Evening star., 1901-07-20
Will Be a More Perfect Animal in
Every Way.
BETTER MINDS IN BETTER BODIES
Famous EthnoIogst's Views on an
Interesting Subject.
LINES OF DEVELOPMENT
Written for The Evening Star.

WASHINGTON, ID. G, July 90 1901.
Here is a cheering message to you. to
your children. to their children and to all
humanity. 1t ia story. wonderful and
unique. Of the future of mans mind and
body, told by scientist who has made
the study Of the human race a life work
He is the optimist of optimsts
"Wfii there ever he "A superhuman race?'"
l yesterday asked Prof. w, ]. McCee. eth
nologist In charge Of Uncle Sans bureau
of ethnology.
AS far into the future as can see man
will still be man. The general progress OF
humanization is one to which there is alb
solutely no end. With man intelligence is
now the sole factor which will det etermine
development. He lives In an era of the
artificial and is no longer subject to his
natural environment No other organism
can ever enter and compete in that domain
or intellect and control of SURROUNDINGS
he Is developing upon higher planes. but is
compelled to progress along certain lines.
Man will never develop wings. for in
stance, because their use would be a too
extravagant waste of vitality. When with
the mechanical appliances devised by his
intellect, he completes with lower animals
he demonstrates his superiority in every
direction. He will not develop into a hairy
creature because it will always cost less
vital energy to make and wear clothing
than to cultivate natural fur.
A Better Brain Mechanism.
The future human race will have a
much better brain than ours Mans brain
is improving constantly. There are two
sides to man-the brain side and the hand
side. More and more nerve activity is go-
Ing to the hands: also to the feet to some
extent. We have better organized nerves
than those OF primitive man Your hand
hat nf
age. When you were little boy you
couldn't write without screwing up your
mouth. The hand and brain are going for
ward together Man will write more and
more rapidly with both pen and typewriter
We today can write more rapidly than our
ancestors of three generations ago. While
you are taking notes on this interview your
hand Is moving automatically white your
brain itself has a half dozen different
thoughts-as TO future questions you will
ask me, as to how best to transcrlbe my
language in popular form, &c. Such a
complication of functionngs was beyond
the power Of our ancestors.
Future man will invent and create more
things. His written and spoken language
will be more economical We are painful
ly alive to the fact that English is not
phonetic in Its orthography. Some of these
days II Will become SO. The substitution of
mechanical for hand typesetting will serve
as long step. There will be language
In which there Is a term merely to express
each distinct idea. Man will talk and write
as well as think more rapidly. No, 1 do
not believe he will ever talk or write quite
as fast as he can think. Some poor think
ers can now talk faster than their ideas
can flow. but they contribute little to hu-
man happiness.
'Thought-saving machines will relieve
future man Of much Of his present routine
of brain work. Practically all mathematt-
cal work, for instance. will be dons for
him by mechanical devices. Thought thus
saved will be expended on other pursuits"
A Greater Range of Memory.
But does not the fact that absent-mind-
edness increases with intellect indicate that
the coming race will have an impaired
memory"
THE scientific man today is not absent
minded but the scholastic is But scholas-
tics very often affect Observation-Disclosures as
a badge of distinction to be admired by the
multitude, just as some Of the socially am
bilious affect gout as a mark of aristoc-
racy.
THE memory Of the future will be one
OF greater range, although not acute AS
to useless details along one line. Today
we remember 100 things to each one thing
remembered by the savage, but of that one
thing he can remember more details. The
most stupid man ever knew could remem-
ber. word for word, nearly all conversa-
tions he had ever carried on and could re-
peat them down to the fourth and fifth Seq
L and 'Sez he This man, like the savage
and primitive man generally had developed
his memory along one line. But II had no
range To better understand what 1 mean
by range let us take up the future Of the
senses Of which the memory is composed,
so to speak.
"The eye Of future man will have greater
range Of vision, but will be less acute. In
other words, it will be less of a telescope
and more Of a panoramic camera. The
average white gunner is better marks
man today than the Indian who has car
ried gun all his life, because the formers
eye judges distance, space relations, force
Of wind, etc, all at the same time. Any
well-trained Papago Indian can trail bet
ter than any white man I know Of; can
see much more acutely than L can certain
things to which he is accustomed. But 1
can see twenty times as many things he
sees in passing over the same ground.
Future man will see colors not now per-
ceptible to us-colors above the violet and
below the red. He will perceive more tnts
shades and tones Of all colors. He will
hear higher and lower pitches of sound
than can hear. But just as in memory
and In seeing, he will be less acute-wil
not be able to hear sounds as far off.
THE sense of smell will lose in acute
ness, but gain in range. The savage today
can perceive particular odor further than
enlightened man. but the latter can per-
ceive a much wider range OF perfumes Of
flowers. or aromas OF coffees or teas. for
instance.
1.-The sense Of feeling will grow more del
icate. Future man will suffer more than
we do from heat and cold, when exposed to
H. pul MS SIedlef SehSitINeEess IN Oetect-
ing coming changes Of temperature will en-
able him to better protect himself against
their effects. He will be much more sem
sitive in discriminating rough smooth.
moist or dry. soft or hard surfaces.
More PIeasuresJ Less Pains.
''The more highly man becomes developed
tho more pain he viii suffer from a given
shock. This rule will apply SO long as
every other condition remains equal. But
every other condition will not remain equal
With his increase Of refinement and sensi-
bility the greater the number Of degrees
between extreme pain and extreme pleas