The Question of Property 291 



right over might. When will this sublime 

 metamorphosis be accomplished ? To free our- 

 selves from those wild-beast brutalities, must 

 we wait for the ocean-plains of the southern 

 hemisphere to flow to our side, changing the 

 face of continents and renewing the glacial 

 period of the Reindeer and the Mammoth ? 

 Perhaps, so slow is moral progress. 



True, we have the bicycle, the motor-car, the 

 dirigible airship and other marvellous means of 

 breaking our bones ; but our morality is not 

 one rung the higher for it all. One would even 

 say that, the farther we proceed in our conquest 

 of matter, the more our morality recedes. The 

 most advanced of our inventions consists in 

 bringing men down with grapeshot and explo- 

 sives with the swiftness of the reaper mowing 

 the corn. 



Would we see this might triumphant in all 

 its beauty ? Let us spend a few weeks in the 

 Epeira's company. She is the owner of a web, 

 her work, her most lawful property. The 

 question at once presents itself : Does the Spider 

 possibly recognize her fabric by certain trade- 

 marks and distinguish it from that of her fellows? 



