Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-06-24
Human Progress
Has Ended
BY Frederic j. Haskin.


yourself, II you can, with the reflection
thnt you are Natures masterpiece
All OF which is a way of saying that, nc
cording to J. w. Gidley, palcontologist ol
ihe National Museum, mans anatomy
has reached stage where IL will prob
ably 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. II is only his cul-
ture-the accumulated result Of all the
efforts Of many generations really
changes, and which makes man appear
TO change. The popular idea that man is
evolving is all wrong. Biologioally speak
ing, human progress ended million years
| ago
| According to theories Of evolution, If an
animal eats nothing but grass, its teeth
will in time be modified in shape go that
they are efficient for nibbling, but they
| will probably not be much good for tearing
| flesh. In the same way, bird that does
| not use its wings will in few geologic
ages lose all power OF fight. But this
| principle holds good only so far. When an
| animal has become specialized and adapt
| ed TO his environment an far as his struc-
| ture. will permit without endangering 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 surroundings, or
whether he will continue to evolute.
Mr.. Gidley says that mans present me
chanical arrangement is permanent. He
rcfutes the suggestion that mans Jaw
bone 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 20 understand what kind OF
foods are necessary 10 insure health, and
there is little prospect Of his jaw disappear
ing on 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-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 eventually they will
grow shorter and disappear altogether
like the horses long discarded toes. This
fear, too, Mr.. Gidley regards as ground
less, for while the muscles Of the shorter
digits are not particularly flexible in
modern shoes, yet we do use them in bal
ancing Statues of the old Greek gods and
athletes show that they poised themselves
on the inside of the foot. method which
gave both the appearance and feeling of
Iightness. Had the Greek ideal persist
ed, the outer toes Of man might by now be
almost tatrophied, probably to the improve
ment of human posture.
II such change were taking place, and
r. lr+ a
not be aware of it, 50 slowly does nature
progress. For instance, it took { he horse
a few million wears 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 n him.
If you go into almost any big m useum,
you can see the bones of the horses foot
at different stages of his development
Biologists have unearthed the bones OF
horses that lived 100000 wears ago.
These horses were about the size of dog
and had four toes Before that it is beiiev-
ed that there must have been FIVE. Three
million wears later. there were onlv three
and the middle digit had by that time
become large and resembled hoof, while |
the bones of the toes on each side had
shortened until they did not reach the |
ground.
MAN A WEAK ANIMAL.
Because he specialized ~ 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 specialized animal. 1t has been |
pointed out TO his confusion thst a flea /
IAN Jump / 900 times its height. whereas |
nan needs pole to go only twice his six /
eet. In proportion TO his size, man has /
rot as much lifting power 9s an ant; he /
.annot walk so fast as fly. He has not |
earned to see in the dark like the cat.
But it is lucky for man that his ances-
ors did not concentrate on beating the /
monkeys at tree athletics or the horse AZ
oot racing. If they had, we should not |
oday be much farther advanced than the /
nimals we might have cmulated.
Mans progress is supposed to be due to
lis use of his brain, and the fact that he
developed two hands and two feet in
tead of four ef one or the other. The
ldest clues TO ancient man so far dis
covered are part of skull a thigh bone |
md two teeth. These were found in Java,
md, Judging by the stratum of soil in
which they were lying, geologists decided
nat the uial Uktu otb,Nto years ago
as the scientists called |
he antique Javanese, was fully developed
nan, though with rather ape-like features.
The Javanese man of a hals million
ears ago is mere modern compared |
With some of the animals whose skeletons
AVE been dug up and classified. Six
million years ago in the age of reptiles
lourished the armored dinosaur, which to
most people is the symbol of prehistoric
lines. But even the dinosaur is young as
he age of the world goes. DR.. Waloott Of
he Smithsonian Institution estimates that |
Inimal life started on the earth Al, 40 900
'ears ago Somewhere between then and
he very recent Javanese gentleman man
rot his start.
FATHER PITHEcANTHRoPUS.
Science is still looking for the ancestors |
# Pithecanthropus, but it is not looking
or missing link between man and the
modern monkey, because anthropologists
10 not think man is descended from apes
Darwin is often misquoted on this point
What Derwin said was that man and apes
volved from common ancestor. Some
cientists hold that there were probably |
number of early animals which branehed /
vi from the unknown ape like ancestor
md that any one of them might have