The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1875-11-03
MAN NOT DEGENERATING,
An old Delusion Dispelled An.
Cient and Modern Bigness.

An 0ld Delus1on Dispelled
cient and Modern Bigness.
There never was a delusion with less
evidence for it, except permanent i'm
preston among mnkind, which lis Of
ten the result, not of accumulated TeSpe-
rience, but of an ever renewing .discon-
tent with the actual state of ssaines.
There is not the slightest evidence any-
where that man was ever bigger, strong
er, swifter or more enduring under the
same condition Of food and climate than
he is now. ..-.-..
AS TO bigness, the evidence is positive.
Modern Egyptians are as big as the
mummies who were conquerors in their
day, and modern Englishmen are big
ger. There are not in existence thou
sand coats Of armor which IN English
regiment could put on. Very few mod
erns can use ancient swords, because the
| hlts are two small for their hands. End
less wealth and skill were expended
picking gladiators, and there is no evil
dence that man among them was as
big or as strong as Shaw. No skeleton,
no statue, no picture, indicates that men
in general were ever bigger. The Jews of
to-day are as large as they were in Egypt
or larger. The people of the Romagna
baye all the bearing and more than the
size of Roman soldiery. No feat is re-
corded as usual with Greek athletics
which English acrobats could not per-
form now.
There is no naked savage tribe which
Inaked Cornishmen or ,Yorkshiremen
could not strangle. No race exists of
which thousand men similarly armed
would defeat an English, or German, or
Russian regiment If equal numbers.
Nothing is recorded of, our forefathers
here in England which Englishmen
could not do, unless it be some feats of
archery, which were the result of long
training Of the eye continued for gener-.
aGons. The most civilized and luxuri-
Gus family that ever existed, the Euro
pean royal caste, is physically as big,
as healthy and as powerful as any peo-,
pie of whom we have any account that
science can accept. Thiers' Frenchman
is C0ssar's Gau in all bodily conditions,
and with an increased power of keeping
alive, which may be partly owing to
probably owing still more. to developed
70
the feeble racesare feeblerthan they be-
came after theirsfirst naturalization.
The Beugaleewas what we know him
twelve hundred years ago, and the Chi
narau was represented on porcelain
just as he is now before the birth of
Christ. No race ever multiplied like
the Anglo-SaXon, which has had no adj
vantage of climate, and till lately no
particular advantage of food! Physical
condition depends on physical condi-
tions. and why should race better fed,
better clothed, and better housed than.
lit ever was before degenerate? Because
it eats corn Instead of berries? Com
pare the California aud Digger Indian.
Because itwears clothes? The wearingof-
clothes, ifburdensomewh which the expe-i
rience Of army doctorssin India as to, best
| costumes. for marchiog3 makes excessive
IIy doubtful, they declaring unanimous
! ly that bTeechless men suffer from vari
cose veins, as men wearing trousers do
not-mnst operate as permanent phys
! ical training. You carry weight hab-
;itualIy. Because they keep indoors?
| Compare English professionals with Tas-
manian savages, living in identically
the same climate, but living out Of
doors.
The conditions of civilization not only
do not prohibit Capt. Webb, who would
have outwaiked, Out-swam or strangled
any German that Tacitus ever romanced
about, but they enable him to live to
seventy instead of dying at forty-five as
1000 years ago he, then probably slave
bred for the arena, would have done.
N,nI b,h n1ofnr
best conditions, advances very little in
physical capacities is true, but then it is
true also that those conditions are fatal
to the most powerful of the old improV-
ed forces, the survival Of the tittest.
Still an advance is perceptible in vital
power, and we question whether a.
Greek swimmer would ever have cross
ed from Dover to Calais just asstrong-
ly as we question whether the ancient
world ever possessed horse which
would have achieved & place at EPSON.
Why should man grow feeble in civili-
zation any more than horses?
The STATE FA1R.-The State Fair
of South Carolina will be held Novem-
Der the 9th. at Columbia. Agricul-
tire in the South was never receiving
as much thoughtful attention as at
present. The intelligent farmers Of
the Cotton States arc arousing them
selves and their neighbors to the nc
ccssity of more thought in the labors
Of the farm. Improvement in imple-
ments and machinery of every kind
are now eagerly sought. We would
urge all the exhibitors Of farm machi-
merry at this fair to enter their goods
for the South Carolina State Fair.
We know of no other more promis-
ing.fcld. The Secretary Of the State
Society: Col. D. Wyatt Aiken, of
Cokesbury, Abbcville County, South
Carolina, was on the ground on Mon
day for u few hours, and gave what
time he could spare in personly invit-
ing and urging manufactures to show
in this State. The Hus5andmcn ex-
poets to be represented at the South
Carolina Fair by one Of its editors.
We are much interested in the spirit
of Improvement which is manifcsting
itself throughout the Southern States.
-Elmira (W. " Husbandman.
A New TELEGRAPH CoMpANY.--Al-
fred A. Cohen, of San Francisco, pres