NATURE'S INSURGENT SON 45 



slight confirmation of the supposition, may we not 

 indulge in the surmise that some such future is in store 

 for Man, that he may be able hereafter to deal with great 

 planetary factors to his own advantage, and not only 

 draw heat from the bowels of the earth for such purposes 

 as are at present within his scope, but even so as to 

 regulate, at some distant day, the climates of the earth's 

 surface, and the winds and the rain which seem now for 

 ever beyond his control ? 



18. THE INVESTIGATION OF THE HUMAN MIND. 



In such a desultory survey as that on which I have 

 ventured, of Man's kingdom and its dangers, it occurs to 

 me to mention another area upon which it seems urgent 

 that the activities of nature-searchers should be imme- 

 diately turned with increased 'power and number. The 

 experimental study of his body and of that of animals 

 has been carried far and with valuable results by inquiring 

 Man. But a singularly small amount of attention has 

 as yet been given to the investigation of Man's mind as a 

 natural phenomenon and one which can be better under- 

 stood to the immense advantage of the race. 



The mind of Man it matters not for my immediate 

 argument whether it be regarded as having arisen 

 normally or abnormally from the mind of animals is 

 obviously the one and all-powerful instrument with which 

 he has contended, and is destined hereafter to contend, 

 against extra-human Nature. It is no less important for 

 him to know the quality, the capacity, the mode of 

 operation of this instrument, its beginnings and its 

 limitations, than it is for him to know the minutest 

 details of the workings of Nature. Just as much in the 



