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and so far, he is responsible for the results of his circumstances 

 upon himself. We cannot say this of the animals below him ; 

 they lack this power of guiding and arranging ; in modern para- 

 phrase, they are the result of their environment — of their physical 

 surroundings. This environment, as it changes through the aeres, 

 so re-acts upon them that they are compelled either to change 

 also, or else to disappear. But man, in his proud self-conscious- 

 ness, in spite of all the metaphysician and the philosopher may say, 

 thinks and feels himself to be well-nigh independent of his surround- 

 ings, — that he is ruler and lord of the earth, — that he can shape 

 his own destinies. — and that if he cannot altogether resist physical 

 influences, as indeed he would not wish to do, he can to a large 

 extent choose them for himself. 



Not altogether so ; yet at the present time it is true to a greater 

 extent than it has ever been before. Now, in this age of science, 

 theoretical and practical, he laughs at nature, scorns her power, 

 and compels her to serve him. The massive mountain ranges have 

 no terror for him ; he bores holes through them, calls them 

 tunnels, and rides through them on his iron horse. The sea does 

 him service by bearing up his fleets for commerce or for war ; even 

 the dfipths of ocean have been compelled to yield up their secrets 

 to him, and he is quite prepared to bore holes even down there. 

 Distance is nothing ; he talks audibly with his friend 500 miles 

 away, he has harnessed the lightning, and forced it (in a milder 

 mood) to carry his messages round and round the globe. Certainly 

 now, if ever, it is true only to a small extent, that " man is the 

 creature of circumstances." 



But it was not always so, — certainly not in the old stages of 

 man's history. The farther back we carry our studies in the 

 development of mankind, the less able we find him to control or 

 even to guide the circumstances of his environment ; the more we 

 find him controlled and guided by nature itself, until at last we 

 see him raised only a little above the level of the other creatures, 

 as much acted on by his physical surroundings as any of them. 

 And then he developed in different directions, along different lines ; 

 according to these influences, the man of the hot plains of India 

 developed differently to the man of Siberian wastes ; the man of 

 the mountain and plateau differently to the man of the valley and 

 plain ; the man of the forest differently to the man of the dreary 

 steppes. And hence we find tribes possessing different characters, 

 differing in powers and capabilities ; — some energetic, prepared to 

 overcome any difficulty that may present itself; some, always 

 ready to give way under it ;— one country noted for its patriotism 

 its " Courage never to submit or yield;" another for its pusillan- 

 imity ; — one people marked out for empire and victory, another 

 fit only to be slaves. 



