MAN'S CONQUEST OF NATURE 505 



occur in the individual organism, it is possible for man to 

 transmit what he has learned, through tradition or ceremonial. 

 Savages who know how to make fire teach their young to go 

 through the ceremony of making fire ; this is too important, 

 too sacred a thing, to tell a youngster offhand. In the history 

 of primitive peoples we find over and over again that every 

 good idea that they get — and many a foolish one too — is care- 

 fully preserved by being organized into a sacred ceremonial that 

 must be performed just so on special days. In this way these 

 people preserve whatever wisdom they manage to gather up, as 

 well as a great deal of what seems to us to be foolish superstition. 



523. Knowledge and control. Wherever men have known 

 the relations of forces and materials, wherever they have under- 

 stood the behavior of plants and animals, they have been able 

 to control nature. And wherever they have controlled they 

 have felt secure and confident, at peace with themselves and 

 with their gods. But wherever they have failed to control, they 

 have been aware of their own weakness ; there we find people 

 modest and humble to the last degree ; there we find them 

 cringing and fearful and superstitious. 



This is well illustrated by the differing attitudes of men 

 toward their industries, on the one hand, and toward their crops 

 and their health, on the other. Men and women who know 

 their trades — that is, who understand the materials and the 

 forces with which they work ■ — • are confident about the outcome 

 of their undertakings. They know that handling tools in a cer- 

 tain way will produce certain results, and they have no fear, no 

 hesitation, in their undertakings. But when it comes to raising 

 crops or looking after animals, there is no such certainty. 

 These things depend upon the weather — and who can control 

 that } So we find people making mystic signs and muttering 

 magic words to appease the spirits of the wind and the rain, 

 or we find them offering sacrifices — yes, even human sacrifices 

 — to gain the favor of the spirit that controls bugs or mildews. 

 And even then they are not sure of the results, but worry 



