The greatest mentality in the sea has been repeatedly derived from the continents, first in the fishes, then in the reptiles, and lastly in the mammals, and they have adapted themselves to the sea because of the ease with which they can there prey upon the less alert and intelligent. Such adapted stocks in the course of geologic time grow larger and larger, as, for instance, the whales of today. Out of them, however, comes no higher mentality. They represent an adaptation in the wrong direction, that is, to an easier life, for the highest organisms with the greatest mentality have been developed only on the land where the struggle for existence is fiercest because of the constant necessity of adaptation to an environment subject to intense changes. Organic supremacy is attained only through constant vigilance. (Charles Schuchert, The Evolution of the Earth and Its Inhabitants, chap. ii, "The Earth's Changing Surface and Climate during Geologic Time.")
At the opposite pole of human nature from man's desire to think and act for himself is his tendency to thrust upon others the solution of his problems. In its insidious way this inclination to escape responsibility is as strong as his will to achieve his own salvation. It appears at every stage of life, from childhood to age, and, while it varies in intensity in different people, it is absent from no one.
Weakness and inability are its special opportunity. The strong man obviously is able to take care of himself, and is expected to do so. There is
