Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-07-01
HUMAN PROGRESS HAS ENDED
Man q Finished and Perfect
Product of Evolution
Rnss Been No Ohange for q .MllioA
YeaD ana No4 likely to Bo- Any
for an Equal Length
q Tine
IBy. Frederic, l. Haskin)

CBy- frederic, l. Haskin)
pom may newer have suspected the fact.
you arc a finished and perfect product of
svolution- Tho next time you have q cold
or 2 bunion or a toothache, or your
mechanism is otherwise on the blink,
oumchrt yourself, IL you can, with the re-
ffsction that you are natures MASTER
uaace.
An of -vfsch-1s a way Of Saying that,
AnUogdfng To ]. W. Gidley, pafeontoiog1st
4 tho National Museum. mans anatomy
~ near1fcd a stage whero It viii prob
a24y never change any moro-Or at least
MT 6ur about a million years. Neither
n hudy nor In mind has man mad0 any
~ prnereB IN that time. n is only his
0uytnrO-th the accumulated result Of all the
e60rts u many generations-which really
Manages, ana which makes man appear to
d1angA Ths popular irf.A that man Is
Ssazvins. b all wrone. Biolosically
sre4kfne. human progress ended a NH
i1Dn years asn
Anrurdans 10 theories Of evolution. u
"A snnma1 eats nothing but grass, its
tesdh will in trfnc DO modified In shape
20 that they nm efficient for nfhbiing,
hnk-<hey WIN probably not be much good
onr fDsnin9 neSh. In tho same way, a
tnfd mat dute not use its wings will in
a tsw EuD3ugfe agcs los call power Of
dlkht. But this principle holds good
ohty 50 FAR When an animal has become
specialized and adapted to hiB environ
nlealt 40 far m his structure will permit
without endeugering tho balance neces-
ary to existence. no usually stops
changing and finally, n is supposed,
inses power Of development.
There Is n difference of opinion as to
whether man has reached the point
where no IS best adapted to his surround
inyz, or whether he win continue to
epoi,Ite Mr.. Gidley says that mans
present mechanical arrangement is per-
nfanent 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 az his
czve-man ancestors. Man knows enough
about chemistry To understand what kind
Of food are necessary to insure health,
and there Is little prospect of his jaw
disappearing on a balanced ration
OUR TOES ARE SAFE
Nor does Mr.. Gfdey think need
worry over the prophecy that our de-
cendants' 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 alto
getfier, like the horse's long discarded
tnes. This Tear, too. Mr.. Gidley regards
- groundless, for while the muscles of
do shorter digits are. not particularly
6sxibie tn modern shoes. yet we do use
shem In balancing. Statues of the old
Greek gods and athletes show that they
pd1Bed themselves the inside of the
xhDt, a. method which gave both the APP
peaxance and feeling OF lightness. Had
tn Greek ideal persisted, the outer toes
OF man might by now be almost afro
phfed, probably to the Improvement OF
hnYnan posture.
and few scientists insist that It Is, VIC
wUufd> not he aware OF It. so slowly does
nature progress. For instance, Il took
TIN horse a few million years to grow
{Hopfs wf,ictr' he needed for speed AS the
Inorsn> was not built for fighting he haG
- b always poised on the tips of his
foHf-toed feet ready TO escape when ar
axmored dinUsaur or a megatherium came
numbering on him. IF you go into almos
any big museum, you can see the bonei
cE the horses foot at different stages Of
NJ Development. Biologists have I'M
eaxthed the bones of horses that lived
4JmOD years ago. These horses wer'
abont the sine of dog and had foul
toes. Before that It is believed that there
must have been five. Three million year,
later. there were only three, and thu
middle digit had by that time become
tango and resembIed a hoof, while thu
homes 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. tn
horse can now run as fast as % miles Al
husr, while man at his swiftest can maxi
only about 20. Man hs not a specialzes
aafinal. 1t has been pointed out to hi
confusion that a flea can Jump 1000 time
~ height, whereas man needs pol
q, go only twice his six feet In pro
pogtfon to his size, man has not as mucl
Mining power ant: he cannot wall
so-fast as fly. He has not learned u
seerin tiie dark like the cat.
But b II lucky for man that his an
cestors did not concentrate on beatn
th8smonkeys at tree athletics or the hors
&C foot racing If they had. we shout
mot to-day be much farther advances
0nn the animals we might hav
eu11t1tsd-
xkAn'8 progress is supposed to be du
tDd1ts use OF HIS bEatn, and the fact tina
no developed two hands and two feet in
s1Bn6 OF four OF one or the other. TIL
oo6est clues~ TO ancient man so far dis
SusaFvd are part of a skull. q thigh bone
tand two teeth. These were found
Jena, and, Judging By the stratum Of so
knrwhfch they were lying. geolcgists de
co1a8 that tho man hved 5o0,OOO year
40 Pfhsoanthropus, as the scientist
IcaN1Bd the antique Javanese. was a full
idgwdoped man. though with rather APP
l1Gse features
Tho Javanese man Of a half miliio
WIN some of the animals whose skeh
t9n1 have been dug up and oiassifie,
Oh mfllfon years ago in the age of rel
ties, flourished the armored dfsosau
which to most people is the symbol
prehistoric times. But even the dinosa1
r. young as the age of the world goe
Or. Waicott of the Smithsonian Instit'
ton estimates that animal life startt
on the earth 41,140!O0O years ago. Som
where beween then and the very receI
Javanese gentleman man got his star
FATHER PIrHECANTHROPUs
Science Is still looking for the ance
tors. Of Pithecanthropus, but 1t is n
looking for a missing link between ms
ana the modern monkey, because a
thropologists do not think man is d
scended from apes Darwin is often mi
quoted on this point What Darwin ga
was that man and apes evolved from
IL Ala. -