[Gibbon by James Cotter Morison]@TWC D-Link book
Gibbon

CHAPTER VII
2/72

The way in which he saw things ceases to be satisfactory; we may admit his accuracy, but we add a qualification referring to the time when he wrote, the point of view that he occupied.

And we feel that what was accurate for him is no longer accurate for us.

This superannuation of historical work is not similar to the superseding of scientific work which is ever going on, and is the capital test of progress.

Scientific books become rapidly old-fashioned, because the science to which they refer is in constant growth, and a work on chemistry or biology is out of date by reason of incompleteness or the discovery of unsuspected errors.

The scientific side of history, if we allow it to have a scientific side, conforms to this rule, and presents no singularity.


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