The Ordway new era., 1910-06-10
ROOSEVELT GIVES
I. R0MANES LECTURE
Former President Of United
States at Oxford
LORD cURzoN IN THE CHAIR

0hsidonlan Thsatsr crowdsO With
Distinguished People When Amor
lean ralks on biological An.
aiesIss In History"
lecture by Theodore Roosevelt. which
was to have been delivered on May IS.
but which was postponed on account
Of the death Of King Edward, was
given on June by the distinguished
American. The sheldonian theater
was filled to its capacity by notable
persons and Oxford students and the
lecture, which was on biological
Analogies in History" was we'll re-
seived. Lord Curzon. chancellor of the
university. presided.
In seeking to penetrate the causes
: Il the mysteries that surround not
only mankind but all life. both in the
present and the past. said Mr.. Roose-
velt. We see strange analogies In the
phenomena Of life and death. Of birth
growth and change. between those
physical groups Of animal life which
We designate as species. forms. races
and the highly complex and composite
entities which rise before our minds
when we speak Of nations and civil
uxations. It 10 this study. he assert
Cd, that has given science its present.
day prominence. and the historian OF
mankind must work In the scientific
spirit and use the treasure-houses OF
science.
To illustrate, the lecturer took sew.
\ srnl instances Of the development OF
new species and the extinction OF spe-
oiss in the history Of mammalian life.
/. showing that In some cases the causes
can be traced with considerable accu-
racy, and in other cases we cannot 80
{ much as hazard a guess as to why
given change occurred.
AnaIosIes In Human History.
i Continuing. Mr.. Roosevelt said In
part:
Now. a. to all Of these phenomena in the
evolution Of species. there are. II not
homologies. at least certain anaiogies. In
the history Of human societies. IN ths
history OF the rise to prominence. OF tho
development and change. Of the tenn
porary dominance, and death or trans
formation. OF the groups Of varying KIND
which form races or nations.
As IN OlOIO8y. 30 III human uhbkokys =
now form may result from the specialixa-
ton OF . long existing and hitherto very
!, slowly changing gensralized or nom
' specialized form: a.. for instance. when
= barbaric race from variety OF causes
suddenly develops . more complex culti-
walton and civilization. That 10 what oc-
N'curred for instance. in western Europe
during the centuries Of the Teutonic and
later the Scandinavian sthnic overnows
from the north. All tho modern countries
Of western Europe are descended from tho
states created by these northern invaders
When frst created they could bo called
new" or ''youns" states In tho sense
that part or all OF the people composing
them were descended from races that
hitherto had not been civilized at all. and
hhat therefore for the nrst time entered
on the career Of civilixed communities
In the southern part OF western Europe
the new states thus formed consisted in
bulk Of the Inhabitants already in the land
under the Roman empire: and II was
here that the new Kingdoms hrst took
shape. Through reflex action their
influence then extended back into tho cold
forests from which the invaders had come.
and Germany and Scandinavia witnessed
the rise OF communities with essentially
the same civilization as their southern
neighbors: though in those communities.
unlike the southern communities. there
was no infusion OF new blood. and in each
case the new civilized nation which Gradu-
ally developed was composed entirely OF
members Of the same race which in the
same region had for ages lived the life Of
4 slowly changing barbarian. The same
wns true of the slavs and the slavonized
Films OF eastern Europe. when an innl-
sration Of Scandinavian leaders from the
north and infiltration Of Byzantine
culture from the south Joined to produce
the changes which have gradually. out Of
the little Slav communities Of the forest
nnd the steppe. formed the mighty Russian
empire Of today.
"New" and "Youno" Nations.
Again. the new form may represent
merely a splitting of from lons-estab-
lished. highly developed and specialized
nation. In this case the nation 10 usually
spoken of a. a "new." nation: but the
term should always be used with a clear
sense Of the difference between what IL
described in such case. and what is de-
scribed by the same term In speaking Of
. civilized nation Just developed from a
barbarian. Carthage and Syracuse were
nsw cities compared with Tyre and Cor
inth: but the Greek or Phoenician race was
In every sense of tho word as old In the
new city as In the old city. So. nowadays.
Victoria or Manitoba is new community
compared with England or Scotland: but
the ancestral type OF civilization and cul-
ture II as old In ono case In the other.
I of course do not mean for a moment
that great changes are not produced by
the mere fact that the old civilized race
Is suddenly placed in surroundings where
II has again to go through the work of
tanning the wilderness. a work finished
many centuries before in the original
home OF the race: I merely mean that
l tie ancestral history Is the same in each
l ease. We can rightly use the phrase "a
new people" In speaking OF Canadians
| or Australians. Americans or Afrikanders.
Rat we use It in an entirely different
sense from that in which we use It when
speaking of such communities as those
| founded by the northmen and their de-
srendants during that period of astonish-
inS growth which saw the descendants of
the Morse sea-thieves conquer and trans
form Normandy. Sicily. and the British
islands: we use It in an entirely different