558 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which has carried existing forms of 

 life to so high a point of perfec- 

 tion. 



In the Quaternary period appears 

 man. Whence ? How ? These are 

 questions which it is impossible not 

 to ask, but for satisfactory answers 

 to which we may have to wait a 

 long time. All analogy leads us to 

 believe that man was developed from 

 some humbler form of life. Upon 

 him was bestowed the great and 

 unique gift of a superior thinking 

 faculty, the material organ of which 

 is undoubtedly his brain. Man 

 "looks before and after," and if he 

 also " sighs for what is not," that too 

 is a notable mark of his superiority. 

 Other animals learn from experi- 

 ence, but to man it is given some- 

 times to anticipate experience. He 

 sees things in their relations, and a 

 relation becomes to him as real as 

 the thing itself. His thought is, 

 therefore, compared with the thought 

 if we may so characterize it of 

 the nearest to him of the lower ani- 

 mals, like a higher algebra com- 

 pared with the processes of a very 

 elementary arithmetic. His senses 

 are not in general keener than those 

 of the lower animals. The latter, 

 indeed, often surpass him in this re- 

 spect, but what he sees or hears is for 

 practical purposes increased a hun- 

 dredfold by what he is able to infer 

 therefrom. He knows what to look 

 for over a wide range of possible 

 phenomena, and separates the sig- 

 nificant from the insignificant. 



So equipped, the human race has 

 entered upon a world already pre- 

 pared in a wonderful manner for its 

 habitation. Many were the struggles 

 it had to endure in the early ages; 

 but society was formed, and man, by 

 the aid of his fellow-man, triumphed 

 over all his foes triumphed, at least, 

 sufficiently to perpetuate his race and 

 hand down from generation to gen- 

 eration a slowly bettering inherit- 



ance. And now, in these later days, 

 the human individual in a civilized 

 land can look forth on scenes of 

 peace and plenty and beauty. In this 

 advanced stage of the physical world 

 the song of the bird, the hum of the 

 bee, the gleam of the firefly, the col- 

 ors and odors of flowers, the golden 

 ripple of the cornfields, the tints and 

 flavors of autumn fruits, are his rich- 

 ly to enjoy. He gazes at the clouds, 

 at the stars, at the brimming tide of 

 the ocean, with thoughts that have 

 been widened and strengthened by 

 the mental efforts of a thousand bur- 

 ied generations. If there is any duty, 

 therefore, that is incumbent on the 

 man of to-day it is to know some- 

 thing by his own efforts of the won- 

 derful and beautiful world in which 

 he has so great an inheritance. Not 

 without feelings of love should he 

 gaze on the landscapes which the la- 

 bors of his forefathers have helped 

 to make beautiful ; and not without 

 feelings of reverent interest should 

 he regard the daily play of natural 

 forces in the world around him. We 

 should all be students in our way ; it 

 may not be much that we can do, 

 but some little plot or corner of the 

 great field of knowledge we should 

 religiously till, that we may add, if 

 not a sheaf, at least a blade to the 

 harvests which the workers are bring- 

 ing in. 



Who can reflect, however, on the 

 beauty and harmonies of Nature 

 without remembering that human 

 society is far as yet from having 

 reached its perfect harm ony ! If there 

 is a natural landscape there is also a 

 human landscape ; and here the blots 

 are many, so many that it is difficult 

 not to be discouraged at times, even 

 when making full allowance for all 

 the good that society has realized and 

 represents. The man of strenuous 

 mind will not, however, be discour- 

 aged. He will acknowledge the ex- 

 isting evil, and will patiently seek 



