THE KINGDOM OF MAN 



CHAPTER I 



NATURE'S INSURGENT SON 



i. THE OUTLOOK. 



IT has become more and more a matter of conviction 

 to me and I believe that I share that conviction with 

 a large body of fellow students both in this country 

 and other civilized states that the time has arrived 

 when the true relation of Nature to Man has been so 

 clearly ascertained that it should be more generally 

 known than is at present the case, and that this know- 

 ledge should form far more largely than it does at this 

 moment, the object of human activity and endeavour, 

 that it should be, in fact, the guide of state- 

 government, the trusted basis of the development of 

 human communities. That it is not so already, that 

 men should still allow their energies to run in other 

 directions, appears to some of us a thing so monstrous, 

 so injurious to the prosperity of our fellow men, that 

 we must do what lies within our power to draw 

 attention to the conditions and circumstances which 

 attend this neglect, the evils arising from it, and the 

 benefits which must follow from its abatement. 



2. THE WORD * NATURE.' 



The signification attached to the word ' Nature ' is 

 by no means the same at the present day as it has 

 been in the past: as commonly used it is a word of 



B 



