Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 78.djvu/386

376 The answer so obtained may even be used to interpret the law itself, having regard for its obvious spirit and intent, rather than the technicalities of some previous case. The pragmatism of nature is expressed through natural selection and the survival of the fittest. It is "the difference that it makes" that decides the fate of a new variation. In the long run, our human virtues and frailties must pass under the same law, but possessing conscious intelligence, we ourselves have a hand in the game hitherto played only by the gods. Having memory and foresight, we can even somewhat improve the ancient process, by considering "the difference" as made in the long run, instead of at the moment only, as is the manner of nature herself.