The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-01-18

MAN ON THE ASCENDING GRADE.
1t is a trite saying that 1.-The story of man
is mar" Scientists of late years, accept
ing the proverb for all that it means and
FOR ell that it is worth, have devoted them
selves 10 the study OF man. What is the
result? Certainly not the accepted theory
hat man was always man, that is, man
from the beginning-a created man. They
bave taken man as he is, examined him,
taken him in his highest physical and in
tellectusl development, and then taking
the back track, traced him to his origin,
where they find him not a man at all, bat
rather a beast or a reptile-an animal of
some sort, without q trace of the man as
the best specimens appear to-day.
These students of man have managed to
cOncoct variety of theories. but generally
agree that man, as he now exists physical.
ly, was not created, and the conclusion
follows necessarily that man intellectually
is the result of evolution processes as
marked as anything connected with his
physical development. In the matter of
races there Is wide diversion of opinion,
as for example: Virey thought there were
two, Cuvier three. Linnaeus four, Blumen-
bach five, Button six, Paschael seven,
Agassiz eight, Pickering eleven, Friedrich
Muller twelve, Bory st. Vincent fifteen,
Morton twenty-five, Crawford sixty and
Burke sixty-three. But whether one or a
hundred, scientists WILL have it that man
vas not created man, but has been evolved
from lower animal, and a very low ami
nal at that. Investigations have gone 50
lar as to discover that a number of races
fave existed and disappeared from the face
~ the earth, such, for instance, as the
liver drift men," the leave men," the
".hke-dwellers," the mound builders"
and the "cliff-d rellers." These are all
vanished tribes, their form and stature,
ibeir arts, their mental capacity, their state
0i civilization" their language, everything
as vanished, ard nothing is left but con.
lecture. The probabilities are that they
we're oYertaken by other races further ad-
vsnced in the progress OF evolution, and
eztinguished. II, as Virey thought,
there were but two races, it
would not be difficult to select
tie animal or reptile from which
they stated; but If Burke S correct, there
are sixEy-three different races, and the work
Of selecting from the worlds fauna, while
more difficult, becomes vastly more inter-
esting-and considering the numerous pc.
ouliarties of mans mental organism, one is
likely to tail in with Burke's theory. Who
does not see in men OF the times proof that
they have come down from the cur tribe
1.-THE snappish cur?' Who has not seen
men Of humorous heart" like the hare or
the sheep? Turning from such specimensof
men, 1t is cheering to bshold a man Of the
lion heart. Men see hundred times day
the lap-dog specimen, the degenerate crea-
lure whose high ambition 1t is to be caress-
ed Again, in the study of man, nothing is
more frequent than the contemplation of
the willy, proving, piliering creature who
has come down from the fox-ihe more
advanced Of the specimens having ssgacions
noses, which enable them to secure big
prey. There are men who possess in a
large degree the traits OF the hyena, scorn-
ing all the tanning arts of men. Others
there are who, like the leopard, are proud
Of the spots on their character, while those
In search Of statistics touching the ques-
ton Will find the social jungles full of
men, like tigers, lurking for their prey
destToyers OF men and women, sleek
and vile. Burke evidently, when be de-