RATIONAL LIFE 269 



changes of weather and season. How different for the 

 animals which are in a sense part-proprietors, as hav 

 ing their dwelling and hunting-ground within the 

 same territory ! Whence this difference ? It is not 

 merely that the man has a more complex organism ; 

 that in his frame there are co-ordinations of which no 

 trace could be found in the captured game. As for 

 the man, does he not know the whole place ; and if a 

 fancy crossed his mind that there was some part in it 

 which he did not know, would he not wish to know it ? 

 If the civilised man came from his civilisation to 

 wander in these parts, would he not desire to know 

 exactly what the red Indian does know ? Would he 

 not seek his guidance and friendship ? 



One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. 



This is, then, a second phase of the rational life, eager 

 search for knowledge everywhere. As the organism 

 craves food, the mind craves knowledge, and feeds 

 upon it in all its forms, delights in it in all its varieties. 

 Organism and the environment which meets its wants 

 is too narrow a realm for man. He walks through 

 the scenes as a free man, desiring to have all nature 

 speak with him. 



On this line there open up to view marked con 

 trasts in the scope and character of the activity 

 belonging to a rational life. Let us still keep to the 

 ordinary life of the ordinary man, including all rational 

 life without exception. Let us say that a man toils for 

 his meat, just as the fox does, just as the dog does, just 

 as these gulls in their flight do. What then is the 

 difference ? He hungers, as they do ; he hunts, as they 

 do ; he kills, as they do ; he eats, as they do. The 



