The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-04-30
Natural Selection and Civilization.

Brothers, "rhe Past in the Present: What is
Civilization y" by DR.. Arthur Mitchell, OF Scot.
land, draws lesson from the allowed facts Of
Natural Selection so different from that educed
by the Evolutionists that It will be likely, we
Judge, to evoke reply from that school, and
may prove from its friendliness to the basal
facts of Evolution an attack more difficult to
overcome than the terrific onslaught of Vir-
chow. As, in our Judgment, a scientific con-
troversy must shortly be waged with Mitchell,
equaling that which Vlrchow not long since
encountered, we depart from our usual custom
and give in this column brief resume OF the
argument of DR.. Mtchelrs book, together
with some ideas which il has suggested.
The first part of the volume, of which an
abstract has been given IN our literary depart
ment, shows very conclusivey that the
methods of archaeOlogsts have been very slip
shod, and that the conclusions which the Evo.
lutioniss have drawn from their discoveries
have very uncertain basis. In the second
part, with which this article has chiefly to 90,
the author accepts the facts OF the law OF Nat
ural Selection, and advances the proposition
that civilization Is the result Of an attempt on
the part of men to defeat this law by banding
themselves together. Isolated animals or men
are subject to the law, but cooperation of
which only man among animals is fully capa.
unfit among animals do not live to bring
forth children and perpetuate their traits, the
strong only survive; but among civilized men
many of the weak and sickly are nursed and
saved to transmit their traits. With civilized
men, then, our author thinks, the law OF Nat.
ural Selection, in a great measure, Is deleateu
and the higher the civilization, OF course, the
greater the defeat.
To support the argument, DR.. Mitchell al.
duces the fact that skulls and brains OF FOSSIL
man, that IS of the earliest man we know any
thing about, appear 10 be as good, II not pet
ter, than the skulls ard brains OF the latest, De-
longing to individuals living IN the highest
state OF civilization" He quotes from VIZ
chow: Nay, if We gather together the whole
sum of fossil men hitherto known, ana put
them parallel with those of the present ume'
we can decidedly pronounce mat theie are
among living men, u greater number OF lnui'
vlduals who show a relatively inferior type
than there are among fossils know up to THIS
time" He shows, too, that only 10 per cent.
of the population of the modern Athens, Edin-
burgh, live IN houses gilmore than four rooms,
and that IN Glasgow this class Is only . per
cent of the population. This latter evidence
of the mental Inferiority of civilized man may
he objected to as inconcluslve, but on the
whole, it may be accepted as better evidence
than any which has been adduced of the men
tai nferoriiy of the fossil man. Our higher
culture is not often found living ia single
broom, and II per cent OF the inhabitants Oh
Glasgow live IN houses OF q single room ana
81 per cent in houses of two rooms
DR.. Mitchell then discusses the tendency OF
Icivilization to decay, and allowing Spencer
ANALYSIS of militant aud industrial activities
t(compulsory and voluntary co OperafiOn) ar
cues that the weaker the militant activity, and
the stronger the industrial, the higher the civ
ilization. Militant activity leads to the pre-
pOnderance OF the weak; IT the fostering Is
confined to the protection of the weak, then
there begins decline of civilization. Ut thus
appears that though clvIlizatian may be salo
| to rise with the success attending the efforts OF
n combination of men to defeat the law OF
Natural Section IN their case, such defeat
cannot become absolute in any civilization
without ultimately involving what may cor
rectly he described as the death of that civil
cation by suicide"
! The average of mental and bodily capacity
| is much The same in high or low civilizations,
hut a weaker class is found in the high than
in the low, because in the low the dregs OF so.
cety are left more to the operation OF Natural
Selection than in the high. The hope or a
higher civilization ls then discussed. The IN
fuence of the climate and soil is recognized,
but the religious belief Of man Is pronounced
the chief factor in securing this higher evil
cation. After showing that the creed which
has a special god for every state OF society
limits civilization and keeps societies OF men
apart, our author says:
"lf we turn now to the other creed, that IN
which God appears as unique, immense,
universal being, alone anlmating the world
and standing IN exactly the same relation TO
- ,~c, nnrth vi
that its influence or the growth and pattern OF
civilization is quite as great but very different
1t SCENE to me almost unnecessary
to point out that religious belief of this kind,
instead of tending to keep societies OF men
apart, tends to draw them together. 1t
is impossible not to see how great must be the
consequences OF a belief like this in the prog
res of civllIzation-hOw much stronger 1t
tends to make it, how much further il tends to
carry It,"
is 1t possible" our author asks in conclu-
sion, "that this faith may some day become
universal among men, and that the fruit OF II
may become the union OF unions-c0mblna-
tions and coalescences Of great emplres-till
there IS on earth but one people worshlplng
one God in one tongue:'
What a different deduction this is from tina
usually made from Natural Selection need not
be pointed out Mitchells conclusion indeed
reads like description Of the millennium.
The defeat OF the law of Natural Selection by
the intellect of man, the conservation OF civil.
zatlon by the belief in God. Such messages
science has not always given to men
The hypothesis of Evolution In the past is
not seriously attacked by Mr.. Mitchell's argu-
mcnt. But with man Evolution crests. 1t ends.
The law has not force enough to cause
change of structure in men cooperating to
defeat it, For this end was this creation We
call earth begun. Man, then, is the crown of
this creation Is this all? Is it complete
story? How the thoughts throng about this
question, how strongly and decidedly the
crown of creation, in his better moments an
swers, Nol-AUiHace Fl
Chicapn Ahead.