142 TWO NEW WORLDS 



gate consciousness, and a "personality" of power 

 and possession gathered from the aggregate of its 

 members. 



A nation is an individual of a still higher order, 

 controlling not only the mental and physical life 

 of a vast number of human beings, but a corre- 

 spondingly large portion of land. Nations, like 

 crowds, have their psychology. They are born, 

 and live, and die. They have passions and greeds 

 and diseases, and sometimes generous impulses. 

 The human personality is coextensive with the 

 visible universe in one sense already. It is destined 

 to become so in a much more practical sense. Man 

 governs the earth. It is changing its face for 

 him. Other beings are flourishing or disappearing 

 at his pleasure. Soon he will govern the more 

 powerful elements, the sea and the wind, and the 

 heat of the sun. 



By-and-by, also, the earth will show signs of be- 

 coming uninhabitable. He will readjust it, and 

 bring it nearer to the sun or further away. More 

 likely, perhaps, he will discover that Jupiter offers 

 superior inducements to colonists, or he will come 

 to some understanding with the inhabitants of 

 Jupiter, if such there be, with regard to future 

 co-operation. It is pretty certain that nothing 

 will bar the conquering march of human intelli- 

 gence, except a similar intelligence. Either man 

 will come upon a civilisation resembling his own 



