MAN AND ENVIRONMENT 99 



change, the largest forms usually suffer first and most severely. 

 This has been an important factor in the extinction of many 

 dominant groups; so, probably, of reptiles. Through over- 

 specialization and adaptation to one part or aspect of nature, 

 they have lost touch and conformity with the whole. This 



means ruin.^ 



Surroundings crowd, urge, stimulate, draw or attract in vary- 

 ing degrees and in different directions according to the ani- 

 mal on which they act. The resulting reaction or response 

 depends upon both variables. 



We may say that in higher animals and man, environment 

 is very largely a matter of relation of the individual to his 

 surroundings. If I am entirely outside of any relation, direct 

 or indirect, to a certain object in my surroundings, it can 

 form no part of my environment in any proper sense of the 

 word. Here three elements, all variable, are concerned: ob- 

 jects and forces of the external world, man or animal, and 

 the relation between the two. Hence we all live in one world 

 but every man has or forms, to a certain extent, his own 

 environment. Under similar surroundings, different men have 

 different environments. From one almost compelling set of 

 surroundings Judas went down to Gehenna, and Peter went up 

 to the throne. Each had his own environment and went to his 

 own place. Surroundings and environment are anything but 

 synonymous words; very much, if not all, hinges on the re- 

 lation. 



Some elements appear fairly constant in all environments, 

 e. g., air, water, light. We are just beginning to appreciate 

 the importance of climate, differing indeed, in different re- 

 gions and changing from time to time. One element is con- 

 tinually shifting, due to the rise of new forms of life and 

 the disappearance of old ones. The rise of sharks compelled 

 all weaker, perhaps hitherto dominant forms to seek refuge. 

 The same may be said of reptiles, whose disappearance gave 

 mammals a wider opportunity. Man of the species Simia de- 



1 H. 113. 177. 228. 

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