The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-01
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, D. G.
HUMAN PRoGREss HAS ENDED


HUMAN PROGRESS HAS ENDED.
Washington, D. c., June 2S.-Altho
you may never have suspected the
fact, you are a finished and perfect
product of evolution. The next time
you have a cold or a bunion or
toothache. or your mechanism is 9TH
erwise on the blink. comfort yourself,
If you can, with the reflection that
you are natures masterpiece.
All of which is a way of saying
that, according to j. w. Gidley,
paleontologist of the national mu-
scum. mans anatomy has reached
stage where it will probably never
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 Tne
popular idea that man is evolving, Is
all wrong Biologically speaking. hui
man progress ended a million years
ago.
if an animal eats nothing but grass.
its teeth will in time be modified IN
shape so that they are efficient TOT
nfbbiing. but they will probably not
be much good for. tearing flesh. In
the same way, a bird that does not
use its wings will in few geologic
ages lose all power of flight But
this principle holds good only so far.
When an animal has become special
lied and adapted to his environment
as far as his structure Will permit
without endangering the balance
n HyiSfanFe
stops changing and finally, 1t Is sup
posed. 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
10 evoJ11te. Mr.. GidIey says that mans
present mechanical arrangement IS
permanent He refutes the suggestion
that mans Jaw bone will shrink ana
his teeth drop out because ne eats
more soft foods and does not cnew SO
vigorously as his cave-man ancestors
Man knows enough about chemistry TO
understand what kind of foods are
necessary to insure health. and there
is little prospect of his jaw disappear
ing on a balanced ration.
Our Toes Are Safe.
Nor does Mr.. Gidley think we need
worry over the prophecy that our de-
scendants- heads will be all brain-Eot
by present indications.
We have been further warned by
some men of science that our toes,
all except the big one, are already use
less from lack of exercise. and that
eventually they will grow shorter and
disappear 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 tie old Greek
gods and athletes show that they
poised themselves on the inside of the
foot, a method which gave both the
appearance and feeling of lishtness.
| Had the Greek ideal persisted, the
outer toes of man might by now be al
most atrophied, probably to the i'm
provement of human posture.
| If such change were taking place,
| and a few scientists insist that it 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 megatherium came
| numbering after him. If you go into
almost any big museum, you can see
| the bones of the horses foot at diff
| ferent stages of his development. Geo
| ologists have unearthed the bones of
| horses that lived 1000, 900 years ago.
These horses were about the size of
| a dog and had four toes. Before that
| it is believed that there must have
| been five. Three million years later.
| there were only three. and the middle
| digit had by that time become large
and resembled a hoof, while the bones
| of the toes on each side had short
ened until they did not reach the
ground.
Man "A Weak Animal.
Because he specialized in speed, the
| horse can now run as fast as thirty
two miles an hour. while man at his
swiftest can make only about twenty.
Man is not a specialized animal. 1t
| has been pointed out to his confusion
that flea can jump 1000 times its
| height, whereas man needs a pole
| to go only twice his six feet. In pro-
proportion to his size. man has not so
much lifting power as an ant; he can
not walk so fast a fly. He has not
/ learned to see in the dark like the cat.
| But it is lucky for man that his
| ancestors did not concentrate on beat
ing the monkeys at tree athletics or
the horse at foot racing. If they had,
we should not today be much farther
advanced than the animals we might
have emulated
Mans progress is supposed to be
fact that he developed two hands and
! two feet instead of four of one or the
other. The oldest clues to ancient
man SO far discovered are part of a
skull. a thigh bone, and two teeth.
These were found in Java. and, judg-
ing by the stratum of soil in which
they were lying, biologists decided
that the man lived 100000 years ago.
Pithecanthropus, as the scientists
called the antique Javanese. was a
fully developed man, tho with rather
/ ape-like features.
The Javanese man of a half million
years ago, is a mere modern compared
with some of the animals whose skele-
tons have been dug up and classified
| Six million years ago in the age of
reptiles. flourished the armored dino