Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-06-27
THE HASKIN LETTER
HUMAN PROGRESS HAS ENDED.

Washington, D. c.. June 21.-Although
/ you may never have suspected the fact,
you are a finished and perfect product
| of evolution. The next time you have a
| cold or bunion or toothache. I or your
mechanism is otherwise on the blink,
comfort yourself if you can, with the
reflection that you are natures MASTER
piece.
| All Of which is the way of saying that,
according to j. W. Gidley, palantologist
| of the national museum, mans anatomy
has reached a stage where it probably
never will change any more--or at least
not for about a million years Neither
| in body nor in mind has man made any
real progress in that time. 1t is only his
culture-the accumulated result of all
| the efforts of many generations-which
really changes, and which makes man
appear to change. The popular idea that
man is evolving, is all wrong. Biolog--
ically speaking human progress ended
million. years ago.
According to theories of evolution, il
animal eats nothing but grass, its teeth
will in time be modified in shape so that
they are efficient to nibbling. but they
will probably not be much good for tearing
flesh In the same way, bird that does
not use it's wings will in few geologic
ages lose all power of flight. But this
principle holds only so far. When an an
imal has become SO specialized to his en-
vironment so far as his structure will
permit without endangering the balance
necessary to existance, he usually stops
changing and finally it is supposed
loses power of development.
There is a difference of opinion as to
whether man has reached the point
where he is best adapted to his sur
rOundings, or whether he will continue
to evolute. Mr.. Gidley says that mans
present mechanical arrangement is per-
manent He refutes the suggestion that
mans jaw-bone will shrink and his teeth
drop out because be eats more soft
foods and does not chew so vigorously
as his cave-man ancestors. Man knows
enough about chemistry to understand
what kind of foods are necessary to in
sure health, and there is little prospect
of his jaw disappearing on balanced
ration.
Our Toes are Safe.
Nor does Mr. Gidley think we need
worry over the prophecy that our
descendants heads will be all brain
not by present indications.
We have been further warned by
some men of science that our toes, all
except the big one, are already useless
from lack of exercise, and that eventu-
any tHtS Will SIo" anu hiS-
appear altogether like the horses long
discarded toes. This fear, too, Mr.. Gidley
regards as groundless, for while the
muscles of the shorter digits are not
particularly flexible in modern shoes, yet
we do use them in balancing. Statues of
the old Greek gods and athletes show
that they poised themselves on the in
side of the foot, a method which gave
both the appearance and feeling of light
ness. Had the Greek ideal persisted. the
outer toes of man might by now be
almost atrophied. probably to the i'm
provement of human posture
If such a change were taking place,
and few scientists insist that il Is,
we would not be aware of it, so slowly
does nature progress. For instance, it
took the horse a few million years to
grow hoofs. which he needed for speed
AS the horse was not built for fighting,
he had to be always poised on the tips
of his four-toed feet ready to escape
when an armored dinosaur or a mega
therium came numbering on him. If you
go into almost any big museum. you can
see the bones of the horses feet at diff
ferent stages of his development Geolo-
gists have unearthed the bones of horses
that lived 100000 years ago. These
horses were about the size of a dog
and had four toes. Before that it is