THE DESCENT OF MAN. 369 



abounded in game of all sorts; but the superficial food-ground was 

 already preempted by other animals, which were not likely to allow 

 man to encroach upon their subsistence without a struggle. Adaptation 

 to the new surroundings must consequently have been effected at the 

 expense of a conflict with the former lords of the forest. But the 

 human prototype does not appear to have become fitted for such a con- 

 test either through heredity or environment. From his ape-like ances- 

 tors the pliocene precursor merely inherited a large cranial capacity 

 and the ordinary anthropoid characters; while in adapting him to the 

 terrestrial habitat, selection simply set him upright on his feet and 

 accorded him the free use of his arms and hands. Leaving aside his 

 inherited endowment for the moment, the structural modifications that 

 occurred during the period of specific differentiation seem at first 

 sight to have set man at a positive disadvantage over against the 

 frugivorous apes, on the one hand, from whom he descended, and the 

 land-dwelling carnivora, on the other, with whom he had henceforth 

 to contend. The food of frugivorous creatures remains fixed in its 

 place and only requires to be plucked. These animals have, therefore, 

 no need of powerful prehensile organs in attack, while for defense 

 they usually rely upon their locomotive organs in fiight. The prey of 

 carnivorous creatures has, on the contrary, to be caught and killed, and 

 on this account these animals are supplied with vigorous attacking 

 organs, which in times of necessity may readily be employed for de- 

 fense. The apparent anomaly in man's case is that in becoming terres- 

 trial, he lost his former facility for climbing and making his escape 

 through the trees, without by way of compensation acquiring sufficient 

 strength or agility to cope with the land-dwelling carnivora. Cut off 

 from escape above and surrounded with animal enemies below, phys- 

 ically unfitted to lie in wait and spring, having neither claws nor 

 talons wherewith to grasp and hold, and not being fleet enough either 

 to take flight or to follow fast on foot, how then was it possible for 

 man to gain his acknowledged ascendancy over the beasts ? 



As a group the anthropoidea are structurally adapted to two sets of 

 physical exercises: swinging and climbing, and striking and throwing. 

 In a more restricted sense, however, the two practices are incompatible, 

 for skill in one direction can only be acquired at the expense of pro- 

 ficiency in the other. For the former exercises, moreover, instinct alone 

 is sufficient; while for the latter a certain amount of ingenuity is re- 

 quired. Being arboreal, swinging and climbing are essential to the 

 frugivorous apes, both for food-getting and for flight, and on this ac- 

 count their instincts are set and their organs especially adapted to this 

 purpose. Those that come occasionally to the ground in search of 

 other aliment are, however, also able after a fashion to strike and 

 throw. Both the gorilla and the chimpanzee, for example, are in- 



VOL. LX. — 24. 



