Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-08
Man Devises New Forms When
Urged by Necessity.
PROF. MANON'S ENTERTAINING TALK.
The inventions ola People an Index
of Their Life.
AND MODERN

Mason. before the Anthropological Society
last night. THE last being to whom that
term will properly belong will be in
ventor. The only moment in the life of
any individual, man or woman, in which
the distinction of humanity ought to be
conferred is that in which he adds some
| thing new to the stock Of knowledge or
experience. 1t is with nations and tribes
as it is with individuals. their genius
lies in their inventions. While they origi-
nate they live and grow. When they cease
to do that they decay and die. And this
has been the truth from the beginning"
Prof. Mason having fixed the attention
Of his audience by this declaration. then
proceeded to elaborate his subject of "Sav-
ages and Their Inventions" He said that
the Industries and activities which form
| the browning glory of our own age were
all originated in savagery. Between those
comprehensive minds that grasps one of
our highly organized inventions or estab-
| lishments and that group of naked and
inexperienced human creatures standing
on the borders of history is a long way
indeed. But from the sages Of today back
to the very first happy thinkers concern
ing the betterment of the arts Of life there
Is no breach Of continuity whatever.
To Meet Practical Needs.
of a single art would take over the whole
period during which our race has inhabited
the earth and the history Of that art would
be definitely understood only when we nave
also gone the rounds Of every land in which
1t has occurred. Nay, further, we would
also be compelled to visit places where 1t
had no existence.
All inventions OF every kind whatsoever
are the means Of gratifying some human
need or want. We cannot get along unless
this Is perfectly understood. Men do not
invent just for the pleasure of invent ting
until 1t becomes fixed habit. 1t is so true
| that desire and necessity lie at the bottom
OF all inventions, that IL you only knew
what the necessities Of tribe of savages
might be you could at once tell what sort
Of inventions they would make On the con-
trary. 1t must be equally recognized that the
inventions of people are sure index Of
their necessities end their desires. 1t would
be the greatest injustice to any people,
however lowly they might be. to say they
have no feeling. no tastes refinement Of
thought so long as We saw them adjoining
their houses and all the implements Of daily
use with artistic patterns which underlie all
our modern decorations
1t would be equally unjust to say that
people are stupid when they have ingeni-
ously devised the ways out of every diff
Guilty which has arisen In their experiences
and in the satisfaction of all their wants.
Having said SO much concerning underlying
take up the first division of the subject.
namely, the inventions of savages, for the
purpose of discovering whether our first
proposition that all modern contrivances
Piles be true. 1t may increase our esteem for
the remaining primitive types Of mankind
to know that they are standing on the
round Of the ladder Of progress where the
refined nations had to stand before they
climbed higher.
Mans Classified Wants.
The wants Of all mankind relate to food,
clothing. shelter. rest, defense. qualification
of desires. They may be arranged in series
according to their artificiality, commencing
with the form Of qualification which men
indulge in common with the brute and ris-
ing to those which are altogether invention
al. bearing in mind that not only the wants
may be thus serially arranged, but the ways
of satisfying each one of them also go in
ascending grade.
The changes above enumerated, and
which will be presently described, all obey
a law of progress. Mr.. Spencer defines life
to be a series of changes from homogen-
city to heterogeneity of structure through
differentiation and Indignation. This de-
fines the life of each individual living thing.
But the whole life on the globe has also
been a series of changes. from primeval,
homogeneous and little differentiated indi-
viduals up to man. the most heterogeneous
and most highly differentiated. From no.
mad to man is the history of that life what
ever road it travels and whoever guides its
journey.
Now, the unfolding of fine arts. industries,
languages, sciences and religions has been
under the guidance of this same law Of
progress 1t has always seemed to me
that some pilot has had his hand upon the
helm in the industrial history of the globe
and that he was steering towards a light
with which he was perfectly familiar.
When man appeared. the earth was given
to him to dress and keep 1t, to subdue and
improve 1T. and this he has done by his in
ventions, activities in which he approached
most nearly to the mind and life of the
Creator.
Rounds in the Ladder.
These changes in the things themselves
in the hands of the most primitive involve
the following simple steps:
1. Natural objects unchanged in form or