84 INITIATIVE IN EVOLUTION 



lately brought to Europe, by a process of selection by man during 

 a thousand generations, first in its Central Asian cradle and later 

 all over the civilized world. It has been as much made by man 

 for his purposes in locomotion as a locomotive engine has been made 

 by him. The one has been produced in accordance with the laws of 

 applied physics and the other by those of biology. His locomotive 

 life has come to pass for the needs of higher, or at any rate more 

 cunning creatures, who have availed themselves of the potentialities 

 provided by Nature. The zebra in its habits differs from the horse 

 in the simple, but fundamental point that the former lives the 

 ordinary active life of a wild animal for its own needs of protection 

 against foes and search for food, the latter has not only this activity 

 of life in its organisation, buthas, super-added to it by domestication, 

 all the locomotive life of a beast of burden. The zebra presents 

 few, if any, of those phenomena which I have often termed Animal 

 Pedometers, 1 so characteristic of the hairy coat of the horse 

 I am reverting heie again to the region of metaphor for which I 

 offer no excuse, but only a few remarks as to the use and value of 

 that elusive method of illustration. Metaphor is a figure of speech 

 or writing which consists in a transference of thought from one 

 idea to another. It is, therefore, not a simple substitution of 

 synonymous expressions, nor is it merely a simile. It is in hourly 

 use in the speech and writing of common as well as highly educated 

 persons, and adds much to the ease of communication among us 

 of our thoughts upon subjects which rise somewhat above the level 

 of mere statement of obvious facts. So long as metaphors are not 

 abused by being used as arguments to prove some proposition, 

 but only as illustrations of our meaning, we gain greatly by their 

 legitimate use. It is not for nothing the well-drilled Press of 

 Germany in their journals and its histrionic Emperor in his rhetorical 

 outbursts, make extensive use of metaphors. We are everlastingly 

 reading of Germany's " biological necessity," her " iron will to 

 victory," the " steel ring of field -grey heroes who guard her against 

 a world of devils," of her " brilliant second," her " granite walls," 

 her " future on the water," the " Admiral of the Atlantic," " grasp- 

 ing the trident," and so on in nearly every public utterance of her 

 leaders. They know well their audience and employ these harmless, 

 if often ridiculous, expressions with a definite and legitimate 

 purpose, and are well qualified for creating the public opinion of a 

 nation that dearly loves a phrase. 



Well, this term, Animal Pedometers, is used here not for proving 

 anything, but for the purpose of impressing on the mind of the 



1 Knowledge, January, 1903. 



