THE CONQUEST OF NATURE 



MAN AND NATURE 



^^f^OUNG men," said a wise physician in ad- 

 dressing a class of graduates in medicine, 

 "you are about to enter the battle of life. 

 Note that I say the ' battle ' of life. Not a play- 

 ground, but a battlefield is before you. It is a hard 

 contest a battle royal. Make no mistake as to that. 

 Your studies here have furnished your equipment; now 

 you must go forth each to fight for himself." 



The same words might be said to every neophyte 

 in whatever walk of life. The pursuit of every trade, 

 every profession is a battle a struggle for existence 

 and for supremacy. Partly it is a battle against fellow 

 men; partly against the contending powers of Nature. 

 The physician meets rivalry from his brothers; but 

 his chief battle is with disease. In the creative and 

 manufacturing fields which will chiefly concern us in 

 the following volumes, it is the powers of Nature that 

 furnish an ever-present antagonism. 



No stone can be lifted above another, to make the 

 crudest wall or dwelling, but Nature represented 

 by her power of gravitation strives at once to pull it 

 down again. No structure is completed before the 



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