the animal, it appears to be retained purely for its productive
value; thus digestion in hydra or gastraea. But after a time animals
appeared which had some muscle and nerve. And, by the process of
natural selection, those animals which used digestion as an end for
its productive value became food for, and gave place to, those using
it as a means of supporting muscle and nerve of greater prospective
value. And similarly, those animals which used muscle, or even mind,
productively gave place to others using these prospectively.

In other words, the functions and capacities of any animal, the
extent of its conformity to environment, may be regarded as its
capital. The animal may use this capital productively or
prospectively. It may spend its income, and more too; it may
increase its capital. Now social capital will always fall sooner or
later to those communities whose members use it most prospectively,
who are willing to forego, to quite an extent, present enjoyment,
and look for future return. The same is true of all development.
Sessile forms and mollusks, and, in a less degree, crabs and
reptiles, worked for immediate return. They are like extravagant
heirs who draw on their capital and sooner or later come to poverty.
The primitive vertebrate, the mammal, and the other ancestors of man
used their capital prospectively, and it increased, as if at
compound interest.

The spendthrift appears at first sight to have the greatest
enjoyment in life, the rising business man works hard and foregoes
much. I believe that the latter is really by far the happier of the
two. But, if you can spend only a day or two in a city, and your
examination is superficial, you may easily make the mistake of
considering the spendthrift as the most successful man in the
community. So, in our brief visit to the world in times past, we
picked out the crab, the reptile, and the carnivore as its rising
members.

Once more, capital can be spent very quickly; to use it
prospectively requires time. This is a truism; but it does no harm
to call attention to truisms which have been neglected. Organs and
powers of great prospective value are slow and difficult of
development. If their increase is to be at all rapid, they must
start early. If their development and culture is deferred, there
will be little or no advance, but probably degeneration.
Extravagance grows rapidly and soon becomes irresistible; habits of
saving must be formed early. The sa