CHAPTER XVIII 
GENERAL SUMMARY 
§ 1 
Ir has been the endeavor in the preceding chapters to 
give a definite picture of the mass of capital and its services 
to man. In such a picture we see man standing in the 
midst of a physical universe, the events of which affect 
his life. Over many of these events he can exercise no 
control or selection ; these constitute his natural environ- 
ment. Over others he exercises selection and control by 
assuming dominion over part of the physical universe, 
and fashioning it in new shapes to suit his needs. The 
parts of the material world which he thus appropriates 
constitute wealth, whether they remain in their natural 
state or are “worked up” by him into products to render 
them more adapted to his needs. This mass of instru- 
ments will consist, first, of the appropriated parts of the 
surface of the earth, of the buildings and structures 
attached to the soil, and of the movable objects or ““com- 
modities” which man possesses and stores in the buildings 
upon the earth: and, secondly, of the persons of the 
human population itself, —for these, though they are also 
the abode of the owner of wealth, are themselves objects 
owned. 
This mass of instruments serves man’s purpose in so far 
as its possession enables him to modify the stream of his- 
torical events. By means of land and the modifications 
which he makes upon it he is enabled to increase and im- 
prove the growth of the vegetable and animal kingdoms 
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