hecture II 



THE UNIQUE MAMMAL 



(Continued) 



I 



The three unique characteristics of man discussed in the pre- 

 ceding lecture — upright posture, big brain, and articulate speech 

 — and their three derivatives — time-binding, organ-adding, and 

 environment-making — have all combined to make available 

 to man vastly more diverse ways of getting a living than are 

 enjoyed by any other organism. In essence any living organism 

 is a pattern through which must pass continually a stream of 

 matter and energy if it is to continue to live. If and when this 

 flow of matter and energy stops for more than a very short 

 time, life stops too and the pattern that was the individual or- 

 ganism ceases to exist. So long as this flow continues the fattern 

 has all the importance that we are accustomed to attach to indi- 

 viduality. It has also the added importance that derives from 

 its being the sole repository and guardian of whatever there is 

 of personal identity. When an individual is born he is given 

 a name as a symbol of personal identity. As long as he lives he 

 is thought of as the same identical individual, even though for 

 some reason or other his name may get changed. But the matter 

 of which he is composed, his physical and chemical substance, is 

 constantly changing throughout his life. It is only the pattern 

 that remains permanently his. 



Samuel Butler discusses this matter entertainingly and pene- 

 tratingly in hije and Hahit^ though in his zeal to bolster his 

 theory of heredity he gets off in places into a very miry bog of 



22 



