1 66 THE LIVING WORLD, 



velop foliage at the expense of branches. So rapidly 

 is this branch growing to-day that it bids fair to ab- 

 sorb into itself all of the vitality of the whole trunk, 

 crowding out of existence its neighbors and allowing 

 only such of the lower branches to exist as do not 

 come in direct conflict with it. This vigorous branch 

 is man, and although it is far above all the others, 

 although it has expanded far more than the rest and 

 grown so far away from the trunk that its connection 

 with the great tree of life is sometimes obscured, 

 still our study by the light of history shows us that 

 this branch, too, is part of the same tree to which 

 other animals belong, and is simply the crowning 

 top of this tree of the ages. 



