INTELLIGENCE 3 



heat, growth, fire, steam, electricity. He is to sub- 

 jugate the lower animals and make them do his bidding. 

 He is to invent tools and weapons; to hunt; to shepherd 

 flocks and herd cattle; to till the earth for grains and 

 fruits needful for his existence. 



INTELLIGENCE 



And how will this be brought about? Not without 

 struggle and sacrifice, you may be sure, those appar- 

 ently indispensable concomitants of all life, all progress. 

 But there has developed through countless ages within 

 the head of this new animal, man, a brain. What that 

 brain may be in its inmost essence, neither you nor I 

 know, nor probably ever will know. All we can say is 

 that the entire effort of creation appears to have been a 

 labor and a struggle until it has produced its crowning 

 glory, a being with a thinking, reasoning, intelligent 

 mind. It seems a far cry from the low bestial nature 

 of an Australian or South African bushman to the 

 god-like intelligence of a Socrates or Plato; and in this 

 connection I must put you on your guard against the 

 danger of overlooking degeneracy, which seems to be 

 quite as important a factor in life as upward evolution. 

 But in the long run, the degenerate must be wiped out 

 by the very law of evolution; so that while steadily 

 recognizing his inevitable presence, we can still sub- 

 ordinate him to the higher general law, and in fact 

 make him subservient to it. 



