32 PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON 



in order that we may the better adapt ourselves to it, 

 wherever and whenever we are not able to modify, or 

 control it. 

 (c.) The third reason why we study nature is because we 

 cannot help ourselves. The whole history of vegetable 

 and animal creations including ourselves, shows that 

 they are forced, by circumstances to attune themselves 

 slowly but surely to their surroundings, that is, to adapt 

 themselves to them, or wither and perish in the struggle. 

 It may be a matter of choice with some perhaps — 

 those do not count for much in the struggle for life 

 — but with the majority, it is a matter of "willy 

 nilly." They are forced to do what they do, and 

 think as they think, by the action of external nature 

 on their organism. 

 The mind being a part of an organism is no exception to 

 the rule. The human organism is born with a bias, which 

 we call heredity. It is an amalgamation of two pieces of two 

 different individuals. The mind of this organism is trained in 

 a certain way ; then surroundings act on this bias and training, 

 and either help it, hamper it, or oppose it. How often does it 

 happen that the struggle for existence, in man, is made up of two 

 main factors, the necessity of working for one's " bread and 

 butter," and a passion for some particular study. The former 

 absorbs the time, and the latter the heart. And thus the conflict 

 must of necessity end in the resultant of these two driving 

 factors. In man the inherited bias, the training, and the surround- 

 ings, in which of course are included books, containing the 

 thoughts of others, drive him into studying this or that, as the 

 case may be. That is wh?/ some study plants, other study 

 something else, and others again study nothing at all. 



