MAN AND NATURE
If we look with a perceiving eye upon the world of creation, we find that all existing things may be classified as follows: First-- Mineral-- that is to say matter or substance appearing in various forms of composition. Second-- Vegetable-- possessing the virtues of the mineral plus the power of augmentation or growth, indicating a degree higher and more specialized than the mineral. Third-- Animal -- possessing the attributes of the mineral and vegetable plus the power of sense perception. Fourth-- Human-- the highest specialized organism of visible creation, embodying the qualities of the mineral, vegetable and animal plus an ideal endowment absolutely minus and absent in the lower kingdoms-- the power of intellectual investigation into the mysteries of outer phenomena. The outcome of this intellectual endowment is science which is especially characteristic of man. This scientific power investigates and apprehends created objects and the laws surrounding them. It is the discoverer of the hidden and mysterious secrets of the material universe and is peculiar to man alone. The most noble and praiseworthy accomplishment of man therefore is scientific knowledge and attainment. (48:1)

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