The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-02-02
TIFFIN TRIBUNE.
w,y IMPROVED APE.
- 80 ResuIt of BarEInIsm.

frAuf naturalist, and aulnor OF Inc
0~;c,n 11-s IN Species" !" has just published
SnlsSnoIand his last and greatest work
1gf,7e Descent Of Man, (which the Ap-
r,ietous have in press, and VIII issue
IN few days. The work, we under
stand. has created a profound sensa-
tjon in England, where the first edi-
ton was sold in a day, and VIII un-
doubtedly, when it appears, be receiY-
ed here with equal interest
The following extracts, from ad-
vance sheets Of Mr.. Darwin's new
book. viii sufficiently Indicate its
scope and character:
A soon as some ancient member in
the preat series Of the Primates came,
owing 70 q change in its manner Of
pr7curfng subsistence, or 20 a change
n fIne conditions Of its native coun-
frv. to live somewhat less on trees
and more on the ground, its manner
OF PROGRESSION would have been modi-
fed: and in this case il would have
had 70 become either more strictly
quadrupedal or bipedaI. Baboons fre-
quent billy and rocky districts, and
only from necessity climb up high
trees; and they have acquired almost
the gait Of a dog. Man alone has be-
come biped; and We can, think,
partly see how he has come to assume
his erect attitude. which forms one Of
the most conspicuous differences be-
tween him and his nearest allies.
Man could not have attained his pres
ent dominant position in the world
without the use Of his hands, which
are so admirably adapted to act IN
obedience 70 his will. As Sir {. Bell
insists, ''the hand supplies all instru-
ments, and by its correspondence with
the intellect gives him universal do
Ihinion." But the hands and arms
could hardly have become perfect
enough to have Manufactured weap-
ons, or 70 have hurled stones and
spears with q true arm, as long as
they were habitualIy used for locOmo-
ton and for supporting the whole
weight Of the body, or as long as they
were especially adapted, as previously
remarked, for climbing trees. Such
rough treatment would also have
biunted the sense Of touch, on which
their delicate use largely depends.
From these causes alone il would have
been an advantage TO man 70 have be-
come a biped; but, for many actions,
it Is almost necessary that both arms
and the whole upper part Of the body
should be free; and he must for this
end stand firmly on his feet. To gain
this great advantage, the feet have
been rendered fat and the great toe
peculiarly modified, though this has
entailed the loss Of the power Of pre-
hensiOn. II accords with the princi-
pie Of the division Of physiological la
Dor, which prevails throughout the
animal kingdom, that, as the hands
become perfected for prehensioE, the
feet should have become perfect for
support and iocomOtion. With some
savages, however, the foot has not al
together lost its prehensible power, as
shown by their manner Of climbing
trees and Of using them in other ways.
In regard to bodily size or strength,
we do not know whether man is de-
scended from some comparatively
small species, like the chimpanzee, or
from one as powerful as the gorilla;
and, therefore, we cannot say whsth-
eT man has becOme larger and strong
er, or smaller and weaker, in cOmpar-
ison with his prOgenitOls. We should,
however, bear in mind that an animal
possessing great size, strength and fe-
Focity, and which, like the gorilla,
could defend itself from all enemies,
would probably, though not necessar-
ly, have failed to become social; and
this would most effectually have
checked the requirement by man Of
his higher mental qualities, such as
sympathy and the love of his fellow
creatures. Hence it might have been
an immense advantage to man TO
have sprung from some comparative
" weak creature.
The slight corporal strength Of
mans his little speed, his want of nat
cOunterbalanced, firstly, by his intel
lectual powers, through which he has,
while still remaining in a barbarOus
state, formed for himself weapons,
tools, &c, and secondly by his social
qualities, which lead him to give aid
to his fellow-men, and to receive it in
return. No country in the world
abounds in greater degree with dam
gerous beasts than Southern Africa;
no country presents more fearful ply
sical hardships than the arctic regions;
yet one Of the puniest races, namely,
the BHshmen, maintain themselves in
Southern Africa, as the dwarfed Es-
Quimaux in the arctic regions. The
early progenitors of man were no
doubt inferior in intellect, and prOba-
bly, In social disposition, to the lowest
existing sayGges. but il is quite con-
ceivable that they mighthave existed,
or even fOurished, if, while they grad
ually lost their brute-like powers, such
as climbing trees, DC, they at the
same time advanced in intellect. But
granting that the progenitOrs Of man
were far more helpless and deferse-
less than any existing savages, if they
inhabited some warm continent, or
large island, such as Australia, or
New Guinea, or BOrneo the latter is
land being gnOw tenanted by the Orang)
they would not have been exposed TO
any special danger. In an area as
large as one of these islands, the com
petition between tribe and tribe would
have been sufficient, under favorable
conditions, 10 have raised man,
through the survival OF tie fittest,
combined with the inherited effects of
habit, to MS present high position in
the organic scale.
At the period and place, whenever
and whenever il may have been, when
man first lost his hairy covering, he
probably inhabited q hot country
and this would have been favorable
for q frugiferons diet, on which, judg-
ing from analogy, he subsisted. We
are far from knowing how long ago it
was when man firstdiverged from the
Catarhine stock; but this may have
occurred at an epoch as remote as the
Eocone period for the higher apes
had diverged from the lower apes as
early the Upper MiOcene period, as
shown by the existence of the Dryop-
ithecus.
We are also quite. ignorant at how