294 



Instinct, 



strive without his bidding, and in spite of his Will^ 

 — it is only through this broad knowledge of self, 

 that man can bring every power into service, and 

 make it minister to the great work of life which he 

 has made the object of his choice. He is linked by 

 an iron fate to this universe, but so linked that, 

 through the aid of his higher powers, he may make 

 the whole material universe his servant, almost as 

 readily as he can control his own body. Can he 

 not whisper around the globe, as easily as across the 

 room ? Do not the stars and compass tell him his 

 pathway on the ocean ? Does he not, while he sleeps, 

 travel with a steed that cannot tire? Can he not 

 pluck the fruits of far offlands as readily as those that 

 grow in his own garden ? Can he not see the storm a 

 thousand miles away and prepare for its coming ? 



It is because all nature has, or may have, rela- 

 tions to man, — because he is acted upon by every 

 force, and related to all the changes of the organic 

 and inorganic world, — that the study of nature is 

 of any value. The whole physical universe is seen 

 to centre in him. What problem of the past geo- 

 logic ages can be studied, that does not, in some 

 way, bear upon the question of man's origin or des- 

 tiny ? The Botanist and Zoologist may study abor- 

 tive stamens, or forms of birds' nests, but they can- 

 not, in this day, disconnect even these from some 

 theory of man. The astronomer may watch the 

 stars, measure the craters of the moon, analyze the 

 blazing tongues of fire that encircle the sun, but no 

 conclusion he reaches is complete till its relation 

 to the past, present or future of man, is determined. 



