We look on helpless while our material civilisation carries us at breakneck speed to an end which no man can foresee or even conjecture. And the speed for ever increases. The last hundred years have seen more change than a thousand years of the Roman Empire, more than a hundred thousand years of the stone age. This change has resulted in large part from the applications of physical science which, through the use of steam, electricity and petrol, and by way of the various industrial arts, now affects almost every moment of our existences. Its use in medicine and surgery may save our lives; its use in warfare may involve us in utter ruination. In its more abstract aspects, it has exerted a powerful influence on our philosophies, our religions, and our general outlook on life.

The present book aspires to tell the story of how physical science has grown, and to trace out the steps by which it has attained to its present power and importance. To do this fully we ought to go back to the dim ages when there was no physical science, to the times before our cave-dwelling ancestry had begun to wonder why the night followed the day, why fire consumed and why water ran downhill.

This we cannot do. The early history of our race is hidden in the mists of the past, and the facts we should most like to know about its early days elude our search.