MAN AS A CONQUEROR 

 XXIV 



MAN'S CONQUEST OF NATURE 



Preview. Has man conquered his environment? • The historical set- 

 ting • Methods employed • Economic value of plants and animals : Uses 

 of animals ; indirect economic value of plants and animals • The other 

 side of the picture • Harm done by plants • Harm done by animals • 

 Methods of control • Suggested readings. 



PREVIEW 



If any one of us could have looked in on a group of our caveman 

 ancestors with a view to comparing their control of the environment 

 with that of the average man of today, there is no doubt of what we 

 would say. Modern man has quite thoroughly conquered his environ- 

 ment and has control of its living as well as its nonliving factors. He 

 has by means of his superior mental make-up gained control over his 

 lower brute companions and molded their lives to his needs. He has 

 conquered the forces of nature ; harnessed water serves him with 

 power; irrigation ditches make desert areas available for his crops 

 and herds. He has analyzed soil so that he knows what crops grow 

 best under given soil conditions ; he has harnessed winds and made 

 them pump water and hoist loads ; he has learned how to use the sun's 

 heat and how to protect himself from the numbing cold ; he has 

 controlled water and lighted his cities and his homes, and yet, is he a 

 real conqueror? Are all of his efforts, directed as they are by science, 

 ultimately successful? Is he truly the conqueror of his environment 

 and the master of his future? Physically man has done much and 

 done it well, yet he has made mistakes due to lack of complete 

 knowledge, to misdirected enthusiasm, or to bias. Potentially man 

 is a conqueror, but he cannot always overcome selfishness, egotism, 

 and the lack of complete knowledge which is essential to an attack on 

 any scientific problem. He cuts away forests to clear land which will 

 produce his crops, at the same time bringing down floods and disaster ; 

 he builds dams to harness water power, while neglecting to provide 

 the right kinds of waterways for fish that spawn in the upper reaches 

 of those rivers ; he overcomes one pest but introduces another in his 

 H. w. H. — 37 567 



