significant phrases, here and there, and hope to +capture some fragmentary hint of its vast intricate form. And for the +readers of this book, who are themselves tremors in the opening bars of +the music, it is best that I should dwell chiefly on things near to +them, even at the cost of ignoring much that is in fact greater. + +Before continuing our long flight let us look around us. Hitherto we +have passed over time’s fields at a fairly low altitude, making many +detailed observations. Now we shall travel at a greater height and with +speed of a new order. We must therefore orientate ourselves within the +wider horizon that opens around us; we must consider things from the +astronomical rather than the human point of view. I said that we were +half-way from man’s beginning to his end. Looking back to that remote +beginning we see that the span of time which includes the whole career +of the First Men from Pithecanthropus to the Patagonian disaster is an +unanalysable point. Even the preceding and much longer period between +the first mammal and the first man, some twenty-five millions of +terrestrial years, seems now inconsiderable. The whole of it, together +with the age of the First Men, may be said to lie half-way between the +formation of the planets, two thousand million years earlier, and their +final destruction, two thousand million years later. Taking a still +wider view, we see that this aeon of four thousand million years is +itself no more than a moment in comparison with the sun’s age. And +before the birth of the suns the stuff of this galaxy had already +endured for aeons as a nebula. Yet even these aeons look brief in +relation to the passage of time before the myriad great nebulae +themselves, the future galaxies, condensed out of the all-pervading mist +in the beginning. Thus the whole duration of humanity, with its many +sequent species and its incessant downpour of generations, is but a +flash in the lifetime of the cosmos. + +Spatially, also, man is inconceivably minute. If in imagination we +reduce this galaxy of ours to the size of an ancient terrestrial +principality, we must suppose it adrift in the void with millions of +other such principalities, very remote from one another. On the same +scale the all-embracing cosmos would bulk as a sphere whose diameter was +some twenty times greater than that of the lunar orbit in your day; and +somewhere within the little wandering asteroid-like principality which +is our own universe, the solar system would be an ultra-microscopic +point, the greatest planet incomparably smaller. + +We have watched the fortunes of eight successive human species for a +thousand million years, the first half of that flicker which is the +duration of man. Ten more species now succeed one another, or are +contemporary, on the plains of Neptune. We, the Last Men, are the +Eighteenth Men. Of the eight pre-Neptunian species, some, as we have +seen, remained always primitive; many achieved at least a confused and +fleeting civilization, and one, the brilliant Fifth, was already +wakening into true humanity when misfortune crushed it. The ten +Neptunian species show an even greater diversity. They range from the +instinctive animal to modes of consciousness never before attained. The +definitely subhuman degenerate types are confined mostly to the first +six hundred million years of man’s sojourn on Neptune. During the +earlier half of this long phase of preparation, man, at first almost +crushed out of existence by a hostile environment, gradually peopled the +huge north; but with beasts, not men. For man, as man, no longer +existed. During the latter half of the preparatory six hundred million +years, the human spirit gradually awoke again, to undergo the +fluctuating advance and decline characteristic of the pre-Neptunian +ages. But subsequently, in the last four hundred million years of his +career on Neptune, man has made an almost steady progress toward full +spiritual maturity. + +Let us now look rather more closely at these three great epochs of man’s +history. + + + 2. DA CAPO + +It was in desperate haste that the last Venerian men had designed and +fashioned the new species for the colonization of Neptune. The mere +remoteness of the great planet, moreover, had prevented its nature from +being explored at all thoroughly, and so the new human organism was but +partially adapted to its destined environment. Inevitably it was a dwarf +type, limited in size by the necessity of resisting an excessive +gravitation. Its brain was so cramped that everything but the bare +essentials of humanity had to be omitted from it. Even so, the Ninth Men +were too delicately organized to withstand the ferocity of natural +forces on Neptune. This ferocity the designers had seriously +underestimated; and so they were content merely to produce a miniature +copy of their own type. They should have planned a hardy brute, lustily +procreative, cunning in the struggle for physical existence, but above +all tough, prolific, and so insensitive as to be scarcely worthy of the +name man. They should have trusted that if once this crude seed could +take root, natural forces themselves would in time conjure from it +something more human. Instead, they produced a race cursed with the +inevitable fragility of miniatures, and designed for a civilized +environment which feeble spirits could not possibly maintain in a +tumultuous world. For it so happened that the still youthful giant, +Neptune, was slowly entering one of his phases of crustal shrinkage, and +therefore of earthquake and eruption. Thus the frail colonists found +themselves increasingly in danger of being swallowed in sudden fiery +crevasses or buried under volcanic dust. Moreover, their squat +buildings, when not actually being trampled by lava streams, or warped +and cracked by their shifting foundations, were liable to be demolished +by the battering-ram thrust of a turbulent and massive atmosphere. +Further, the atmosphere’s unwholesome composition killed all possibility +of cheerfulness and courage in a race whose nature was doomed to be, +even in favourable circumstances, neurotic. + +Fortunately this agony could not last indefinitely. Little by little, +civilization crumbled into savagery, the torturing vision of better +things was lost, man’s consciousness was narrowed and coarsened into +brute-consciousness. By good luck the brute precariously survived. + +Long after the Ninth Men had fallen from man’s estate, nature herself, +in her own slow and blundering manner, succeeded where man had failed. +The brute descendants of this human species became at length well +adapted to their world. In time there arose a wealth of subhuman forms +in the many kinds of environment afforded by the lands and seas of +Neptune. None of them penetrated far towards the Equator, for the +swollen sun had rendered the tropics at this time far too hot to support +life of any kind. Even at the pole the protracted summer put a great +strain on all but the most hardy creatures. + +Neptune’s year was at this time about one hundred and sixty-five times +the length of the old terrestrial year. The slow seasonal change had an +important effect on life’s own rhythms. All but the most ephemeral +organisms tended to live through at least one complete year, and the +higher mammals survived longer. At a much later stage this natural +longevity was to play a great and beneficial part in the revival of man. +But, on the other hand, the increasing sluggishness of individual +growth, the length of immaturity in each generation, retarded the +natural evolutionary process on Neptune, so that compared with the +Terrestrial and Venerian epochs the biological story now moves at a +snail’s pace. + +After the fall of the Ninth Men the subhuman creatures had one and all +adopted a quadruped habit, the better to cope with gravity. At first +they had indulged merely in occasional support from their knuckles, but +in time many species of true quadrupeds had appeared. In several of the +running types the fingers, like the toes, had grown together, and a hoof +had developed, not on the old finger-tips, which were bent back and +atrophied, but on the knuckles. + +Two hundred millions years after the solar collision innumerable species +of subhuman grazers with long sheep-like muzzles, ample molars, and +almost ruminant digestive systems, were competing with one another on +the polar continent. Upon these preyed the subhuman carnivora, of whom +some were built for speed in the chase, others for stalking and a sudden +spring. But since jumping was no easy matter on Neptune, the cat-like +types were all minute. They preyed upon man’s more rabbit-like and +rat-like descendants, or on the carrion of the larger mammals, or on the +lusty worms and beetles. These had sprung originally from vermin which +had been transported accidentally from Venus. For of all the ancient +Venerian fauna only man himself, a few insects and other invertebrates, +and many kinds of micro-organisms, succeeded in colonizing Neptune. Of +plants, many types had been artificially bred for the new world, and +from these eventually arose a host of grasses, flowering plants, +thick-trunked bushes, and novel sea-weeds. On this marine flora fed +certain highly developed marine worms; and of these last, some in time +became vertebrate, predatory, swift, and fish-like. On these in turn +man’s own marine descendants preyed, whether as subhuman seals, or still +more specialized subhuman porpoises. Perhaps most remarkable of these +developments of the ancient human stock was that which led, through a +small insectivorous bat-like glider, to a great diversity of true flying +mammals, scarcely larger than humming birds, but in some cases agile as +swallows. + +Nowhere did the typical human form survive. There were only beasts, +fitted by structure and instinct to some niche or other of their +infinitely diverse and roomy world. + +Certain strange vestiges of human mentality did indeed persist here and +there, even as, in the fore-limbs of most species, there still remained +buried the relics of man’s once cunning fingers. For instance, there +were certain grazers which in times of hardship would meet together and +give tongue in cacophonous ululation; or, sitting on their haunches with +fore-limbs pressed together, they would listen by the hour to the howls +of some leader, responding intermittently with groans and whimpers, and +working themselves at last into foaming madness. And there were +carnivora which, in the midst of the spring-time fervour, would suddenly +cease from love-making, fighting, and the daily routine of hunting, to +sit alone in some high place day after day, night after night, watching, +waiting; until at last hunger forced them into action. + +Now in the fullness of time, about three hundred million terrestrial +years after the solar collision, a certain minute, hairless, rabbit-like +creature, scampering on the polar grasslands, found itself greatly +persecuted by a swift hound from the south. The subhuman rabbit was +relatively unspecialized, and had no effective means of defence or +flight. It was almost exterminated. A few individuals, however, saved +themselves by taking to the dense and thick-trunked scrub, whither the +hound could not follow them. Here they had to change their diet and +manner of life, deserting grass for roots, berries, and even worms and +beetles. Their fore-limbs were now increasingly used for digging and +climbing, and eventually for weaving nests of stick and straw. In this +species the fingers had never grown together. Internally the fore-paw +was like a minute clenched fist from the elongated and exposed knuckles +of which separate toes protruded. And now the knuckles elongated +themselves still further, becoming in time a new set of fingers. Within +the palm of the new little monkey-hand there still remained traces of +man’s ancient fingers, bent in upon themselves. + +As of old, manipulation gave rise to clearer percipience. And this, in +conjunction with the necessity of frequent experiments in diet, hunting, +and defence, produced at length a real versatility of behaviour and +suppleness of mind. The rabbit throve, adopted an almost upright gait, +continued to increase in stature and in brain. Yet, just as the new hand +was not merely a resurrection of the old hand, so the new regions of the +brain were no mere revival of the atrophied human cerebrum, but a new +organ, which overlaid and swallowed up that ancient relic. The +creature’s mind, therefore, was in many respects a new mind, though +moulded to the same great basic needs. Like his forerunners, of course, +he craved food, love, glory, companionship. In pursuit of these ends he +devised weapons and traps, and built wicker villages. He held pow-wows. +He became the Tenth Men. + + + 3. SLOW CONQUEST + +For a million terrestrial years these long-armed hairless beings were +spreading their wicker huts and bone implements over the great northern +continents, and for many more millions they remained in possession +without making further cultural progress; for evolution, both biological +and cultural, was indeed slow on Neptune. At last the Tenth Men were +attacked by a micro-organism and demolished. From their ruins several +primitive human species developed, and remained isolated in remote +territories for millions of decades, until at length chance or +enterprise brought them into contact. One of these early species, +crouched and tusked, was persistently trapped for its ivory by an abler +type, till it was exterminated. Another, long of muzzle and large of +base, habitually squatted on its haunches like the kangaroo. Shortly +after this industrious and social species had discovered the use of the +wheel, a more primitive but more war-like type crashed into it like a +tidal wave and overwhelmed it. Erect, but literally almost as broad as +they were tall, these chunkish and bloody-minded savages spread over the +whole arctic and sub-arctic region and spent some millions of years in +monotonous reiteration of progress and decline; until at last a slow +decay of their germ-plasm almost ended man’s career. But after an aeon +of darkness, there appeared another thick-set, but larger brained, +species. This, for the first time on Neptune, conceived the religion of +love, and all those spiritual cravings and agonies which had flickered +in man so often and so vainly upon Earth and Venus. There appeared again +feudal empires, militant nations, economic class wars, and, not once but +often, a world-state covering the whole northern hemisphere. These men +it was that first crossed the equator in artificially cooled electric +ships, and explored the huge south. No life of any kind was discovered +in the southern hemisphere; for even in that age no living matter could +have crossed the roasting tropics without artificial refrigeration. +Indeed, it was only because the sun’s temporary revival had already +passed its zenith that even man, with all his ingenuity, could endure a +long tropical voyage. + +Like the First Men and so many other natural human types, these +Fourteenth Men were imperfectly human. Like the First Men, they +conceived ideals of conduct which their imperfectly organized nervous +systems could never attain and seldom approach. Unlike the First Men, +they survived with but minor biological changes for three hundred +million years. But even so long a period did not enable them to +transcend their imperfect spiritual nature. Again and again and again +they passed from savagery to world-civilization and back to savagery. +They were captive within their own nature, as a bird in a cage. And as a +caged bird may fumble with nest-building materials and periodically +destroy the fruit of its aimless toil, so these cramped beings destroyed +their civilizations. + +At length, however, this second phase of Neptunian history, this era of +fluctuation, was brought to an end. At the close of the six hundred +million years after the first settlement of the planet, unaided nature +produced, in the Fifteenth human species, that highest form of natural +man which she had produced only once before, in the Second species. And +this time no Martians interfered. We must not stay to watch the struggle +of this greatheaded man to overcome his one serious handicap, excessive +weight of cranium and unwieldy proportions of body. Suffice it that +after a long-drawn-out immaturity, including one great mechanized war +between the northern and southern hemispheres, the Fifteenth Men outgrew +the ailments and fantasies of youth, and consolidated themselves as a +single world-community. This civilization was based economically on +volcanic power, and spiritually on devotion to the fulfilment of human +capacity. It was this species which, for the first time on Neptune, +conceived, as an enduring racial purpose, the will to remake human +nature upon an ampler scale. + +Henceforth in spite of many disasters, such as another period of +earthquake and eruption, sudden climatic changes, innumerable plagues +and biological aberrations, human progress was relatively steady. It was +not by any means swift and sure. There were still to be ages, often +longer than the whole career of the First Men, in which the human spirit +would rest from its pioneering to consolidate its conquests, or would +actually stray into the wilderness. But never again, seemingly, was it +to be routed and crushed into mere animality. + +In tracing man’s final advance to full humanity we can observe only the +broadest features of a whole astronomical era. But in fact it is an era +crowded with many thousands of long-lived generations. Myriads of +individuals, each one unique, live out their lives in rapt intercourse +with one another, contribute their heart’s pulses to the universal +music, and presently vanish, giving place to others. All this age-long +sequence of private living, which is the actual tissue of humanity’s +flesh, I cannot describe. I can only trace, as it were, the disembodied +form of its growth. + +The Fifteenth Men first set themselves to abolish five great evils, +namely, disease, suffocating toil, senility, misunderstanding, and +ill-will. The story of their devotion, their many disastrous +experiments, and ultimate triumph, cannot here be told. Nor can I +recount how they learned and used the secret of deriving power from the +annihilation of matter, nor how they invented ether-ships for the +exploration of neighbouring planets, nor how, after ages of experiments, +they designed and produced a new species, the Sixteenth, to supersede +themselves. + +The new type was analogous to the ancient Fifth, which had colonized +Venus. Artificial rigid atoms had been introduced into its bone-tissues, +so that it might support great stature and an ample brain; in which, +moreover, an exceptionally fine-grained cellular structure permitted a +new complexity of organization. ‘Telepathy’, also, was once more +achieved, not by means of the Martian units, which had long ago become +extinct, but by the synthesis of new molecular groups of a similar type. +Partly through the immense increase of mutual understanding, which +resulted from ‘telepathic’ rapport, partly through improved coordination +of the nervous system, the ancient evil of selfishness was entirely and +finally abolished from the normal human being. Egoistic impulses, +whenever they refused to be subordinated, were henceforth classed as +symptoms of insanity. The sensory powers of the new species were, of +course, greatly improved; and it was even given a pair of eyes in the +back of the head. Henceforth man was to have a circular instead of a +semi-circular field of vision. And such was the general intelligence of +the new race that many problems formerly deemed insoluble were now +solved in a single flash of insight. + +Of the great practical uses to which the Sixteenth Men put their powers, +one only need be mentioned as an example. They gained control of the +movement of their planet. Early in their career they were able, with the +unlimited energy at their disposal, to direct it into a wider orbit, so +that its average climate became more temperate, and snow occasionally +covered the polar regions. But as the ages advanced, and the sun became +steadily less ferocious, it became necessary to reverse this process and +shift the planet gradually nearer to the sun. + +When they had possessed their world for nearly fifty million years, the +Sixteenth Men, like the Fifth before them, learned to enter into past +minds. For them this was a more exciting adventure than for their +forerunners, since they were still ignorant of Terrestrial and Venerian +history. Like their forerunners, so dismayed were they at the huge +volume of eternal misery in the past, that for a while, in spite of +their own great blessings and spontaneous gaiety, existence seemed a +mockery. But in time they came to regard the past’s misery as a +challenge. They told themselves that the past was calling to them for +help, and that somehow they must prepare a great ‘crusade to liberate +the past’. How this was to be done, they could not conceive; but they +were determined to bear in mind this quixotic aim in the great +enterprise which had by now become the chief concern of the race, namely +the creation of a human type of an altogether higher order. + +It had become clear that man had by now advanced in understanding and +creativeness as far as was possible to the individual human brain acting +in physical isolation. Yet the Sixteenth Men were oppressed by their own +impotence. Though in philosophy they had delved further than had ever +been possible, yet even at their deepest they found only the shifting +sands of mystery. In particular they were haunted by three ancient +problems, two of which were purely intellectual, namely the mystery of +time and the mystery of mind’s relation to the world. Their third +problem was the need somehow to reconcile their confirmed loyalty to +life, which they conceived as embattled against death, with their +ever-strengthening impulse to rise above the battle and admire it +dispassionately. + +Age after age the races of the Sixteenth Men blossomed with culture +after culture. The movement of thought ranged again and again through +all the possible modes of the spirit, ever discovering new significance +in ancient themes. Yet throughout this epoch the three great problems +remained unsolved, perplexing the individual and vitiating the policy of +the race. + +Forced thus at length to choose between spiritual stagnation and a +perilous leap in the dark, the Sixteenth Men determined to set about +devising a type of brain which, by means of the mental fusion of many +individuals, might waken into an altogether new mode of consciousness. +Thus, it was hoped, man might gain insight into the very heart of +existence, whether finally to admire or loathe. And thus the racial +purpose, which had been so much confused by philosophical ignorance, +might at last become clear. + +Of the hundred million years which passed before the Sixteenth Men +produced the new human type, I must not pause to tell. They thought they +had achieved their hearts’ desire; but in fact the glorious beings which +they had produced were tortured by subtle imperfections beyond their +makers’ comprehension. Consequently, no sooner had these Seventeenth Men +peopled the world and attained full cultural stature, than they also +bent all their strength to the production of a new type, essentially +like their own, but perfected. Thus after a brief career of a few +hundred thousand years, crowded with splendour and agony, the +Seventeenth gave place to the Eighteenth, and, as it turns out, the +Last, human species. Since all the earlier cultures find their +fulfilment in the world of the Last Men, I pass over them to enlarge +somewhat upon our modern age. + + + + + XV _The Last Men_ + + + 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE LAST HUMAN SPECIES + +If one of the First Men could enter the world of the Last Men, he would +find many things familiar and much that would seem strangely distorted +and perverse. But nearly everything that is most distinctive of the last +human species would escape him. Unless he were to be told that behind +all the obvious and imposing features of civilization, behind all the +social organization and personal intercourse of a great community, lay a +whole other world of spiritual culture, round about him, yet beyond his +ken, he would no more suspect its existence than a cat in London +suspects the existence of finance or literature. + +[Illustration: Time Scales 4 and 5] + +Among the familiar things that he would encounter would be creatures +recognizably human yet in his view grotesque. While he himself laboured +under the weight of his own body, these giants would be easily striding. +He would consider them very sturdy, often thick-set, folk, but he would +be compelled to allow them grace of movement and even beauty of +proportion. The longer he stayed with them the more beauty he would see +in them, and the less complacently would he regard his own type. Some of +these fantastic men and women he would find covered with fur, hirsute, +or mole-velvet, revealing the underlying muscles. Others would display +bronze, yellow, or ruddy skin, and yet others a translucent ashgreen, +warmed by the underflowing blood. As a species, though we are all human, +we are extremely variable in body and mind, so variable that +superficially we seem to be not one species but many. Some characters, +of course, are common to all of us. The traveller might perhaps be +surprised by the large yet sensitive hands which are universal, both in +men and women. In all of us the outermost finger bears at its tip three +minute organs of manipulation, rather similar to those which were first +devised for the Fifth Men. These excrescences would doubtless revolt our +visitor. The pair of occipital eyes, too, would shock him; so would the +upward-looking astronomical eye on the crown, which is peculiar to the +Last Men. This organ was so cunningly designed that, when fully +extended, about a hand-breadth from its bony case, it reveals the +heavens in as much detail as your smaller astronomical telescopes. Apart +from such special features as these, there is nothing definitely novel +about us; though every limb, every contour, shows unmistakably that much +has happened since the days of the First Men. We are both more human and +more animal. The primitive explorer might be more readily impressed by +our animality than our humanity, so much of our humanity would lie +beyond his grasp. He would perhaps at first regard us as a degraded +type. He would call us faun-like, and in particular cases, ape-like, +bear-like, ox-like, marsupial, or elephantine. Yet our general +proportions are definitely human in the ancient manner. Where gravity is +not insurmountable, the erect biped form is bound to be most serviceable +to intelligent land animals; and so, after long wanderings, man has +returned to his old shape. Moreover, if our observer were himself at all +sensitive to facial expression, he would come to recognize in every one +of our innumerable physiognomic types an indescribable but distinctively +human look, the visible sign of that inward and spiritual grace which is +not wholly absent from his own species. He would perhaps say, ‘These men +that are beasts are surely gods also’. He would be reminded of those old +Egyptian deities with animal heads. But in us the animal and the human +interpenetrate in every feature, in every curve of the body, and with +infinite variety. He would observe in us, together with hints of the +long-extinct Mongol, Negro, Nordic, and Semitic, many outlandish +features and expressions, deriving from the subhuman period on Neptune, +or from Venus. He would see in every limb unfamiliar contours of muscle, +sinew, or bone, which were acquired long after the First Men had +vanished. Besides the familiar eye-colours, he would discover orbs of +topaz, emerald, amethyst, and ruby, and a thousand varieties of these. +But in all of us he would see also, if he had discernment, a facial +expression and bodily gesture peculiar to our own species, a certain +luminous, yet pungent and ironical significance, which we miss almost +wholly in the earlier human faces. + +The traveller would recognize among us unmistakable sexual features, +both of general proportions and special organs. But it would take him +long to discover that some of the most striking bodily and facial +differences were due to differentiation of the two ancient sexes into +many sub-sexes. Full sexual experience involves for us a complicated +relationship between individuals of all these types. Of the extremely +important sexual groups I shall speak again. + +Our visitor would notice, by the way, that, though all persons on +Neptune go habitually nude, save for a pouch or ruck-sack, clothing, +often brightly coloured, and made of diverse lustrous or homely tissues +unknown before our time, is worn for special purposes. + +He would notice also, scattered about the green countryside, many +buildings, mostly of one storey; for there is plenty of room on Neptune +even for the million million of the Last Men. Here and there, however, +we have great architectural pylons, cruciform or star-shaped in section, +cloud-piercing, dignifying the invariable planes of Neptune. These +mightiest of all buildings, which are constructed in adamantine +materials formed of artificial atoms, would seem to our visitor +geometrical mountains, far taller than any natural mountain could be, +even on the smallest planet. In many cases the whole fabric is +translucent or transparent, so that at night, with internal +illumination, it appears as an edifice of light. Springing from a base +twenty or more miles across, these star-seeking towers attain a height +where even Neptune’s atmosphere is somewhat attenuated. In their summits +work the hosts of our astronomers, the essential eyes through which our +community, on her little raft, peers across the ocean. Thither also all +men and women repair at one time or another to contemplate this galaxy +of ours and the unnumbered remoter universes. There they perform +together those supreme symbolic acts for which I find no adjective in +your speech but the debased word ’religious’. There also they seek the +refreshment of mountain air in a world where natural mountains are +unknown. And on the pinnacles and precipices of these loftiest horns +many of us gratify that primeval lust of climbing which was ingrained in +man before ever he was man. These buildings thus combine the functions +of observatory, temple, sanatorium, and gymnasium. Some of them are +almost as old as the species, some are not yet completed. They embody, +therefore, many styles. The traveller would find modes which he would be +tempted to call Gothic, Classical, Egyptian, Peruvian, Chinese, or +American, besides a thousand architectural ideas unfamiliar to him. Each +of these buildings was the work of the race as a whole at some stage in +its career. None of them is a mere local product. Every successive +culture has expressed itself in one or more of these supreme monuments. +Once in forty thousand years or so some new architectural glory would be +conceived and executed. And such is the continuity of our cultures that +there has scarcely ever been need to remove the handiwork of the past. + +If our visitor happened to be near enough to one of these great pylons, +he would see it surrounded by a swarm of midges, which would turn out to +be human fliers, wingless, but with outspread arms. The stranger might +wonder how a large organism could rise from the ground in Neptune’s +powerful field of gravity. Yet flight is our ordinary means of +locomotion. A man has but to put on a suit of overalls fitted at various +points with radiation-generators. Ordinary flight thus becomes a kind of +aerial swimming. Only when very high speed is desired do we make use of +closed-in air-boats and liners. + +At the feet of the great buildings the flat or undulating country is +green, brown, golden, and strewn with houses. Our traveller would +recognize that much land was under cultivation, and would see many +persons at work upon it with tools or machinery. Most of our food, +indeed, is produced by artificial photosynthesis on the broiling planet +Jupiter, where, even now that the sun is becoming normal again, no life +can exist without powerful refrigeration. As far as mere nutrition is +concerned, we could do without vegetation; but agriculture and its +products have played so great a part in human history that today +agricultural operations and vegetable foods are very beneficial to the +race psychologically. And so it comes about that vegetable matter is in +great demand, not only as raw material for innumerable manufactures, but +also for table delicacies. Green vegetables, fruit, and various +alcoholic fruit drinks have come to have the same kind of ritual +significance for us as wine has for you. Meat also, though not a part of +ordinary diet, is eaten on very rare and sacred occasions. The cherished +wild fauna of the planet contributes its toll to periodic symbolical +banquets. And whenever a human being has chosen to die, his body is +ceremoniously eaten by his friends. + +Communication with the food-factories of Jupiter and the agricultural +polar regions of the less torrid Uranus, as also with the automatic +mining stations on the glacial outer planets, is maintained by +ether-ships, which, travelling much faster than the planets themselves, +make the passage to the neighbour worlds in a small fraction of the +Neptunian year. These vessels, of which the smallest are about a mile in +length, may be seen descending on our oceans like ducks. Before they +touch the water they cause a prodigious tumult with the downward +pressure of their radiation; but once upon the surface, they pass +quietly into harbour. + +The ether-ship is in a manner symbolic of our whole community, so highly +organized is it, and so minute in relation to the void which engulfs it. +The ethereal navigators, because they spend so much of their time in the +empty regions, beyond the range of ‘telepathic’ communication and +sometimes even of mechanical radio, form mentally a unique class among +us. They are a hardy, simple, and modest folk. And though they embody +man’s proud mastery of the ether, they are never tired of reminding +land-lubbers, with dour jocularity, that the most daring voyages are +confined within one drop of the boundless ocean of space. + +Recently an exploration ship returned from a voyage into the outer +tracts. Half her crew had died. The survivors were emaciated, diseased, +and mentally unbalanced. To a race that thought itself so well +established in sanity that nothing could disturb it, the spectacle of +these unfortunates was instructive. Throughout the voyage, which was the +longest ever attempted, they had encountered nothing whatever but two +comets and an occasional meteor. Some of the nearer constellations were +seen with altered forms. One or two stars increased slightly in +brightness; and the sun was reduced to being the most brilliant of +stars. The aloof and changeless presence of the constellations seems to +have crazed the voyagers. When at last the ship returned and berthed, +there was a scene such as is seldom witnessed in our modern world. The +crew flung open the ports and staggered blubbering into the arms of the +crowd. It would never have been believed that members of our species +could be so far reduced from the self-possession that is normal to us. +Subsequently these poor human wrecks have shown an irrational phobia of +the stars, and of all that not human. They dare not go out at night. +They live in an extravagant passion for the presence of others. And +since all others are astronomically minded, they cannot find real +companionship. They insanely refuse to participate in the mental life of +the race upon the plane where all things are seen in their just +proportions. They cling piteously to the sweets of individual life; and +so they are led to curse the immensities. They fill their minds with +human conceits, and their houses with toys. By night they draw the +curtains and drown the quiet voice of the stars in revelry. But it is a +joyless and a haunted revelry, desired less for itself than as a defence +against reality. + + + 2. CHILDHOOD AND MATURITY + +I said that we were all astronomically minded; but we are not without +‘human’ interests. Our visitor from the earth would soon discover that +the low buildings, sprinkled on all sides, were the homes of +individuals, families, sexual groups, and bands of companions. Most of +these buildings are so constructed that the roof and walls can be +removed completely or partially, for sun-bathing and for the night. +Round each house is a wilderness, or a garden, or an orchard of our +sturdy fruit trees. Here and there men and women may be seen at work +with hoe or spade or secateurs. The buildings themselves affect many +styles; and within doors our visitor would find great variety from house +to house. Even within a single house he might come on rooms seemingly of +different epochs. And while some rooms are crowded with articles, many +of which would be incomprehensible to the stranger, others are bare, +save for a table, chairs, a cupboard, and perhaps some single object of +pure art. We have an immense variety of manufactured goods. But the +visitor from a world obsessed with material wealth would probably remark +the simplicity, even austerity, which characterizes most private houses. + +He would doubtless be surprised to see no books. In every room, however, +there is a cupboard filled with minute rolls of tape, microscopically +figured. Each of these rolls contains matter which could not be cramped +into a score of your volumes. They are used in connexion with a +pocket-instrument, the size and shape of the ancient cigarette case. +When the roll is inserted, it reels itself off at any desired speed, and +interferes systematically with ethereal vibrations produced by the +instrument. Thus is generated a very complex flow of ‘telepathic’ +language which permeates the brain of the reader. So delicate and direct +is this medium of expression that there is scarcely any possibility of +misunderstanding the author’s intention. The rolls themselves, it should +be said, are produced by another special instrument, which is sensitive +to vibrations generated in the author’s brain. Not that it produces a +mere replica of his stream of consciousness; it records only those +images and ideas with which he deliberately ‘inscribes’ it. I may +mention also that, since we can at any moment communicate by direct +‘telepathy’ with any person on the planet, these ‘books’ of ours are not +used for the duplication of merely ephemeral thought. Each one of them +preserves only the threshed and chosen grain of some mind’s harvest. + +Other instruments may be observed in our houses, which I cannot pause to +describe, instruments whose office is either to carry out domestic +drudgery, or to minister directly in one way or another to cultured +life. Near the outer door would be hanging a number of flying-suits, and +in a garage attached to the house would be the private air-boats, gaily +coloured torpedo-shaped objects of various sizes. + +Decoration in our houses, save in those which belong to children, is +everywhere simple, even severe. None the less we prize it greatly, and +spend much consideration upon it. Children, indeed, often adorn their +houses with splendour, which adults themselves can also enjoy through +children’s eyes, even as they can enter into the frolics of infants with +unaffected glee. + +The number of children in our world is small in relation to our immense +population. Yet, seeing that every one of us is potentially immortal, it +may be wondered how we can permit ourselves to have any children at all. +The explanation is twofold. In the first place, our policy is to produce +new individuals of higher type than ourselves, for we are very far from +biologically perfect. Consequently we need a continuous supply of +children. And as these successively reach maturity, they take over the +functions of adults whose nature is less perfect; and these, when they +are aware that they are no longer of service, elect to retire from life. + +But even though every individual, sooner or later, ceases to exist, the +average length of life is not much less than a quarter of a million +terrestrial years. No wonder, then, that we cannot accommodate many +children. But we have more than might be expected, for with us infancy +and adolescence are very lengthy. The foetus is carried for twenty +years. Ectogenesis was practised by our predecessors, but was abandoned +by our own species, because, with greatly improved motherhood, there is +no need for it. Our mothers, indeed, are both physically and mentally +most vigorous during the all too rare period of pregnancy. After birth, +true infancy lasts for about a century. During this period, in which the +foundations of body and mind are being laid, very slowly, but so +securely that they will never fail, the individual is cared for by his +mother. Then follow some centuries of childhood, and a thousand years of +adolescence. + +Our children, of course, are very different beings from the children of +the First Men. Though physically they are in many respects still +childlike, they are independent persons in the community. Each has +either a house of his own, or rooms in a larger building held in common +by himself and his friends. Thousands of these are to be found in the +neighbourhood of every educational centre. There are some children who +prefer to live with their parents, or with one or other of their +parents; but this is rare. Though there is often much friendly +intercourse between parents and children, the generations usually fare +better under separate roofs. This is inevitable in our species. For the +adult’s overwhelmingly greater experience reveals the world to him in +very different proportions from those which are possible even to the +most brilliant of children; while on the other hand with us the mind of +every child is, in some potentiality or other, definitely superior to +every adult mind. Consequently, while the child can never appreciate +what is best in his elders, the adult, in spite of his power of direct +insight into all minds not superior to himself, is doomed to +incomprehension of all that is novel in his own offspring. + +Six or seven hundred years after birth a child is in some respects +physically equivalent to a ten-year-old of the First Men. But since his +brain is destined for much higher development, it is already far more +complex than any adult brain of that species. And though temperamentally +he is in many ways still a child, intellectually he has already in some +respects passed beyond the culture of the best adult minds of the +ancient races. The traveller, encountering one of our bright boys, might +sometimes be reminded of the wise simplicity of the legendary Child +Christ. But also he might equally well discover a vast exuberance, +boisterousness, impishness, and a complete inability to stand outside +the child’s own eager life and regard it dispassionately. In general our +children develop intellectually beyond the level of the First Men long +before they begin to develop the dispassionate will which is +characteristic of our adults. When there is conflict between a child’s +personal needs and the need of society, he will as a rule force himself +to the social course; but he does so with resentment and dramatic +self-pity, thereby rendering himself in the adult view exquisitely +ridiculous. + +When our children attain physical adolescence, nearly a thousand years +after birth, they leave the safe paths of childhood to spend another +thousand years in one of the antarctic continents, known as the Land of +the Young. Somewhat reminiscent of the Wild Continent of the Fifth Men, +this territory is preserved as virgin bush and prairie. Sub-human +grazers and carnivora abound. Volcanic eruption, hurricanes, and glacial +seasons afford further attractions to the adventurous young. There is +consequently a high death rate. In this land our young people live the +half primitive, half sophisticated life to which their nature is fitted. +They hunt, fish, tend cattle, and till the ground. They cultivate all +the simple beauties of human individuality. They love and hate. They +sing, paint, and carve. They devise heroic myths, and delight in +fantasies of direct intercourse with a cosmic person. They organise +themselves as tribes and nations. Sometimes they even indulge in warfare +of a primitive but bloody type. Formerly when this happened, the adult +world interfered; but we have since learned to let the fever run its +course. The loss of life is regrettable; but it is a small price to pay +for the insight afforded even by this restricted and juvenile warfare, +into those primitive agonies and passions which, when they are +experienced by the adult mind, are so transformed by philosophy that +their import is wholly changed. In the Land of the Young our boys and +girls experience all that is precious and all that is abject in the +primitive. They live through in their own persons, century by century, +all its toilsomeness and cramped meanness, all its blind cruelty and +precariousness; but also they taste its glamour, its vernal and lyrical +glory. They make in little all the mistakes of thought and action that +men have ever made; but at last they emerge ready for the large and more +difficult world of maturity. + +It was expected that some day, when we should have perfected the +species, there would be no need to build up successive generations, no +need of children, no need of all this schooling. It was expected that +the community would then consist of adults only; and that they would be +immortal not merely potentially but in fact, yet also, of course, +perennially in the flower of young maturity. Thus, death should never +cut the string of individuality and scatter the hard-won pearls, +necessitating new strings, and laborious re-gatherings. The many and +very delectable beauties of childhood could still be amply enjoyed in +exploration of the past. + +We know now that this goal is not to be attained, since man’s end is +imminent. + + + 3. A RACIAL AWAKENING + +It is easy to speak of children; but how can I tell you anything +significant of our adult experience, in relation to which not only the +world of the First Men but the worlds of the most developed earlier +species seem so naïve? + +The source of the immense difference between ourselves and all other +human races lies in the sexual group, which is in fact much more than a +sexual group. + +The designers of our species set out to produce a being that might be +capable of an order of mentality higher than their own. The only +possibility of doing so lay in planning a great increase of brain +organization. But they knew that the brain of an individual human being +could not safely be allowed to exceed a certain weight. They therefore +sought to produce the new order of mentality in a system of distinct and +specialized brains held in ‘telepathic’ unity by means of ethereal +radiation. Material brains were to be capable of becoming on some +occasions mere nodes in a system of radiation which itself should then +constitute the physical basis of a single mind. Hitherto there had been +‘telepathic’ communication between many individuals, but no +super-individual, or group-mind. It was known that such a unity of +individual minds had never been attained before, save on Mars; and it +was known how lamentably the racial mind of Mars had failed to transcend +the minds of the Martians. By a combination of shrewdness and good luck +the designers hit upon a policy which escaped the Martian failure. They +planned as the basis of the super-individual a small multi-sexual group. + +Of course the mental unity of the sexual group is not the direct outcome +of the sexual intercourse of its members. Such intercourse does occur. +Groups differ from one another very greatly in this respect; but in most +groups all the members of the male sexes have intercourse with all the +members of the female sexes. Thus sex is with us essentially social. It +is impossible for me to give any idea of the great range and intensity +of experience afforded by these diverse types of union. Apart from this +emotional enrichment of the individuals, the importance of sexual +activity in the group lies in its bringing individuals into that extreme +intimacy, temperamental harmony, and complementariness, without which no +emergence into higher experience would be possible. + +Individuals are not necessarily confined to the same group for ever. +Little by little a group may change every one of its ninety-six members, +and yet it will remain the same super-individual mind, though enriched +with the memories grafted into it by the newcomers. Very rarely does an +individual leave a group before he has been in it for ten thousand +years. In some groups the members live together in a common home. In +others they live apart. Sometimes an individual will form a sort of +monogamous relation with another individual of his group, homing with +the chosen one for many thousands of years, or even for a lifetime. +Indeed some claim that life-long monogamy is the ideal state, so deep +and delicate is the intimacy which it affords. But of course, even in +monogamy, each partner must be periodically refreshed by intercourse +with other members of the group, not only for the spiritual health of +the two partners themselves, but also that the group-mind may be +maintained in full vigour. Whatever the sexual custom of the group, +there is always in the mind of each member a very special loyalty +towards the whole group, a peculiar sexually toned _esprit de corps_, +unparalleled in any other species. + +Occasionally there is a special kind of group intercourse in which, +during the actual occurrence of group mentality, all the members of one +group will have intercourse with those of another. Casual intercourse +outside the group is not common, but not discouraged. When it occurs it +comes as a symbolic act crowning a spiritual intimacy. + +Unlike the physical sex-relationship, the mental unity of the group +involves all the members of the group every time it occurs, and so long +as it persists. During times of group experience the individual +continues to perform his ordinary routine of work and recreation, save +when some particular activity is demanded of him by the group-mind +itself. But all that he does as a private individual is carried out in a +profound absent-mindedness. In familiar situations he reacts correctly, +even to the extent of executing familiar types of intellectual work or +entertaining acquaintances with intelligent conversation. Yet all the +while he is in fact ‘far away’, rapt in the process of the group-mind. +Nothing short of an urgent and unfamiliar crisis can recall him; and in +recalling him it usually puts an end to the group’s experience. + +Each member of the group is fundamentally just a highly developed human +animal. He enjoys his food. He has a quick eye for sexual attraction, +within or without the group. He has his personal idiosyncrasies and +foibles, and is pleased to ridicule the foibles of others—and of +himself. He may be one of those who abhor children, or one of those who +enter into children’s antics with fervour, if they will tolerate him. He +may move heaven and earth to procure permission for a holiday in the +Land of the Young. And if he fails, as he almost surely does, he may go +walking with a friend, or boating and swimming, or playing violent +games. Or he may merely potter in his garden, or refresh his mind though +not his body by exploring some favourite region of the past. Recreation +occupies a large part of his life. For this reason he is always glad to +get back to work in due season, whether his function is to maintain some +part of the material organization of our world, or to educate, or to +perform scientific research, or to cooperate in the endless artistic +venture of the race, or, as is more likely, to help in some of those +innumerable enterprises whose nature it is impossible for me to +describe. + +As a human individual, then, he or she is somewhat of the same type as a +member of the Fifth species. Here once more is the perfected glandular +outfit and instinctive nature. Here too is the highly developed sense +perception and intellection. As in the Fifth species, so in the +Eighteenth, each individual has his own private needs, which he heartily +craves to fulfil; but also, in both species, he subordinates these +private cravings to the good of the race absolutely and without +struggle. The only kind of conflict which ever occurs between +individuals is not the irreconcilable conflict of wills, but the +conflict due to misunderstanding, to imperfect knowledge of the matter +under dispute; and this can always be abolished by patient telepathic +explication. + +In addition to the brain organization necessary to this perfection of +individual human nature, each member of a sexual group has in his own +brain a special organ which, useless by itself, can cooperate +‘telepathically’ with the special organs of other members of the group +to produce a single electro-magnetic system, the physical basis of the +group-mind. In each sub-sex this organ has a peculiar form and function; +and only by the simultaneous operation of the whole ninety-six does the +group attain unified mental life. These organs do not merely enable each +member to share the experience of all; for this is already provided in +the sensitivity to radiation which is characteristic of all brain tissue +in our species. By means of the harmonious activity of the special +organs a true group-mind emerges, with experience far beyond the range +of the individuals in isolation. + +This would not be possible did not the temperament and capacity of each +sub-sex differ appropriately from those of the others. I can only hint +at these differences by analogy. Among the First Men there are many +temperamental types whose essential natures the psychologists of that +species never fully analysed. I may mention, however, as superficial +designations of these types, the meditative, the active, the mystical, +the intellectual, the artistic, the theoretical, the concrete, the +placid, the highly-strung. Now our sub-sexes differ from one another +temperamentally in some such manners as these, but with a far greater +range and diversity. These differences of temperament are utilized for +the enrichment of a group-self, such as could never have been attained +by the First Men, even if they had been capable of ‘telepathic’ +communication and electro-magnetic unity; for they had not the range of +specialized brain form. + +For all the daily business of life, then, each of us is mentally a +distinct individual, though his ordinary means of communication with +others is ‘telepathic’. But frequently he wakes up to be a group-mind. +Apart from this ‘waking of individuals together’, if I may so call it, +the group-mind has no existence; for its being is solely the being of +the individuals comprehended together. When this communal awakening +occurs, each individual experiences all the bodies of the group as ‘his +own multiple body’, and perceives the world equally from all those +bodies. This awakening happens to all the individuals at the same time. +But over and above this simple enlargement of the experienced field is +the awakening into new kinds of experience. Of this obviously I can tell +you nothing, save that it differs from the lowlier state more radically +than the infant mind differs from the mind of the individual adult, and +that it consists of insight into many unsuspected and previously +inconceivable features of the familiar world of men and things. Hence, +in our group mode, most, but not all, of the perennial philosophical +puzzles, especially those connected with the nature of personality, can +be so lucidly restated that they cease to be puzzles. + +Upon this higher plane of mentality the sexual groups, and therefore the +individuals participating in them, have social intercourse with one +another as super-individuals. Thus they form together a community of +minded communities. For each group is a person differing from other +groups in character and experience somewhat as individuals differ. The +groups themselves are not allocated to different works, in such a manner +that one group should be wholly engaged in industry, another in +astronomy, and so on. Only the individuals are thus allocated. In each +group there will be members of many professions. The function of the +group itself is purely some special manner of insight and mode of +appreciation; in relation to which, of course, the work of the +individuals is constantly controlled, not only while they are actually +supporting the group-self, but also when they have each fallen once more +into the limited experience which is ordinary individual selfhood. For +though, as individuals, they cannot retain clear insight into the high +matters which they so recently experienced, they do remember so much as +is not beyond the range of individual mentality; and in particular they +remember the bearing of the group experience upon their own conduct as +individuals. + +Recently another and far more penetrating kind of experience has been +attained, partly by good fortune, partly through research directed by +the group-minds. For these have specialized themselves for particular +functions in the mental life of the race, as previously the individuals +were specialized for functions within the mind of a group. Very rarely +and precariously has this supreme experience been achieved. In it the +individual passes beyond his group experience, and becomes the mind of +the race. At all times, of course, he can communicate ‘telepathically’ +with other individuals anywhere upon the planet; and frequently the +whole race ‘listens in’ while one individual addresses the world. But in +the true racial experience the situation is different. The system of +radiation which embraces the whole planet, and includes the million +million brains of the race, becomes the physical basis of a racial self. +The individual discovers himself to be embodied in all the bodies of the +race. He savours in a single intuition all bodily contacts, including +the mutual embraces of all lovers. Through the myriad feet of all men +and women he enfolds his world in a single grasp. He sees with all eyes, +and comprehends in a single vision all visual fields. Thus he perceives +at once and as a continuous, variegated sphere, the whole surface of the +planet. But not only so. He now stands above the group-minds as they +above the individuals. He regards them as a man may regard his own vital +tissues, with mingled contempt, sympathy, reverence, and dispassion. He +watches them as one might study the living cells of his own brain; but +also with the aloof interest of one observing an ant hill; and yet again +as one enthralled by the strange and diverse ways of his fellow-men; and +further as one who, from above the battle, watches himself and his +comrades agonizing in some desperate venture; yet chiefly as the artist +who has no thought but for his vision and its embodiment. In the racial +mode a man apprehends all things astronomically. Through all eyes and +all observatories, he beholds his voyaging world, and peers outward into +space. Thus he merges in one view, as it were, the views of deck-hand, +captain, stoker, and the man in the crow’s-nest. Regarding the solar +system simultaneously from both limbs of Neptune, he perceives the +planets and the sun stereoscopically, as though in binocular vision. +Further, his perceived ‘now’ embraces not a moment but a vast age. Thus, +observing the galaxy from every point in succession along Neptune’s wide +orbit, and watching the nearer stars shift hither and thither, he +actually perceives some of the constellations in three dimensions. Nay, +with the aid of our most recent instruments the whole galaxy appears +stereoscopically. But the great nebulae and remote universes remain mere +marks upon the flat sky; and in contemplation of their remoteness man, +even as the racial self of the mightiest of all human races, realizes +his own minuteness and impotence. + +But chiefly the racial mind transcends the minds of groups and +individuals in philosophical insight into the true nature of space and +time, mind and its objects, cosmical striving and cosmical perfection. +Some hints of this great elucidation must presently be given; but in the +main it cannot be communicated. Indeed such insight is beyond the reach +of ourselves as isolated individuals, and even beyond the group-minds. +When we have declined from the racial mentality, we cannot clearly +remember what it was that we experienced. + +In particular we have one very perplexing recollection about our racial +experience, one which involves a seeming impossibility. In the racial +mind our experience was enlarged not only spatially but temporarily in a +very strange manner. In respect of temporal perception, of course, minds +may differ in two ways, in the length of the span which they can +comprehend as ‘now’, and the minuteness of the successive events which +they can discriminate within the ‘now’. As individuals we can hold +within one ‘now’ a duration equal to the old terrestrial day; and within +that duration, we can, if we will, discriminate rapid pulsations such as +commonly we hear together as a high musical tone. As the race-mind we +perceived as ‘now’ the whole period since the birth of the oldest living +individuals, and the whole past of the species appeared as personal +memory, stretching back into the mist of infancy. Yet we could, if we +willed, discriminate within the ‘now’ one light-vibration from the next. +In this mere increased breadth and precision of temporal perception +there is no contradiction. But how, we ask ourselves, could the +race-mind experience as ‘now’ a vast period in which it had no existence +whatever? Our first experience of racial mentality lasted only as long +as Neptune’s moon takes to complete one circuit. Before that period, +then, the race-mind was not. Yet during the month of its existence it +regarded the whole previous career of the race as ‘present’. + +Indeed, the racial experience has greatly perplexed us as individuals, +and we can scarcely be said to remember more of it than that it was of +extreme subtlety and extreme beauty. At the same time we often have of +it an impression of unspeakable horror. We who, in our familiar +individual sphere are able to regard all conceivable tragedy not merely +with fortitude but with exultation, are obscurely conscious that as the +racial mind we have looked into an abyss of evil such as we cannot now +conceive, and could not endure to conceive. Yet even this hell we know +to have been acceptable as an organic member in the austere form of the +cosmos. We remember obscurely, and yet with a strange conviction, that +all the age-long striving of the human spirit, no less than the petty +cravings of individuals, was seen as a fair component in something far +more admirable than itself; and that man ultimately defeated, no less +than man for a while triumphant, contributes to this higher excellence. + +How colourless these words! How unworthy of that wholly satisfying +beauty of all things, which in our awakened racial mode we see face to +face. Every human being, of whatever species, may occasionally glimpse +some fragment or aspect of existence transfigured thus with the cold +beauty which normally he cannot see. Even the First Men, in their +respect for tragic art, had something of this experience. The Second, +and still more surely the Fifth, sought it deliberately. The winged +Seventh happened upon it while they were in the air. But their minds +were cramped; and all that they could appreciate was their own small +world and their own tragic story. We, the Last Men, have all their zest +in private and in racial life, whether it fares well or ill. We have it +at all times, and we have it in respect of matters inconceivable to +lesser minds. We have it, moreover, intelligently. Knowing well how +strange it is to admire evil along with good, we see clearly the +subversiveness of this experience. Even we, as mere individuals, cannot +reconcile our loyalty to the striving spirit of man with our own divine +aloofness. And so, if we were mere individuals, there would remain +conflict in each of us. But in the racial mode each one of us has now +experienced the great elucidation of intellect and of feeling. And +though, as individuals once more, we can never recapture that far-seeing +vision, the obscure memory of it masters us always, and controls all our +policies. Among yourselves, the artist, after his phase of creative +insight is passed, and he is once more a partisan in the struggle for +existence, may carry out in detail the design conceived in his brief +period of clarity. He remembers, but no longer sees the vision. He tries +to fashion some perceptible embodiment of the vanished splendour. So we, +living our individual lives, delighting in the contacts of flesh, the +relations of minds, and all the delicate activities of human culture, +cooperating and conflicting in a thousand individual undertakings and +performing each his office in the material maintenance of our society, +see all things as though transfused with light from a source which is +itself no longer revealed. + +I have tried to tell you something of the most distinctive +characteristics of our species. You can imagine that the frequent +occasions of group mentality, and even more the rare occasions of race +mentality, have a far-reaching effect on every individual mind, and +therefore on our whole social order. Ours is in fact a society +dominated, as no previous society, by a single racial purpose which is +in a sense religious. Not that the individual’s private efflorescence is +at all thwarted by the racial purpose. Indeed, far otherwise; for that +purpose demands as the first condition of its fulfilment a wealth of +individual fulfilment, physical and mental. But in each mind of man or +woman the racial purpose presides absolutely; and hence it is the +unquestioned motive of all social policy. + +I must not stay to describe in detail this society of ours, in which a +million million citizens, grouped in over a thousand nations, live in +perfect accord without the aid of armies or even a police force. I must +not tell of our much prized social organization which assigns a unique +function to each citizen, controls the procreation of new citizens of +every type in relation to social need, and yet provides an endless +supply of originality. We have no government and no laws, if by law is +meant a stereotyped convention supported by force, and not to be altered +without the aid of cumbersome machinery. Yet, though our society is in +this sense an anarchy, it lives by means of a very intricate system of +customs, some of which are so ancient as to have become spontaneous +taboos, rather than deliberate conventions. It is the business of those +among us who correspond to your lawyers and politicians to study these +customs and suggest improvements. Those suggestions are submitted to no +representative body, but to the whole world-population in ‘telepathic’ +conference. Ours is thus in a sense the most democratic of all +societies. Yet in another sense it is extremely bureaucratic, since it +is already some millions of terrestrial years since any suggestion put +forward by the College of Organizers was rejected or even seriously +criticized, so thoroughly do these social engineers study their +material. The only serious possibility of conflict lies now between the +world population as individuals and the same individuals as group minds +or racial mind. But though in these respects there have formerly +occurred serious conflicts, peculiarly distressing to the individuals +who experienced them, such conflicts are now extremely rare. For, even +as mere individuals, we are learning to trust more and more to the +judgement and dictates of our own super-individual experience. + +It is time to grapple with the most difficult part of my whole task. +Somehow, and very briefly, I must give you an idea of that outlook upon +existence which has determined our racial purpose, making it essentially +a religious purpose. This outlook has come to us partly through the work +of individuals in scientific research and philosophic thought, partly +through the influence of our group and racial experiences. You can +imagine that it is not easy to describe this modern vision of the nature +of things in any manner intelligible to those who have not our +advantages. There is much in this vision which will remind you of your +mystics; yet between them and us there is far more difference than +similarity, in respect both of the matter and the manner of our thought. +For while they are confident that the cosmos is perfect, we are sure +only that it is very beautiful. While they pass to their conclusion +without the aid of intellect, we have used that staff every step of the +way. Thus, even when in respect of conclusions we agree with your +mystics rather than your plodding intellectuals, in respect of method we +applaud most your intellectuals; for they scorned to deceive themselves +with comfortable fantasies. + + + 4. COSMOLOGY + +We find ourselves living in a vast and boundless, yet finite, order of +spatio-temporal events. And each of us, as the racial mind, has learned +that there are other such orders, other and incommensurable spheres of +events, related to our own neither spatially nor temporally but in +another mode of eternal being. Of the contents of those alien spheres we +know almost nothing but that they are incomprehensible to us, even in +our racial mentality. + +Within this spatio-temporal sphere of ours we remark what we call the +Beginning and what we call the End. In the Beginning there came into +existence, we know not how, that all-pervading and unimaginably tenuous +gas which was the parent of all material and spiritual existence within +time’s known span. It was in fact a very multitudinous yet precisely +numbered host. From the crowding together of this great population into +many swarms, arose in time the nebulae, each of which in its turn +condenses as a galaxy, a universe of stars. The stars have their +beginnings and their ends; and for a few moments somewhere in between +their beginnings and their ends a few, very few, may support mind. But +in due course will come the universal End, when all the wreckage of the +galaxies will have drifted together as a single, barren, and seemingly +changeless ash, in the midst of a chaos of unavailing energy. + +But the cosmic events which we call the Beginning and the End are final +only in relation to our ignorance of the events which lie beyond them. +We know, and as the racial mind we have apprehended as a clear +necessity, that not only space but time also is boundless, though +finite. For in a sense time is cyclic. After the End, events unknowable +will continue to happen during a period much longer than that which will +have passed since the Beginning; but at length there will recur the +identical event which was itself also the Beginning. + +Yet though time is cyclic, it is not repetitive; there is no other time +within which it can repeat itself. For time is but an abstraction from +the successiveness of events that pass; and since all events whatsoever +form together a cycle of successiveness, there is nothing constant in +relation to which there can be repetition. And so the succession of +events is cyclic, yet not repetitive. The birth of the all-pervading gas +in the so-called Beginning is not merely _similar_ to another such birth +which will occur long after us and long after the cosmic End, so-called; +the past Beginning _is_ the future Beginning. + +From the Beginning to the End is but the span from one spoke to the next +on time’s great wheel. There is a vaster span, stretching beyond the End +and round to the Beginning. Of the events therein we know nothing, save +that there must be such events. + +Everywhere within time’s cycle there is endless passage of events. In a +continuous flux, they occur and vanish, yielding to their successors. +Yet each one of them is eternal. Though passage is of their very nature, +and without passage they are nothing, yet they have eternal being. But +their passage is no illusion. They have eternal being, yet eternally +they exist with passage. In our racial mode we see clearly that this is +so; but in our individual mode it remains a mystery. Yet even in our +individual mode we must accept both sides of this mysterious antinomy, +as a fiction needed for the rationalizing of our experience. + +The Beginning precedes the End by some hundred million million +terrestrial years, and succeeds it by a period at least nine times +longer. In the middle of the smaller span lies the still shorter period +within which alone the living worlds can occur. And they are very few. +One by one they dawn into mentality and die, successive blooms in life’s +short summer. Before that season and after it, even to the Beginning and +to the End, and even before the Beginning and after the End, sleep, +utter oblivion. Not before there are stars, and not after the stars are +chilled, can there be life. And then, rarely. + +In our own galaxy there have occurred hitherto some twenty thousand +worlds that have conceived life. And of these a few score have attained +or surpassed the mentality of the First Men. But of those that have +reached this development, man has now outstripped the rest, and today +man alone survives. + +There are the millions of other galaxies, for instance the Andromedan +island. We have some reason to surmise that in that favoured universe +mind may have attained to insight and power incomparably greater than +our own. But all that we know for certain is that it contains four +worlds of high order. + +Of the host of other universes that lie within range of our +mind-detecting instruments, none have produced anything comparable with +man. But there are many universes too remote to be estimated. + +You may wonder how we have come to detect these remote lives and +intelligences. I can say only that the occurrence of mentality produces +certain minute astronomical effects, to which our instruments are +sensitive even at great distances. These effects increase slightly with +the mere mass of living matter on any astronomical body, but far more +with its mental and spiritual development. Long ago it was the spiritual +development of the world-community of the Fifth Men that dragged the +moon from its orbit. And in our own case, so numerous is our society +today, and so greatly developed in mental and spiritual activities, that +only by continuous expense of physical energy can we preserve the solar +system from confusion. + +We have another means of detecting minds remote from us in space. We +can, of course, enter into past minds wherever they are, so long as they +are intelligible to us; and we have tried to use this power for the +discovery of remote minded worlds. But in general the experience of such +minds is too different in fibre from our own for us to be able even to +detect its existence. And so our knowledge of minds in other worlds is +almost wholly derived from their physical effects. + +We cannot say that nowhere save on those rare bodies called planets does +life ever occur. For we have evidence that in a few of the younger stars +there is life, and even intelligence. How it persists in an incandescent +environment we know not, nor whether it is perhaps the life of the star +as a whole, as a single organism, or the life of many flame-like +inhabitants of the star. All that we know is that no star in its prime +has life, and therefore that the lives of the younger ones are probably +doomed. + +Again, we know that mind occurs, though very seldom, on a few extremely +old stars, no longer incandescent. What the future of these minds will +be, we cannot tell. Perhaps it is with them, and not with man, that the +hope of the cosmos lies. But at present they are all primitive. + +Today nothing anywhere in this galaxy of ours can compare with man in +respect of vision and mental creativeness. + +We have, therefore, come to regard our community as of some importance. +Especially so in the light of our metaphysics; but I can only hint at +our metaphysical vision of things by means of metaphors which will +convey at best a caricature of that vision. + +In the Beginning there was great potency, but little form. And the +spirit slept as the multitude of discrete primordial existents. +Thenceforth there has been a long and fluctuating adventure towards +harmonious complexity of form, and towards the awakening of the spirit +into unity, knowledge, delight, and self-expression. And this is the +goal of all living, that the cosmos may be known, and admired, and that +it may be crowned with further beauties. Nowhere and at no time, so far +as we can tell, at least within our own galaxy, has the adventure +reached further than in ourselves. And in us, what has been achieved is +but a minute beginning. But it is a real beginning. Man in our day has +gained some depth of insight, some breadth of knowledge, some power of +creation, some faculty of worship. We have looked far afield. We have +probed not altogether superficially into the nature of existence, and +have found it very beautiful, though also terrible. We have created a +not inconsiderable community; and we have wakened together to be the +unique spirit of that community. We had proposed to ourselves a very +long and arduous future, which should culminate, at some time before the +End, in the complete achievement of the spirit’s ideal. But now we know +that disaster is already near at hand. + +When we are in full possession of our faculties, we are not distressed +by this fate. For we know that though our fair community must cease, it +has also indestructible being. We have at least carved into one region +of the eternal real a form which has beauty of no mean order. The great +company of diverse and most lovely men and women in all their subtle +relationships, striving with a single purpose towards the goal which is +mind’s final goal; the community and super-individuality of that great +host; the beginnings of further insight and creativeness upon the higher +plane—these surely are real achievements—even though, in the larger +view, they are minute achievements. + +Yet though we are not at all dismayed by our own extinction, we cannot +but wonder whether or not in the far future some other spirit will +fulfil the cosmic ideal, or whether we ourselves are the modest crown of +existence. Unfortunately, though we can explore the past wherever there +are intelligible minds, we cannot enter into the future. And so in vain +we ask, will ever any spirit awake to gather all spirits into itself, to +elicit from the stars their full flower of beauty, to know all things +together, and admire all things justly. + +If in the far future this end will be achieved, it is really achieved +even now; for whenever it occurs, its being is eternal. But on the other +hand if it is indeed achieved eternally, this achievement must be the +work of spirits or a spirit not wholly unlike ourselves, though +infinitely greater. And the physical location of that spirit must lie in +the far future. + +But if no future spirit will achieve this end before it dies, then, +though the cosmos is indeed very beautiful, it is not perfect. + +I said that we regard the cosmos as very beautiful. Yet it is also very +terrible. For ourselves, it is easy to look forward with equanimity to +our end, and even to the end of our admired community; for what we prize +most is the excellent beauty of the cosmos. But there are the myriads of +spirits who have never entered into that vision. They have suffered, and +they were not permitted that consolation. There are, first, the +incalculable hosts of lowly creatures scattered over all the ages in all +the minded worlds. Theirs was only a dream life, and their misery not +often poignant; but none the less they are to be pitied for having +missed the more poignant experience in which alone spirit can find +fulfilment. Then there are the intelligent beings, human and otherwise; +the many minded worlds throughout the galaxies, that have struggled into +cognizance, striven for they knew not what, tasted brief delights and +lived in the shadow of pain and death, until at last their life has been +crushed out by careless fate. In our solar system there are the +Martians, insanely and miserably obsessed; the native Venerians, +imprisoned in their ocean and murdered for man’s sake; and all the hosts +of the forerunning human species. A few individuals no doubt in every +period, and many in certain favoured races, have lived on the whole +happily. And a few have even known something of the supreme beatitude. +But for most, until our modern epoch, thwarting has outweighed +fulfilment; and if actual grief has not preponderated over joy, it is +because, mercifully, the fulfilment that is wholly missed cannot be +conceived. + +Our predecessors of the Sixteenth species, oppressed by this vast +horror, undertook a forlorn and seemingly irrational crusade for the +rescue of the tragic past. We see now clearly that their enterprise, +though desperate, was not quite fantastic. For, if ever the cosmic ideal +should be realized, even though for a moment only, then in that time the +awakened Soul of All will embrace within itself all spirits whatever +throughout the whole of time’s wide circuit. And so to each one of them, +even to the least, it will seem that he has awakened and discovered +himself to be the Soul of All, knowing all things and rejoicing in all +things. And though afterwards, through the inevitable decay of the +stars, this most glorious vision must be lost, suddenly or in the +long-drawn-out defeat of life, yet would the awakened Soul of All have +eternal being, and in it each martyred spirit would have beatitude +eternally, though unknown to itself in its own temporal mode. + +It may be that this is the case. If not, then eternally the martyred +spirits are martyred only, and not blest. + +We cannot tell which of these possibilities is fact. As individuals we +earnestly desire that the eternal being of things may include this +supreme awakening. This, nothing less than this, has been the remote but +ever-present goal of our practical religious life and of our social +policy. + +In our racial mode also we have greatly desired this end, but +differently. + +Even as individuals, all our desires are tempered by that relentless +admiration of fate which we recognize as the spirit’s highest +achievement. Even as individuals, we exult in the issue whether our +enterprises succeed or fail. The pioneer defeated, the lover bereaved +and overwhelmed, can find in his disaster the supreme experience, the +dispassionate ecstasy which salutes the Real as it is and would not +change one jot of it. Even as individuals, we can regard the impending +extinction of mankind as a thing superb though tragic. Strong in the +knowledge that the human spirit has already inscribed the cosmos with +indestructible beauty, and that inevitably, whether sooner or later, +man’s career must end, we face this too sudden end with laughter in our +hearts, and peace. + +But there is the one thought by which, in our individual state, we are +still dismayed, namely that the cosmic enterprise itself may fail; that +the full potentiality of the Real may never find expression; that never, +in any stage of time, the multitudinous and conflicting existents should +be organized as the universal harmonious living body; that the spirit’s +eternal nature, therefore, should be discordant, miserably tranced; that +the indestructible beauties of this our sphere of space and time should +remain imperfect, and remain, too, not adequately worshipped. + +But in the racial mind this ultimate dread has no place. On those few +occasions when we have awakened racially, we have come to regard with +piety even the possibility of cosmical defeat. For as the racial mind, +though in a manner we earnestly desired the fulfilment of the cosmical +ideal, yet we were no more enslaved to this desire than, as individuals, +we are enslaved to our private desires. For though the racial mind wills +this supreme achievement, yet in the same act it holds itself aloof from +it, and from all desire, and all emotion, save the ecstasy which admires +the real as it is, and accepts its dark-bright form with joy. + +As individuals, therefore, we try to regard the whole cosmic adventure +as a symphony now in progress, which may or may not some day achieve its +just conclusion. Like music, however, the vast biography of the stars is +to be judged not in respect of its final moment merely, but in respect +of the perfection of its whole form; and whether its form as a whole is +perfect or not, we cannot know. Actual music is a pattern of +intertwining themes which evolve and die; and these again are woven of +simpler members, which again are spun of chords and unitary tones. But +the music of the spheres is of a complexity almost infinitely more +subtle, and its themes rank above and below one another in hierarchy +beyond hierarchy. None but a God, none but a mind subtle as the music +itself, could hear the whole in all its detail, and grasp in one act its +close-knit individuality, if such it has. Not for any human mind to say +authoritatively, ‘This is music, wholly’, or to say, ‘This is mere +noise, flecked now and then by shreds of significance’. + +The music of the spheres is unlike other music not only in respect of +its richness, but also in the nature of its medium. It is a music not +merely of sounds but of souls. Each of its minor themes, each of its +chords, each single tone of it, each tremor of each tone, is in its own +degree more than a mere passive factor in the music; it is a listener, +and also a creator. Wherever there is individuality of form, there is +also an individual appreciator and originator. And the more complex the +form, the more percipient and active the spirit. Thus in every +individual factor within the music, the musical environment of that +factor is experienced, vaguely or precisely, erroneously or with greater +approximation to truth; and, being experienced, it is admired or +loathed, rightly or falsely. And it is influenced. Just as in actual +music each theme is in a manner a determination of its forerunners and +followers and present accompaniment, so in this vaster music each +individual factor is itself a determination of its environment. Also it +is a determinant, both of that which precedes and that which follows. + +But whether these manifold interdeterminations are after all haphazard, +or, as in music, controlled in relation to the beauty of the whole, we +know not; nor whether, if this is the case, the beautiful whole of +things is the work of some mind; nor yet whether some mind admires it +adequately as a whole of beauty. + +But this we know: that we ourselves, when the spirit is most awake in +us, admire the Real as it is revealed to us, and salute its dark-bright +form with joy. + + + + + XVI _The Last of Man_ + + + 1. SENTENCE OF DEATH + +Ours has been essentially a philosophical age, in fact the supreme age +of philosophy. But a great practical problem has also concerned us. We +have had to prepare for the task of preserving humanity during a most +difficult period which was calculated to begin about one hundred million +years hence, but might, in certain circumstances, be sprung upon us at +very short notice. Long ago the human inhabitants of Venus believed that +already in their day the sun was about to enter the ‘white dwarf’ phase, +and that the time would therefore soon come when their world would be +frost-bound. This calculation was unduly pessimistic; but we know now +that, even allowing for the slight delay caused by the great collision, +the solar collapse must begin at some date astronomically not very +distant. We had planned that during the comparatively brief period of +the actual shrinkage, we would move our planet steadily nearer to the +sun, until finally it should settle in the narrowest possible orbit. + +Man would then be comfortably placed for a very long period. But in the +fullness of time there would come a far more serious crisis. The sun +would continue to cool, and at last man would no longer be able to live +by means of solar radiation. It would become necessary to annihilate +matter to supply the deficiency. The other planets might be used for +this purpose, and possibly the sun itself. Or, given the sustenance for +so long a voyage, man might boldly project his planet into the +neighbourhood of some younger star. Thenceforth, perhaps, he might +operate upon a far grander scale. He might explore and colonize all +suitable worlds in every corner of the galaxy, and organize himself as a +vast community of minded worlds. Even (so we dreamed) he might achieve +intercourse with other galaxies. It did not seem impossible that man +himself was the germ of the world-soul, which, we still hope, is +destined to awake for a while before the universal decline, and to crown +the eternal cosmos with its due of knowledge and admiration, fleeting +yet eternal. We dared to think that in some far distant epoch the human +spirit, clad in all wisdom, power, and delight, might look back upon our +primitive age with a certain respect; no doubt with pity also and +amusement, but none the less with admiration for the spirit in us, still +only half awake, and struggling against great disabilities. In such a +mood, half pity, half admiration, we ourselves look back upon the +primitive mankinds. + +Our prospect has now suddenly and completely changed, for astronomers +have made a startling discovery, which assigns to man a speedy end. His +existence has ever been precarious. At any stage of his career he might +easily have been exterminated by some slight alteration of his chemical +environment, by a more than usually malignant microbe, by a radical +change of climate, or by the manifold effects of his own folly. Twice +already he has been almost destroyed by astronomical events. How easily +might it happen that the solar system, now rushing through a somewhat +more crowded region of the galaxy, should become entangled with, or +actually strike, a major astronomical body, and be destroyed. But fate, +as it turns out, has a more surprising end in store for man. + +Not long ago an unexpected alteration was observed to be taking place in +a near star. Through no discoverable cause, it began to change from +white to violet, and increase in brightness. Already it has attained +such extravagant brilliance that, though its actual disc remains a mere +point in our sky, its dazzling purple radiance illuminates our nocturnal +landscapes with hideous beauty. Our astronomers have ascertained that +this is no ordinary ‘nova’, that it is not one of those stars addicted +to paroxysms of brilliance. It is something unprecedented, a normal star +suffering from a unique disease, a fantastic acceleration of its vital +process, a riotous squandering of the energy which should have remained +locked within its substance for aeons. At the present rate it will be +reduced either to an inert cinder or to actual annihilation in a few +thousand years. This extraordinary event may possibly have been produced +by unwise tamperings on the part of intelligent beings in the star’s +neighbourhood. But, indeed, since all matter at very high temperature is +in a state of unstable equilibrium, the cause may have been merely some +conjunction of natural circumstances. + +The event was first regarded simply as an intriguing spectacle. But +further study roused a more serious interest. Our own planet, and +therefore the sun also, was suffering a continuous and increasing +bombardment of ethereal vibrations, most of which were of incredibly +high frequency, and of unknown potentiality. What would be their effect +upon the sun? After some centuries, certain astronomical bodies in the +neighbourhood of the deranged star were seen to be infected with its +disorder. Their fever increased the splendour of our night sky, but it +also confirmed our fears. We still hoped that the sun might prove too +distant to be seriously influenced, but careful analysis now showed that +this hope must be abandoned. The sun’s remoteness might cause a delay of +some thousands of years before the cumulative effects of the bombardment +could start the disintegration; but sooner or later the sun itself must +be infected. Probably within thirty thousand years life will be +impossible anywhere within a vast radius of the sun, so vast a radius +that it is quite impossible to propel our planet away fast enough to +escape before the storm can catch us. + + + 2. BEHAVIOUR OF THE CONDEMNED + +The discovery of this doom kindled in us unfamiliar emotions. Hitherto +humanity had seemed to be destined for a very long future, and the +individual himself had been accustomed to look forward to very many +thousands of years of personal life, ending in voluntary sleep. We had +of course often conceived, and even savoured in imagination, the sudden +destruction of our world. But now we faced it as a fact. Outwardly +everyone behaved with perfect serenity, but inwardly every mind was in +turmoil. Not that there was any question of our falling into panic or +despair, for in this crisis our native detachment stood us in good +stead. But inevitably some time passed before our minds became properly +adjusted to the new prospect, before we could see our fate outlined +clearly and beautifully against the cosmic background. + +Presently, however, we learned to contemplate the whole great saga of +man as a completed work of art, and to admire it no less for its sudden +and tragic end than for the promise in it which was not to be fulfilled. +Grief was now transfigured wholly into ecstasy. Defeat, which had +oppressed us with a sense of man’s impotence and littleness among the +stars, brought us into a new sympathy and reverence for all those +myriads of beings in the past out of whose obscure strivings we had been +born. We saw the most brilliant of our own race and the lowliest of our +prehuman forerunners as essentially spirits of equal excellence, though +cast in diverse circumstances. When we looked round on the heavens, and +at the violet splendour which was to destroy us, we were filled with awe +and pity, awe for the inconceivable potentiality of this bright host, +pity for its self-thwarting effort to fulfil itself as the universal +spirit. + +At this stage it seemed that there was nothing left for us to do but to +crowd as much excellence as possible into our remaining life, and meet +our end in the noblest manner. But now there came upon us once more the +rare experience of racial mentality. For a whole Neptunian year every +individual lived in an enraptured trance, in which, as the racial mind, +he or she resolved many ancient mysteries and saluted many unexpected +beauties. This ineffable experience, lived through under the shadow of +death, was the flower of man’s whole being. But I can tell nothing of +it, save that when it was over we possessed, even as individuals, a new +peace, in which, strangely but harmoniously, were blended grief, +exaltation, and god-like laughter. + +In consequence of this racial experience we found ourselves faced with +two tasks which had not before been contemplated. The one referred to +the future, the other to the past. + +In respect of the future, we are now setting about the forlorn task of +disseminating among the stars the seeds of a new humanity. For this +purpose we shall make use of the pressure of radiation from the sun, and +chiefly the extravagantly potent radiation that will later be available. +We are hoping to devise extremely minute electro-magnetic +‘wave-systems’, akin to normal protons and electrons, which will be +individually capable of sailing forward upon the hurricane of solar +radiation at a speed not wholly incomparable with the speed of light +itself. This is a difficult task. But, further, these units must be so +cunningly inter-related that, in favourable conditions, they may tend to +combine to form spores of life, and to develop, not indeed into human +beings, but into lowly organisms with a definite evolutionary bias +toward the essentials of human nature. These objects we shall project +from beyond our atmosphere in immense quantities at certain points of +our planet’s orbit, so that solar radiation may carry them towards the +most promising regions of the galaxy. The chance that any of them will +survive to reach their destination is small, and still smaller the +chance that any of them will find a suitable environment. But if any of +this human seed should fall upon good ground, it will embark, we hope, +upon a somewhat rapid biological evolution, and produce in due season +whatever complex organic forms are possible in its environment. It will +have a very real physiological bias toward the evolution of +intelligence. Indeed it will have a much greater bias in that direction +than occurred on the Earth in those subvital atomic groupings from which +terrestrial life eventually sprang. + +It is just conceivable, then, that by extreme good fortune man may still +influence the future of this galaxy, not directly but through his +creature. But in the vast music of existence the actual theme of mankind +now ceases for ever. Finished, the long reiterations of man’s history; +defeated, the whole proud enterprise of his maturity. The stored +experience of many mankinds must sink into oblivion, and today’s wisdom +must vanish. + +The other task which occupies us, that which relates to the past, is one +which may very well seem to you nonsensical. + +We have long been able to enter into past minds and participate in their +experience. Hitherto we have been passive spectators merely, but +recently we have acquired the power of influencing past minds. This +seems an impossibility; for a past event is what it is, and how can it +conceivably be altered at a subsequent date, even in the minutest +respect? + +Now it is true that past events are what they are, irrevocably; but in +certain cases some feature of a past event may depend on an event in +their far future. The past event would never have been as it actually +was (and is, eternally), if there had not been going to be a certain +future event, which, though not contemporaneous with the past event, +influences it directly in the sphere of eternal being. The passage of +events is real, and time is the successiveness of passing events; but +though events have passage, they have also eternal being. And in certain +rare cases mental events far separated in time determine one another +directly by way of eternity. + +Our own minds have often been profoundly influenced by direct inspection +of past minds; and now we find that certain events of certain past minds +are determined by present events in our own present minds. No doubt +there are some mental events which are what they are by virtue of mental +past-processes which we _shall_ perform but have not yet performed. + +Our historians and psychologists, engaged on direct inspection of past +minds, had often complained of certain ‘singular’ points in past minds, +where the ordinary laws of psychology fail to give a full explanation of +the course of mental events; where, in fact, some wholly unknown +influence seemed to be at work. Later it was found that, in some cases +at least, this disturbance of the ordinary principles of psychology +corresponded with certain thoughts or desires in the mind of the +observer, living in our own age. Of course, only such matters as could +have significance to the past mind could influence it at all. Thoughts +and desires of ours which have no meaning to the particular +past-individual fail to enter into his experience. New ideas and new +values are only to be introduced by arranging familiar matter so that it +may gain a new significance. Nevertheless we now found ourselves in +possession of an amazing power of communicating with the past, and +contributing to its thought and action, though of course we could not +_alter_ it. + +But, it may be asked, what if, in respect of a particular ‘singularity’ +in some past mind, we do not, after all, choose to provide the necessary +influence to account for it? The question is meaningless. There is no +possibility that we should not choose to influence those past minds +which are, as a matter of fact, dependent on our influence. For it is in +the sphere of eternity (wherein alone we meet past minds), that we +really make this free choice. And in the sphere of time, though the +choosing has relations with our modern age, and may be said to occur in +that age, it also had relations with the past mind, and may be said to +have occurred also long ago. + +There are in some past minds singularities which are not the product of +any influence that we have exerted today. Some of these singularities, +no doubt, we shall ourselves produce on some occasion before our +destruction. But it may be that some are due to an influence other than +ours, perhaps to beings which, by good fortune, may spring long hence +from our forlorn seminal enterprise; or they may be due perhaps to the +cosmic mind, whose future occurrence and eternal existence we earnestly +desire. However that may be, there are a few remarkable minds, scattered +up and down past ages and even in the most primitive human races, which +suggest an influence other than our own. They are so ‘singular’ in one +respect or another, that we cannot give a perfectly clear psychological +account of them in terms of the past only; and yet we ourselves are not +the instigators of their singularity. Your Jesus, your Socrates, your +Gautama, show traces of this uniqueness. But the most original of all +were too eccentric to have any influence on their contemporaries. It is +possible that in ourselves also there are ‘singularities’ which cannot +be accounted for wholly in terms of ordinary biological and +psychological laws. If we could prove that this is the case, we should +have very definite evidence of the occurrence of a high order of +mentality somewhere in the future, and therefore of its eternal +existence. But hitherto this problem has proved too subtle for us, even +in the racial mode. It may be that the mere fact that we have succeeded +in attaining racial mentality involves some remote future influence. It +is even conceivable that every creative advance that any mind has ever +made involves unwitting cooperation with the cosmic mind which, perhaps, +will awake at some date before the End. + +We have two methods of influencing the past through past individuals; +for we can operate either upon minds of great originality and power, or +upon any average individual whose circumstances happen to suit our +purpose. In original minds we can only suggest some very vague +intuition, which is then ‘worked up’ by the individual himself into some +form very different from that which we intended, but very potent as a +factor in the culture of his age. Average minds, on the other hand, we +can use as passive instruments for the conveyance of detailed ideas. But +in such cases the individual is incapable of working up the material +into a great and potent form, suited to his age. + +But what is it, you may ask, that we seek to contribute to the past? We +seek to afford intuitions of truth and of value, which, though easy to +us from our point of vantage, would be impossible to the unaided past. +We seek to help the past to make the best of itself, just as one man may +help another. We seek to direct the attention of past individuals and +past races to truths and beauties which, though implicit in their +experience, would otherwise be overlooked. + +We seek to do this for two reasons. Entering into past minds, we become +perfectly acquainted with them, and cannot but love them; and so we +desire to help them. By influencing selected individuals, we seek to +influence indirectly great multitudes. But our second motive is very +different. We see the career of Man in his successive planetary homes as +a process of very great beauty. It is far indeed from the perfect; but +it is very beautiful, with the beauty of tragic art. Now it turns out +that this beautiful thing entails our operation at various points in the +past. Therefore we will to operate. + +Unfortunately our first inexperienced efforts were disastrous. Many of +the fatuities which primitive minds in all ages have been prone to +attribute to the influence of disembodied spirits, whether deities, +fiends, or the dead, are but the gibberish which resulted from our +earliest experiments. And this book, so admirable in our conception, has +issued from the brain of the writer, your contemporary, in such disorder +as to be mostly rubbish. + +We are concerned with the past not only in so far as we make very rare +contributions to it, but chiefly in two other manners. + +First, we are engaged upon the great enterprise of becoming lovingly +acquainted with the past, the human past, in every detail. This is, so +to speak, our supreme act of filial piety. When one being comes to know +and love another, a new and beautiful thing is created, namely the love. +The cosmos is thus far and at that date enhanced. We seek then to know +and love every past mind that we can enter. In most cases we can know +them with far more understanding than they can know themselves. Not the +least of them, not the worst of them, shall be left out of this great +work of understanding and admiration. + +There is another manner in which we are concerned with the human past. +We need its help. For we, who are triumphantly reconciled to our fate, +are under obligation to devote our last energies not to ecstatic +contemplation but to a forlorn and most uncongenial task, the +dissemination. This task is almost intolerably repugnant to us. Gladly +would we spend our last days in embellishing our community and our +culture, and in pious exploration of the past. But it is incumbent on +us, who are by nature artists and philosophers, to direct the whole +attention of our world upon the arid labour of designing an artificial +human seed, producing it in immense quantities, and projecting it among +the stars. If there is to be any possibility of success, we must +undertake a very lengthy programme of physical research, and finally +organize a world-wide system of manufacture. The work will not be +completed until our physical constitution is already being undermined, +and the disintegration of our community has already begun. Now we could +never fulfil this policy without a zealous conviction of its importance. +Here it is that the past can help us. We, who have now learnt so +thoroughly the supreme art of ecstatic fatalism, go humbly to the past +to learn over again that other supreme achievement of the spirit, +loyalty to the forces of life embattled against the forces of death. +Wandering among the heroic and often forlorn ventures of the past, we +are fired once more with primitive zeal. Thus, when we return to our own +world, we are able, even while we preserve in our hearts the peace that +passeth understanding, to struggle as though we cared only for victory. + + + 3. EPILOGUE + +I am speaking to you now from a period about twenty thousand terrestrial +years after the date at which the whole preceding part of this book was +communicated. It has become very difficult to reach you, and still more +difficult to speak to you; for already the Last Men are not the men they +were. + +Our two great undertakings are still unfinished. Much of the human past +remains imperfectly explored, and the projection of the seed is scarcely +begun. That enterprise has proved far more difficult than was expected. +Only within the last few years have we succeeded in designing an +artificial human dust capable of being carried forward on the sun’s +radiation, hardy enough to endure the conditions of a trans-galactic +voyage of many millions of years, and yet intricate enough to bear the +potentiality of life and of spiritual development. We are now preparing +to manufacture this seminal matter in great quantities, and to cast it +into space at suitable points on the planet’s orbit. + +Some centuries have now passed since the sun began to show the first +symptoms of disintegration, namely a slight change of colour towards the +blue, followed by a definite increase of brightness and heat. Today, +when he pierces the ever-thickening cloud, he smites us with an +intolerable steely brilliance which destroys the sight of anyone foolish +enough to face it. Even in the cloudy weather which is now normal, the +eye is wounded by the fierce violet glare. Eye-troubles afflict us all, +in spite of the special glasses which have been designed to protect us. +The mere heat, too, is already destructive. We are forcing our planet +outward from its old orbit in an ever-widening spiral; but, do what we +will, we cannot prevent the climate from becoming more and more deadly, +even at the poles. The intervening regions have already been deserted. +Evaporation of the equatorial oceans has thrown the whole atmosphere +into tumult, so that even at the poles we are tormented by hot wet +hurricanes and incredible electric storms. These have already shattered +most of our great buildings, sometimes burying a whole teeming province +under an avalanche of tumbled vitreous crags. + +Our two polar communities at first managed to maintain radio +communication; but it is now some time since we of the south received +news of the more distressed north. Even with us the situation is already +desperate. We had recently established some hundreds of stations for the +dissemination, but less than a score have been able to operate. This +failure is due mainly to an increasing lack of personnel. The deluge of +fantastic solar radiation has had disastrous effect on the human +organism. Epidemics of a malignant tumour, which medical science has +failed to conquer, have reduced the southern people to a mere remnant, +and this in spite of the migration of the tropical races into the +Antarctic. Each of us, moreover, is but the wreckage of his former self. +The higher mental functions, attained only in the most developed human +species, are already lost or disordered, through the breakdown of their +special tissues. Not only has the racial mind vanished, but the sexual +groups have lost their mental unity. Three of the sub-sexes have already +been exterminated by derangement of their chemical nature. Glandular +troubles, indeed, have unhinged many of us with anxieties and loathings +which we cannot conquer, though we know them to be unreasonable. Even +the normal power of ‘telepathic’ communication has become so unreliable +that we have been compelled to fall back upon the archaic practice of +vocal symbolism. Exploration of the past is now confined to specialists, +and is a dangerous profession, which may lead to disorders of temporal +experience. + +Degeneration of the higher neural centres has also brought about in us a +far more serious and deep-seated trouble, namely a general spiritual +degradation which would formerly have seemed impossible, so confident +were we of our integrity. The perfectly dispassionate will had been for +many millions of years universal among us, and the corner-stone of our +whole society and culture. We had almost forgotten that it has a +physiological basis, and that if that basis were undermined, we might no +longer be capable of rational conduct. But, drenched for some thousands +of years by the unique stellar radiation, we have gradually lost not +only the ecstasy of dispassionate worship, but even the capacity for +normal disinterested behaviour. Everyone is now liable to an irrational +bias in favour of himself as a private person, as against his fellows. +Personal envy, uncharitableness, even murder and gratuitous cruelty, +formerly unknown amongst us, are now becoming common. At first when men +began to notice in themselves these archaic impulses, they crushed them +with amused contempt. But as the highest nerve centres fell further into +decay, the brute in us began to be ever more unruly, and the human more +uncertain. Rational conduct was henceforth to be achieved only after an +exhausting and degrading ‘moral struggle’, instead of spontaneously and +fluently. Nay, worse, increasingly often the struggle ended not in +victory but defeat. Imagine then, the terror and disgust that gripped us +when we found ourselves one and all condemned to a desperate struggle +against impulses which we had been accustomed to regard as insane. It is +distressing enough to know that each one of us might at any moment, +merely to help some dear individual or other, betray his supreme duty +toward the dissemination; but it is harrowing to discover ourselves +sometimes so far sunk as to be incapable even of common loving-kindness +toward our neighbours. For a man to favour himself against his friend or +beloved, even in the slightest respect, was formerly unknown. But today +many of us are haunted by the look of amazed horror and pity in the eyes +of an injured friend. + +In the early stages of our trouble lunatic asylums were founded, but +they soon became over-crowded and a burden on a stricken community. The +insane were then killed. But it became clear that by former standards we +were all insane. No man now can trust himself to behave reasonably. + +And, of course, we cannot trust each other. Partly through the prevalent +irrationality of desire, and partly through the misunderstandings which +have come with the loss of ‘telepathic’ communication, we have been +plunged into all manner of discords. A political constitution and system +of laws had to be devised, but they seem to have increased our troubles. +Order of a kind is maintained by an overworked police force. But this is +in the hands of the professional organizers, who have now all the vices +of bureaucracy. It was largely through their folly that two of the +antarctic nations broke into social revolution, and are now preparing to +meet the armament which an insane world-government is devising for their +destruction. Meanwhile, through the breakdown of the economic order, and +the impossibility of reaching the food-factories on Jupiter, starvation +is added to our troubles, and has afforded to certain ingenious lunatics +the opportunity of trading at the expense of others. + +All this folly in a doomed world, and in a community that was yesterday +the very flower of a galaxy! Those of us who still care for the life of +the spirit are tempted to regret that mankind did not choose decent +suicide before ever the putrescence began. But indeed this could not be. +The task that was undertaken had to be completed. For the Scattering of +the Seed has come to be for every one of us the supreme religious duty. +Even those who continually sin against it recognize this as the last +office of man. It was for this that we outstayed our time, and must +watch ourselves decline from spiritual estate into that brutishness from +which man has so seldom freed himself. + +Yet why do we persist in the forlorn effort? Even if by good luck the +seed should take root somewhere and thrive, there will surely come an +end to its adventure, if not swiftly in fire, then in the ultimate +battle of life against encroaching frost. Our labour will at best sow +for death an ampler harvest. There seems no rational defence of it, +unless it be rational to carry out blindly a purpose conceived in a +former and more enlightened state. + +But we cannot feel sure that we really were more enlightened. We look +back now at our former selves, with wonder, but also with +incomprehension and misgiving. We try to recall the glory that seemed to +be revealed to each of us in the racial mind, but we remember almost +nothing of it. We cannot rise even to that more homely beatitude which +was once within the reach of the unaided individual, that serenity +which, it seemed, should be the spirit’s answer to every tragic event. +It is gone from us. It is not only impossible but inconceivable. We now +see our private distresses and the public calamity as merely hideous. +That after so long a struggle into maturity man should be roasted alive +like a trapped mouse, for the entertainment of a lunatic! How can any +beauty lie in that? + +But this is not our last word to you. For though we have fallen, there +is still something in us left over from the time that is passed. We have +become blind and weak; but the knowledge that we are so has forced us to +a great effort. Those of us who have not already sunk too far have +formed themselves into a brotherhood for mutual strengthening, so that +the true human spirit may be maintained a little longer, until the seed +has been well sown, and death be permissible. We call ourselves the +Brotherhood of the Condemned. We seek to be faithful to one another, and +to our common undertaking, and to the vision which is no longer +revealed. We are vowed to the comforting of all distressed persons who +are not yet permitted death. We are vowed also to the dissemination. And +we are vowed to keep the spirit bright until the end. + +Now and again we meet together in little groups or great companies to +hearten ourselves with one another’s presence. Sometimes on these +occasions we can but sit in silence, groping for consolation and for +strength. Sometimes, the spoken word flickers hither and thither amongst +us, shedding a brief light but little warmth to the soul that lies +freezing in a torrid world. + +But there is among us one, moving from place to place and company to +company, whose voice all long to hear. He is young, the last born of the +Last Men; for he was the latest to be conceived before we learned man’s +doom, and put an end to all conceiving. Being the latest, he is also the +noblest. Not him alone, but all his generation, we salute, and look to +for strength; but he, the youngest, is different from the rest. In him +the spirit, which is but the flesh awakened into spirituality, has power +to withstand the tempest of solar energy longer than the rest of us. It +is as though the sun itself were eclipsed by this spirit’s brightness. +It is as though in him at last, and for a day only, man’s promise were +fulfilled. For though, like others, he suffers in the flesh, he is above +his suffering. And though more than the rest of us he feels the +suffering of others, he is above his pity. In his comforting there is a +strange sweet raillery which can persuade the sufferer to smile at his +own pain. When this youngest brother of ours contemplates with us our +dying world and the frustration of all man’s striving, he is not, like +us, dismayed, but quiet. In the presence of such quietness despair +wakens into peace. By his reasonable speech, almost by the mere sound of +his voice, our eyes are opened, and our hearts mysteriously filled with +exultation. Yet often his words are grave. + +Let his words, not mine, close this story: + +Great are the stars, and man is of no account to them. But man is a fair +spirit, whom a star conceived and a star kills. He is greater than those +bright blind companies. For though in them there is incalculable +potentiality, in him there is achievement, small, but actual. Too soon, +seemingly, he comes to his end. But when he is done he will not be +nothing, not as though he had never been; for he is eternally a beauty +in the eternal form of things. + +Man was winged hopefully. He had in him to go further than this short +flight, now ending. He proposed even that he should become the Flower of +All Things, and that he should learn to be the All-Knowing, the +All-Admiring. Instead, he is to be destroyed. He is only a fledgling +caught in a bush-fire. He is very small, very simple, very little +capable of insight. His knowledge of the great orb of things is but a +fledgling’s knowledge. His admiration is a nestling’s admiration for the +things kindly to his own small nature. He delights only in food and the +food-announcing call. The music of the spheres passes over him, through +him, and is not heard. + +Yet it has used him. And now it uses his destruction. Great, and +terrible, and very beautiful is the Whole; and for man the best is that +the Whole should use him. + +But does it really use him? Is the beauty of the Whole really enhanced +by our agony? And is the Whole really beautiful? And what is beauty? +Throughout all his existence man has been striving to hear the music of +the spheres, and has seemed to himself once and again to catch some +phrase of it, or even a hint of the whole form of it. Yet he can never +be sure that he has truly heard it, nor even that there is any such +perfect music at all to be heard. Inevitably so, for if it exists, it is +not for him in his littleness. + +But one thing is certain. Man himself, at the very least, is music, a +brave theme that makes music also of its vast accompaniment, its matrix +of storms and stars. Man himself in his degree is eternally a beauty in +the eternal form of things. It is very good to have been man. And so we +may go forward together with laughter in our hearts, and peace, thankful +for the past, and for our own courage. For we shall make after all a +fair conclusion to this brief music that is man. + + + + + TRANSCRIBER NOTES + +Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple +spellings occur, majority use has been employed. + +Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors +occur. + +Some illustrations were moved to facilitate page layout. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79003 *** |