Excerpt from The Independent: January 8, 1921 From this point of view we may define civilization as the breaking down of natural barriers to the expansion of human individuality thru the scientific control of energy. Man is running an obstacle race with the world as prize. He has to surmount or overthrow the hurdles and fences which inanimate nature or the carelessness of his forerun ners has placed in his path. Let us then for a moment consider human progress from this negative standpoint and observe how far man has or may overcome the limitations imposed upon his activities. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.