Evening star., 1926-04-04
MANS EVOLUTION
HELD LIKE PLANTS
AnthropoIogistS Say Old
Forms in Nature Constant
Iy Change for New.

American anthropologists have gone
on record as to their attitude with re-
gard to the evolution OF man. A reso-
luton which states in effect that man
~is part of the animal world and is
subject to the great natural principle
of evolution has just been adopted by
the council of the American Anthro-
biological Association. the central asso-
citation Of the anthropologists. archie
ologists and ethnologists in this coun-
try.
The resolution was framed in order
TO express simply but firmly the senti-
ment of the association on this Inn
pOrtant subject, according to DR.. Ales
HrdliCka, president of the organiZa-
ton.
The association wishes to show
that so far as the anthropologists are
concerned, evolution, human as we'll
as animal. is no more n question OF
any theories, but natural. we'll dem
onstrated and grand-perhaps the
principle and function Of
nature" said DR.. Hrdlicka yesterday.
Forms Ever Changing.
The text of the resolution reads as
follows:
'In view of the dogmatic objections
raised against the theory Of evolution.
the council of the American Anthro-
biological Association has thought 1t
advisable to formulate the present po-
sition of scientific inquiry.
THE plants and animals belong
ing to early periods of the earth's
history show that the forms have
not remained the same for any length
of time. The changes that have oc-
CURED are of such character that we
are compelled to consider the later
forms as descendants of older forms.
No form of living being has remained
the same through the ages. The evil
dence of past times is Corroborated
by the structural and developmental
analogies observed in related forms,
proofs of a gradual differentiation
from common ancestral forms.
''The minute structure of all liv-
ing matter is alike and shows that
all organisms, from the lowest to the
highest, must be considered as unit.
MAN has succeeded in producing
a. variety of forms of domestic ami
mails and cultivated plants which diff
| fer from their ancestors. Our sue
cess. accomplished in a very short
period, indicates that in long periods
nature will produce more fundamen-
| tai changes.
Man i'm Animal World.
| Man is part of the animal world.
In all RESPECTS his anatomical struc.
ture conforms to that of the rest OF
the animal world. His prenatal life
closely parallels that of the higher
manuals. The same influences that
control their development after oirth
control him, and he responds in a. like
manner to the environment In Whicn
he is placed. Prehistoric archaeology
| has shown that. III the course OF the
ages. man has undergone great
| changes in physical type, ana 1hat
ancient man differed from modern
races, the more so the more ancient
the remains.
Local types of man have developed
on every continent, and their existence
proves that changes In the herltaple
characteristics of racial groups are et'
fected in the course of time.
| "We must conclude that the podily
form of man, as well as that or ami
mails and plants, has hcanged, and is
still changing, not in the course OF
centuries, but in long periods.
| "The exact cause of changes IN the
form of organisms and the condltlons
under which they occur, as well as
the causes making for staolhty, are
still imperfectly known. The principle
of change has been SO well established
that it should become the common
property of mankind.