Nature Is In Austere Mood, Even Terrifying,

But What Sin Is To The Moralist And Crime To The Jurist So To The Scientific Man Is Ignorance.

With All Our Mastery Over The Powers Of Nature We Have Adhered To The View That The Struggle For Existence Is A Permanent And Necessary Condition Of Life.

Mankind Has Always Drawn From Outside Sources Of Energy. This Island Was The First To Harness Coal And Steam. But Our Present Sources Stand In The Ratio Of A Million To One, Compared With Any Previous Sources. The Release Of Atomic Energy Will Change The Whole Structure Of Society.

It Is Curious To Reflect, For Example, Upon The Remarkable Legend Of The Philosopher's Stone, One Of The Oldest And Most Universal Beliefs, The Origin Of Which, However Far Back We Penetrate Into The Records Of The Past, We Do Not Probably Trace Its Real Source.

Some Of The Beliefs And Legends Bequethed To Us By Antquity Are So Universally And Firmly Established That We Have Become Accustomed To Consider Them As Being Almost As Ancient As Humanity Itself. Nevertheless We Are Tempted To Inquire How Far The Fact That Some Of These Beliefs And Legends Have So Many Features In Common Is Due To Chance, And Wether The Similarity Between Them May Not Point To The Exestience Of An Ancient, Totally Unknown And Unsuspected Civilization Of Which All Other Traces Have Disappeared.