The Washington times., 1923-03-18

- - - improved the human brain as we
have improved machinery?
II there any advance In mans mental power TO
be compared with the advance that the steam engine
has made over the OK cart that the great loom has
made over the spinning wheel7
No. improvement in the brain Of man has been
very slow-an almost imperceptible process. The
development Of that brain began many millions Of
years ago in inferior forms Of life.
What we call 1.-THE human brain" has developed
very slowly through hundreds Of thousands Of cen
turtles.
The development has been at times rapid In
some one little spot Of human life, slow or almost
existent among the great masses Of human popu
lation.
For instance, there was great mental develop
ment in Egypt. Babylonia, Assyria, followed by
more extraordinary intellectual growth in Greece,
which spread to Italy, giving birth to the Roman
genius. While the mind Of man was reaching
phenomenal development in certain favored spots
around the shores Of the Mediterranean the great
mass Of human beings in Africa Northern Europe
and Asia remained stationary, with no sign Of mental
growth.
We are not equal today to the Greeks in mental
power It is not likely that we have any living brain
comparable with that Of Aristotle It is certain that
there is nowhere in our world citizenship as high
1UC6kk6CCUd1
Athens In the days Of Pericles, and later.
In those days the meanest mind (among THE
OITIZENS1the great mass Of slaves were intellec-
tuaIly dead) had clear idea Of politics, was in
diligently interested in science, art literature and
the drama It has been said without exaggeration
that the average intelligence Of the citizenship in the
streets Of Athens was far higher than the Intellectual
average in the most carefully selected Parliament Of
our day.
AS to the giant intellects of Greece-with Arts
totle at the head Of them alive have probably no
Individual brains among us that compare with them
Our civilization, q raw and w-born product bios
soming on the ruins Of the Dark Ages and devoting
It's energies to mechanics trade and industry rather
than to purely intellectual pursuits is feeble thing
compared with the splendid civilization Of Greece
Yet the men Of to-day are, as matter Of fact
far ahead of the people Of Greece BECAUSE THE
DWARF ON A GIANTS SHOULDERS CAN SEE
FARTHER THAN THE GIANT. AS individuals
we are dwarfs perhaps compared with men like
Aristotle. But we stand on their shoulders. We
stand upon the shoulders Of all the great men that
have lived ahead Of US, whose works and acquired
knowledge we have inherited. g.
We are below them in our CAPACITY for original
thought
We are far above them in what we actually
KNOW. in our real grasp, and in our boundless DOS
abilities.
It is a splendid thought that we are, in actual
REALITY, "heirs Of all tho ages"
til magnifcently encouraging to realize that in
our public schools Of to-day we have hundreds Of
thousands Of children that actually KNOW MORE
than the greatest Of the great minds of antiquity.
Aristotle considering his lack Of inherited in
formation accomplished marvels as student Of
nature and her secrets Helped by his wonderful
pupil, Alexander the Great, he secured information
from all the parts Of the world which that pupil con-
quered and explored We read dumfounded Of tho
individual intellectual achievements Of which he was
capable.
Yet this giant Is BLIND giant compared with
tho little man Of to-day who stands on his shoulders
and on Bacon's shoulders, and on Darwin's shout