CHAP, xvn Man in Nature 327 



bers of the human species, it may be traced in all. It is 

 less of degree than of kipd, and is rather intellectual and 

 spiritual than physical, {uhe use of reason with the asso- 

 ciated power of language^ the recognition of a Creator, and 

 as a necessary consequence the ^ense of religious duty, are 

 distinctively human attributes. I As these powers become 

 developed, strengthened, and purified, Man advances in the 

 scale of being, independently of his physical development. 

 Heredity and environment acquire new importance, and 

 indeed their existence and potency were first recognised by 

 the way in which birth and education determine the higher 

 powers of the mind. The intellectual as well as the 

 physical unity of the human species is strikingly shown by 

 the fact that even amongst the most advanced peoples 

 there are individuals who exhibit the untamed instincts of 

 the savage, while in the most degraded tribes individuals 

 with some higher powers and finer feelings occasionally rise 

 far above the level of the rest. (By the use of reason men 

 are able to modify or choose their environment^) and thus, 

 consciously or unconsciously, to direct the course of their 

 own development toward advancement or degradation. 

 This power gives to the individual man far greater influ- 

 ence and independence than is exercised by individuals of 

 any other species. 



420. Civilisation may be defined as the result of men 

 using the power of changing their natural surroundings, and 

 regulating their natural wishes or impulses in order to 

 increase the wellbeing of the community to which they 

 belong. Each variety of the human species appears to be 

 capable of attaining a certain degree of mastery over them- 

 selves and their surroundings, this degree being much 

 higher in the case of some varieties than in others. 

 The position occupied by different groups of the human 

 species with respect to civilisation is intimately connected 

 with their conceptions of religion. Tribes of the lowest 

 civilisation live, as a rule, in a state of vague fear of evil 

 spirits and of the ghosts of their ancestors, which they try 

 to appease by worship and sacrifices. They believe that 

 the 'spirits dwell in rude idols or fetishes, to which they 



