A SHARP LOOKOUT 13 



meeting with any obstacle of the kind, kept on 

 growing, and thus pushing its way toward the shore. 

 It was a case of survival, not of the fittest, but of 

 that which the situation favored, — the fittest with 

 reference to position. 



So with the pine-tree on the side of the hill. It 

 probably started its roots in all directions, but only 

 the one on the upper side survived and matured. 

 Those on the lower side finally perished, and others 

 lower down took their places. Thus the whole life 

 upon the globe, as we see it, is the result of this 

 blind groping and putting forth of Nature in every 

 direction, with failure of some of her ventures and 

 the success of others, the circumstances, the envi- 

 ronments, supplying the checks and supplying the 

 stimulus, the seed falling upon the barren places 

 just the same as upon the fertile. No discrimina- 

 tion on the part of Nature that we can express in 

 the terms of our own consciousness, but ceaseless 

 experiments in every possible direction. The only 

 thing inexplicable is the inherent impulse to experi- 

 ment, the original push, the principle of Life. 



The good observer of nature holds his eye long 

 and firmly to the point, as one does when looking 

 at a puzzle picture, and will not be bafHed. The 

 cat catches the mouse, not merely because she 

 watches for him, but because she is armed to catch 

 him and is quick. So the observer finally gets the 

 fact, not only because he has patience, but because 

 his eye is sharp and his inference swift. Many a 

 shrewd old farmer looks upon the milky way as a 



