188 REPORT— 1875. 



Man, in short, takes liis place with the rest of the animate world, in the advan- 

 cing front of which he occupies so conspicuous a position. *Yet for this position he 

 is indebted not to any exclusive powers of his own, but to the wonderful compelling 

 forces of nature which have lifted him entirely without his knowledge, and almost 

 without his participation, so far above the animals of whom he is still one, though 

 the only one able to see or consider what he is. 



For the social habits essential to his progress, which he possessed even in his 

 most primitive state, man is withoiit question dependent on his ancestors, as 

 he is for his form and other physical peculiarities. In his advance to civiliza- 

 tion he was insensibly forced, by the pressure of external circumstances, through 

 the more savage condition, in which his life was that of the hunter, first 

 to pastoral and then to agricultural occupations. The requirements of a popula- 

 tion gradually increasing in numbers could only be met hy a supply of food 

 more regular and more abundant than could be provided by the chase. But 

 the possibility of the change from the hunter to the shepherd or herdsman rested on 

 the antecedent existence of animals suited to supply man with food, having gre- 

 garious habits, and fitted for domestication, such as sheep, goats, and horned cattle ; 

 for their support the social grasses were a necessary preliminary, and for the 

 growth of these in sufficient abundance laud naturally suitable for pasture was re- 

 quired. A fui'ther evasion of man's growing difficulty in obtaining sufficient food 

 was secured by aid of the cereal grasses, which supplied the means by which agri- 

 cultiu'e, the outcome of pastoral life, became the chief occupation of more civilized 

 generations. Lastly, when these increased facilities for providing food were in turn 

 overtaken by the growth of the population, new power to cope with the recurring 

 difficulty was gained through the cultivation of mechanical arts and of thought, for 

 which the needful leism-e was for the first time obtained when the earliest steps of 

 civilization had removed the necessity for unremitting search after the means of 

 supporting existence. Then was broken down the chief barrier in the way of 

 progress, and man was carried forward to the condition in which he now is. 



It is impossible not to recognize that the growth of civilization, by aid of its in- 

 struments, pastoral and agricultural industry, was the residt of the unconscious 

 adoption of defences supjDlied by what was exterior to man, rather than of any truly 

 intelligent steps taken with forethought to attain it ; and in these respects man, 

 in his struggle for existence, has not diflered from the humbler animals or from plants. 

 Neither can the marvellous vdtimate gi'owth of his knowledge, and his acquisition 

 of the power of applying to his use all that lies without him, be viewed as differing 

 in any thing but form or degree from the earlier steps in his advance. The needful 

 protection against the foes of his constantly increasing race — the legions of hunger 

 and disease, infinite in number, ever changing then mode of attack or springing up 

 in new shapes — could only be attained by some fresh adaptation of his organization 

 to his wants, and this has taken the form of that development of intellect which has 

 placed all other creatures at his feet and all the powers of nature in his hand. 



The picture that I have thus attempted to draw presents to us our earth carrying- 

 with it, or receiving from the sun or other external bodies, as it travels through 

 celestial space, all the materials and all the forces by help of which are fashioned 

 whatever we see upon it. We may liken it to a great complex living organism, 

 having an inert substratum of inorganic matter on which are formed many separate 

 organized centres of life, but all bound up together by a common law of existence, 

 each individual part depending on those around it, and on the past condition of the 

 whole. Science is the study of the relations of the several parts of this 

 organism one to another, and of the parts to the whole. It is the task of the geo- 

 grapher to bring together from all places on the earth's surface the materials from 

 which shall be deduced the scientific conception of nature. Geography supplies the 

 rough blocks wherewith to build up that grand structure towards the completion of 

 which science is striving. The traveller, who is the iom'neyman of science, collects 

 from all quarters of the earth observations of fact, to be submitted to the research of 

 the student, and to provide the necessary means of verifying the inductions obtained 

 by study or the hypotheses suggested by it. If, therefore, travellers are to fulfil the 

 duties put upon them by the division of scientific labour, they must maintain 

 their Imowledge of the several branches of science at such a standard as will 



