Man's Place in Nature 227 



a dream." We have spoken of our heritage from 

 pre-human ancestry whose recrudescence in evil 

 passions sometimes amazes and perplexes even 

 the godly; but we must remember the other side, 

 that we have a heritage of good impulses which 

 are much older than our race ; the springs of good 

 conduct of kin-sympathy, of family affection, of 

 gentleness which have been welling forth almost 

 since life began. 



Riddles of the Universe. We cannot look back 

 on the story we have outlined without a sense of 

 the riddles of the universe. 



Even when we keep to things as they are, we find 

 ourselves surrounded by unsolved problems. We 

 see the swallows flying south across the river; how 

 much patient inquiry has there been over this prob- 

 lem of migration; how far are we from a clear 

 understanding of it! This may serve as an in- 

 stance of the kind of problem that fascinates the 

 naturalist, which he hopes some day to solve. 



We move our arm to turn a page, and we pause 

 to reflect upon all that this involves. With some 

 pains we could perhaps give a long account of the 

 motor impulses, muscular movements, chemical 

 explosions, and what not that have occurred; but 

 how far are we from having a clear view of the 

 whole chain of events. We know much, for in- 

 stance, in regard to the electrical change associated 

 with the muscular contraction, but how little we 



