Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-05-16

Professor John Fiske, one of the ablest Ameri-
can advocates of the Darwinian theory, in a lee
ture in New York, on Tuesday, thus developed
what has been considered one of the weakest
points in Mr.. Darwin's argument:
That man, considered from purely zoologi-
cal point of view, differs much less from the
higher apes than these differ from the lower is
generally acknowledged by naturalists, yet there
are sundry respects in which man has become
yery widely differentiated from the highest of
apes. The social feelings the use ofartculate lam
guage. the construction of TOOLS habltationS and
clothing, and the increased ability to adapt his
actions to future contingencies, are obviously
depencenf upon the relatively great size and
compleXity of the upper lobes of his brain The
probable action of natural selection upon the
brain is, therefore, the most interesting and i'm
portant point connected with the origin of man
kind Mr.. Darwin shows that the higher apes
manifest certain social feelings, as sympathy and
fidelity; that they employ stones and clubs as
weaponsi in lighting besides using sticks as levers
and stones as hammers and that without possess
ing aricuate speech, they are nevertheless able to
communicate with each other by means of cries
and gestures. From these contemporary apes
the earliest known man would seem to have
dlnered IN little save greater cranal capacity
Implying doubtless an increased power of social
combination, and, perhaps, the ability to chip
the stones used for tools and weapons. Wheth-
er the earliest man possessed articulate language
or not, cannot be determined. But granting a
race of ape-ike men or man-like apes such as
natural selection might have developed from an
Gent apes no higher than the modern chimpan-
zee or orang, we note how in course of time the
action of natural selection would be more and
more confined to modifying the cerebral struc-
tnre OF the race. Among the lower animals,
even those which are gregarious, the pTeSerYa-
| ton of any individual depends almost entirely
| upon his physical adaptation to surrounding
circumstances. There is so little division of la
| Dor, and so little mutual assistance, that all
must be capable who would survive. With
the earliest manifestations OF true society this
/ state OF things is somewhat altered Even in
| the rudest actual or Imaginable society there is
| some division of labor and some mutual assist
| ance-so that those who fall below the average
| eapability of the race are no longer sure 10 be
prematurely cut off, and thus the agency of nat
ural selection in keeping up a uniform standard
OF fitness is 10 some extent checked. In the
highly complex societies which we call civilized,
division of labor and cooperation have greatly
obscured the effects of this agency Bur as
natural selection among individuals grows less
rigorous its effects upon rival or antagonist So
cietes becomes more marked. The attributes
which tend TO make society strong and durable,
with reference to surrounding societies are the
attributes which natural selection will now
chiefly favor. A new consideration is this: In
ieror animals respond chiefly 10 changes in
their environment, and hence natural selection
deals chiefly with such changes, to the visible
modification Of their bodily structure.
But when an animal has once appeared en-
dowed with sufficient intelligence to chip a
stone tool and hurl weapon, natural selection
will take advantage of variations in this inteli-
gence to the neglect of purely physical varia-
tions. Communities whose members are best
able to meet by intelligent contrvances the
changes in the environment, will prevail over
other communities, and will be less easily de-
stroyed by physical catastrophes. SO soon in
Short as the intelligence of an animal has
through ages of adaptation and selection be-
come so considerable that slight variation
in it is of more use to the animal than any vari-
alton in physical structure, then such variation
Will be more and more constantly selected,
while physical variations, being of less vital
importance to the species, will be more and
more neglected. Thus, while the external
appearance of such an animal, and his
Internal nutritye and muscular apparatus
may vary but little in many ages, his intel
ectual and moral attributes and his cerebral
structure will vary with comparative rapidity.
We may now understand why man differs so
liltlein general physical structure aud external
appearance from the chimpanzee and the 20.
rilla, while in the special points Of cerebral
structure and accompanying intelligence he
differs so vastly from them. The crana capaci
~ of man varies from IA cubic inches in the
Icuton down 10 40 cubic inches in certain Hin
doc skulls, presumably those of aboriginal non
Aryan HindOOs. But the average Australian
inches, while the cranial capacity Of the gorilla
| does not exceed 30 cubic inches These facts
| show that while the difference between the era
NAL capacity OF the highest and lowest man is
more than six times as great as the difference
| between the cranal capacity Of the lowest man
and that of the gorilla nevertheless the Aus
| tralian who cannot count beyond three or four
has brain-ease twice as largi as the gorilla's.
| The extensive spreading OF the human race
| implies its existence from a date long anterior
| 70 the great glacial epoch, which cannot have
oeen less than 100000 years ago-Lyell thinks a
million years ago-when il Is certainly known
mat men Inhabited Europe and North America
numan bones and implements lately discovered
NY Vialulsu as belonging TO the Miocene epoch
aud there is growing disposiiion AMONG main
onloiosists 10 place the origin of man as faI
9lck as this, though the demonstration of TIL,
unle rahnol oe regarded as conclusive. The
minimum antiquity assigpablc for the Miocen,
Is 5,OOO,OOO years Since the period durin,
which man has possessed sufficient Intelligence
10 leave q traditional record Of himself /