244 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



have no connection with each other. Yet it is 

 not so. That savage is the victim of a con- 

 spiracy. Nature has designs upon him, wants to 

 do something to him. That something is to move 

 him. Why does it wish to move him ? Because 

 movement is work, and work is exercise, and 

 exercise may mean a further evolution of the part 

 of him that is exercised. How does it set about 

 moving him ? By moving itself. Everything else 

 being in motion, it is impossible for him to resist. 

 The sun moves away to the west and he must 

 move or freeze with cold. As the sun continues 

 to move, twilight falls and wild animals move from 

 their lairs and he must move or be eaten. The 

 food he ate in the morning has dissolved and 

 moved away to nourish the cells of his body, and 

 more food must soon be moved to take its place 

 or he must starve. So he starts up, he works, he 

 seeks food, shelter, safety ; and those movements 

 make marks in his body, brace muscles, stimulate 

 nerves, quicken intelligence, create habits, and he 

 becomes more able and more willing to repeat these 

 movements and so becomes a stronger and a higher 

 man. Multiply these movements and you multiply 

 him. Make him do things he has never done 

 before, and he will become what he never was 

 before. Let the earth move round in its orbit 



