ADAPTATION TO ENVIRONMENT 35 



cate reactions we now call mind, reason, foresight, 

 invention, etc. 



In the end it proved unfortunate for the carnivora 

 that they forced the ancestors of man to the trees, for 

 it was there that they secured the training which made 

 it possible for primeval man to wage upon the carnivora 

 a warfare a thousand-fold more disastrous than the 

 latter had waged upon the stupid Tertiary monsters. 

 With what bewilderment these autocrats of the forest 

 must have viewed the maneuverings of these little 

 beasts, which they had learned to disregard because 

 of their lack of strength or weapons, as they prepared 

 a defense out of sticks and stones ! With what amaze- 

 ment they must have watched these primeval men as 

 they fled to the hills and sent back stinging darts 

 and flint-tipped arrows that bit into the flesh and 

 clung and brought them low ! (Fig. 2.) With what 

 awe they must have peered out upon the first ring 

 of fire man built for himself as a protection against 

 their marauding ; and how strange and halting must 

 have been the first faint gropings of man himself in 

 the use of that mighty element, mastery over which 

 was to mean to him the lordship of all creation ! No 

 pen is powerful enough to depict the thrilling details 

 of this most wonderful of all stories the tale of man's 

 gradual rise, of the age-long conflict, marked by des- 

 perate hand-to-hand encounters, by wild flights through 

 the brush, by cautious reconnoiters, by sudden sorties 

 and renewals of the battle which was to end in death 

 or victory. No wonder that memories of the wounds 

 and hazards of the conflict have been implanted deep 

 within us and are manifested in overpowering fear of us- 



