Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1875-10-23
MAN NOT DEGENERATING.

There never was Il delusion with
less evidence for it, except perma-
nent impression among mankind,
which ie ofteu the result, not of ac-
cumuiated experience, but of au ever
renewing discomfort with the actual
state OF things. There is not the
slightest evidence anywhere that man
was ever bigger, stronger, swifter Or
more enduring under the same cOn-
ditions OF food and climate than he is
now.
AS TO bigness, the evidence is pos
tive. Modern Egyptians are as big
as the mummies who were conquer
ers III their day, and modern English
mon are bigger. There are not in
existence thousand coats of armor
which All English regiment could put
Oh. Very few moderns eau Use an-
cient swords, because the hits are
toe small for their hands Endless
wealth and skill were expended in
picking gladiators, aud there is no
evidence that mau among them was
as big 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 Romagna have
all the bearing and more than the
size Of the Roman soldiery. No feat
is recorded ss usual with the Greek
athletes which English acrobats could
not perform now.
There is NO naked savage tribe
which naked Cornishmen or York
shiremen could not strangle. No race
existed of which a thousand men SIM
ilarly armed, would defeat all Eng
lish or German or Russian regiment
of equal numbers. Nothing is re-
corded Of our forefathers here in
England which Englishmen could not
do, unless it be some feats of archery.
which were the results of long
training of the eye continued for gen
erati0ns.
The most civilized and luxurious
family that ever existed, the Europe
all loyal caste, ia physically as big, as
healthy, and as powerful as any peo-
pie of whom we have any account tina t
science can accept. Theirs French
| man is Caesars Gaul in all bodily con-
ditions and with an increased power
Of keeping alive, which may be part
ly owing to improved conditions OF
living, but is probably owing still
more to developed vitality. There
Is no evidence that even the feeble
races are ieebler than they became at
ter their first acclimatiZation.
The Benaglee was what we know
him twelve hundred years ago, aud
the Chinaman was represented on
porcelain just as he Is now before the
| birth of Christ. No race ever multi
| piled like the Anglo-Saxou, which
has had no advantage of climate, and
till lately no particular advantage of
food. Physical condition depends on
| phy sical conditions, and why should
race better fed, better clothed and
better housed than it ever was before
degenerate? Because it cats coru ill.,
stead of berries? Compare the Cali
| toruia and Digger Indian. Because
| 1t wears clothes?
Tie wearing OF clothes, if burden
sone-which the experience of army
doctors i'll iudia AS to the best cost ume
| for marching, makes excessively
| doubtful, they declaring unal,imoms-
ly that brecciiless men suffer from va
| rious vcius, rs men wearing trousers
do not-nust operate as a permanent
| physical training. You carry weight
i,abitually. Because they keep in-
| doors: Compare English profession.
ais with Jssmauian savagrs, living
idcuticali? i'll the same climate, but
| living out of doors.
| The conditions of civilization not
only do not prohibit Capt. Webb,
VINO would have outwslked, out
sWum, OF strangled ANY German that
Iacitus ever romanced about, but
they cnabicd tiuI to live to 70 instead
| OF dying ut %, as 1000 years ago he,
| then probably a slave bred tor the
! arena, would have done.
That the human race, even uuder
the best conditions, advances very
little i'll physics capacities is true,
but then 1t Is true, also, that those
| conditions are fatal to the most pow
erful OF the old improving forces, the
! survival OF the most titest. Still An
advance Is perceptible in vital pow
er, aud we question whet ther Greek
swimmer would ever have crossed
from Dover to Calais, just as str ons-
ly as we question whether the ancient
world ever possessed horse whic
would have achieved place at Ed.
som. Why should men grow feeble
in civilization any more than horses?
-lLondon Spectator.
The hog crop for this year is esti.
mated at s,0OO, 900 head, and it will