The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-09-18
NAV NOT DEg ENERATING.
rhe Modern Egyptian ne Bis a. tho bsyp.len
Of Thousands Of Wears Ago Tue "ooo'"
EnsIt.hman bigger than bis Anceseor'


From ne Lordon Spectator.
,rbero never was delusion with loss owl
senoo for IT, except a permanent impression
among mankind which Ia often the result, not Of
accumulated experience, but OF an ever renew
ing discomfort with the actual state Of things.
There IL not the slightest evidence anywhere
that man was ever bigger, stronger, swifier. OF
more enduring under the same conditions OF
10 I'd and climate than lie Is now. .
A to bi0ness the evidence Il positive. Mod
ern Eg,ptans are ~ big a. the mummies who
were cOroucrors In their day, and modern ENG
lishmen are bigger. There are not tn existence
thousand coats - amor which an English
regiment coul nut on. Very few moderns eau
use ancient SWORDS. because the hilts are too
small for their hands. Endless wealth ana sklll
were extended In picking lndi1tors, ana there
Is no evidence that n man among them waA M
big or "a strong as shaw. No skeleton, no ga,
tue. no picture, indicates that men n general
were ever bigger. The Jews OF to day are az
large IA thcv were I'm Egypi, or larger The PEG,
pile ~ tho Romagna have all the bearing ana
more than the size OF the Roman folii X. ~
feat Il recorded as usual Win ureek an,c.r"
which English dcrobats could not perform nov;
There II no naked say re tribe Mh,vn , maui n
Cornishmen or ioikslIiremen cou,u no, r. III ~,
gle. No race exists Of which thVir w ihon
similarly armed would deteat, an Enrnshn, OF
Germnn or Russian regiment OF euuhl hulnoeIs.
Nothing ia recorded ~ our fprefathcrs here In
England which Encshmcn could not do, unless
II be some feats " archery which were the re-
sult Of a long training ~ the eye continued Tor
generations. The most civilized aud luxurious
family that ever existed. the European royal
c1ste IA phy -allv ms big, an healthy, and IA
powerini "a any people Of whom we have any
account that science can accept. THEIRS
Frcnchman IL Caesars Gaul in all bodily condi-
tlpns, and with an incre sed power OF Keeping
alive, which may be partly owing to improved
conditions Of living, but u nrObahly owing sun
more to developed vitality. There - no evidence
that even the feeble races are feeber thant hey
be came after their first acclimat1 alton.
The BenPalea was what we know him twelve
hundred years AGO, and the Chinlman was
represented on porcelain Just rs he Is now be-
foro tie birth Of Christ. No race ever mutt
piled like the AnVlo-Saxon, which has hld no
advantage VI climate, and till lately no partic 70
ponds on physical conditions, and why should
race hotter fed, better clothed, and better
housed than II ever was before degenerate
Because N cnts corn instead Of berries Cum
rare the California and the DIGGER Indian. Re-
cause 1t wears cluthcsY The wearing Of clothes,
n burdens me which the experience Of army
doctors In India a. to the best costume for
marching makes excessively dounttul. they de-
claring unanimously thai hrcechless men suffer
from viric ose veins, as men wearing trousers do
not-must upera'e ~ q permanent physi, al
they keep indoors Compare English profess
siOnals with iasmanlan savnrcs, living ~ tdcn-
tcllN tine me climate, but living oui OF uoor-.
The conditions OF civillzatin IN not only do not
prohibit tlpt. Webb, who would have Out-walk-
ed out swum, or strangled any German that
TacituS ever romanced about, but they cnaule
him to live 10 20 instead OF dying at -, ~
zoo years ago he, then UrOpib!y slave bred
for the arena, would have done.
ihtt the human race, even under the best
cond .ons. advances very little In physical ca.
pacities i true, but then IL h true also that
those conditions are fatal To the most powerful
Of the Oil improving forces, the survival of the
nttcst. sun an advance l. perccptihle la vital
power. aud we question whether o Greek SWIM
mer would ever have CROSSED from Dover to
Calais, Just ~ strongly rs We question whether
the ancic.t would ever possessed q horse which
would have achieved place AZ /. lsum. Why
shouli men grow feeble In civilization any more
than hOr-esy