Man and Nature. 283 



own existence on this pigmy sphere is proof positive 

 that larger worlds also contain inhabitants who are, 

 at least, equally as intelligent as ourselves. Hence, 

 if the purpose of the universe be merely to serve as a 

 theatre for the evolution of myriads of worlds of all 

 degrees of insignificance, then our earth and all other 

 worlds serve, in like manner, only as theatres for the 

 evolution of their own equally insignificant parasites. 

 Consequently, man, as one of these parasites, can 

 have no special use, meaning, or purpose outside of 

 his own planet. He exists but for a time, in common 

 with all nature He buds and blossoms as earth's 

 noblest flower, and that is all.* 



To take a lower standpoint in our survey, and 

 appraise man from man's own level, we see that his 

 existence reveals two aspects, a degrading and an 

 ennobling. And herein we may find ground for 

 appreciating ourselves, and perhaps even discovering 

 an apology for our existence. Looked at in his 

 lowest aspect, it must be admitted that, compared to 

 the phenomena of the universe and the creatures of 

 his own planet, man, as a completed natural product, 

 is of unquestionably modern origin ; that he differs 

 not in substance from the earth on which he lives ; 

 that his pedigree is as base as that of the lowest of 

 the brutes ; that his mental faculties are only a stage 

 higher than the so-called instincts of the animals ; 

 that he is tied irrevocably to the earth; that he is 



* His dreams of universal pre-eminence are, therefore, excessively 

 silly, and his religions the height of absurdity. 



