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466
LIFE.
BOOK IV.—THE WORK OF MAN.
CHAPTER XX.
REACTION OF MAN ON NATURE.—EXPLORATION OF THE GLOBE.—VOYAGES
OF DISCOVERY.—ASCENTS OF MOUNTAINS.
While society was in its infancy, men, either alone or grouped in small
tribes, had to fight against obstacles too numerous for them ever to dream
of appropriating the surface of the earth as their own personal domain ;
they lived on it, certainly, but they timidly concealed themselves in its
recesses like the wild beasts of the forest, and their very life was a constant struggle; being continually threatened either with famine or massacre, they were unable to devote any attention to the exploration of the
country in which they lived, and those laws which would have enabled
them to utilize the forces of nature were still .unknown to them. Still, in
proportion as nations became developed in intellect and liberty, they
learned to exercise a counteracting agency on that outer world, to the influence of which they had passively submitted ; they gradually appropriated to themselves the soil on which they trod, and having become by
dint of association actual geological workers, they altered in various ways
the surface of continents, changed the system of running waters, modified
the very climates themselves, and shifted the habitat of the different faunas and floras. Among the works which animals of a lower order have
accomplished on the earth, the islets built up by the coral animal may, it
is true, be compared with the works of man as regards their extent; but
these constructions are uniformly continued century after century, and
never add a new feature to the general physiognomy of the globe. We
always find similar kinds of reefs and similar tracts of land emerging from
the ocean like beds of fluviatile or marine alluvium; while the works of
man'are incessantly being modified and give the greatest diversity of aspect to the earth's surface, renovating it, so to speak, with every fresh advance of his race in knowledge and experience.
The principal of all the conditions which will some day enable man to
completely transform the surface of the globe, is that he must become
fully and entirely acquainted with it and traverse it in every direction.
Formerly, the savage or barbarous tribes, living entirely separate from
one another, formed nothing but chimerical ideas as to the territories lying beyond the narrow boundaries of their own country; they fancied
they saw there nothing but an empty and limitless space, a gloomy and
formidable world peopled by monsters, but where man himself could not
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000513 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 466 LIFE. BOOK IV.—THE WORK OF MAN. CHAPTER XX. REACTION OF MAN ON NATURE.—EXPLORATION OF THE GLOBE.—VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY.—ASCENTS OF MOUNTAINS. While society was in its infancy, men, either alone or grouped in small tribes, had to fight against obstacles too numerous for them ever to dream of appropriating the surface of the earth as their own personal domain ; they lived on it, certainly, but they timidly concealed themselves in its recesses like the wild beasts of the forest, and their very life was a constant struggle; being continually threatened either with famine or massacre, they were unable to devote any attention to the exploration of the country in which they lived, and those laws which would have enabled them to utilize the forces of nature were still .unknown to them. Still, in proportion as nations became developed in intellect and liberty, they learned to exercise a counteracting agency on that outer world, to the influence of which they had passively submitted ; they gradually appropriated to themselves the soil on which they trod, and having become by dint of association actual geological workers, they altered in various ways the surface of continents, changed the system of running waters, modified the very climates themselves, and shifted the habitat of the different faunas and floras. Among the works which animals of a lower order have accomplished on the earth, the islets built up by the coral animal may, it is true, be compared with the works of man as regards their extent; but these constructions are uniformly continued century after century, and never add a new feature to the general physiognomy of the globe. We always find similar kinds of reefs and similar tracts of land emerging from the ocean like beds of fluviatile or marine alluvium; while the works of man'are incessantly being modified and give the greatest diversity of aspect to the earth's surface, renovating it, so to speak, with every fresh advance of his race in knowledge and experience. The principal of all the conditions which will some day enable man to completely transform the surface of the globe, is that he must become fully and entirely acquainted with it and traverse it in every direction. Formerly, the savage or barbarous tribes, living entirely separate from one another, formed nothing but chimerical ideas as to the territories lying beyond the narrow boundaries of their own country; they fancied they saw there nothing but an empty and limitless space, a gloomy and formidable world peopled by monsters, but where man himself could not |
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