8 SCIENCE PRIMERS. [NATURE AND 



5. Artificial and Natural Objects. Nature. 



A great many of the things brought to our 

 knowledge by our senses, such as houses and furniture, 

 carriages and machines, are termed artificial things 

 or objects, because they have been shaped by the 

 art of man ; indeed, they are generally said to be 

 made by man. But a far greater number of things 

 owe nothing to the hand of man, and would be just 

 what they are if mankind did not exist, such as the 

 sky and the clouds; the sun, moon and stars; the sea 

 with its rocks and shingly or sandy shores ; the hills 

 and dales of the land ; and all wild plants and animals. 

 Things of this kind are termed natural objects, and 

 to the whole of them we give the name of Nature. 



6. Artificial Things are only Natural Things 

 shaped and brought together or separated by 

 Men. 



Although this distinction between nature and art, 

 between natural and artificial things, is very easily 

 made and very convenient, it is needful to remember 

 that, in the long run, we owe everything to nature ; 

 that even those artificial objects which we commonly 

 say are made by men, are only natural objects shaped 

 and moved by men ; and that, in the sense of creating, 

 that is to say, of causing something to exist which 

 did not exist in some other shape before, man can 

 make nothing whatever. Moreover, we must recollect 

 that what men do in the way of shaping and bringing 

 together or separating natural objects, is done in virtue 

 of the powers which they themselves possess as natural 

 objects, 



