THE REALITIES OF MODERN 

 SCIENCE 



CHAPTER I 

 THE BEGINNINGS OF KNOWLEDGE 



MAN is sometimes distinguished as a "tool using" 

 animal. Monkeys may be taught a few simple opera- 

 tions with tools, such as cracking nuts with a stone, but 

 usually they merely mimic a man. Their hands, with 

 five fingers instead of four and a thumb, are not suitable 

 for picking up objects. Other animals have bodies the 

 parts of which are convenient for various purposes, as 

 horns for defense or claws for offense, but parts of the 

 body, even though they serve a special purpose, are 

 not tools. A tool is an object apart from its user. 



Man's superiority as a tool user, partly physical in 

 his ability to stand erect and use his hands, and partly 

 mental, ultimately secured his position over the beasts 

 of the world and enabled him to construct our material 

 civilization. An instance of the mental difference is 

 found in the attitude toward fire. The dog knows 

 the pleasure on a cold day of curling up beside the fire. 

 For thousands of years he has been man's companion 

 and intelligent servant. Nevertheless, a dog, shivering 

 before a dying fire, lacks the ability to foresee effects, 



