Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-06
THE GENUS HOMO.
How II Survives. Though Inferior Phy.cisi y
30 Other Animals.

be regarded as an accident OF animal hfeP' saii
q scientist TO q STAR writer. The puzzle ID,
why be should survive ai all. suppo-c hlm 20
have become extinct a race. most other
animals have which have occupied a.. earth.
Also imagine that some other tribe % iu;slli-
gent and philosophical creatures had survived.
Conceive that they would dig tor toss,,s. aud
that among them they would find remains q
the genus homo. What would he their VERDICT
Why, they would say. OF course such creature
as this could not long preserve existence. 10
must necessarily have been quickly overcome
in the struggle for survival 10 had no weapons
in the shape Of teeth Tor offensive OF defensive
purposes, neither had il claws. A more eu-
tirely defenseless beast il would be di;ic alt %
picture. Though alarge animal il inferior
IN muscular strength proportionAtely 10 the
weakest OF the c8ruivorts Of its own or any
other epoch. Ii came into the world naked.
like worm. so that it conld only hive In eli
mates reasonably cool by clothing itself with
the hides of brutes better provided by nature.
In short. the genus homo was OF all known AMI
mails, In this other ages the least well
adapted for its own preservation. No wonder
that II vanished. Look at It, eeth. Thev are
not constructed for the capture Of prey. Al
they seem 20 be meant for H. 10 consume food
meat or vegetable. that has been .put iuto lie
mouth. Science shows that. under primitive
conditions. food does not supply it-,lf for eat
ing. Therefore. this animal called man must
necessarily have become extinct very soon
How. then, has II happened hat man has
survived There j. only one WAY conceivable
and that Is that his existence n sperles began
In some part Of the world where there we're no
large caruivores to attack him. ouce starred,
his superior intelligence enabled him To ESCAPE
the teeth, claws aud vastly superior strength OF
rival beasts. and through the progressive de-
velopment of his intellect he assumed the
throne of the animal kingdom. BY his superior
powers of mind he Is able TO destroy all of his
competitors that are dangerous 20 has safety,
and even to enslaye and devote 20 his Own
uses such creatures, bipeda and quadrupedal.
as are valuable servants merely or that Iro-
duce food for his support.
PHYSICAL SUPERIORITY OF THE LOWER ANIMALS.
Eat the same time man looks around him to-
day and perceives that what he chooses to call
the lower animals are vastly his superiors
physically. without the aid of artificial de-
vices he could not contend with them al all In
strength and agility he rs far their interior
His skeleton represents in many respect a
very much lower type anatomicaly. so tins
day, for example, he walks sluggishly ON the
Hat of his foot, instead OF accomplishing loco
motion swiftly and gracefully upon one or two
| toes, as do the horse, the Rocky Mountain goat
and other four-footed mammals. Ii Is only IN
his hand that you discover advantage in
construction which seems to express the apIli-
cation of a consciouness beyond ia degree that
| OF what man terms the beast of the held, for
the reason that he himself finds IL more conye-
nient TO live in a house. Not being protected
by nature, he finds it comfortable to dwell
| within a shelter, does that other curious be-
ing, born naked, the hermit crab.
How wonderful an animal is this that could.
with SO many disadvantages TO start with. as
/ sumo the mastery OF creationi lie has no
wings like the eagle nor claws like the tiger,
nor the moles burrowlng ability, nor the hug
ging powers of the bear, nor the facility Of the
frog when swimming, nor eyes like those 81
the owl wherewith TO see at night. nor tho
heetness of the hare in running, nor powerful
jaws wherewith 90 grind up the bones of cros-
lures he has killed. And Yet, consider what
he has accomplished. He was the last Of all
the animals to come upon the earth; there bns
been no addition made TO organic life since he
arrived. All the beasts with which he was
obliged TO enter into competition for existence,
! including those mentioned, were here when be-
first appeared, the wonderful descendant Of an
ancestral line Of apes. They were strong,
| as intelligent and fierce they are today;
but he has conquered them all. Ii has made
no difference TO him that be lacked powerful
hands, because he could make them out u
steel as formidable as he might require.
| Though inferior in physical strength TO the
other creatures. he could dam up the waters OF
| the rivers 80 to make them turn his wheels
| and manufacture for him whatever he chose.
Or, FOR like purposes, he was able to dig out Of
stored-up sunbeams that fell upon the earth
millions Of years before. Althoagh sluggish Of
| foot and not built for running fast. he could
build machines that would outrun the storm in
swlftness; without any equipment for burrow-
ing, he could turn mountains into dust for the
purpose of obtaining their stores of valuable
metals, and while possessed Of inferior sight,
he could construct instruments for revealing
to his vision the wonders Of the distant
heavens, as well as the most minute structures.
MAN is the only creature in the world that
makes progress The bee constructs its hsbita-
ton precisely as it did millions of years ago,
and SO il is with all other animals. They do
Tot get ahead. Suppose that person earns "a
a day all his life and lives on precisely that in
| come, with nothing TO spare he lays up nothing
and is no better OF at the end than he was at
the beginning. That is just what all the beasts
do. But this extraordinary creature OF which
we are speaking differs from the others in that
| he has an excess of nervous and intellectual
capital; he is continually producing something
more than he consumes and Il ls this tact which
| is represented by the progress of civilization.
There is nothing more remarkable that
has accomplished than the alterations Nhich
| his influence has effected among the lower AMI
| mails Upon what other creature has he be-
| slowed such affection and from what source
does he derive such devotion as the dog. which.
as he first found il, a ravening wolf, hertcst
of the brutes and mortal enemy TO human
kind. Yet this devil incarnate has been trans
| formed by man into his most trusted compan-
| ion and faithful friend. Likewise the gentle
pussy that purrs beside the baby Is de-
| seconded directly from ferocious and
tamable cats, which would have considered .
| Young infant a choice morsel for dinner. The
| meek sheep and goat were found by man leap
| ing from crag to crag and flying all pursuit.
The COW WAS a wild buffalo and the horse a
creature yet to be subdaed- What are now
domestic fowls were birds of the air, field aud
| forest the useful but unpretending porker was
| a boar with tusks. and 30 on What wonderful
changes are these which man has made in the
fauna OF the world. Doubtless his task in this
direction begun with the tanning OF ami
mails captured when young Naturally he pre-
served those which developed the more gentle
and otherwise desirable qualities, killing the
others, until by this process OF artificial selec-
ton the wolf has been transformed into a dog
and the wildcat into the household tabby. In
this performance he may be said to have eX-
hibited himself in the hight Of n creator, follow.
ing the methods which nature herself adopts
for the improvement OF species"
Blanche Young Released.