CHAPTER III 



THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN LIFE 



THE rule which holds when dealing with the lowest 

 phases of life, must hold when dealing with the high 

 est life in the world. Function must determine in 

 terpretation of life-power. Whatever any type of life 

 accomplishes must be explained by forces within it, 

 the inheritance with which the start is made by 

 the individual. Everything beyond this must reckon 

 as individual acquisition to be added to the records of 

 advance. 



Even a general appreciation of human life, as the 

 crowning problem of Nature, suffices to show the im 

 portance of an accurate account of its functions. 

 Whether we do, or do not, favour the hypothesis that 

 human life can be explained under laws of Evolution, 

 we are equally committed to the task of obtaining a 

 full view of the life of our race, as contrasted with 

 lower orders of life. 



To present an adequate representation of human 

 life is beyond doubt a very difficult task. Admitting 

 the intimate relations of man and animals, and grant 

 ing that these are strikingly manifested in analogies 

 of organic structure, it is clear that the nature of man 

 surpasses in a vast degree that of the highest animals. 

 Man has no rival on the earth. This superiority is 



