The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-08-14
GROWING STRONGER,
BUT NOT WISER.


that II .s a quotation from the Bible
Now, is 1t really in the Bible, or in
any book, and is the statement veri
fed by fact?
Answer: The statement reads like
a quotation from the Bible. but we
fail to find IL there, nor can We trace
It's authorship 10 any classical writer.
However this may be, the statement
Is false in both of its propositions,
expressing as 1t does a hypothesis OF
how things ought TO be rather than
how things actually are, for, far from
growing weaker and wiser, every gen.
Grafton in reality is growing physical
ly stronger, and, IL not less wise, at
any rate not much wiser. That the
present generation should stronger
than any OF its predecessors follows
a priori from the fact that in the
struggle for existence" the weak are
being gradually eliminated and only
the stongest and fittest survive. In
deed, contemporary anthropologists,
after obtaining careful measurements
OF men Of all ages, from the remains
of primitive men down to the races of
our own day. have arrived at the
conclusion that there has been no
tendency whatever to diminish in
size. This theory is also upheld by the
science of medicine, pointing out that
the very few exceptional big men to
be fcInd in all ages are merely NOR
bid deviation from the normal size,
and that their giant stature is rather
a sign of their inferior strength in the
struggle for existence. In evidence
of the vis% that men of to-day are
much smaller than their primitive
successors, the fact is pointed out
that in most countries the regulation
height for admission TO the army has
been lowered. This, however, does
by no means demonstrate the de-
crease of mans stature, as it is mere
ly confounding the mean size with
some exceptional individual cases.
Thus, Professor earlier, In his MEM
oires de la Societe Anthropologiqu
de Paris" declares that since 1886
the mean statures have been con-
stantly increasing and the small stat
ton comes probably nearer to truth
than the statements to the contrary.
An examination of the skeletons at
tributed to the most ancient repre-.
sentatives of mankind shows that they
belonged to individuals of mean IL
not small stature. Nor did in an
uquity people grow older than to-
In,- ,oI.
strength might be inferred. On ths
contrary, owing to the progress in
medical science and the improved
mode Of living, human life is con-
stantly increasing in length. Thus,
table prepared in the Census Office
Of the United States for the period of
1880 to 1900 shows the increasing
average age of the population from
decade to decade. In 1880 the av-
erage age was 246 years, in 1890
1t was 25.6 years and in 1900 26.3
years. This certainly does not point
to inferior strength of the succeed
ing generations.
One would think that, owing to the
great accumulation of the knowledge
and experience of past ages, every
generation would grow wiser. But
such is not the case. For as little as
the individual learns from anothers
experience as little do whole genera
tions profit by the experience of their
predecessors. That mankind does not
grow wiser is proved by the history of
the rise and fall of nations. The
same errors, superstitions, vices and
crimes that caused the ruin of past
generations have also been and still
are the causes of the decay and de-
struction of their successors. Since
evolution affirms that things have not
always been as they are, we errone-
ously Jump to the conclusion that it
teaches that things, physically, men
tally and morally, are constantly inn
proving. But nothing in the whole
evolutionary theory implies such a
progress. 1t means only differentia-
ton, change, but-"plus ca change,
plus c'est la meme chose" One gen.
GRAFTON passes away and another
takes its place; conditions alter, but
only new errors supplant the old ones.
new superstitions spring up when the
former ones have been destroyed
human foolishness remains ever the
same. To be sure, the quantity and
variety Of human knowledge have in
creased immensely during the last
two thousand years, and every spe-
cialty in science. art, literature and
technics makes to-day a showing OF
more encyclopaedical works than all
the knowledge possessed by the an
clients required, but with regard TO
Quality-at least in the domain OF
art, literature, philosophy and morals
we are to-day hardly superior TO
them, and in some respects even their
interiors. This proves tha: despite
our accumulated knowledge, our
brain faculties have neither increased
nor improved. Our progress merely
consists in the great accumulative
possibilities OF enCyclopaedical works