Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-08-29
GROWING STRONGER,
BUT NOT WISER.


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casionally we hear II said that "every
generation is growing weaker and
WISER" followed by the statement
that II Is a quotation from the Bible.
Now, is 1t really in the Bible, or in
any book, and is the statement verl-
fed by fact?
Answer: The statement reads like
a quotation from the Bible, but we
fail to find 1t there, nor can we trace
its authorship to any classical writer.
However this may be, the statement
is false in both of It's 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 gem
Grafton in reality is growing physical
ly stronger, and, If not less wise, at
any rate not much wiser. That the
present generation should stronger
than any of its predecessors follows
prlori from the fact that in the
struggle for existence" the weak are
being gradually eliminated and only
the strongest 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 found 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 view that men of to-day ara
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 1t is mere
iy confoundlng the mean size with
some exceptional individual cases.
Thus, Professor earlier, in his "Mem-
oires de la Societe Anthropologlque
de Paris" declares that since 1886
the mean statures have been con-
Stantly increasing and the small stat
ures diminishing. And this observa-
ton comes probably nearer to truth
than the statements to the contrary.
An examination of the skeletons at
tributed to the most ancient repre-
Ientatives of mankind shows that they
belonged to individuals of mean If
not small stature. Nor did in an
tiquity people grow older than to-
day, from which their superior
strength might be inferred. On the
contrary, owing to the progress in
medical science and the improved
mode OF living, human life is con-
5tantly 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 24.6 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 another's
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 1t
teaches that things, physically, men
tally and morally, are constantly i'm
proving. But nothing in the whole
evolutionary theory implies such
progress. 1t means only difrerentia-
ton, change, but-"plus ca change,
plus c'est la meme chose" One gem
Grafton passes away and another
takes it's 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 showing of
more encyclopaedia works than all
the knowledge possessed by the an
clients required, but with regard to
quallty-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 that despite
our accumulated knowledge, our
brain faculties have neither increased
nor improved. Our progress merely
consists In the great accumulative
possibilities of encyclopaedia works,
which are due to the art of printing
and the development of technics. But
the parrotlike acquisition and mem
orization of the crystallized knowl-
edge laid down in those works, far
from improving our mental faculties,
only serve to render them sterile, l..
e., incapable Of original thought. The
Child's brain of to-day is the same as
Il was two thousand years ago, and
as regards true wisdom, there is hard
ly any contemporary to compare with
the great sages, philosophers and law.
givers of old.-New York Tribune