A VIEW IN PERSPECTIVE. 149 



It is not difficult to find an explanation for this 

 surprising fact. Among animals physical power is 

 usually the only feature by which one animal con- 

 quers another. With them, therefore, when a new 

 species is established it must be for some superiority 

 in physical ability. As a result the anatomical struc- 

 ture of animals changes with every advance, for 

 each new species must be in some respects better 

 adapted to its conditions than the older one from 

 which it came. With man, however, the physical 

 side of nature is comparatively of no importance. 

 From the moment that he proved himself master of 

 animals by his intelligence, the development of his 

 physical nature became a very subordinate matter. 

 He made artificial weapons for defence and offence 

 far superior to any that could be supplied him by 

 nature, and by intelligent use of them he became 

 far more efficient than any amount of muscular 

 energy could have made him. Now nature never 

 supplies animals with organs for which they have no 

 use, and therefore the development of man's body 

 practically ceased with the beginning of the develop- 

 ment of his mind. His hand, it is true, has become 

 more delicate, since that is an organ of great use to 

 his intelligence. Some other changes, perhaps, also 

 appeared, but except in a few superficial features 

 man remained in anatomy essentially as he was at 

 the outset, while the growth of his mental powers 

 soon produced between him and the animal king- 

 dom a wide chasm which we cannot bridge even in 

 imagination. 



Here, then, we readily see why it is that there has 



