IN A. D. 2000.


Prof. Cortlandt, preparing a history of the times at the
beginning of the great terrestrial and astronomical change, wrote
as follows: "This period--A.D. 2000--is by far the most
wonderful the world has as yet seen. The advance in scientific
knowledge and attainment within the memory, of the present
generation has been so stupendous that it completely overshadows
all that has preceded. All times in history and all periods of
the world have been remarkable for some distinctive or
characteristic trait. The feature of the period of Louis XIV was
the splendour of the court and the centralization of power in
Paris. The year 1789 marked the decline of the power of courts
and the evolution of government by the people. So, by the spread
of republican ideas and the great advance in science, education
has become universal, for women as well as for men, and this is
more than ever a mechanical age.

"With increased knowledge we are constantly coming to realize how
little we really know, and are also continually finding
manifestations of forces that at first seem like exceptions to
established laws. This is, of course, brought about by the
modifying influence of some other natural law, though many of
these we have not yet discovered.

"Electricity in its varied forms does all work, having superseded
animal and manual labour in everything, and man has only to
direct. The greatest ingenuity next to finding new uses for this