e infinite vistas they open up can be pursued for ever with the
knowledge that a work long ago begun is being perfected and that an
ideal is being embodied which need never be outworn.

[Sidenote: Nature and human nature.]

So long as external conditions remain constant it is obvious that the
greater organisation a being possesses the greater strength he will
have. If indeed primary conditions varied, the finer creatures would die
first; for their adaptation is more exquisite and the irreversible core
of their being much larger relatively; but in a constant environment
their equipment makes them irresistible and secures their permanence and
multiplication. Now man is a part of nature and her organisation may be
regarded as the foundation of his own: the word nature is therefore less
equivocal than it seems, for every nature is Nature herself in one of
her more specific and better articulated forms. Man therefore represents
the universe that sustains him; his existence is a proof that the cosmic
equilibrium that fostered his life is a natural equilibrium, capable of
being long maintained. Some of the ancients thought it eternal; physics
now suggests a different opinion. But even if this equilibrium, by which
the stars are kept in their courses and human progress is allowed to
proceed, is fundamentally unstable, it shows what relative stability
nature may attain. Could this balance be preserved indefinitely, no one
knows what wonderful adaptations might occur within it, and to what
excellence human nature in particular might arrive. Nor is it unlikely
that before the cataclysm comes time will be afforded for more
improvement than moral philosophy has ever dreamed of. For it is
remarkable how inane and unimaginative Utopias have generally been. This
possibility is not uninspiring and may help to console those who think
the natural conditions of life are not conditions that a good life can
be lived in. The possibility of essential progress is bound up with the
tragic possibility that progress and human life should some day end
together. If the present equilibrium of forces were eternal all
adaptations to it would have already taken place and, while no essential
catastrophe would need to be dreaded, no essential improvement could be
hoped for in all eternity. I am not sure that a humanity such as we
know, were it destined to exist for ever, would offer a more
exhilarating prospect than a humanity having indefinite elasticity