Man and Nature 91 



reins were then for the first time being 

 placed in his hands, as if he was allowed to 

 begin to steer, to govern his own fate and 

 destiny, and to take over some considerable 

 part of the management of the world. 



The process of handing over the reins to 

 us is still going on. The education of the 

 human race is a long process, and we are 

 not yet fit to be fully trusted with the steer- 

 ing gear ; but the words of the old serpent 

 were true enough : once open our eyes to 

 the perception and discrimination of good 

 and evil, once become conscious of freedom 

 of choice, and sooner or later we must 

 inevitably acquire some of the power and 

 responsibility of gods. A fall it might 

 seem, just as a vicious man sometimes seems 

 degraded below the beasts, but in promise 

 and potency a rise it really was. 



The oneness between ourselves and 

 Nature is not a thing to be deplored ; it is 

 a thing to rejoice at, when properly con- 

 ceived. It awakens a kind of religious 

 enthusiasm even in Haeckel, who clearly 



