Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31
BY H. II. SHELDON.

III 4 is peculiar JflLlg tIldI bIle IluAlaLl
race should show such unbounded
curiosity as to its past when 1t
4 seems so little concerned as to its
future. It is different in our own
lives. We are much more curious to
know what is going to happen tomorrow
than we are to know what happened
yesterday. Yet, beyond the point of
exhibiting interest as to when this earth
will come to an end, we give little
thought to the tomorrow of the race.
Some are willing to believe that We are
descended from monkeys, from apes, the
primordial ooze, from single cells, or
whatever any one may care to suggest,
but for the most part We believe we
have arrived, and that man will look
the san78A tomorrow, the next day and
forever Nature has achieved her
GROWING glory, man, which cannot be
Perhaps the. teaching that man was
made in Gods own image has led to
this conclusion on the part of many
Yet, looking about us We feel that
there is much room for further sue
cssSes on the part of nature. We know
from the findings of scientists that man
changed considerably during the geo.
logical ages, and there is no reason to
suspect that he is through changing,
Archaeology UnravelS History.
Possibly one of the reasons, perhaps
the major one, why less attention is
given to the, future Of man than to his
past is that study of the future APP
pears to be less scientific and has there
fore not attracted the attention of the
scientist who wishes to be taken seri-
ously. One can unravel the history of
man through study Of geological dis
coyeries which are constantly being I'M
earthed by expeditions to every corner
of the globe. It is similar to, and has
the same fascination for some, as the
unraveling of a murder mystery by the
experienced detective.
But Just as the trained psychologist
can tell pretty well the channels into
which an individual mind is likely to
lead its owner through a study of past
behavior, so it is possible to determine
TO some extent the direction in which
man may be expected to travel, both
by study of his own past and also
that of other earth inhabitants that
have been the subject of evolutionary
forces which have led them along other
paths to their present forms.
Basic Problems Studied.
AS no one has made such a study, it
is only possible to get glimpse of the
future from the suggestions which have
been made by such outstanding students
of evolution as DR.. Austin Clark, DR..
Henry Fairfield Osborne and DR.. Ales
Hrdlicka
A summary Of the basic problems
confronting students of evolution as out
lined by DR.. Hrdlicka suggested this ar
ticle. 1t seemed to the author that these
basic problems, which numbered six,
formed the only uncertainties of the
future as we'll as of the past. A study
of these problems will at least show us
what the possibilities Of the future
may be.
AS an answer to any one of them
may affect the others, it is quite clear
that there may result an enormous
number Of possible futures for the race.
But, IN any event. as We go on it will
be obvious that the race is not at all
likely to stay what it now is
Possibly one of the first questions we
Should like to have answered is whether
man Will be here or not We know
that the sun is good for countless ages,
so that the only likelihood of mans
completely disappearing is through the
action of some other forms of life We
have long heard of the death struggle
of man against the insects Sometimes
it looks almost as though the insects
were getting the best of the battle. Yet
insects were here long before man, and
man has progressed constantly to q
more favorable position as compared to
them. He is constantly improving his
methods of warfare, which the insects
are not doing.
In the same way he is conquering
bacterial disease He has survived the
. dinosaurs and the Ice Age. What
enemy has he left which may prove too
powerful for him? We may search the
earth in vain at present. But who can
say that new forms will not arise? Is
it not possible that the creation of liY-
ing forms is still going on by that same
process which evolved man and all our
other living forms?
New Scourges May Arise.
1t may be true that there are many
well developed forms which would at
once attack any new form whiEh might
arise, thus making it appear well nigh
impossible for any new creation to gain
a foothold, yet, should this occur, it
guarantees in advance that the new
form will be well able to take care of
itself. OF this Dr. Hrdlicka says:
THAT there Is possibility of such
development cannot be denied. There
may even be felt some apprehension.
There might arise new scourges. Per-
haps some of the scourges of the past
could be thus explained"
Other authorities have laid the blame
for such scourges on the transporta-
tor to our earth of living organisms
from outer space, perhaps from other
planets or from stars many millions Of
miles away. Experience has shown that
such organisms can live under the most
extreme conditions in some cases. 1t
is this that makes them so hard TO
attack. We shall perhaps never know
whether the danger of the occurrence
of new forms exists or not. The proc
ess of development would be so slow
that we could never tell whether the
organism had had its birth on the
earth, had come to us from outer space
or had been present all the time and
had merely developed TO dangerous pro-
portions through the advent Of favor
, able conditions