Barbour County index., 1910-06-08
ROOSEVELT GIVES
ROMANES LECTURE
Former President Of United
States at Oxford
LORD CURzoN IN THE CHAIR
Sheldonian Theater Crowded With
Distinguished People When Amer
lean Talks on theological An
aIogies in History"

OXIOTO, EnRlanu.-ln ne hOHdHeS
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 it's capacity by notable
persons and Oxford students and the
lecture. which was on biological
Analogies in History" was we'll re-
ceived. Lord Curzon, chancellor Of the
university, presided.
In seeking to penetrate the causes
OF the mysteries that surround not
only mankind but all life. both in the
present and the past, said Mr.. Roose-
welt, 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
lizations. 1t is this study, he assert
ed, that has given science it's 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
eral instances of the development of
new species and the extinction of spe-
cies 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 so
much as hazard a guess as to why a
given change occurred.
AnaIoges in Human History.
Continuing, Mr.. Roosevelt said in
part:
Now. as to all of these phenomena In the
evolution of species, there are, if not
homologies, at least certain analogies. in
the history of human societies, in the
history of the rise to prominence, of the
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 biology, so in human history. a
new form may result from the specializa-
ton OF long-existing and hitherto very
Ilowly-changing generaliZed nom
specialized form as. for instance when
barbarlc race from a variety of causes
suddenly develops a more complex culti-
Cured for instance, In western Europe
during the centuries of the Teutonic and
later the Scandinavian ethnic overfows
from the north. All the modern countries
OF western Europe are descended from the
states created by these northern invaders.
When first created they could be called
new" or young" states in the sense
that part or all of the people composing
them were descended from races that
hitherto had not been civilized at all, and
hot TO-
on the career of civilized 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 IL was
here that the new kingdoms first took
shape Through a reflex action their
influence then extended back into the 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
neiChbors; 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
slowly changing barbarism. The same
was true OF the Slavs and the Slavonized
Films OF eastern Europe. when an infl-
tration 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
and the steppe. formed the mighty Russian
empire OF today.
"New" and "Young" Nations.
Again. the new form may represent
merely n splitting off from a long-estab-
ished, highly developed and specialized
nation. In this case the nation Is usually
spoken OF as young" and is correctly
spoken OF as a new" nation. but tho
term should always be used with a clear
sense OF the difference between what is
described in such case. and what is de-
scrtbed by the same term in speaking Of
civilized nation just developed from a
barbarism. Carthage and Syracuse were
new cities compared with Tyre and Cor
inth but the Greek or Phoenician race was
In every sense of the word as old in the
new city in the old city So noOadavs
Victoria or Manitoba is a new community
compared with England or Scotland: hut
the ancestral type of civilization and cuI-
ture Is as old in one case as in the other
OF course do not mean for a moment
that great changes are not produced bv
the mere fact that the old civilized race
Is suddenly placed in SURROUNDINGS where
1t has again to so through the work of
tanning the wilderness. a work finished
many centuries before in the original
home of the race; 1 merely mean tbo+
case. We can rightly use the phrase "a
new people in speaking of Canadians
or Australians, Americans or Afrikanders
But we use II 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 a.
scendants during that period of astonisb-
Ing growth which saw the descendants Of
the Morse sea-thieves conquer and trans
form Normandy. Sicily, and the Rritisb
Islands w a In,
sense from that in which we use II when
speaking of the new states that grew mn
around Warsaw. Kief. Novgorod and
Moscow, as the wild savages OF the
steppes and the marshy forests struggled
hartingly and stumblingly upward 10
become builders OF cities and TO form
stable governments The Kingdoms ~
Cnarlemasne and Alfred were new. %
compared with the empire on the Ros-
phorus; they were also in every wav dif-
ferent; their lines OF ancestral descent bad
nothing In common with those of the
Poiyslot realm which paid tribute to the
caesars of RVZapfiuDn.