THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE 



illuminating apparatus on his body like a deep 

 sea fish. All this was solved by the externally 

 kindled flame, the tool of light and warmth. His 

 hand did not need to bear the uncomfortable 

 claws of the carnivera in order to overcome the 

 mammoth outside. The flint knife, the stone 

 tool weapon, in the hand supplanted the claws. 

 In the same way this hand remained supple and 

 easily movable so that as it killed the mammoth 

 outside it could here guide the crayon for paint- 

 ing. 



But what was the power that moved this 

 painting hand that slowly formed this mammoth 

 picture here on the cave wall with its trunk, its 

 mane, its four feet, its lurking eye.? A memory 

 picture of the living mammoth which it had it- 

 self seen months before during the summer. 



One of the fundamental characteristics of 

 life has suddenly arisen before us, a character- 

 istic anciently given to life. Remember, it is 

 this characteristic which leads the bird to avoid 

 the net from which it has once painfully freed 

 itself, this power which leads the dog to bark in 

 dreams because he suddenly thinks himself once 

 more upon the chase after the wild animal, this 

 power which led the dog of Ulysses to remem- 

 ber his master when long years had passed. But 

 is it not the same power that leads the radio- 

 laria in the ocean to build today the same little 

 stars that its ancestors first invented millions of 

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