RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



ment were typified by the Belwood group, and I recall 

 the graceful words of Henry Drummond: 



" At the bottom of the biological scale we find 

 organisms which have only the most limited corre- 

 spondence with their surroundings. A tree, for ex- 

 ample, corresponds with the soil about its stem, with 

 the sunlight, and with the air in contact with its 

 leaves. But it is shut off by its comparatively low 

 development from a whole world to which higher 

 forms of life have additional access. The want of 

 locomotion alone circumscribes most seriously its area 

 of correspondence, so that to a large part of sur- 

 rounding nature it may be truly said to be dead. So 

 far as consciousness is concerned, we should be justi- 

 fied indeed in saying that it is not alive at all. The 

 murmur of the stream which bathes its roots affects 

 it not. The marvelous insect life beneath its shadow 

 excites in it no wonder. The tender maternity of 

 the bird which has its nest among its leaves stirs no 

 responsive sympathy. It cannot correspond with 

 these things. To stream and insect and bird it is 

 insensible, torpid, dead. For this is Death, this ir- 

 responsiveness. The bird again, which is higher in 

 the scale of life, corresponds with a wider environ- 

 ment. The stream is real to it and the insect. It 

 knows what lies behind the hill ; it listens to the love- 

 song of its mate. And to much besides beyond the 

 simple world of the tree, this higher organism is 

 alive. The bird we should say, is more living than 

 the tree; it has a correspondence with a larger area 

 of environment. But this bird life is not yet the 

 highest life. Even within the immediate bird en- 

 vironment, there is much to which the bird must still 

 be held to be dead. Introduce a higher organism, 



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