THE PURPOSE OF LIFE 171 



hive-like, changeless perfection. Doubtless it would. 

 But it will never become changeless while we rule 

 ourselves by reason instead of instinct. 



History shows us a gradual though intermittent 

 advance in man's mastery over the lower animals. In 

 civilized countries, no animal or plant of any size can 

 exist save at his pleasure. The lion, which used to 

 chase primaeval man for sport or food, is now confined 

 in menageries to assuage the curiosity of his children. 

 Even the minute bacterium is being destroyed in its 

 lair by antiseptics, or used in antitoxic serums as an 

 antidote to the activity of its kith and kin. It seems, 

 then, that, without undue self-appreciation, we may 

 regard ourselves as Nature's highest and most favoured 

 work of creation on this planet at least. All her efforts 

 for ages past appear, on a dispassionate survey, to have 

 been directed towards increasing the power of subsist- 

 ence, and with it the number of human beings, of 

 the different races and constitutions adapted to the 

 different climates and circumstances of different parts 

 of the globe. 



Side by side with this increase in number we find 

 on the whole a rise in type. It is true that certain 

 races, such as those of the best of the ancient Greeks, 

 seem to have died out, though they were perhaps higher 

 in the scale both of intellectual and physical perfection 

 than other races which survived. But we do not despair 

 of finding definite causes for such catastrophes ; and 

 it is clear that Nature, undismayed by her temporary 

 failures, sets to work at once to build up and consoli- 

 date new types capable of advancement. On the 

 whole and on a broad survey, it is impossible to deny 



