Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-07-13
COMING MAN.
Remarkable Deductions from Accom-
plished Facts-A FOrbidding Prophecy
-TOothless, Hairless, Toeless.

The man of the future-that mys-
terious being who will look back
across a dim gulf of time upon i'm
perfect humanity of the nineteenth
century with just such kindly and
half-incredulous scorn as we now
condescend to bestow upon our club
welding ape-ike ancestors-will be
a toothless, hairless, slow-limbed
animal, incapable of extended loco
motion. His feet will have no divi-
sion between the toes. He will be
very averse to fighting, and will
maintain his position in the foremost
files of time to come solely upon the
strength of one OF two convolutions
in his brain. This may seem to be
poor prophecy, but it differs from
most prophecies in being a mere
logical deduction from accomplished
facts.
1OOA
The different parts of the human
frame as it exists now have been
evolved or modified by the action of
the two great principles that have
always regulated the development of
species. Every organ and every
ornament that man possesses has
been acquired by natural or sexual
selection, and when either Of these
forces is weakened or removed, or
when the necessity for such organs
or ornaments is no longer sufficient
to counter balance the loss of the
power employed in their production,
then they commence at once to dis
appear. This is the case with human
teeth. The early ancestors of man
We're furnished, as the male gorilla
is to day, with magnificent grinding
teeth for crushing hard fruit, and
huge CANNES for fighting with other
males for the possession of the fe.
males. A trace of this remains in the
more powerful dentition OF savage
races, who stand short distance
nearer to our common ape-like ances-
tors. Civilized human beings, on the
other hand, have absolutely no use
for canine teeth, which are therefore
found to be small in propo rtion to the
civilization of their possessors; and
for the rest of the teeth, they are
eminently unsnited for the work they
have to perform. This is sufficiently
plain from their decay, and the arti-
ticial means which have to be EN-
ployed in order to retain them even
to maturity. The so-called wisdom
teeth are even now being lost. They
are the last to appear and the first
to go, and even while we have them
they are unemployed The rest will
probably follow them two at q time,
and their places will be supplied, no
doubt, by hardening of the gums,
which can not fail to be incomparably
more convenient and suitable to the
viands of life.
HAIRLESS.
Long hair, beard, mustache and |
whiskers are all sexual ornaments |
acquired by man to charm and allure
the opposite sex, just as the canine
teeth were acquired to fight for a |
similar purpose. But neither is sex
ual selection so powerful now, nor
are these hairy ornaments 30 import
ant as they used to be. Marriage is
no longer settled by the strength or |
harness of the suitor.
Wealth will cover the bald head; in
tellect is more valued than whiskers,
and the length Of rent troll counter
balances the shortness of beard. A
woman, too. who has but a scant
supply Of that ancient pride of a |
woman"-long hair-can exc it out |
by fraud and art, nor need she 20
unwedded on that account. Neither
men nor women, therefore. who hap
pen to be ill furnished with hair are
now, as formerly, handicapped in the
race of life, and unlikely to leave
children to inherit their defects. On
the other hand they gain a distinct
advantage at the outset inasmuch as
no vital force is in their case wasted
in the production of useless orna-
ments. There is, moreover, a myster-
tious law of correlation of growth be-
tween the hair and teeth. Throughout
the animal world strong and luxu-
riant hair is accompanied by regular
and durable teeth, and a hairless
breed of dogs exists, which is equally
conspicuous for the absence of its
teeth. Hence it might have been
expected that civilization would affect
the hair as much as the teeth, and
infallibly tend to suppress all hirsute
adornments as not being sufficiently
necessary to the welfare Of the indi-
vidual to repay the cost of their pro-
duction. Experience confirms this
view; for, as the teeth are small, soon
lost, and two of them at least capri
cious in appearance, so bald heads
in the prime of life, smooth cheeks
and beardless chins among men, and
Vomen conspicuous for their absence
of natural locks, are common in civil
lied countries; while savage tribes,
who have more lately left. or still re-
main in, that state of society in which
individual strength and social orna-
ment are demanded by the principles
of natural and sexual selection, have
stronger teeth and retain more of
their origin al wealth of hair.
TOELRSS.
With respect to his locomotive
limbs. civilized man has lost some
faculties and is losing others. The
prehensile power Of the great toe,
inherited from our ape like ancestor,
and still obvious in the human en-
bryo, is retained in part by savage
races, but of necessity lost by those
human beings who habitually inclose
their feet in the boots and shoes of
civilized life. Indeed, the separation
of the five toes under such circum-
-