LII PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
laws of physical nature, he lapses into stagnation, where mental and 
moral miasm is bred. All that makes man superior to the beast is 
the result of his own endeavor to secure happiness. 
Man, so far as he is superior to the beast, is the master of his 
own destiny, and not the creature of the environment. He adapts 
the natural environment to his wants, and thus creates an environ- 
ment for himself. Thus it is that we do not discover a biotically 
aquatic variety of man, yet he dwells upon the sea and derives 
sustentation from the animals thereof by means of his arts. gA 
biotically arboreal variety of man is not discovered, but the forest 
are used in his arts and the fruits of the forests for his susten- 
tation. An aérial variety of man is not discovered, but he uses 
the winds to propel his machinery and to drive his sails; and, in- 
deed, he can ride upon the air with wings of his own invention. 
A boreal variety of man is not discovered, but he can dwell among 
the everlasting snows by providing architectural shelter, artificial 
warmth and bodily protection. 
Under the influences of the desert a few plants secure a constitu- 
tion by which the moisture imbibed during brief and intermittent 
rains is not evaporated; they become incrusted with a non-porous 
glaze, or contract themselves into the smallest space and exist with- 
out life until the rain comes again. Man lives in the desert by 
guiding a river thereon and fertilizing the sands with its waters, and 
the desert is covered with fields and gardens and homes. LEvery- 
where he rises superior to physical nature. The angry sea may not 
lash him with its waves, for on the billows he builds a palace, and 
journeys from land to land. When the storm rises it is signaled 
from afar,and he gathers his loved ones under the shelter of his 
home, and they listen to the melody of the rain upon the roof. 
When the winds of winter blow he kindles fossil sunshine on his 
hearth, and sings the song of the Ingleside. When night covers 
the earth with darkness he illumines his path with lightning light. 
For disease he discovers antidote, for pain nepenthe, and he gains 
health and long life by sanitation; and ever is he utilizing the 
materials of nature, and ever controlling its powers. By his arts, 
institutions, languages, and philosophies he has organized a new 
kingdom of matter, over which he rules. The beasts of the field, 
the birds of the air, the denizens of the waters, the winds, the 
waves, the rivers, the seas, the mountains, the valleys, are his 
subjects; the powers of nature are his servants, and the granite 
earth his throne. 
