The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1875-09-25

"FHW
Of Thousands Of Years Ago-- The Modem
Engitshman Bigger than his Aaecssors.
There never was delusioh with iess
evidence for il, except a permanent i'm
preston among mankind, which is often
the result, not of accumulated experiences.
but Of an ever-fenewing disconfent 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 conditions Of
food aud climate than he Is now.
As to bigness, the evidence is positive.
Modern Egyptians are as big as tie num-
mics who were conquerors in their day.
and modern Englishmsn are bigger There
are not in existence thousand coats of
armor which an English regiment could
put on. Very few moderns can use an.
cient swords, because the hilts are too
small for their hands. Endless wealth and
skill were expended in picking eladiators.
and there is no evidence that man among
them was as big or as strong as Shaw.
No skeleton, no statue, no picture, indi-
Gates 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 have all the bearing and
more than the size Of the Roman soldiery.
No feat is recorded as usual with Greek
athletes which English acrobats could not
perform now.
There is no naked savage tribe which
naked Cornishmen or Yorkshiremen could
not strangle. No race exists Of which a
thousand men similarly armed would de-
feat an English, or German, or Russian
regiment of equal numbers. Nothing is
recorded Of our forefathers here In Eng
land which Englishmen could not do,
unless It be some feats or archery, which
were the result Of long trimming Of the
eye continued for generations. The most
civilized aud luxurious family that ever
existed, the European royal caste, is physi-
cally as big, as healthy, and as powerful
as any people of whom we have any
account that science can accept. Thiers'
Frenchmaa in 0esar's Gaul IN all bodily
conditions, and with an increased power
Of keeping alive, which may be partly ow-
ing to improved conditions Of living, but
is probably owing still more TO developed
vitality. There Is no evidence that even
the feeble races are feebler than they be-
came after their first acclimatization.
The Bengalee was what we know him
twelve hundred years ago, and the China
man was represented on porcelain Just as
be is now before the birth Of Christ. No
race ever multiplied like the Angio-Saxon.
which has had no advantage Of climate,
and till lately no particular advantage of
food. Physical condition depends on phys
ical conditions, and why should race
better fed, better clothed, and better
housed than il ever was before degenerate?
Because it eats corn instead Of berries?
Compare the California and the Digger
Indian. Because It wears clothes? Tho
wearing Of clothes, II burdenscme-
the experience Of army doctors in India
as to the best costume for marching makes
excessively doubtful, they declaring unan-
imously that that breechless men suffer
from varicose veins, as men wearing trou-
sers do not-must operate as a permanent
physical training. You carry weight ha-
biiually. Because they keep indoors?
Compare English professionals with Tas-
nanian 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 out-walked, out-sEum, or strangled
any German that Tscitus ever romanced
about but they enable him to live 20 in-
stead Of dying at As, as 1000 years ago
he, then probably slave bred for the are
ma, would have done.
That the human race, even under the
best conditions, advances very little in
physical capacities, is true, but then it Il
true also that those conditions are fatal to
the most powerful Of the old improving
forces, the survival Of the fittest. Still an
advance Is perceptible in vital power, and
We question whether Creek swimmer
would ever have crossed from Dover to
Calais, just as strongely as we question
whether the ancient world ever possessed
a horse which would have achieved place
at EPSON. Why should men grow feeble
In civilization any more than horses p
London Spectator
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