and because my own experiments, which were, in
effect, precisely the same, though different in detail, have been
published elsewhere.[16]

[16] "The Ascent of Life," by Stinson Jarvis. Postal address,
Branch "X," New York, N. Y. Price $1.50.

As if these facts were not astounding enough, we come finally to a sixth
class, in which we find that these marvels can be produced by one's own
will-power acting on one's own interior faculties--the proofs of which I
have already published.

Now here, I submit, we get our right clew to the true position of man in
history. We now see why great men had always to be possessed of peculiar
will-power. They were great when the intensities of their ambitions,
desires, or necessities forced from their soul-faculties some portions
of knowledge which gave them a temporary ascendency, such, for instance,
as would provide an advantage in strategy, statecraft, duplicity,
treachery, or any other qualities which have assisted men who were
leaders. There was no limit to this, for the experiments show that there
is some quality in the soul of man that seems to be omniscient, or in
direct correspondence with omniscience.

It was always through stress. None have become great in idleness or
slackened energies. And as soon as the stress ceased, after the occasion
for the intense strivings of years passed, when the fruits of victory
were being enjoyed, when the aim of life was simply to hold and not to
gain, then the man ceased to be markedly different from others. Then
other men lead, because nature's leaderships are gained by that
intensest concentration which forces the best methods from the
soul-faculties. Apply this system of nature to any great event of
history and you will invariably find it accomplishing the known results.
There you will find a man making a name for himself, and, in a sense,
making history. Always through stress, strain, and necessity, in the
same ways that extraordinary ingenuity comes to men and animals to
assist their escape from situations of dire peril. Lock up the human
wild beasts who agonize for liberty, and you will find that few jails
will hold them. And their escapes may well be called miraculous.

The question then comes back for answer: What about this "universal
causation"?--Fate?--the will of God? Here it must be said, as before,
that no event of history can be selected which cannot be honestly
referred to the intelligence of man when this has