THE WORM STRIVING TO BE MAN 



of the earth, and in different geological periods, no 

 doubt checked it when it occurred. But the tide as a 

 whole must have steadily risen, because the progres- 

 sion from lower to higher forms has gone steadily 

 forward. The lower forms have come along; Nature 

 has left nothing behind. The radiates, the articu- 

 lates, the mollusca, are still with us, but in the 

 midst of these the higher and higher forms have 

 been constantly appearing. The great biological 

 tree has got its growth. Many branches and twigs 

 have died and dropped off, and many more will do 

 so, are doing so before our eyes, but I cannot help 

 doubting that any new branches of importance are 

 yet to appear — any new families or orders of birds, 

 or fishes, or reptiles, or mammals. The horse, the 

 stag, the sheep, the dog, the cat, as we know them, 

 are doubtless the end of the series. One arrives at 

 this conclusion upon general principles. Life as a 

 whole must run its course or reach its high-water 

 mark, the same as life in its particular phases. Man 

 has arrived and has universal dominion; all things 

 are put under his feet. The destiny of life upon the 

 globe is henceforth largely in his hands. Not even 

 he can avert the final cosmic catastrophe which 

 physicists foresee, and which, according to Pro- 

 fessor Lowell, the beings upon Mars are now strug- 

 gling to ward off. 



Man has taken his chances in the clash of forces 

 of the physical universe. No favor has been shown 



193 



