"
We cannot, in a general and abstract fashion, say which is superior, art
or nature, because it all depends on the point of view. The worm loves a
rotten log into which he can bore. Man prefers a steel cabinet into
which the worm cannot bore. If man cannot improve Upon nature he has no
motive for making anything. Artificial products are therefore superior
to natural products as measured by man's convenience, otherwise they
would have no reason for existence.
Science and Christianity are at one in abhorring the natural man and
calling upon the civilized man to fight and subdue him. The conquest of
nature, not the imitation of nature, is the whole duty of man.
Metchnikoff and St. Paul unite in criticizing the body we were born
with. St. Augustine and Huxley are in agreement as to the eternal
conflict between man and nature. In his Romanes lecture on "Evolution
and Ethics" Huxley said: "The ethical progress of society depends, not
on imitating the cosmic process, still less on running away from it, but
on combating it," and again: "The history of civilization details the
steps by which man has succeeded in building up an artificial world
within the cosmos.
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