The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-06-01

like apes, such as natural selec!lon
might have developed from ancient
apes no higher than the modern chin,
panzee or orang, we note how In course Of
lime the aclion of natural selection would De
more and more confined to modifying The Ger
ebral structure Of the race. Among the lower
animals, even those which are gregarlous, Inc
preservation of any Individual depends almost
entirely upon his ply slcal adaptation 10 sur
rounding circumstances. There Is 80 nlCie
division OF labor, and 30 little mutual assls.
tanCe, that all must be capable who would
survive With The earliest manifestations OF
true sUCety this state Of things Is somewhat
altered. Even In the rudest actual or imagln-
able society there is some division of labor
and some mutual assislance-so that those who
foil below The average capablliy of the race
are no longer sure to be premalurely cut of,
and thus the agency of natural selection 10
keeping up o uniform standard Of htness Is to
some extent checked. In tho highly complex
| societies which we call civilized, division OF
labor and cooperation have greatly obscured
the eff-cls of this agency. But as natural seec
| lion among individuals grows less rigorous.
Its effects upon rival or antagonist societies
become more marked. The at ributes which
tend 10 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:
| Inferior animals respond chiefly 10 changes
| in their environment, and hence natural se-
lection deals chiefly with such changes, to the
visible modification OF their bodily structure.
PROBABLE RAPIDTTY OF CEREBRAL DEVELOP
MEAT.
But when an animal has once appeared en-
| dowed with sufficient intelligence to chip
stone tool and hurl q weapon, natural selection
will take advantage of variations In this INTEL
ligence 10 the neglect Of purely physical Varla.
| Lions. Communities whose members are best
! ablc to meet by Intelligent coniriVances the
changes In The environment, VIII prevail over
other communities, and Will os less easily oe.
stroyed by physical calastrophea. So soon. In
short, as the intelligence Of an animal has
through ages of adaptation and selection be-
come 10 considerable that slight variation
| in 1t Is of more use 10 the animal than any
variation In physical structure. then SUCH Varl-
alton will be more and more constantly stlect-
ed, while physical variations, being OF less.
vital Importance 10 tha species, will be. more
| aEd more neglected. Thus, While the Pxter-
nal appearance of such an animal, and his
internal nuIrlive and muscular apparatus may
vary but little In many a@es. his Intel.
leclual and moral attributes and his cerebral
structure will vary with comparative rapidly.
We may now understand why man differs 30
lutte In general ply slca structure and exler-
nal appearance from The chmpaDzee and the
gorilla, while In the special points of cerebral
structure and accompanying intelligence ne
differs 80 vastly from them. The cranlal
capacity of man varies from one hundred and
fourteen cubic inches In the Tenton down TO
lorty.siX cubic inches In cerlaln Hindoo skulls,
presumably those OF aboriginal non-Aryan
Hindoos. But The average Australian sknll
has q capacity OF from seventy 10 seventy.hve
cubic iucnes, while the craniaI capacity Of the
gorilla does not exceed thirty-1Ve cubic
Inches. These facts snow that while the dll-
ference between the cranal capacity OF the
10 orrnt,r
as great Us the difference between the cranlal
capacity OF Lhe lowest man and that oil the
gorilla, nevertheless the Australian who can,
not count beyond three-Or 1our has BRAIN
case twice as large as The gorilla5.
PROBABLE ANTIQUITY OF OUR RAcE-THE FUTURE
MAN.
The extensive spreading of the human'ra
implies It's existence f. ON date long anterior
10 The great glacial epucn, which cannot have
been less than two hundred and fifty thousand
years ago-Lyel thinks u million years ago,
when it Is certainly known that men Inhabited
! Europe and North America Human bones
and Implements lately discovered are claimed
as belonging to the mi0cene epoch, ana there
Is growing disposition among palGonlolo-
glsts 10 plnce The OIL gln Of man a5 tar back as
JhIs, though The demonstration OF ibis cate
cannot be regarded as csncslTe. Tile Mill
mum antiquity assgnable for the mlocrne Is
five millions years. Since Tie period during
which man has possessed sufficient lnteiil-
rence to leave Traditional record OF himself'
Is but minute fraction of lbe period during
which he has existed upon The earth, It ls but.
fair to conclude that during these long agee,
of which none but q geologic record remalns,
he was slowly acquiring that superior in-
lelllgence which now so widely distinguishes
him from other animals. Throughout an
enormous period Of time his brain.strlc-
ture and lis correlated intellectual ana
emotional functions must nave been constnnt-
" modified by adaptation ami by natural selec-
lion. Wlule his outward physical appearance
has undergone few modifcati ms, AMI OF these
the most slriking are consequent upon tne
cerebral changes. The must remarkable points
of difference between civilized and nnclVIllzed
man, as we'll ns between mnn ana the Chin-
panz-e, are the differences IN the slze OF Ghe
laws and The Inclination Uf The forrhead. The
laCler difference Is directly consequent upon
increased intelligence. and the former ID lndl-
rectIv occasioped by the same circumstance.
Fur ihe dlninution In the jaws entailed 6y
civilization Is no doubI primarily due 10 o dis.
use occasio2ed partly by difference in 1000 ana
partly by the employment OF toOls ana the
consequent increased reliance upon tne MINUS
as prenpnsle organs. And also increased
frontal development has directly tended, by
correlation of growth, 10 diminish the size oil
The. laws as well as to push forward the OIL fee
of the nose. II Ia coro!lary. from the lore.
going arguments that no race eau ln iuture 20
produced through the agency of natural selec-
zoolooically oislincr irUm and superior 70 the
human race. As The same causes which physl-
calIy modify lower species have for countless
ayes modified man directly 10 intelligencee,
and oply indirectly In physical constitution. it
follows tnat mankind Is destined TO advance
during future ages In psychlcal attributes, out
Is likely to unde 60 only slisht changes ID Tnt,
of intsiIsctual and moral relations that man
maIutalns himself in equilibrium with physl-
cal, intellectual and moral relations, arising In
his ever.chauglng environment. And hence,
In the future, as In the recent past, the dom.
inant fact ia the career OF humanity Is not
physical modification, but CIVILIZATION.
POLITICAL NOTES.