n8 THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



former is distinctly superior in the power of sustained attention 

 and thought, in the range of things which interest him, and 

 in his powers of analysis, abstraction, and inference. It used 

 to be alleged that savages controlled their emotions less 

 perfectly than civilized man. Inasmuch as emotional life is 

 closely knit up with instinct and with the more primitive and 

 ancient part of our nature, it would not be strange were this 

 belief true. But when consideration is given to the different 

 conditions eliciting emotion, it may be doubted whether this 

 conception is in any unqualified way correct. 



That portion of the history of man marked by any of the 

 evidences of civilization is so extremely brief, compared with 

 the vaster period of animal barbarism through which he must 

 have passed, that we may well find it difficult to secure wholly 

 conclusive evidence of evolutionary change in his mental 

 powers. But such evidence as there is all points to a great 

 practical improvement in the use of his native abilities. 



When we contrast the conditions of savage man with those 

 of any of the animals, even the highest primates, the differences 

 in apparent intelligence are very marked. It would hardly be 

 a safe statement that animals make no use of gestures, whether 

 vocal or otherwise, to serve the purposes of a rude language. 

 But such use as has been reliably demonstrated is so crude, so 

 largely a mere expression of emotional excitement, that com- 

 pared with developed human speech (which presumably de- 

 veloped out of emotional expressions) it is a hopelessly im- 

 perfect tool. Primitive man as we know him, although often 

 carrying on his affairs with an extremely limited vocabulary, 

 nevertheless is able, through his language devices to say 

 nothing of others to mark off and deal with abstract and gen- 

 eral relations and in so far he enjoys a technical superiority to 

 the animals which, in effect, is a difference in kind as well as a 

 difference in degree. Moreover, broadly speaking, animals 

 make no use whatever of tools. The occasional instance of 



