ow that some low organism did appear--and
there is an end of that matter. No two organisms can possibly be exactly
alike; and the process of differentiation began in the very shrine. The
centuries passed, and living organisms became more and more complex; the
slowly-cooling ball of the earth was covered with greenery, but no
flower was to be seen. Then insects were attracted by brightly-coloured
leaves; then flowers and insects acted and reacted on each other. But
there is no need to trace every mark on the scale. It is enough to say
that infinitely-diversified forms of life branched off from central
stocks, and the process of variation went on steadily. Last of all, in a
strange environment, a certain small upright creature appeared. He was
not much superior in development to the anthropoid apes that we now
know--in fact, there is less difference between an orang and a Bosjesman
than there is between the primitive man and the modern Caucasian man.
This creature, hairy and brown as a squirrel, stunted in stature, skinny
of limb, was our immediate progenitor. So say the confident scientific
men. The owner of the queer ape-like skull found at Neanderthal belonged
to a race that was ultimately to develop into Shakespeares and Newtons
and Napoleons. In all the enormous series that had its first term in the
primeval ooze and its last term in man, one supreme motive had actuated
every individual. The desire of life, growing more intense with each new
development, was the main influence that secured continuance of life.
The beings that had the desire of life scantily developed were overcome
in the struggle for existence by those in whom the desire of life was
strong. Thus in man, after countless generations, the wish for life had
become the master-power holding dominion over the body. As the various
branches of the human race moved upward, the passionate love of life
grew so strong that no individual could bear to think of resigning this
pleasing anxious being and proceeding to fall into dumb forgetfulness.
Men saw their comrades stricken by some dark force that they could not
understand. The strong limbs grew lax first, and then hopelessly stiff;
the bright eye was dulled; and it soon became necessary to hide the
inanimate thing under the soil. It was impossible for those who had the
quick blood flowing in their veins to believe that a time would come
when feeling would be known no more. This fierce clinging to life had at
last