... The liquid Ore he dreind
Into fit moulds prepar’d; from which he form’d
First his own Tooles; then, what might be wrought
Fusil or grav’n in mettle.
At the time when the first man decided to go forth into the world
provided with weapons not furnished by nature (in other words,
“unnatural”) the lines of development adopted by nature had ended in
an _impasse_. Mere size had been found ineffective, and the giant
Reptilians had disappeared from the earth. The Mammoth and the great
Rorqual Whale were the largest animals then in existence, and nature
had retraced her steps somewhat as shipbuilding did in the nineteenth
century after the building of the _Great Eastern_. Of the countless
forms of animal and vegetable life, many had disappeared entirely,
being no longer suited to climatic or other changes of environment.
There was no prospect of higher development unless an entirely new path
could be found. We may put the situation in another way by paraphrasing
an ancient tribal account of the origin of things:
“In the Beginning there was the Sun and the Earth.
“And the Sun and the Earth said: Let there be Life. And the Earth
covered itself with a living coat of green, fed by the Sun.
“And the Earth said: Let there be Moving Life. And Life began to Move
about, fed by the Life that was green and stood still.
“And the Earth said: Let there be Man, and let him be fed by the Green
Life and the Moving Life, and let him subdue all Life, and let him
subdue Me and serve Me and make Me great in the Heavens.”
And so the Earth brought forth Man, her latest and greatest Experiment.
For a long time he was a rather inferior animal, but when he began to
throw stones and spears he launched out on his true career, a career
destined to culminate in the complete mastery of his native planet and
the apotheosis of the Earth.
The pre-human Animal had already learned to use the world of plants
for purposes of nutrition, and to use the mineral world for dwelling
purposes. Improving upon the methods of his predecessors, man made the
land and sea his province, and drew from it not only nourishment but
the means of extending his dominion. “He that hath, to him shall be
given.” And this extension became more and more rapid. Living, as we
do, in an age of continually accelerated progress, we find it difficult
to realize its rapidity.
We are caught in a flood. From day to day things are changing. What we
write to-day is obsolete to-morrow. The clock ticks on the mantelpiece
as it did twenty years ago, but outside in the road is the roar of
motor traffic. The clip-clop of the horses’ hooves is no longer heard.
Hephæstus has put his fires into the interior of the motor engine,
and found yet another way of using sunlight accumulated in the earth
millions of years ago, instead of relying upon the solar energy stored
in the grass eaten by the horse.
Fire has made all things new. We are surrounded by its gifts. My pen
has passed through many fires before it reached my hand. All round me
are traces of machinery and mechanism. The paper on which I write is
calendered in the paper mills. I am aware that it is not as lasting as
“hand-made” paper, and that it will not survive centuries of use like
Gutenberg’s bibles. But what matter? If there is anything worthy of
survival in what I write it will survive, even though it may require to
be cast in bronze. If it is good it will be _aere perennius_.
Mankind may be likened to a vast army on the march. It is preceded by:
(1) Pathfinders, called explorers, inventors, and discoverers, whose
business it is to find new avenues of development and achievement.