The Time Machine - International World History Project

The Time Machine(Afterwards I found I had got only a half-truth—or only aglimpse of one facet of the truth.)‘It seemed to me that I had happened upon humanityupon the wane. The ruddy sunset set me thinking of thesunset of mankind. For the first time I began to realize anodd consequence of the social effort in which we are atpresent engaged. And yet, come to think, it is a logicalconsequence enough. Strength is the outcome of need;security sets a premium on feebleness. The work ofameliorating the conditions of life—the true civilizingprocess that makes life more and more secure—had gonesteadily on to a climax. One triumph of a united humanityover Nature had followed another. Things that are nowmere dreams had become projects deliberately put in handand carried forward. And the harvest was what I saw!‘After all, the sanitation and the agriculture of to-dayare still in the rudimentary stage. The science of our timehas attacked but a little department of the field of humandisease, but even so, it spreads its operations very steadilyand persistently. Our agriculture and horticulture destroy aweed just here and there and cultivate perhaps a score orso of wholesome plants, leaving the greater number tofight out a balance as they can. We improve our favouriteplants and animals —and how few they are—gradually by48 of 148