XVII- 



Man in Nature 329 



lectual development appears to be stimulated by conditions 

 which make life neither too easy nor too hard.) In temper- 

 ate regions, necessitating shelter and warm clothing, where 

 there is a regular succession of seasons, forethought and 

 thrift are encouraged by the need of providing in summer 

 for the coming winter. Ingenuity has to be exercised in 

 evading the effects alike of heat and cold, and the skill thus 

 acquired finds additional employment in providing orna- 

 ments and luxuries to gratify an awakened and cultivated 

 taste. Strength and self-reliance come from the successful 

 struggle with adverse conditions, and many of the charac- 

 teristics of nations are due as much to the nature of the 

 land they dwell in as to the inherent qualities of the race. 

 Mountaineers of every race are hardier, more independent, 

 and more attached to their native land than the dwellers on 

 low plains, who, on the other hand, work more, excel in 

 perseverance, and are as a rule more successful in obtaining 

 a sufficiency of the means of life. Seafaring peoples, com- 

 pelled to be continually watching for signs of change in 

 weather, and often called upon to decide quickly and act 

 promptly in circumstances of danger, acquire a distinc- 

 tive steadiness of nerve and quickness of resource which 

 lead to a general advance in civilisation. (^ Climate and 

 scenery exercise a powerful influence on moral as well as 

 on physical conditionsj By contrasting the stolid earnest- 

 ness and ceaseless activity of the dwellers in Northern 

 Europe with the passionate vivacity and general listless- 

 ness of Southerners, an ingenious author once went so 

 far as to say that Character is a function of latitude. 

 The poetry and the religious system's of all peoples are 

 closely connected with the nature of their land. Patriotism 

 also is a quality derived from the same source, and is shown 

 most intensely by peoples long settled on small but clearly 

 characterised natural regions. The tendency of civilisation 

 is gradually to modify the influence of environment, widen- 

 ing the field of view from that of the family or tribe to that 

 of all mankind, and merging love of country into cosmo- 

 politanism. 



422. Races of Man. Certain distinct types of mankind 



