The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-08-13
Anatomy Reaches Stage Where
It Will Never Change.
only CULTURE THAT CHANGES
National Museum's PaIeontologist
Discounts Civilizations Effects on
Bodly-Through All the Ages Neither
In Body Nor Mind Has Man Made
Any Real Propress-Popular Idea
That Man IL Evolving ls Wrong.

pected the fact, you are finished and
perfect product Of evolution. The
next time you have a cold or bunion
or a to0thache, or your mechanism is
otherwise on the blink. comfort your.
self, II 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 ]. W. Gidley, pale.
entOlogfst Of the National museum
mans anatomy has reached a stage
where It probably will never change
any more--Or at least not for about a
Dillion years Neither in body nor in
mind has man made any real progress
M. that time. II is only his culture
The accumulated result OF all the ef-
forts Of many generatiOns-which
aeally changes, and which makes man
appeaT to change. The popular idea
tAat man Is evolving is all wrong.
DiOlogically speaking. human progress
snded q million years ago.
! The Theory u Evolution.
According to theories Of evolution,
r an animal eats nothing but grass
III teeth viii in time be modified in
shape 10 that they are efficient for
nibbiing, but they viii 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 flight. But this
principle holds good only 80 far. When
IN 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, II 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
necessary to insure health, and there
a. little prospect Of his jaw disap-
pearing on a balanced ration.
Our Toes Also 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 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 mod
evn shoes, yet we do use them in bal
aneing. Statues Of the cid 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
~u<~r <roc nc MON yniUht hv ppHu ho ol
most atrophied. probably to the I'm
provement Of human posture. =,
II such a change were taking place,
and q few scientists insist that it is,
We would not be aware Of 1t, SO SLOW
" 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 q megatherium came numbering on
him. If you 60 into almost any big
museum you can see the bones Of the
horses foot at different stages Of his
Biologists have un.-
earthed the bones Of horses that lived
4 100000 years ago. These horses
were about the size Of dog and had
four toes. Before that it is believed
that there must have been i've. Three
million years later there were only
three, and the middle digit had by
that time become large and resenbled
q hO0f, while the bones of the toes
on each side had shortened until they
did net reach the ground.
Man 10 Weak Ani,nal.
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 ten.
Man IL 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 20 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 fly. He has not
learned to see in the dark like the cat.
But 1t is lucky for the 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