Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-07-11

OUR RACE A MILLION YEARS OLD
Professor John Fiske. one of The sblest
American advocates Of the .Darwinisn the
ory. in recent lecture in New York.
thus developed what has been considered
one Of the weakest points in Mr. Darwin s
argument: - 20 .sT ii
| That man. considered from q purely
sociological point OF view. difersss ssmuch les
/ from the higher apes than these differ from
the lower is generally scknowledged by
naturalis,s, yet there are sundry respects
in which man has become very widely diff
ferentia'ed from the highest OF the apes.
The social feeling. the use Of ariieulase
language. the construction Of tools, hsbi-
taiions and clot1G6x, ana the, increased
ability to adapt h<lions to future contin-
fgencies, are tbviocsly derend emf upon he
relatively great sig. and cout fexity ofthe
upper lobes of his brain. N probable
action Of natural selection upon the brain
is. therefore. the most interesting and i'm.
portsnt point connected with the origin Of
mankind
Mr. Darwin shows that the higher apes
manifest certain social feelings. as sym.
pathy and i,lelity: Thus they EMPLOY
stones and clubs as weapons in lighting.
besides using stick. a. levers and stones
as hammers. aud that without possessing
ar'icuIste speech thew are nevertheless
able TO communicate with each other hy
means Of cries and gestures From these
conter porary apes the earliest known mau
would seem 10 have differed in little save
greater cranial capacity, implying doubt
leSs an increased power Of social conbina-
ton. and perhaps the ability to chip the
stones used for tools and weapons. Wheth-
er the earliest man possessed articula,e
| language or not. cannot be determined -
But granting race Of ape-like men or
man-like apes. such as paturnl selection
mi ghs have developed from ancient apes
no higher than the modern chimpanzee or
orang. we note in course of time the ac-
tion Of natural selection would be more
nsd more confined to modifying the cere.
bral structure Of the race.
Among the lower animals, even those
which are Crcgarious. the preservation of
any individual depends almost entirely
upon his physical adaptation to surround.
ing circumstances Thrre is no little di-
vision of labor. and so little mutual asSis-
tamce, that all must be capable who would
survive. With the earliest manifestations
Of true society this statement of things IL
somewhat altered. Even in the rudcst
actual or Imaginable society there is some
division of labor and some mutual assis-
tance, so that those who fall below the
average capabi!ity of the race are no long
or sure to be prematurcly cut off. and thus
the agency Of naaiSal selection in keeping
up uniform standard Of Iitrcss is 20 some
! extent checked. In the highly complex
societies which we call civilized division
OF labor end cooperation have greatly OBJ
scured the effect of this agency. But as
natural selection among individuals grow
less rigorous, its effect upon rival or an
tagonistic societies becomes more marked.
The attributes which tend to make socie-
ty strong and durable with reference to
surrounding societies are attributes which
natural selection will row chiefly favor
A new consideration IS this Inferior an
imals respond chiefly to changes in the
environment, and hence natural selection
deals chiefly with such changes to the
visible modification Of their bodily struc-
ture.
But when an animal has once appeared
endowed with sufficient inte lligence TO chip
stone tool and hurl weapon, natural
selection will take advantage of variations
in this intelligence to neglect Of purely
physical variations Communities whose
members are best able TO meet by intelli-
gent con:rivances the changes in the en-
4 vironmcnt, will prevail over other com-
munities. and will BE- less easily destroyed
by physical catastrophes So soon, in
short, as the intelligence Of the animal
has. through ages of adaptation and selcc-
tion. become So considerable that a slight
variation IN it is Of more use to the animal
than any variation in physical structure.
then such variation will be more aud more
constantly selected. while physical vsria-
'ions, being Of less vital Importance TO the
species. will b. more and more neglected.
Thus. while the external appearance Of
! such an animal. and his internal nutri,ivc
and muscular apparatus may vary hu: lit
tie in many ages. his intellectual AMI nor
al attributes and his cerebral structure will
vary with comparative rapiiity.
| We may now understand why man dif.
fcrs so little IN general physical structure
and external appearance from thexchim-
panzee and the gorilla. while in the spe-
cial points of cerebral structure and sccom-
ranying intelligence The differs so vastly
from them. The cranial capacity of man
varies from III cubic inches in the Teu.
ton down to 46 cubic inches in certain
Hindco skulls, presumably those of abor-
iginal non-Aryan Hindoos Bu, the av-
erase Australian skull has capacity of
from 20 10 15 cubic inches. while I'll. era
NAL capacity cf the gorilla does no, exceed
81 inches. These facts show tha, while
the difference between the cranial capaci-
ty of the highest aud lowest man is more
than six times as great as the difference
between the cranial capacity of the loves.
man and that Of the gorilla. nevertheless.
the Australian who eanpot count bexcha
three or four. has brain twice as large
as the goril.s's. r.
The extensive spreading ef the human
7 race implies its existence from date louc
sn,erior to the grcs, glacial epoch. which
cannot have been less than $50 200 wears
aco-Lyell thinks million wears ago.
when !; is eeftsniy knawu that men. in
L.t.s