CHAPTER IV 



THE RELATIONS OF ENVIRONMENT TO LIFE 



IN attempting to secure a full statement of the 

 phenomena of life, external conditions are best taken 

 separately. Turning now to environment, our aim 

 will be to consider what diversity appears here, 

 because of the contrast between rational life and 

 animal. ^ The relations of humanity to all else that 

 appears in Nature are so many, as to demand an en 

 larged interpretation of environment. 3 For the life 

 / of an Animal, environment has a restricted area. 

 i Inductions in natural history have been limited 

 f I accordingly. For human life, environment means 

 something largely beyond what has been commonly 

 included. This difference does not arise from any 

 change in the physical conditions of life, any more 

 than in its physical basis. The conclusive evidence 

 for continuity of plan, up the whole scale of organism, 

 greatly increases the significance of the difference 

 now to be noted in relation to environment. Air, 

 light, heat, and nutriment are necessaries of life for 

 man, as for animals. Every induction fairly drawn 

 from these conditions is applicable to human life ; but 

 humanity spreads out over the face of the earth, to 

 find a larger and freer life than belongs to any of the 

 animals. 



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