The Higher Usefulness of Science 81 



whether human actions and the results thereof shall 

 be regarded as natural; the question, in other words, 

 of what is natural and what is artificial. Large and 

 important as this question is from some points of 

 view, for the present discussion it can be disposed of 

 quite summarily if we have felt the full import of the 

 natural history mode of interpreting nature, one of 

 the mandatory tenets of which is "neglect nothing" 

 when bent upon the complete interpretation of any 

 organism. Put the query about the artificiality of 

 man's acts and fabrications alongside the same query 

 about the acts and fabrications of any other animal. 

 Is the burrow of a ground squirrel assuming the 

 squirrel dug it artificial or natural? Is the "comb" 

 of the honey bee artificial or natural? Is a bird's nest 

 or a beaver's dam artificial or natural? Is an Indian's 

 wigwam artificial or natural? Is the White House at 

 the end of Pennsylvania Avenue artificial or natural? 

 Is not this a perfectly homogeneous, consistent series 

 of questions ? Then some one answer must be applica- 

 ble to them all. That answer is this: The artificial 

 holds the relation to the natural of species to genus, in 

 the sense of formal logic. The artificial fabrication is 

 one kind of natural fabrication ; the kind, namely, that 

 is produced by nature through the volitional operation 

 of some animal rather than through the immediate 

 operation of natural forces. This argument might be 

 differentiated and veered and checked endlessly without 

 impairing its substance. The State, the military cam- 



