An Introduction to a Biology 



intention, but the actual things which we buy 

 from a provision merchant, may serve to illus- 

 trate the purely utilitarian character, at the time 

 of ^its origin, of that extension of the range of 

 interest which is one essential feature of human 

 evolution. 



It was not, however, only in a forward and back- 

 ward direction that the mind of man extended its 

 range as an indirect result of this invention of detach- 

 able implements. The invention would also vastly 

 increase the versatility of man. Man by this in- 

 vention would come to bear the same relation to the 

 other animals as the great actor who can play any 

 part does to the poor one who can only play one. 

 For the invention of the detachable limb carried with 

 it the possibility of possessing a greatly increased 

 number of limbs and this implied so many new 

 points of contact between man and the outside 

 world. The animal whose limb has become the 

 implement for the performance of a particular function 

 is so highly specialised that he is destined to be in 

 contact with the world of matter only at one point. 

 Indeed, the name for the new power with which the 

 detachable limb endowed man — namely versatility — 

 means the ability to turn round and meet the outside 

 world at all, or, at any rate, at many points. It 

 is probable that the only parts of the outside world 

 that interest a crab are those which will sooner or 

 later come to be handled with its claws. The 

 question seems to me to be not whether a crab can 

 be said to possess forceps, but whether a crab is 

 really very much more than a walking pair of 

 forceps. 



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