HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



perpetual warfare. There is incessant strife of wits on the part of 

 flesh-eating animals to capture their prey, and on the part of the 

 intended victim to circumvent the craft and acuteness of his wily 

 pursuer. Swiftness of foot, keenness of vision, quick intelligence to 

 perceive the slightest point of advantage in either flight or pursuit: 

 these are the essentials which all animals must possess in order to ap- 

 proach their limit of age. With failing power comes instant doom : com- 

 paratively few wild animals, except the largest, die a natural death. 



When man came upon the scene amid such surroundings, he came 

 as a part of the life already existing, and had to take his chances. 

 Physically, the chances were against him; for of all creatures man 

 entirely unprovided with artificial aids is the most helpless. Most 

 animals could escape from him by flight, or hide where he could not 

 discover them; some could overcome him in combat; a few took de- 

 light in feasting on him. His intelligence was not superior, perhaps 

 not equal, to that of the fox or the wolf. 



But he had one inestimable advantage. He had hands with flex- 

 ible fingers and an opposable thumb; so that when he had mastered 

 the idea of a trap or a weapon, he could construct it. This ability made 

 him at once the superior of the other animals. But as these, in course 

 of time, would learn to avoid his traps and to ascertain the distance 

 at which they would be safe from his weapons, man must continually 

 exercise his brain to devise new methods of enticing them to his 

 snares or of enabling him to come within range of them. Under the 

 urging of such necessity, his mental power increased. As game grew 

 suspicious, he must become more alert. As he weeded out the slower 

 or weaker animals, he must gain in strength and endurance to pursue 

 those which would not come within his reach. Long vigils at the side 

 of a spring or a trail cultivated in him habits of patience and fortitude. 

 The necessity not only of providing for his family and dependents, 

 but of protecting them from surrounding dangers against which they 

 could not defend themselves, made him more daring, more resolute, 

 more determined not to be overcome and not to cease striving until 

 he had attained the end which he had in view. 



The man who lives among rocky cliffs or on barren heights, or 

 along the wind-swept littoral, where vegetation is scant, where ani- 

 mals are small and few in number, whose food is brought almost to 

 his door by waves and currents, naturally develops into a very 

 different kind of being from the one whose range of activity carries 

 him far into gloomy forests or among towering mountains where each 

 day brings unforeseen and unexpected experiences. Geological struc- 

 ture determines the life of both. 



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