Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-09-05
MAN THE lMPROVER.
His Relations to the Lower Animals d..
cussed By Prof. Freeman.

There are many animals which. in
one way Of looking at the matter. Sr
pass man in their power Of dom,
various things: but it is not amo8S 1
mans tellOW-mammals that we 6rj
them Among mammals man stand,
alone as a tailor, almost alone as
builder. But birds are for the mos.
part builders, though it should be 30.
ticed that they are not strictly builder,
of houses. The birds nest, SO euD.
niugly put together is not the abidiDo
dwelling-place of the bird; A. is a tenn.
porary nursery, designed to keep tile
young brood in safety. But if the in.
gcuuity Of birds is wonderful, saws
Professor Freeman in the C0WemDgr-
arr RsClgiU, that of insects is mole Won
derful still Both birds and insects can
do without tools things that man can
not do with tools.
The advantage that man has seems
to lie wholly in his power of improve.
| ment Birds and insects are ingenious
! builders but a. far as we can see.
they strike out no new styles of archi.
lecture; they do not invent The arch
and develop it into the vault and the
cupola. Birds again, and insects still
more. seem TO have higher political
instincts than mammals. The ecouo-
my Of the rookery is wonderful and
aud that of the beehive is yet more
wonderful; but it does not appear chat
rocks or bees ever strictly invent OF
! improve; certain adaptation to
changed circumstances is as far as
any animal but man ever seems to get
Bees and ants, especially those ants
which 20 forth to make war and 10
capture slaves, have surely something
of form Of government Something
like rulers, assemblies, debates. But
all seems traditional; in an assembly
Of bees or ants we can conceive a de-
cree to NEE, soule immediate ueed, we
can hardly conceive constitutional
amendment
Here. again, if birds are more artis-
tic and more political than mammals,
and insects again more artistic and
more political than birds, we have
once more the smaller, the weaker, the
4 physically inferior creature outdong
/ the greater aud stronger This super
\ iority Of the lower animals over the
! higher is kind Of secondary example
/ of one general law, alongside of the
great example Of all, the supremacy
OF man. Man can do with tools, 10.
sects can in many cases do without
tools, things which the sagaclous dog
and the 'uaif-reasoning elephant eau
/ do with or without them.
Only umu. who works with tools, can
( improve his tools and thereby improve
ms work. while birds and insects, who
work only with their own organs
which they cannot improve-which, at
least within historic memory, they have
/ not improved-cauuOt improve Their
work The law Of the weak conf0uud-
/ ing the strong comes out in q two-foid
shape The inferior animals can do
/ with their own organs things which the
superior animals canuotdo. But man,
1 because his organs are physically SO
/ greatly inferior, is driven 10 the use
Of tools, and by the help Of his tools he
/ is able To overcome az the rest
TIE details of the processes by which
man is ever suhduing the earth and
exercising dominion over the beasts OF
/ the field are 50 familiar to all, they
/ form such a constant part Of our every
/ day life that we look on them with th5
wonder which they really deserve
I But we have only to think about tho
/ matter, and we shall at once see how
truly wonderful how impossible to eX-
( plain by any true physical law IS the
I dominion which man exercises every
/ hour both over nature and over other
I animals. We are also, ia our just adj
I mirauon of those who improve, apt 20
I be a little unjust TO those who origin
/ ally invent In any process OF infen'
ton the first step of all is the greatest
I Of all.
The man who set the first c0racif
ahUat was a daring man. q greater ID
ventor than any mere imprOver Of tae
art of navigation. Aud "a daring MAJ
/ he was. too. who first mounted 90 ide
back of a horse, though he was an Inn
( proven rather than an inventor. I1t
/ horse was clearly set TO draw, mos.
I likely to carry burdens, before any
man risked himself on his back. b0,
I the compound being. aswe may call d.
/ the ceniaur-liRe group formed hy ~
I man and his horse. is truly wonderful
1 The physical strength lie, on one s.l-
and the force IF will on the other
But here, too. the weak has mastered
/ the strong; man holds Town and guide
according 10 bis wil Is creature tga
could at any moment shake him ga
and trample him under foot