Teachings of Thomas Huxley 75 



knowledge Huxley thinks first began "When 

 the reason of man first came face to face with 

 the facts of Nature; when the savage first 

 learned that the fingers of one hand are fewer 

 than those of both; that it is shorter to cross a 

 stream than to head it ; that a stone stops where 

 it is useless unless it be moved, and that it drops 

 from the hand which lets it go ; that plants and 

 animals grow and die." All these things were 

 forced upon the mind as a natural sequence of 

 man's relation to those objects concerning his 

 welfare. Reason, however, could scarcely be 

 said to exist; for in such dealings with Nature 

 there is no need to weigh facts one against an- 

 other, the only requisites are observation and 

 memory acting to preserve the savage from 

 pain or death. 



man's superiority. 



In a general way this has been discussed 

 in the section on Man's place in Nature, it 

 only remains to be seen why man is superior 

 to other animals. "What is it that constitutes 

 and makes man what he is ?" says Huxley. 

 "What is it but his power of speech, of record- 

 ing experience, and, in some dim sense, under- 

 standing the working of this wonderful uni- 

 verse ? I say that this functional difference is 

 vast, unfathomable, and truly infinite in its con- 

 sequences; and I say at the same time, that it 



