SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION 



and functions, partly from disuse, partly from 

 physical excesses. 



In order to present the subject as a part of the 

 entire world-process, and constantly keep in mind 

 the universal application of our method, I shall 

 discuss everything under the aspect of environ- 

 ment. We then see that the world-process con- 

 sists in a struggle of various parts of the uni- 

 verse against one another, and in the gradual 

 ascendency of certain parts over all the other 

 parts of their environment. And since man is to 

 us the most important part, we shall observe HIM 

 in his struggle for the control of his environ- 

 ment. 



II. THE STARTING POINT 



Let us start from a secure foundation by de- 

 fining our terms, before entering into a discus- 

 sion of man's conquest of his environment. 



What do I mean by man? What do I mean 

 by man's environment? In attempting to answer 

 these questions, we must have a definite point of 

 departure. The navigator who heads his vessel 

 for the open sea, traces his first course on his 



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