A SHEAF OF NATURE NOTES 



and gripped it by the back of the neck with my 

 hand. Its methods are a kind of SchrecJdichkeit in 

 the animal world. It is the incarnation of the 

 devil among our lesser animals. 



X. MISINTERPRETING NATURE 



We are bound to misinterpret Nature if we start 

 with the assumption that her methods are at all 

 like our methods. We pick out our favorites 

 among plants and animals, those that best suit our 

 purposes. If we want wool from the sheep, we 

 select the best-fleeced animals to breed from. If 

 we want mutton, we act accordingly. If we want 

 cows for quantity of milk, irrespective of quality, 

 we select with that end in view; if we want butter- 

 fat, we breed for that end, and so on. With our 

 fruits and grains and vegetables we follow the same 

 course. We go straight to our object with as little 

 waste and delay as possible. 



Not so with Nature. She is only solicitous of 

 those qualities in her fruits and grains which best 

 enable them to survive. In like manner she sub- 

 ordinates her wool and fur and milk to the same 

 general purpose. Her one end is to increase and 

 multiply. In a herd of wild cattle there will be no 

 great milchers. In a band of mountain sheep there 

 will be no prize fleeces. The wild fowl do not lay 

 eggs for market. 



Those powers and qualities are dominant in the 



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