APPLICATION OF NATURE'S PRINCIPLES 279 



which is lacking must be supplied, and so we find nations 

 bridging chasms, burrowing through mountains, building 

 harbors and breakwaters, and joining oceans by canals. 

 Knowledge always rises superior to environment and makes 

 its own conditions. 



References : 



1. 1304 : 377-379. Development of Commerce. 



2. 1304 : 379-380. Influence of Man on Nature. 



a. 1302 : 391-392. The Development of Natural Resources. 



b. 1303 : 364-367. Geographical Factors in the Life of Civil- 



ized Peoples. 



c. 1305 : 365. Causes of Civilization. 



d. 1307 : 349-351. Man's Relation to Physiography. 



e. 1308 : 125-142. Man's Relation to Natural Conditions. 

 /. 1308 : 192-211. Nature of Trade Routes and Stations. 

 g. 1311 : 369-370. Man's Influence on Nature. 



203. MAN'S APPLICATIONS OF NATURE'S PRINCIPLES 



The great inventions and the wonderful machines which 

 man has made are but the application of natural law. Man 

 cannot change the laws of nature, but he can produce condi- 

 tions which are favorable for the action of those laws, direct- 

 ing and controlling them so that they may accomplish what 

 he desires. Man discovers, and applies the knowledge of his 

 discoveries; he cannot, in the true sense, produce or create. 

 Nature is the great prime mover. 



A few of the direct applications of natural law are : heating 

 by condensation, cooling by evaporation and expansion, clean- 

 ing by partial vacuum, power from explosions and expansion, 

 transmission of power by water, compressed air, and elec- 

 tricity, the production of electricity and all of its uses. On the 



