Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1870-07-22
3ristut &eius.
FRIDAY, July az, 1870.
Seisntias.
is EiS 4 FEEBLE AYiHsL9
is liS 4 FEEBLE AY,HsLl


lri"h tho buhuoh Spectutor
Glancing the other day over the
Duke OF Argyll'son "prlmcvnl Man,
It struck us, as it had often struck t,a
before, that little too much Is made
nOw-a-days OF mans fceblcness ma n
mere animal. We do not believe he
ever was one, and the Dukes arpu
mcnt, that if hc was one, he Would
haye got stronger, and not weaker. is
unlliswerablc; but his fcebleness does
not disproye the theory OF his ami
nal origin quite 40 conclusivoly rs
civilized writers, who know they could
not get their living If turned naked
in the fields, haye tendency to as
sumo. That man, apart from his
special intelligence, Is ono of the
weakest OF all animals for aggression
Is no doubt, correct, he being almost
thc only beast of his size who has been
left by nature totally unarmed. Uehna
neither claw nor horn nor inv caDalde
of rending, nor hoof nor paw that of
itself and unframed can strike dead
ly blow; the natural man being, it is
believed, with a possible reservation MS
to one or two tribes of negroes, entirely
unaware of the power latent in hisown
fist, and striking always with the hand
unclosed. But for defense, man i'm his
savage state Is probably as well provi-
ded as any but the most formidable
beasts of prey. He certainly could not
fight u tiger or lion or panther or nm
elephant, but 1t h by no means clear
that he could net run away, and rs he
is one Of the swiftest of animals, would
probably escape. He is, however, pos
sessed OF q faculty, given to no other
beslst which can run as fast, of climb
ing up n tree. In state of civiliza-
tion he almost entirely loses this facul-
ty, but In the savage state Il remains
almost unimpaired. An Elton boy can
climb in way, rs he can go up lad
der but, n savage will go straight up
smooth pole, using his feet as if thcy
were a second pair of hands, and cross
ing from tree TO tree with q facility
which, to the highly educated natural
ist watching him, seems Mt once mar
veious and degrading. lie could not
do it, because ho has not only lost
the use of his feet, partly from using
shoes, partly from reliance OH his hands
and his intelligence for everything, but
he has lost tbs power of looking down
wards unconcorncdly from "giddyr
hight, apower belonging to all saVages,
and, rs we suspect, from some facts OBJ
served among Hindoos, to all men who
neither eat moat nor drink alcohol. At
all evnents, Hindoos unframed to the
work will walk unconccrnedly along
walls thirty feet high to inspect work
man, where any white man similarly
unframed would turn sick and fall. A
wild beast would not have an easy prey
of an animal who could run n short
distance as fast as an ordinary horse,
who could climb like a squirrel, and
who could swim as no other land ami
NAL can.
Nothing not amphibious swims like
a man, not even n Newfoundland dog.
Kannkas have been met fifteen miles
out of sight of land, and can keep in
the water six hours at time, and
there is at least n strong probability
that Il naked race, living, say, by n
great lake, would acquire the facility
which tho South Sea Islanders under
the same circumstances even now dis
play. We suppose we must not urge
the idea SO strongly pressed by How
thorne, in that astonishing exhibition
df genius and weakness, Iru84}Oymd-
ton, that man in his natural state
would attract instead Of rcpciling many
Animals-that dogs, fo- instance might
have been friendly, and not hostile
for no such instance of alliance is
known among the higher mamnala,
und lherc is doubt il the marilOt aud
owl OF the prairie are as friendly MS
they seen! to be; but still we do not
quite see why tho mammal Homo
should not haze survived in the con-
test for'cXistcnce a' well as the mon-
key, who nourishcs indiilorently we'll
in jungles frequrnted by the Il: cr, the
boar, and the boa constrictor. He
must be allowed on any fair theory 10
.tl I,angtf.s nj mud
that would teach him to combine for
many purposcsas monkeys, and wolves,
and beavers do, to attend to any signal
Of danger as II stag does-for though
man has no scent, he has an intense
Upacitv Of heaglng-and oven 10 set
seutinCls, faculty" whatever its
origin, which belongs, 1t is believed,
to many animals, and IS exercised
every day, as all iaturalists VIII tC,ti-
fy, by rocks. 70 deny TO man rs an
animal the faculties of a rook Ia q
gratuitous depreciation Of his rank in
nature not warranted by any evidence.
We do not quite see either how scien-
tific speculators should deny him so
absolutely right to use n weapon
He must have had hand to hold one,
and why deny him the instinct to
use it?rrts .st ......
The Duke of Argyll says that no
o animal save man over employs an IN
strument to realize any object, bet
that is aot tho case. The only animal
WITH a hand, so to speak, the elephant,
will break oil a branch TO switch him
scif with when annoyed by insects
The idea, again, that In his early stlug-
giles man muat have been liable TO as
saLft by much bigger animals than
any now In existence may be true
but II true, is not gcrmanoto the especu-
latlon. The imaginative horror o'
that situation would not strike nn ami
NAL, and the mastodon Is no larger IN
proportion to man than tho elephant
IN proportion 10 the little monkeys
who, nevcrless, live in the jungle viii
him very comfortably.