,,heph,,stus                            
,,heph,,stus                            
,,or                            ,the    
,soul of the ,machine                   
,,by                           ,e4 ,e4  
,,fournier ,d',,albe                    
,author of 8,quo ,vadimus10 etc4        
,illustration                           
,,new ,,york                            
,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton  ,,company             
#fha ,,fifth ,,avenue                   
,copyright1 #aibe                       
,by ,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton  ,,company         
,all ,rights ,reserved                  
,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states  
,,of ,,america                          
,,preface      ,the purpose of this     
little book is to show that one1 at     
least1 of  the gods of ,hellas has      
survived the flood which swept away the 
most  entertaining company of gods and  
goddesses ever created by man's         
imagination4 ,as ,i propose to set him  
in the august place vacated by the      
death of ,zeus1 a few biographical      

details may not be out of place4        
,hephstus was the son of ,hera 7,juno71 
but not of ,zeus 7,jupiter74 ,how  his  
mother put him into the world is not    
precisely known4 ,neither ,zeus  nor any
 other male god had anything to do with 
it4 ,yet it would be  inappropriate in  
the case of such a confirmed matron as  
,hera to speak  of parthenogenesis4     
,some extraordinary event had to take   
place before  the great home-goddess    
could be driven to spite her lord and   
master  by producing a son without his  
co-operation4 ,and such an event had    
indeed occurred1 for ,zeus had suddenly 
reverted to one of the oldest  forms of 
propagation known to biology1 viz41     
propagation by budding4  ,a fully-armed 
young goddess1 severe of countenance and
 lithe of limb1  had sprung forth from  
his head1 thenceforth and for ever to   
lead and  dominate the world of thought4
 ,it was up to ,hera to match ,pallas   
,athene  by some equally important      
contribution to the evolution of gods1  

and  so by some mysterious process1 into
 which ,greek historians did not care   
to pry1 she produced ,hephstus1 whom the
 ,romans called ,vulcan1 now the  only  
surviving representative of that lively 
and enterprising clan  which once ruled 
the world from the summit of ,mount     
,olympus4    ,like many another product 
of inspiration1 ,hephstus was at first  
regarded as a failure4 ,he was          
undersized and weak-chested1 and ,hera  
had to suffer much from the gibes of her
 peers and peeresses4 ,so  one day she  
dropped him down the slope of the       
mountain and he fell  into the sea4 ,he 
was picked up by two of those charming  
and motherly  sea-goddesses which at    
that time abounded in sea-water1 and was
  brought up in a grotto under the      
ocean4 ,in return for their kindnesses  
he made them pretty ornaments of coral  
and mother-of-pearl4    ,at the age of  
ten1 or thereabouts1 he set out to find 
his mother4 ,it  was some time before   
,hera recognized in the lame boy1 with  

the spinal  curvature and the swarthy   
but pleasant face1 the child she had so 
mercilessly cast off4 ,but a spark of   
mother-instinct revived under the  flame
 of the child's filial devotion1 and    
they soon became lasting  friends and   
allies4    ,hephstus1 naturally1 owed no
 allegiance to ,zeus1 and in the        
frequent  marital disputes between him  
and ,hera he invariably took his        
mother's  part1 and so successfully that
 the redoubtable ,father of the ,gods   
took him by his lame leg and flung him  
into space4 ,he fell for a whole  day#a 
and eventually alighted1 like a         
meteorite1 on the island of  ,lemnos1   
where he was worshipped as many a       
meteorite has been worshipped  before   
and since4 ,he put up with this for a   
while1 but the blood of the  ,olympians 
asserted itself1 and he painfully       
climbed home once more4  ,this time he  
succeeded in planting his unequal feet  
firmly on his  native rock1 and he soon 
became a favourite among his divine     

relations4  ,he undertook the           
reconstruction of the ,olympian         
dwellings1 and for this  purpose        
established a wonderful workshop with a 
huge anvil and twenty  bellows1 all of  
which would work at his mere behest4    
,the workshop was  made of fire-proof   
materials1 and shone 8like a star in the
 night40      #a ,this must be a        
mistake1 as it would put the summit of  
,olympus        somewhere beyond the    
orbit of the moon4    ,he solved the    
housing question by building a separate 
palace for  each of the gods and        
goddesses1 replete with all the comforts
 and  refinements of civilization4 ,nor 
did his amiability end there4           
,sometimes1 at their daily assemblies1  
he would give ,ganymede a day off  and  
would himself hand round the nectar1    
producing roars of laughter  by the     
contrast between his hobbling gait and  
the deportment of the  graceful young   
cup-bearer4    ,he became so popular    
that at last he was able to marry       

,aphrodite  herself1 the goddess of     
,love and ,beauty1 whom the ,romans     
called ,venus1  and who was born of the 
foam of the sea somewhere off ,cyprus4  
,but this  union of ,beauty and the     
,beast was far from being a happy one4  
,venus was  not satisfied with a 8lame  
mechanic0 as she called him1 and        
hankered  after the dashing ,ares1 alias
 ,mars1 the god of war4 ,having been    
warned  by ,helios1 the sun-god1 of the 
progress of the intrigueafter it had    
already reached its climax,hephstus lay 
in wait for the guilty pair  with an    
invisible net1 and having caught them1  
dragged them before the  other gods amid
 ,homeric laughter produced by their    
struggles in the  invisible meshes4 ,and
 when a daughter was born1 whom they    
miscalled  ,harmonia1 ,hephstus had his 
revenge by presenting her with a        
necklace  which brought disaster to her 
and all its later possessors until it   
was finally laid to rest in the temple  
of ,athene4    ,meanwhile1 the fame of  

his works spread far and wide4 ,king    
,aetes  of ,colchis ordered the         
construction of two bronze bulls capable
 of  breathing fire through their       
nostrils1 and when ,achilles1 the ,greek
  champion before ,troy1 decided to kill
 ,hector and avenge his friend          
,patroclus1 he went to ,hephstus with an
 introduction from ,thetis1 the         
sea-goddess1 and prevailed upon him to  
make him a marvellous shield on  which  
all heaven and earth were figured in    
bronze1 and which was quite  impervious 
to mortal spear and battle-axe4    ,and 
so he dwelt and worked on ,olympus for  
three thousand years or so1             
establishing branch works on ,lipari and
 in ,sicily which kept working  at full 
blast until ,paul of ,tarsus came with  
his claim to have found  the ,unknown   
,god who was to establish a new ,roman  
dominion to take the  place of the      
mighty ,empire of the ,csars1 and was   
incidentally to sweep  away the gods of 
,rome and ,greece alike and establish   

the worship of a  tripartite ,god who   
never smiled4    ,so the light-hearted  
company of ,mount ,olympus died1 all but
 ,hephstus1  who hobbled through many   
lands seeking a place where he might    
work and  set his bellows blowing once  
more4 ,for centuries he wandered1       
despised  and jeered at by monks1       
hermits1 and anchorites4 ,but his       
courage never  failed him4 ,it survived 
the desolation of the ,olympian palaces 
as it  had survived his two falls from  
the summit4    ,and now he has come back
 into his own1 and his power is         
spreading like  a conflagration4 ,the   
,god of ,fire is the supreme master of  
the earth4  ,his furnaces are roaring4  
,he has dispelled the clouds of ,asiatic
  mysticism which obscured his native   
mountain4 ,he has girdled the world     
with hoops of steel4 ,he has found      
strength        8,to break this sorry   
scheme of things entire1       ,and     
mould it nearer to the heart's desire40 
,and his victorious progress is only    

beginning to take effect4 ,how it  has  
come about1 and what will be the        
eventual result of his domination  of   
our planet1 it is the purpose of what   
follows to elucidate4                   
,,heph,,stus                            
,i        ,ethnologists believe that the
 metamorphosis from beast-like          
savage to cultured civilian may be      
proximately explained as the      result
 of accumulated changes that found their
 initial impulses      in a half-a-dozen
 or so of practical inventions4      ,an
 ,irish poet1 disconsolately walking    
along ,fleet ,street one day1  bethought
 himself of a small island in an ,irish 
lake1 where he could  escape from the   
noise and bustle of the ,london streets4
 ,he wrote a  lovely poem embodying that
 thought1 a poem expressing the longing 
of  every sensitive soul to retire      
within itself for a time and reconstruct
  its world from within instead of      
having it impressed from without4       
,needless to say1 he did not content    

himself with planting nine  beans in a  
row1 as he had longed to do in his fit  
of depression4 ,on  the contrary4 ,he   
became an ,irish statesman and ,senator4
 ,he dwelt  in surroundings far removed 
from the ,stone ,age4 ,the very chair on
  which he sat down to write owed its   
existence to many factories and         
mechanical processes4 ,its wood was     
derived from planks cut in the  saw     
mills4 ,its ,french polish1 although put
 on by hand1 was made of                
constituentsshellac1 methylated spirit1 
whitening and what notdrawn  from many  
sources1 each involving a number of     
ingenious inventions4  ,the coal which  
made his fire had been brought across   
the sea by a  steamera miracle of       
complicated mechanismand the shovel with
 which  he put it on had been mined in  
,belgium1 smelted in ,germany1 rolled in
  ,sheffield1 and shaped and finished in
 ,birmingham4    ,not that 8,inishfree0 
was but an idle dream4 ,there are many  
such  islands in ,ireland1 peopled by   

men and women and children1 living in   
one-roomed mud hovels on potatoes and   
stewed tea1 infested with vermin  and   
ravaged by tuberculosis and other       
infectious diseases1 people who1  if    
they cannot emigrate1 suffer their fate 
with a stolid and pathetic  resignation 
relieved by the hope of heavenly        
compensation hereafter4    ,such is     
,inishfree1 stripped of its glamour and 
shown in its naked  reality4            
,savagery does not mean simplicity but  
complexity1 not peace but  constant     
dread1 not health but hopeless disease  
and premature death4  ,the ,south       
,american ,indian suffers acutely from  
constipation1 which is  about the last  
disease we should expect him to suffer  
from4 ,the negro  in his native ,africa 
is often horribly deformed through      
neglect at  birth1 neglected injuries1  
or the ravages of insect pests4    ,it  
has taken mankind ten thousand years to 
emerge from savagery into  barbarism1   
and from barbarism into civilization4   

,nor is the process  yet completed4 ,the
 mass of mankind is still grossly       
ignorant4 ,but the  leaven of knowledge 
is steadily working and pervading the   
mass1 and the  rate of progress is      
constantly rising4    ,let us trace this
 wonderful process of civilization to   
its origins and  probe its essential    
nature4    ,starting somewhere in the   
tropics as a diminutive 8sport0 allied  
to  the arboreal ape1 man learned to use
 tools and weapons4 ,this was the  first
 step taken towards the conquest of the 
animal world1 his natural  enemies4     
,we do not know how many ages elapsed   
before the rough stone hammer  evolved  
into the axe of polished flint4 ,in any 
case1 the rough stone1  even if only    
used for throwing at his enemy or       
killing his prey1 was an  essentially   
new departure in evolution1 and sounded 
the keynote to all  that followed down  
to our own times4    ,tools and weapons 
had been evolved by other animals1 but  
they were  always organically connected 

with their bodies4 ,the tiger's claws   
and  teeth1 the tusks of the elephant   
and the wild boar1 the beak of the      
eagle were all formidable weapons and   
useful tools1 but they could  neither be
 detached1 nor replaced1 nor exchanged  
for other tools more  suitable to the   
occasion4 ,those 8natural0 tools and    
weapons had all  been produced by       
8evolution10 in other words1 by a       
mysterious agency  which some call ,god1
 some ,adaptation1 and some the ,urge of
 ,life4    ,who was that audacious man  
who first took upon himself the divine  
privilege of making tools and weapons   
for himself1 instead of waiting  for    
8nature0 to provide them for him8       
,perhaps he was a puny boy1 lame from   
birth and unable to escape from  the    
boar who was pursuing him4 ,in the      
extremity of his terror he took  up a   
heavy stone from the ground and flung it
 at the boar with all his  might4 ,the  
boar1 we may well imagine1 was dazed and
 probably terrified  by this unusual    

method of defence1 and slunk away from  
his feeble but  resourceful antagonist4 
,the story of that deliverance may1 for 
all we  know1 have been sung for many   
generations in the tribe1 and who knows 
but that the boy grew up into a great   
red-haired man1 as great an adept  at   
stone-throwing as the street-urchins in 
,belfast1 and formed the  prototype of  
the ,god ,thor1 whose hammer1 when      
thrown1 returned to his  hand of its own
 accord4    ,but the essential step was 
taken4 ,the lad had no teeth or claws   
which  could match the solid tusks      
wielded by his mighty antagonist4 ,so he
  8invented0 a new weapon4 ,he did not  
grow it in his own organism1 as  the    
squid grows its ink1 to be used on one  
occasion and then gradually  renewed4   
,he took a piece of the outside world   
and made it temporarily  a part of his  
person1 a part which could be detached  
and resumed at a  moment's notice1 a    
temporary attachment or extension of his
 body which  required no blood-vessels  

to keep it in repair and which1 if      
broken or  injured1 would inflict no    
pain upon himself4    ,this great       
innovation may have been aided by some  
analogies in the  animal world4 ,a bird 
had to collect twigs and leaves in order
 to build  a nest1 and had thus to put a
 portion of the 8outside world0 to its  
own  uses4 ,besides1 the very process of
 eating involved the apprehension of    
outside objects1 an apprehension which1 
in the case of the lowest form  of      
animal life1 is to this day accomplished
 by pouring its jelly-like  body round  
the object to be consumed4    ,but the  
next invention1 the discovery of the use
 of fire1 was a  departure without a    
parallel to anything in the kingdoms of 
,nature4  ,it placed mankind by a single
 act in a position of god-like authority
  over the living world4 ,it is not     
surprising that the discovery of fire   
is surrounded by countless legends4 ,in 
,greek mythology the first use  of fire 
is attributed to ,prometheus1 the       

,fore-,thinker1 the man who  thinks     
ahead4 ,he stole it from the heavens1   
and was punished by ,zeus  with terrible
 torment for having dared to endow      
mankind with a divine  privilege4       
,how great the privilege was we cannot  
even yet realize4 ,for the uses  of fire
 are by no means exhausted1 and are     
multiplying from day to  day4 ,but the  
essential element of the change was that
 something came  into the hands of man  
which did not exist in 8,nature0 at all1
 not1 at  least1 in a manner ordinarily 
accessible to organic being4 ,it was    
quite  8unnatural0 to use fire4 ,fire   
represented a state in which no organism
  could survive1 in which all its       
functions were ruthlessly stopped1 and  
its living tissues destroyed4 ,no animal
 except man has ever attained to  the   
use of fire4 ,its use represents the    
transcendence of man from the  ordinary 
scheme of ,nature and his ascent into a 
sort of supernatural1  or at least      
super-organic realm4    ,from this step 

there has been no retreat1 and there can
 be no retreat  until the sun itself    
grows cold4 ,whatever our               
8back-to-,nature0 cranks  may say1      
mankind cannot repudiate and renounce   
its most precious  acquisition and all  
that it involves in the present and the 
future4 ,we  may dislike the smoke of   
blast-furnaces1 but the remedy is not to
 do  away with them1 but to stop their  
smoking4 ,the bellows of ,hephstus  are 
blowing and his fires are burning4 ,the 
age of machinery1 begun in  far-off     
,palolithic days1 but only established  
within the last hundred  years or so1   
has now gripped us in a scheme from     
which none may escape4    ,taken in its 
narrower sense1 the word 8machine0 means
 a contrivance  for increasing the force
 we can bring to bear upon objects until
 it  exceeds the limits imposed upon the
 tension of our muscles4 ,as most of    
the #djj voluntary muscles of the human 
body are attached to the bones  in a    
manner which diminishes the force       

exerted below the actual tension  of the
 muscles1 the adoption of machinery     
constitutes a reversal of the  8natural0
 use of the system of levers which we   
call our skeleton4 ,the  ,lever1 the    
,inclined ,plane1 the ,wedge1 the       
,pulley1 the ,wheel and ,axle1  and the 
,screw1 are all contrivances for slowing
 down the rate of work  until the force 
required to perform it comes within the 
compass of  our muscles4 ,our bones1 on 
the other hand1 are mostly levers 8of   
the  third order10 in which the force is
 applied between the fulcrum and the    
object to be moved4 ,thus it happens    
that in order to lift a weight of  one  
pound1 our muscles are strained by a    
force which may amount to as  much as   
six pounds4    ,we are hardly justified 
in ascribing this uneconomic arrangement
 to the  8stupidity0 of ,nature4 ,any   
other arrangement1 such as the use of   
levers  of the 8second order10 would    
have involved a much bulkier and        
clumsier  build of the muscular system4 

,nor can we conceive of the adoption by 
man of the ,six ,machines as a          
deliberate imitation of ,nature1 or an  
improvement upon observed natural       
processes4    ,the ,six ,machines are   
obviously the crude results of          
long-continued  experience1 and it was  
not until the middle of the nineteenth  
century  that their real significance in
 the system of mechanics was recognized4
    ,the real importance of these       
contrivances lies in the fact that they 
increase the power of the human body    
without any further evolution of  the   
human organism4 ,the adoption of        
mechanism was a turning point in        
evolution1 and an event the significance
 of which can only be classed  with such
 far-reaching innovations as the birth  
of life itself or that  adoption of     
locomotion as an aid to nutrition which 
gave rise to the  animal kingdom4       
,the most widely useful of the ,six     
,machines was undoubtedly the ,wedge4   
,its use was usually accompanied by that

 of the projected stone4 ,the  latter1  
after being swung by muscular force1 was
 a reservoir of  energy1 which is the   
power of performing work4 ,if brought to
 rest  within a shorter distance than   
the curve of the swing1 it required a   
correspondingly greater force to stop   
it4 ,and that force could be still      
further increased by applying it to the 
end of a wedge whose sides  bore upon   
the object to be split4 ,the combination
 of mass and wedge is  represented by   
the spear1 the arrow1 and the sword1    
while the hammer  and the club acted as 
crushers rather than cutters4           
,observe1 then1 this puny but formidable
 creature emerging from his  tropical   
forest4 ,in his hand he carried the     
means of annihilating that  continuity  
of the organism which is essential to   
its existence4 ,he was  able to drive a 
powerful and irresistible wedge into the
 body of his  antagonist and thus end   
the co-ordination of its natural        
functions4 ,it  was thus that1 later in 

history1 the ,macedonian phalanx split  
up the  armies of the ,persian kings4   
,by a different but essentially similar 
process the #ae-;inch naval gun drives a
 wedge clean through the armour  of its 
opponent1 in the shape of a shell which 
does not explode until  it is right     
inside the enemy ship4    ,man's war of 
conquest against the animal world had   
begun4 ,he brought to  them a death more
 sudden than had existed up to his time4
 ,for he had  the power of driving his  
wedge into the most vulnerable and      
essential  part of his enemy's body4 ,a 
clean cut inflicted at the appropriate  
point would mean his final end4 ,man was
 not long in discovering  his enemy's   
weaknesses4 ,and when his enemy was a   
human one1 he made  assurance complete  
by bringing home his head4#b      #b ,it
 is curious in this connection that     
among the legends of        the ,saints 
there is no record of a decapitated     
person being        brought back to     
life4 ,the angels or departed saints who

 came        to heal the torn breasts of
 martyred ,christian virgins were       
unable to put heads back on bleeding    
trunks1 even though the        tongues  
in some of those heads were empowered to
 testify for        some time after they
 would1 in the ordinary course of       
things1        have become silent for   
ever4    ,if we examine the connection  
between man and his weapon we find that 
the latter differs from an eagle's beak 
or a tiger's claw in but one  essential 
point3 it is no longer an integral part 
of the organism4 ,it  can be detached at
 will1 and replaced by another weapon4  
,its separation  or destruction does not
 imply an injury to the organism4 ,man  
is not  put out of action by losing his 
weapon4 ,he is only reduced to his      
original position with respect to his   
antagonist4 ,and even that is no        
irreparable loss so long as he has other
 weapons at his command4 ,thus  the same
 step which vastly increased his        
offensive power also made him           

comparatively immune to attack4    ,now1
 a weapon in a man's hand1 so long as it
 is in active use as a  weapon1 is a    
part of the man himself4 ,it is true    
that he can lose it  without perishing  
himself1 but he can also lose an arm or 
a leg and  still survive4 ,the mere fact
 that the man's blood circulates in his 
natural leg and not in a wooden leg he  
may substitute for it makes  no         
essential difference4 ,he may kick with 
either4 ,and we know that  a man's leg1 
like all the cells of his body1 is      
largely compound  of inert matter such  
as food products and waste products1    
besides  being nine-tenths wateran      
inorganic substance4 ,a wooden leg1 or  
any  weapon which a man may use1 may    
therefore be regarded as a limb of the  
man's body1 so long1 that is1 as it is  
in active use4 ,and if a 8soul0         
animates that man's body and drives it  
to perform deeds of valour1 the  same   
soul will animate his weapon4 ,the soul 
of the weapon is the soul  of the man   

who uses it4    ,there is an increasing 
tendency in modern thought to abolish   
the  distinction between soul and body  
and to regard them as one and           
indivisible4 ,adopting that view1 we may
 assert that the use of a weapon  means 
the enlargement of a man's body and the 
simultaneous expansion  of his soul4    
,every weapon1 every tool1 every machine
 is the embodiment  of a human thought  
and purpose4 ,the user adopts that      
thought and  purpose1 and beholdthe     
machine has found its soul6             
,,ii                    ,man is an      
animal who laughs and cooks4      ,when 
,prometheus had caught some sparks from 
the chariot of the sun and  brought them
 safely to earth1 hidden in a tube1     
there was consternation  on ,mount      
,olympus4 ,the ,conservative ,government
 of that privileged  stronghold trembled
 for its celestial prerogatives4 ,it was
 all very  well1 they said1 for         
,hephstus to blow his bellows in his    
workshop and  produce beautiful things  

for ,olympians1 so long as he did it    
under  proper supervision4 ,but fire1   
once brought to earth1 would set the    
whole world ablaze and consume them in  
their palaces4    ,hephstus himself was 
not perturbed4 ,remembering the kindness
 he  met with on ,lemnos after his      
brutal expulsion from the company of    
the gods1 he secretly sympathized with  
,prometheus and his race1 and  planned a
 closer co-operation with mankind4 ,his 
,sicilian workshops  saw him oftener    
than before1 hobbling about among his   
furnaces and  experimenting with every  
kind of ore and ingot4 ,wherever he     
went1  whether among gods or men1 his   
kindness and his merry humour made him a
  general favourite4    ,although he    
often made weapons1 he much preferred to
 make tools and  ornaments4 ,among the  
,olympians1 his strangely begotten      
8sister0 ,athene  was his closest ally4 
,like him1 she favoured the arts of     
peace rather  than those of war1 and    
despised the noisy and swashbuckling    

,ares4  ,when ,athene went to take up   
her abode in her ,parthenon at ,athens1 
he  forsook ,olympus and removed his    
furnaces to ,lipari1 off the ,sicilian  
coast4 ,and it was in ,sicily1 some     
centuries later1 that his great         
disciple ,archimedes was born1 the man  
who was fitted and destined to          
establish the reign of ,hephstus in     
spite of the strenuous opposition  of   
the ,roman republic and its subsequent  
imperial and ecclesiastical  successors4
    ,when man was endowed with fire he  
received the gift without knowing       
whence it came or what it meant4 ,greek 
mythology1 with its deep  insight into  
unseen things1 presents us ,helios1 the 
sun-god1 as a  friend of ,hephstus1 the 
god of fire4 ,we moderns express the    
same truth  differently4 ,we say that   
all fire on earth is ultimately derived 
from  the sun4 ,archimedes kindled      
firespreferably in ,roman shipsby means 
of concave mirrors which condensed the  
heat of the sun to a focus4 ,the  fuel  

for the fires was also provided by the  
heat of the sun1 absorbed  by the       
chlorophyll of the leaves in the forest 
and used to build up  combustible wood  
and other products4 ,the firing of the  
wood reversed  the process of           
accumulation of solar energy and        
provided light and heat  by day and by  
night1 independently of the sun1 the    
original giver4  ,for a hundred million 
years already had the sun shone on a    
habitable  earth1 pouring out its light 
and heat and nourishing the luxuriant   
vegetation which covered most of the    
globe4 ,for untold ages had the  plants 
stored up the sunlight for some unknown 
end4 ,that end became  manifest when    
,prometheus kindled the first fire and  
made a new realm  accessible to man4    
,till then1 mankind had undergone the   
annual and  daily vicissitudes of heat  
and cold due to the days and the        
seasons1  but he had not controlled     
them4 ,when he acquired the mastery of  
fire1  he was enabled to wander north   

and south and take with him in his      
brazier the accustomed heat of the      
tropics4    ,but there was more to come4
 ,the invention of potteryanother great 
epochenabled him to create a solar      
furnace on a small scale4 ,it  enabled  
him to create a miniature world where   
the heat was much greater  than in his  
own world4 ,he soon found that plants   
and animals1 passed  through this new   
world1 became richer and more palatable1
 and in many  ways better adapted to his
 digestive system4 ,it must have seemed 
highly  8unnatural0 at first to         
accelerate the ripening of fruits and   
predigest  animal food by plunging them 
into water in which no living thing     
could  survive1 but the departure from  
the habits of the animal world1 once    
begun1 was never arrested1 and it is    
still proceeding in our own day4    ,our
 remote progenitors must have looked    
upon the guardians of their  fires with 
much the same awe as that which medival 
people felt for  sorcerers and          

alchemists1 and with rather more        
justification4 ,for man  had everything 
to learn about the new power placed in  
his hands4 ,he  was beginning to find   
his way about a new world in which the  
ordinary  laws of ,nature were          
suspended4 ,water was no longer cold and
 wet in that  world4 ,it was hot as the 
sun and thin as smoke4 ,it no longer    
flowed  but rose in the air4 ,salt      
rapidly became invisible in it1 but     
could as  rapidly be recovered by adding
 more fire4 ,there was as much to learn 
about fire as there was about ,x-rays in
 #ahie and about 8atmospherics0  to-day4
    ,the possession of fire turned      
winter into summer and night into day4  
,it lengthened the life-time of its     
fortunate possessors4 ,but it did  much 
more than that4 ,it endowed mankind with
 a number of gifts which  must1 in his  
primitive condition1 have appeared to   
him as supernatural4  ,it gave him      
substances which combined the hardness  
of stone with the  toughness of wood4   

,it enabled him to mould these          
substances into any  desired shape by   
the softening action of excessive heat4 
,hephstus  himself cast his products in 
bronze1 having cunningly mixed copper   
with  tin in order to produce an alloy  
combining hardness with ductility4 ,but 
he and his later disciples found the    
perfect substance in iron1 which1       
though requiring an extreme degree of   
heat1 yielded weapons and tools  of     
unsurpassed power and strength4    ,and 
thus it was that ,hephstus and his human
 allies prepared that  career of        
conquest which eventually swept over the
 earth and made all  things new4 ,the   
unprogressive ,zeus1 content with having
 learnt how to  shake ,olympus with a   
nod of his head1 perished in the flood  
of new  ideas from the ,east4 ,hephstus1
 alone of all that shining company1 had 
established a firm footing in the world4
 ,for the work of his hands had  trained
 his brain and enabled it to build up a 
scheme of the cosmos  in which every    

detail corresponded to some ascertained 
reality4 ,and  so1 while ,egyptian      
priests were speculating about the      
weight of a  soul1 while ,hindu sects   
were vying with each other in producing 
the  most hideous idols1 and while      
,christian theologians were endeavouring
  to prove that three ones make one1    
,hephstus and his followers were        
engaged in founding that superb edifice 
of knowledge which was destined  to     
outlast the fall of empires and the dark
 ages which followed the  eclipse of    
classical learning4    ,but even as late
 as #ahjj ,a4,d41 in spite of the       
mariner's compass1  the printing press1 
and gunpowder1 the ground won by        
,hephstus was  very small4 ,the postal  
services in ,europe were inferior to    
that of  the ,csars1 there was no       
telegraphic system equal to that of the 
ancient ,persians1 and the most stately 
sailing ship barely excelled  the       
classical trireme4 ,the fruits of the   
work of ,newcomen and ,watt and  ,papin 

had not yet blossomed4 ,when they did   
come forth1 things happened  swiftly4   
,fire was made to generate steam1 and   
steam1 in the course  of a century1     
transformed the world4 ,the motive-power
 being there1  it was put to a million  
uses4 ,the ,wheel became the most       
important of  mechanical contrivances4  
,now a wheel is a thing which1 in the   
organic  world1 is simply impossible4   
,in the days when microscopes were of   
feeble power1 it was thought that the   
8wheel animalcule10 called  ,vorticella1
 had small wheels revolving on the rim  
of its opening to  gather in the        
floating food particles4 ,but higher    
magnifying power  showed that the       
appearance was an illusion created by   
the oscillation  of the fine hairs fixed
 round the aperture4 ,a wheel revolving 
on a  shaft implies a separation which  
precludes all organic connection4  ,had 
it been otherwise1 an animal running on 
its own wheels would have  made its     
appearance on earth long ago4 ,the shaft

 of the steam engine  could be provided 
with numerous pulleys1 each capable of  
driving a  machine connected with it by 
a belt4 ,then arose that marvellous crop
  of mechanical combinations which      
brought about the age of mechanism1     
combinations which1 in the last resort1 
can be reduced to sliding  couples and  
turning couples1 and can be catalogued  
by means of formul1  like words in a    
dictionary4 ,so numerous were these     
inventions1 so  widespread was their    
use1 and so great their effect on the   
minds of  those generations1 that a     
great illusion arose which coloured the 
philosophies of a whole century and has 
left traces even in modern  times4      
,people became so accustomed to the     
perfect functioning of a  machine or a  
clock1 so impressed with its regularity 
and intelligible  complexity1 that they 
began to look upon mechanism as a       
primary thing  capable of 8explaining0  
many non-mechanical things1 not         
excluding  the phenomena of life4 ,why  

should not man himself1 the inventor of 
machinery1 be a machine8 ,if any        
functions of his body seemed beyond     
explanation on mechanical lines1 might  
this not be solely due to their  great  
complexity8    ,in a recent article in  
,nature1 ,professor ,fraser ,harris puts
 the  matter tersely as follows3        
8,because the stomach #8works'          
rhythmically and predictably we may     
call it a machine for turning out pepsin
 from blood and liken it to a  machine  
for turning out 7say7 newspapers1 but   
the secretion of pepsin  is not         
mechanical1 nor is the output of        
newspapers vital40    ,the strangest    
point about the materialistic or        
mechanistic conception  of things is    
that every machine without exception has
 an inherent  purpose and design4 ,it is
 intended by its inventor to do certain 
definite things in a certain definite   
way4 ,if an animal1 therefore1  is a    
machine1 it must have a design and      
purpose1 and presumably a  designer4    

,but the main idea underlying the       
mechanistic hypothesis was  to eliminate
 the idea of purpose altogether1 and    
reduce the universe to  an accidental   
configuration of lifeless atoms4    ,it 
is difficult to see how this attempt to 
reverse the rle of ,potter  and ,pot    
could ever have satisfied enquiring and 
well-balanced minds1  but it is a fact  
that mechanistic views of life1 after a 
period of  almost general acceptance1   
are still prevalent among biologists    
whose  education in the principles of   
logic has been somewhat hurried4    ,the
 majority1 however1 have returned to the
 saner view that it is  useless to      
explain the known by the less known4    
,human purpose is a  primary fact of    
experience1 and the embodiment of a     
human purpose in a  tool or machine is a
 process which cannot be denied on any  
reasonable  grounds4 ,now1 a 8purpose0  
is a datum of the mind1 which cannot be 
reduced to any simpler elements4 ,the   
purpose of a machine is the  psychical  

element embodied in it4 ,briefly1 we may
 call it the 8soul  of the machine40    
,every machine has a psychical element1 
a purpose1  a 8soul40 ,it is therefore1 
simpler1 more in accordance with sound  
philosophical principles1 more direct   
and 8economical0 to explain  machines in
 terms of psychology than to explain    
human bodies in terms  of mechanism4    
,the victories of ,hephstus are         
victories of mind over matter4 ,the     
8mechanical age10 which to some appears 
as the very negation of the  soul1 is1  
on the contrary1 the age of supreme     
psychical achievement4    ,science and  
invention are for ever annexing fresh   
regions of the  universe and subjecting 
them to the free play of our mental     
faculties4  ,the process of bringing    
material things into subjection to our  
will is  a process of sublimation1 which
 does not drag us down to the dust1 but 
raises up dust into the realms of       
immortal spirit4                        
,,iii                   444 ,the liquid 

,ore he dreind             ,into fit    
moulds prepar'd2 from which he form'd   
,first his own ,tooles2 then1 what might
 be wrought             ,fusil or grav'n
 in mettle4      ,at the time when the  
first man decided to go forth into the  
world  provided with weapons not        
furnished by nature 7in other words1    
8unnatural07 the lines of development   
adopted by nature had ended in  an      
impasse4 ,mere size had been found      
ineffective1 and the giant  ,reptilians 
had disappeared from the earth4 ,the    
,mammoth and the great  ,rorqual ,whale 
were the largest animals then in        
existence1 and nature  had retraced her 
steps somewhat as shipbuilding did in   
the nineteenth  century after the       
building of the ,great ,eastern4 ,of the
 countless  forms of animal and         
vegetable life1 many had disappeared    
entirely1  being no longer suited to    
climatic or other changes of            
environment4  ,there was no prospect of 
higher development unless an entirely   

new path  could be found4 ,we may put   
the situation in another way by         
paraphrasing  an ancient tribal account 
of the origin of things3    8,in the    
,beginning there was the ,sun and the   
,earth4    8,and the ,sun and the ,earth
 said3 ,let there be ,life4 ,and the    
,earth  covered itself with a living    
coat of green1 fed by the ,sun4    8,and
 the ,earth said3 ,let there be ,moving 
,life4 ,and ,life began to ,move  about1
 fed by the ,life that was green and    
stood still4    8,and the ,earth said3  
,let there be ,man1 and let him be fed  
by the ,green  ,life and the ,moving    
,life1 and let him subdue all ,life1 and
 let him  subdue ,me and serve ,me and  
make ,me great in the ,heavens40    ,and
 so the ,earth brought forth ,man1 her  
latest and greatest ,experiment4  ,for a
 long time he was a rather inferior     
animal1 but when he began to  throw     
stones and spears he launched out on his
 true career1 a career  destined to     
culminate in the complete mastery of his

 native planet and  the apotheosis of   
the ,earth4    ,the pre-human ,animal   
had already learned to use the world of 
plants  for purposes of nutrition1 and  
to use the mineral world for dwelling   
purposes4 ,improving upon the methods of
 his predecessors1 man made the  land   
and sea his province1 and drew from it  
not only nourishment but  the means of  
extending his dominion4 8,he that hath1 
to him shall be  given40 ,and this      
extension became more and more rapid4   
,living1 as we  do1 in an age of        
continually accelerated progress1 we    
find it difficult  to realize its       
rapidity4    ,we are caught in a flood4 
,from day to day things are changing4   
,what we  write to-day is obsolete      
to-morrow4 ,the clock ticks on the      
mantelpiece  as it did twenty years ago1
 but outside in the road is the roar of 
motor traffic4 ,the clip-clop of the    
horses' hooves is no longer heard4      
,hephstus has put his fires into the    
interior of the motor engine1  and found

 yet another way of using sunlight      
accumulated in the earth  millions of   
years ago1 instead of relying upon the  
solar energy stored  in the grass eaten 
by the horse4    ,fire has made all     
things new4 ,we are surrounded by its   
gifts4 ,my pen  has passed through many 
fires before it reached my hand4 ,all   
round me  are traces of machinery and   
mechanism4 ,the paper on which ,i write 
is  calendered in the paper mills4 ,i am
 aware that it is not as lasting as     
8hand-made0 paper1 and that it will not 
survive centuries of use like           
,gutenberg's bibles4 ,but what matter8  
,if there is anything worthy of         
survival in what ,i write it will       
survive1 even though it may require to  
be cast in bronze4 ,if it is good it    
will be aere perennius4    ,mankind may 
be likened to a vast army on the march4 
,it is preceded by3    7#a7             
,pathfinders1 called explorers1         
inventors1 and discoverers1 whose       
business it is to find new avenues of   

development and achievement4    ,then   
come the    7#b7 ,commanders with their 
staff of ,organizers4 ,these direct and 
co-ordinate the movements of the masses 
in directions judged to be for  the     
general welfare4 ,they are followed by  
7#c7 ,the ,rank and ,file1 consisting of
 those who live and work along  accepted
 and well-established lines in all      
grades of society1 taking no  risks and 
making no changes4    7#d7 ,the         
,stragglers1 or those who work for      
themselves alone1 without  reference to 
the needs and prospects of the          
community4 ,among these  must be classed
 the squatters and backwoodsmen1 and    
small crofters and  peasants who grow   
their own food and weave their own      
cloth4 ,they do not  belong to civilized
 society1 though they do no harm to it  
and cannot  quite escape its influence4 
7#e7 ,the ,campfollowers and ,vultures1 
who have no regard for the welfare  of  
the community1 but prey upon it for     
their own ends4    ,classes 7#a7 and    

7#b7 are by far the most important and  
valuable  constituents of the human     
race4 ,they are the growing element1 the
  8cambium10 the grey matter of the     
brain4 ,whoever has sufficient          
originality to strike out an original   
course1 combined with loyalty  to       
humanity at large or to a smaller       
community2 whoever is capable  of       
leadership1 whether in war or peace1 art
 or commerce1 industry  or politics2    
whoever can lead others forward and     
inspire them with  courage to face      
difficultieshe belongs to the lite of   
mankind1  to whatever grade of society  
he may belong4 ,far behind his class    
come  the rank and file of commonplace  
drudges1 who work in a rut and submit   
to being led like sheep4 ,they may be   
clerks1 domestic servants1 trade  union 
operatives1 pensioners1 or small        
investors4 ,they form the large1        
undistinguished1 but useful mass of     
humanity4 ,many kings have belonged  to 
this class4    ,both the large          

capitalist and the trade union boss ,i  
should class  among the ,commanders1 and
 ,i should assign them a high rank in   
human  progressive elements4 ,the former
 is often a ,pathfinder in commerce and 
industry1 and the latter often points   
the way to the betterment of  manual    
workers4 ,both are in a position of     
great power1 but are exposed  to the    
temptation to abuse it4 ,the financier  
may succeed in restricting  the free    
market in an important human community  
for his own enrichment  and             
aggrandizement4 ,the trade union boss   
may make a 8corner0 in a  certain form  
of labour and so deprive the community  
of some essential  commodity1 such as   
housing accommodation4 ,when this       
degeneration takes  place1 both these   
types must be put into the ,vulture     
class4    ,the same judgment must be    
passed on those who use the machinery of
 the  medium of exchange to further     
objects contrary to the interests of the
  community1 such as usurers1 and       

purveyors of intoxicant drugs4 ,these   
also are among the ,vultures4    ,when  
the first armed man transferred a method
 employed by nature into  a new medium1 
and derived his armour from the outer   
world instead  of growing it in his own 
organism1 he took a step which led to   
many  similar re-interpretations4 ,one  
of the most important of such steps  was
 ,organization4 ,the very word recalls  
its 8organic0 origin4 ,the  organs of   
the human body form an interdependent   
community with a common  interest4 ,the 
organs again are composed of tissues1   
and the tissues of  individual cells    
having1 as many biologists believe1 a   
rudimentary  consciousness of their own4
 ,all thesesome millions of millions of 
millionsform a vast and                 
closely-organized community consisting  
of  many more distinct individuals than 
there are human beings on earth4  ,the  
human race is such an organized         
community4 ,a swarm of bees is  another1
 but while the latter only deals with   

8natural0 food-supplies  and housing    
materials1 the human community1 thanks  
primarily to the use  of fire1 gathers  
its resources from realms utterly       
inaccessible to the  ordinary animal1   
and establishes an unassailable         
superiority4 ,thus the  human army1     
consisting of ,pathfinders1 ,organizers1
 ,rank and ,file1 and  ,stragglers1 with
 a trail of ,vultures behind1 presses   
ever forward on  its victorious march of
 progress4    ,its general procedure may
 be represented as follows3    ,the     
,pathfinders are in front1 seeking out  
new avenues of advance4  ,they may      
discover a new coal mine or oil well or 
mineral deposit2 a  more economical     
method of lighting and heating2 an      
improved method  of weaving or printing2
 a new medicine2 a new formula for      
expressing  numerical relations2 an     
improved method of transmitting news2 or
 merely  a simplified method of mending 
socks4 ,whatever it may be1 the new     
discovery is passed on to the           

organizers1 the captains of industry1   
the  capitalists and financiers1 and the
 trade unions4 ,in a well-organized     
community1 the discovery or invention is
 given every opportunity of  proving its
 value4 ,where vested interests and     
monopolies stand in the  way1 either in 
the camp of the capitalists and property
 holders or  in the ranks of labour1    
much opposition may be encountered1 and 
the  community may be deprived of the   
advantages of the new discovery4 ,but   
if there is no such opposition1 the work
 incidental to the utilization  of the  
discovery is distributed by the         
organizers among the rank and  file1    
consisting of mechanics1 clerks1 and    
small investors4 ,as soon as  the       
industry is successfully established1   
the ,vultures begin to hover  round4    
,some of them seek to drive the industry
 into a corner where  it can only exist 
by serving the interests of the         
,vultures4 ,other  ,vultures endeavour  
to corner the labour trained by the     

pathfinders and  pioneers and hold the  
new industry to ransom4 ,but in a       
well-organized  community these         
nefarious activities are kept within    
bounds4 ,the  pathfinders1 the          
organizers1 and the rank and file are   
given their due  credit and reward1 and 
the community reaps the full benefit of 
the  discovery4    ,and now let us      
examine the activities of the           
,pathfinders4 ,in classical  times the  
most audacious and renowned of these    
were the ,phnicians1  who1 armed with   
their shields and corselets of 8oak and 
triple  bronze10 sailed through the     
,pillars of ,hercules out from the      
tideless  ,mediterranean into the       
unknown terrors of the ,atlantic4 ,their
 ships  were seen in the ,baltic1       
trading woven purple garments for amber1
 and  on the ,british coasts in search  
of tin4 ,at the request of an ,egyptian 
,pharao1 they circumnavigated ,africa1  
and brought back wildly improbable  but1
 nevertheless1 true stories about new   

constellations and the sun  culminating 
in the north4    ,in ,egypt itself      
explorers and discoverers of another    
kind were busy4  ,the science of        
,chemistry was born there1 and named    
after 8,chem10  the native name of      
,egypt4 ,in ,greece and its colonies the
 science of  ,geometry attained a high  
standard1 while ,syracuse stands out as 
the  home of ,archimedes1 one of the    
greatest mathematicians1 physicists1    
and inventors of all time4 ,these       
,pathfinders enriched humanity with     
priceless gifts4 ,they surveyed the     
field of possible discovery from a  high
 altitude1 and their clear vision traced
 out the paths to higher  achievement1  
to be trodden by their successors4      
,had they lived in better-organized     
communities1 their labours would  have  
been turned to greater advantage1 and   
would have benefited a  greater number  
of their fellow men4 ,but the day of    
capitalism and  mass-production had not 
yet come4 ,the splendid achievements of 

an  ,archimedes only served to benefit a
 tyrant1 and his single-handed          
scientific fight against the ,romans    
ended in disaster to his beloved  city4 
,in ,greek and ,roman days1 owing to the
 lop-sided organization of human        
society1 scientific discoveries could   
only benefit a few powerful  people4    
,the downtrodden underlings were        
unaffected by the work of the           
,pathfinders4 ,they had to await the    
dawn of the ,industrial ,age before     
they could take part in the progress of 
the lite4 ,yet it must be  put to the   
credit of the ,hieros1 the ,medicis1 and
 the greater of the  ,bourbon and       
,stuart ,kings that they fostered the   
advancement of science  and protected   
the ,pathfinders from the persecution of
 ecclesiastical  and other vultures4    
,the invention of gunpowder laid low the
 chivalry of the ,middle ,ages4  ,the   
,hobbling ,god triumphed over the       
mail-clad monopolist on horseback4  ,the
 ,sudden ,fire armed the foot-soldier   

with a winged shaft of death4  ,the     
stone-thrower had became the unerring   
sharp-shooter4 ,the range of  human     
power increased apace4 ,the glass-blower
 with his fiery furnace  produced       
cunning contrivances of glass which     
increased the range of the  human eye   
twenty or thirty-fold4 ,a free          
philosopher like ,spinoza could         
discourse of the fundamental substance  
without fear or favour1 since  the      
grinding of optical glasses assured him 
an independent livelihood4  ,then came  
the ,french ,revolution with its clarion
 call to a wider  organization of       
humanity1 which was eventually brought  
about1 not by  speeches and pamphlets1  
but by the harnessing of coal to        
inaugurate the  ,mechanical ,age4       
,the nineteenth century saw the         
fulfilment of the dream of an organized 
,humanity1 a human world unified1 not by
 the spread of humanitarian             
philosophies1 but by the material bonds 
of progress4    ,some of my critics have

 ridiculed my 8robust0 belief in the    
reality of  progress through invention  
and the use of machinery4 ,i see no     
reason  to modify my view4 ,a generation
 ago1 ,ruskin deplored the spread of    
railways which scored their lines       
through 8bleeding landscapes40 ,to me  a
 railway line is a thing of beauty1     
wherever it may be found4 ,it is a      
symbol of a higher will and of a purpose
 transcending the puny sphere  of the   
individual4 ,to see the rails is as if  
the sinews and muscles  of some         
supernatural being were made visible and
 accessible to me4  ,and who shall say  
that ,i am wrong in that feeling8 ,a    
railway is an  organization superior to 
man4 8,societies10 says ,edward         
,carpenter1#c  8not only of bees 7as    
,maeterlinck has shown71 but of all     
creatures  up to man1 have1 qua         
societies1 a life of their own1         
inclusive of  and superadded to that of 
their individual members40 ,and so a    
railway  appears to me as an individual 

of a higher order1 closely organized and
  endowed with a life of its own4 ,its  
mental equipment is its personnel1  its 
directors1 clerks1 drivers1 guards and  
porters4 ,its body consists  of rails1  
bridges1 tunnels1 stations and rolling  
stock4 ,it has a  soul and a living     
purpose4 ,it has a power of             
self-maintenance and  self-preservation 
and a rudimentary memory4      #c ,the  
,art of ,creation4    ,i heartily       
sympathize with the child who adores a  
locomotive engine4  ,to him1 nothing    
could be more lavishly fraught with     
beauty4 ,i saw a  little while ago a    
powerful engine at ,waterloo ,station at
 the head  of an express train for      
,bournemouth4 ,it was a thing of perfect
 and  satisfying beauty4 ,its lines     
suggested calmness and strength and     
speed4  ,the wisp of steam about its    
safety valve spoke of well-controlled   
powers within its massive frame4 ,the   
driver1 a clear-eyed man with  trusty   
hands and sturdy body1 was a noble      

representative of ,hephstus4  ,one felt 
that the load of health-seeking humanity
 behind him was in  safe hands1 that his
 nerves and muscles would work as       
perfectly as  the engine he regarded    
with such loving attention1 and that the
 #ajh  miles of the non-stop journey    
would be accomplished without a hitch4  
,the beneficent monster lay there in the
 morning sun1 ready to spring  forward  
on its swift trajectory across the      
8bleeding landscape06 ,and  there are   
people who can look upon the eager      
children in the train1  armed with their
 spades and buckets for playing in the  
health-giving  southern sunshine1 and   
deny the progressiveness of the         
,mechanical ,age6    ,they will probably
 argue1 of course1 that if it were not  
for the  smoke of the city1 due to the  
8fires of ,hephstus10 there would be no 
necessity to have trains to carry the   
children to the seaside4 ,but the  smoke
 of cities is due mainly to incomplete  
combustion in domestic  hearths1 and the

 remedy lies not in the discouragement  
of mechanical  invention but in its     
further extension until it provides us  
with a  smokeless city4    ,the fires of
 ,hephstus are fashioning a new world4  
,they are welding  humanity into a      
coherent mass4 ,all the metals1 all the 
ninety chemical  elements1 are being    
pressed into service4 ,whose service8   
,the service  of a race whose destiny we
 can as yet only dimly appreciate4      
,already  we command temperatures       
varying from a region within a few      
degrees of  the absolute zero to within 
a few hundred degrees of the heat of the
  sun4 ,the sight of our eyes has been  
supplemented to such an extent that  we 
can appreciate and deal with some       
fifteen octaves of visible and          
invisible light instead of the single   
octave 8naturally0 accessible  to our   
sight4 ,we command pressures of tons per
 square millimetre and  degrees of      
vacuum down to a hundred-millionth of an
 atmosphere4 ,we can  photograph the    

track of a single atom tearing its way  
through moist  air4 ,we can print       
#ejj1jjj copies of a paper of #aej1jjj  
words daily  and sell it for a penny4   
,we have banished bears and wolves from 
our  home countries and have learnt to  
wage war against invisible germs of     
disease4 ,we have acquired the power of 
bringing beautiful music into  the homes
 of our humblest citizens4 ,the luxuries
 of our forbears are  the common        
possessions of our own generation4 ,if  
we are not happier  than our ancestors1 
the fault lies in ourselves1 in our     
ingratitude  and lack of imagination4   
,or must we conclude that happiness is a
  negligible thing in the great scheme  
of progress1 and that that scheme  does 
not concern itself with our individual  
feelings8    ,i for one believe that    
happiness is on the up-grade1 too4      
,hephstus is  not only a strong and a   
clever god1 but a god with a sense of   
humour  and a very lovable character4   
,,iv                    ,forerun thy    

peers1 thy time1 and let                
,thy feet1 millenniums hence be set     
,in midst of knowledge1 dreamt not yet4 
,the empire of ,hephstus is expanding   
before our eyes4 ,his bellows blow      
through our blast furnaces4 ,his anvils 
ring in thousands of factories4  ,his   
engines career over the land1 and his   
steamers over the sea4 ,his             
internal-combustion cars are strung out 
along the roadways1 and his  avions run 
their furrows through the clouds4       
,wherever he goes1 he  lightens the     
burdens of humanity and gladdens all    
hearts with his  gifts4 ,he brings      
warmth and light into dark places4 ,he  
draws mankind  closer and closer        
together4 ,he draws them together       
without diminishing  the distance       
between them4 ,he simply makes that     
distance impotent to  hold them apart4  
,he enables the city children to leave  
their slums  and gather fresh health in 
the open country4 ,he gives the grimed  
city  worker fresh clear air wherein to 

sleep4 ,his lorries1 thundering along   
the highways1 tighten the bonds between 
the farmer who gathers the  fruit and   
the town dweller who consumes it4       
,nor is ,hephstus satisfied yet4 ,his   
task is but half finished4 ,the  whole  
earth must be ,vulcanized4    ,the ,god 
of ,fire and of ,iron hobbles over the  
broad earth1 seeking and  finding new   
paths of advancement towards a better   
and fuller life4    ,man has become less
 and less limited by his permanent      
organism1 that  ,body which in the      
beginning was all he possessed4 ,he has 
now as many  different shapes as ever   
,proteus had1 and he can assume any of  
them  at will4 ,at one time he has the  
shape of a rowing boat1 his arms        
prolonged seven feet or more till his   
blades skim the water4 ,again1 his  legs
 will be two wheels1 and his body will  
be like those steeds with               
fire-breathing nostrils which ,hephstus 
made for the ,king of ,colchis4  ,again1
 the pupil of his eye will grow until   

its diameter measures #ajj  inches and  
then he will sound the depths of the    
heavens with the power  of #ajj1jjj eyes
 in one4 ,when he goes to war1 he throws
 his 8stone0  some seventy miles and    
arms it with vast destruction4 ,he      
belches forth  deadly vapours which     
choke and strangle his enemies4 ,he     
becomes an  armed slug creeping over all
 obstacles and destroying as he creeps4 
,in times of peace he dresses in various
 garbs to suit his changing  occupation4
 ,his womenfolk emphasize and glorify   
their variety of  personal presentation 
and expression4 ,protea shines in all   
the colours  and shades of the rainbow1 
and invents new colours and new forms   
every  day1 forms of dress1 of outline1 
and of her very bodily figure4    ,the  
resignations and renunciations of former
 ages are forgotten4 ,music1  travel1   
pictures1 educationthe luxuries of past 
generations are the  common property of 
all to-day4 ,that is the sort of        
,communism which is  feasible and       

reasonable4 ,take all the luxuries and  
good things of this  life and bring them
 within reach of all by cheapening their
 cost of  production4 ,travel at a pound
 a mile is a luxury4 ,travel at a penny 
a  mile becomes a 8necessity0 as soon as
 people get used to it and take it  for 
granted4    ,security and seclusion are 
privileges cherished by what used to be 
called the 8aristocrats40 ,place both   
within reach of the masses by  insurance
 and by transport facilities4 ,make all 
these luxuries and  privileges common   
property4 ,it is not so many centuries  
ago that a  mariner's compass was       
bartered for diamonds4 ,to-day it costs 
a penny4  ,and then we come upon a      
difficulty4 ,when a thing becomes common
  property1 or so cheap as to be of     
practically no price1 it ceases to be   
coveted4 ,there is a tendency           
deep-rooted in the human heart to reach 
out beyond the things of to-day for     
something not yet attained4 ,when       
,communism has shared out the earth1 it 

will ask for the moon4 ,humanity  will  
never assume a 8dead level of           
mediocrity40 ,there will always be  the 
,thyroid ,type1 energetic1 inquisitive1 
sensitive1 inventive1 and  restless4    
,the class of ,pathfinders will be      
recruited from that type4  ,the         
,pituitary ,type will furnish commanders
 and organizers1 while the  ,adrenal    
,type will furnish the rank and file4   
,but the intermixture of  the various   
types will bring out special            
constitutions and varieties in          
unexpected quarters1 and it behoves us  
to keep 8la carrire ouverte  aux        
talents40    ,thus the human army will  
march forward1 led by a ,pillar of      
,fire4 ,its  pace will be constantly    
accelerated1 but we shall hardly be     
aware of  it1 for our methods of        
measuring time will change in the same  
ratio4  ,a well-made motor-car on a     
smooth road can hum along sweetly at    
sixty  miles an hour1 and its occupants 
will be less impressed and excited  than

 they would be by the horse careering at
 #bj miles per hour6 ,and  what are all 
these speeds to the absolutely smooth   
planetary speed of  nineteen miles per  
second6    ,it has been asserted that   
the tremendous powers conferred upon man
  by machinery have produced the        
terrific wars of recent times by        
placing power in the wrong hands4 ,there
 may be some justice in this1  but the  
amount of destruction is negligible in  
comparison with the  amount of          
construction and reparation4 ,when      
,kitchener saved a few  hundred         
casualties at ,paardeberg by sparing his
 men1 he lost #aj1jjj at  ,bloemfontein 
by enteric fever4 ,the bloodiest war is 
sometimes the least  costly on balance4 
,the greatest war of all history ended  
but seven  years ago1 and already the   
beaten nations have healed up their     
wounds  and are looking forward to the  
future with greater confidence than     
many of the 8victorious0 nations4       
,mankind is increasing the rapidity  of 

its nervous reaction to emergencies and 
injuries4 ,the leucocytes  of the body  
politic set to work sooner and more     
effectively to heal  the damage4        
,mankind as an organism is daily        
improving its circulatory  system1 alias
 its transport facilities4 ,its nervous 
system closely  imitates organic nerves 
by its cables and land-lines1 and it    
improves  upon nature by adding wireless
 communication and resonance to the     
organic devices of the body4    ,mankind
 is being moulded into a single compact 
self-contained body on  the anvil of    
,hephstus4 ,it is still subject to      
feverish ailments and  some chronic     
diseases4 ,but the general outlines of  
future development  are clearly         
discernible4 ,there must be pauses and  
set-backs4 ,the  brilliant scientific   
and artistic development of classical   
,hellenism  was all but lost in the     
destruction of the ,roman civilization4 
,but  the ,arabs kept the flickering    
flame alive until ,europe awoke from    

its torpor and lit its torch once more4 
,since then there has been no  turning  
back4 ,the age of science1 discovery1   
and invention1 the age  of mechanism and
 machinery and power1 has come and come 
to stay4 ,man1  liberated from          
mechanical drudgery by the machine1 has 
time to develop  his intellectual and   
artistic powers4 ,his necessities being 
supplied by  pressing a button1 he is   
liberated to enjoy a more varied        
existence4  ,if some men and women are  
still bound to monotonous tasks1 it does
  not necessarily mean unhappiness1 for 
the ,pathfinders' life is one of        
constant care and much anxiety4         
,discovery is #ij per cent4 failure1    
and something like a daily routine of   
regular and monotonous work  sometimes  
appears in the light of a blissful      
refuge4 ,besides1 the human  heart and  
organism easily falls into a routine in 
which daily work is  hardly felt1 being 
done without conscious effort4 ,this    
fact is often  forgotten by those who   

envy the life of the organizer and      
financier1  which is one of much risk   
and anxiety1 relieved by an occasional  
big  prize4    ,the ideal state of      
things would be attained if those of an 
adventurous  disposition could be given 
the adventurous part of human activity1 
and  if those who are plodders by nature
 could be left to do the plodding4      
,that is a matter for future            
development1 either consciously fostered
 by  wise leaders of our race1 or       
unconsciously evolved from the depths of
  wisdom hidden below the threshold of  
the racial consciousness4    ,but the   
goal is in sight4 ,the earth is being   
organized and unified  under the gis of 
the human race1 the protoplasm of this  
planet1 the  race which1 transcending   
the mechanism and long-established      
traditions  of its own germ-plasm1      
enlarged and multiplied its functions   
until  it acquired the use of1 fire4    
,upon that achievement it built an      
unprecedented form of life1 a           

super-8natural0 edifice of infinite     
power1 as yet but dimly realized1 but   
which in its full beauty and  perfection
 will be nothing less than ,divine4     
,,the ,,end4           ,transcriber's   
,notes3     ,text in italics is enclosed
 by underscores 7italics74              
,punctuation and spelling inaccuracies  
were silently corrected4     ,archaic   
and variable spelling has been          
preserved4     ,variations in           
hyphenation and compound words have been
 preserved4