230 THE PSYCHICAL KINSHIP 



no weapons, and feed upon the fruits, roots, insects, 

 and such other chance morsels as they can pick 

 up from day to day in their wanderings. Such 

 races are far inferior in constructive activity to 

 the birds, who build elaborate houses, and to the 

 beavers, who not only construct substantial dwell- 

 ings, but dam rivers, and cut down trees and 

 transport them long distances, and dig artificial 

 waterways, to be used as aids in their engineering 

 enterprises. Compare the elaborate compartments 

 of the Australian bower-birds, surrounded with 

 ornamented and carefully-kept grounds, with the 

 lean-to of many savage tribes, made by sticking 

 two or three palm-leaves in the ground and leaning 

 them against a pole. Even ants plant crops, make 

 clearings, build roads and tunnels, etc. It must 

 be remembered, too, that, however affirmative and 

 masterful a race of men may become, it never 

 succeeds, and never can succeed, in emancipating 

 itself from the influences of environment. It is 

 true that with the growth of intelligence among 

 organic forms there has been a constant transfer 

 of influence from the environment to the organism ; 

 but this transfer began, not with man by any 

 means, but low down in the scale of animal life. 



It has been said that man is the only animal 

 that uses tools. But this is not true either, for 

 animals as low in the scale of development as 

 insects have been known to use tools. At least 

 two different observers testify to having seen 

 ground-wasps use small stones as hammers in 

 packing the dirt firmly over their nests. Spiders 



