41 o Human Physiology. 



right justice equity the equality of man under the father- 

 hood of God. 



No one pretends to personal property in sunshine, and yet 

 the light of the sun is the natural source of all the riches of the 

 world. It feeds us, clothes us, gives us fuel, gives us life. No- 

 man has the right to cast the shadow of wall, or house, or tree 

 upon land occupied by his neighbour. Diogenes asserted a 

 natural right when he requested Alexander the Great to step 

 out of his sunshine. No one thinks of monopolising the free 

 air, and no one has a right to poison it for his neighbour's 

 breathing. When people are pushed off the land and into 

 crowded towns and pestiferous villages, and wretched dwell- 

 ings, they are deprived of the natural right of every living 

 creature to space, air, and light. 



If the soil of a nation is the common property of its inhabi- 

 tants, because necessary to the production of the food upon 

 which they must all be fed, a principle admitted in the poor 

 laws and all taxation, all other natural wealth must also be 

 rightfully the common property of all. The navigation of all 

 seas and great rivers, and the produce of all fisheries, must be 

 free to all mankind. The ocean is the highway of nations, and 

 there are no individual owners of whales or herrings. I see no 

 reason why all the wild lands, forests, and game of a country 

 should not be the common property of its inhabitants. Cer- 

 tainly all stores of wealth deep buried in the earth salt, coal, 

 iron, copper, tin, silver, and gold cannot rightfully belong to 

 the persons who chance to be in possession of the soil that lies 

 above them. It is the law of many countries, and should be 

 the rule of all, that all mines all the treasures of the earth 

 should be held by the government for the common good. If 

 the coal of England were so held, its use could be economised, 

 its waste prevented, its cost to the consumer reduced, or the 

 revenue derived from it would benefit him no less by reduced 

 taxation. 



