CHAPTER I 

 FITNESS 



PURPOSE AND ORDER 



IDEAS of purpose and order are among 

 the first concepts regarding their en- 

 vironment which appear, as vague antici- 

 pations of philosophy and science, in the 

 minds of men. In truth, when the manifold 

 phenomena and experiences of daily life 

 stored in the memory are critically scruti- 

 nized, purpose and order seem naturally to 

 suggest themselves as explanations of the 

 universe. Day and night, the changing but 

 recurring seasons, the fertilizing sunshine 

 and rain, the flight of birds, the powers of 

 the human hand, and all the beau tits and 

 mysteries of nature cannot fail of such in- 

 terpretation by the simple and untrained 

 mind. Alike anthropology and the history 

 of primitive civilizations bear witness to this 

 natural tendency of thought. Such ideas pre- 



B 1 



