ili6 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



thit lives, enters into relation with different parts 

 of the Environment and with different things in the 

 Environment ; and at every step of its Ascent it 

 compasses new ranges of the Environment, and is 

 acted upon, and acts, in different ways from those 

 in which it was acted upon, or acted, at the pre- 

 vious stage. 



For what is most of all essential to remember 

 is that not only is Environment the prime factor 

 in development, but that the Environment itself 

 rises with every evolution of any form of life. To 

 regard the Environment as a fixed quantity and a 

 fixed quality is, next to ignoring the altruistic 

 factor, the cardinal error of evolutional philo- 

 sophy. With every step a climber rises up a 

 mountain side his Environment must change. At 

 a thousand feet the air is lighter and purer than 

 at a hundred, and as the effect varies with the 

 cause, all the reactions of the air upon his body 

 are altered at the higher level. His pulse 

 quickens ; his spirit grows more buoyant ; the 

 energies of the upper world flow in upon him. 

 All the other phenomena change — the plants 

 are Alpine, the animals are a hardier race, the 

 temperature falls, the very world he left behind 

 wears a different look. At three thousand feet the 

 causes, the effects, and the phenomena change 



