Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-10-14

Body-Through All the Ages Neither
In Body Nor Mind Has Man Made
Any Real Progress-PopuIar Idea
That Man Is Evolving Is Wrong.
Although you may never have sus-
pected the fact, you are a finished and
perfect product of evolution. The
next time you have a cold or a bunion
OF a toothache, or your mechanism is
otherwise on the blink, comfort your
self, If you can, with the reflection
that you are natures masterpiece,
writes Frederic J. Haskin, in Chicago
Daily News.
All Of which is a way of saying
that, according to J. w. Gidley, pale
o%ntologist Of the National museum,
mans anatomy has reached a stage
where it probably will never change
any more-Or at least not for about q
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 eff
forts of many generations-which
1Co1ly SllullScS, dllu WlllCll ludhS ludu
appear to change. The popular idea
that man is evolving is all wrong.
Biologically speaking, human progress
ended a million years ago.
The Theory of Evolution.
According to theories of evolution,
if an animal eats nothing but grass
it's teeth will in time be modified in
shape so that they are efficient for
nibbling, but they will probably not
be much good for tearing flesh. In
the same way, a bird that does not
use it's wings will in a few geologic
ages lose all power Of flight. But this
principle holds good only so far. When
an animal has become specialized and
adapted to his environment as far as
his structure will permit without en-
dangering the balance necessary to
existence. 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
permanent. He refutes the suggestion
that mans jaWbone will shrink and
his teeth drop out because he 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
~, ro ;,,c,,ro J,o.l+I o,J +],o,>
is little prospect of his jaw disap-
peiiing on a balanced ration.
Our Toes Also Are Safe.
Nor does Mr.. Gidley think we need
worry over the prophecy that II de-
~scendants' heads will be all brain
not by present indications.
We have been further warned by
some men of science that u 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
ere not particularly flexible in mod
z Il S1lOSS, SsI VIC w uSc tllCllE III Ddl-
,ncing. Statues of the 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 lightness.
Had the Greek ideal persisted, the
outer toes of man might by now be al
most atrophied, probably to the i'm
ont Of human rnct,,rn
If such a change were taking place,
and a few scientists insist that it is,
we would not be aware of it, so slow
ly does nature progress. Fol instance,
it took the horse a few million years
to grow hoofs, which he needed for
speed. Is 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 q megatherium came numbering on
him. If you go into almost any big
). museum you can see the bones of the
horses foot at different stages of his
development. Biologists have I'M
earthed the bones of horses that lived
100000 years ago. These horses
WHY SUOuC liz SIN VI d uOS anu 1ldu
four toes. Before that it is believed
that there must have been five. Three
million years later there We're 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 shortened until they
did not reach the ground.
Man Is Weak Animal.
Because he specialized in speed, the
horse can now u as fast as thirty
two miles an hour, while man at his
swiftest can make only about ten.
Man is not a specialized animal. 1t
has been pointed out to his confusion
that a flea can jump 1000 times it's
height, whereas a man needs a pole
to go only twice his six feet. In pro-
portion to his size, man has not as
much lifting power as an ant; he can
not walk SO fast as a fly. He has not
learned to see in the dark like the cat,