CHAPTER I 



MAN AND ANIMALS 

 I. Introduction 



I. CULTURE AND NATURE 



In this discussion we are concerned with nature and our relations to 

 nature. 



Nature is an enormous aggregation of things — objects — each having cer- 

 tain metes and bounds, certain qualities and powers, beyond which it cannot 

 go. Now, knowledge of nature, sanity toward nature, consists exactly not only 

 in ever increasing the extent of our inventory of these objects, but of recog- 

 nizing, without addition or subtraction, that is, accurately and justly, the 

 forms, the qualities, and the forces of these objects — what they are and what 

 they are not; what they can do and what they cannot do. 



Is there anything worse than mild folly in the belief in the "sea serpent" ? 

 That depends. If the belief involves the notion "monster," then yes, decidedly, 

 for the belief is of the self -same kind that has prevented men from being sane, 

 that has rilled them with dread, in all ages. It is a question, not of nature, but 

 of state of mind. The person whose mental attitude is such that he easily and 

 unwittingly puts into the sea from his own consciousness a creature that does 

 not exist in the sea, and holds it to be as real as those that do exist there, is 

 also in a state of mind to attribute to all sorts of innocent creatures and persons 

 qualities and powers they do not have and hold these powers to be as real as 

 the ones they actually do possess. — Ritter (i). 1 



We have all heard of the octopus or devil-fish, with its long arms 

 covered with powerful suckers, which is always waiting to seize the 

 unsuspecting, choke and bite him, always grasping with another arm 

 when the grip of one of them is loosened — suitable symbol of the trust. 



A person wading in the water among rocks where there are devil fishes is 

 about as likely to be attacked and bitten by one of the animals as he is to be 

 injured by the explosion of a watermelon, when walking through a melon patch. 

 Both things are possible. 



The octopus secretes a great quantity of black fluid and makes use of this 

 by squirting it into the water to envelop itself in "pitch darkness" against 

 the approach of enemies. But the fluid is not poisonous, nor the leastwise 

 injurious to anybody or to any creature, so far as we know. 



1 Numbers in parentheses, scattered through this work, refer to references in the 

 Bibliography at the end (pp. 325-36). 



