2U THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



cally for the return of the migratory bird to the place of 

 its birth. Moreover, though we can sometimes make a 

 secure biological prediction, in regard to heredity for 

 instance, we cannot trust to living creatures as we can, 

 let us say, to the tides. Animals are often very reliable, 

 but they have wills of their own, and beyond a certain 

 limit " they cannot be lippened to," as Scots folk say. 

 The '' indeteiminateness " of a dog is much greater than 

 that of a starfish. 



Thirdly, there is the Kingdom of Man — the Socio- 

 sphere. It is separated off from the realm of organisms, 

 because Man works in societies or societary forms, 

 because Man understands and purposes at a higher 

 level than any animal, and because Man has to an 

 unprecedented degree the power of registering his 

 personal and racial gains outside himself — ^in books and 

 buildings, in traditions and institutions, and so on. 

 The Kingdom of Man is a realm of ends in a much more 

 conscious way than holds among animals. We often 

 keep an end of a rather subtle sort for years consciously 

 and deliberately before us, and it influences the deeper 

 currents of our conduct. 



Bacon's phrase, the Kingdom of Man, is here used, 

 however, to indicate not merely human society and its 

 products, but also that part of Nature (cosmosphere and 

 biosphere) which man subdues to his service or trans- 

 forms for his purposes. Thus, we may think of the 

 Panama Canal, the damming of the Nile, the Mont Cenis 

 tunnel, the planting of a great forest, the domestication 

 of animals, as part of Man's kingdom. For purposes of 



