Strindberg on Buckle


Buckle's History of Civilization in England was written in 1857, but did not reach Sweden till 1871 - 1872. Even then the soil was not ready for the seed. The learned critics were unfavourable to Buckle, and the seed took root only in some young minds who had no authoritative voice.
     "No literature," says Buckle himself, "can be useful to a people, if they are not prepared to receive it." Thus it was with Buckle and his work, which preceded that of Darwin (1858) and contained all its inferences -- a proof that evolution in the world of thought is  not so strictly conditioned as has been believed. Buckle did not know Mill or Spencer, whose thoughts rule the world, but he said most of what they said subsequently. 

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