370 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



genious enough to swing sticks, and the orang will break off branches 

 and fling them at his tormentors or hurl the thick husks of the durian 

 fruit. Nevertheless, striking and throwing are exceptional even with 

 the semi-terrestrial apes, or at most only occasional exercises with 

 such as have sometimes to defend themselves upon the ground. But 

 for man the conditions were reversed. After the human prototype had 

 parted company with his arboreal fellows to become a land-dwelling 

 creature, swinging and climbing were no longer essential to his suc- 

 cess. Henceforth he had to win a place for himself on the ground, and 

 lacking natural means of attack and defense, in the course of his con- 

 test with the carnivora, he was compelled to exercise ingenuity in the 

 choice of artificial implements and develop his incipient capacity to 

 strike and throw. It is not so strange, therefore, as it at first sight 

 appeared, that in adapting the human prototype to his earthly environ- 

 ment selection should have simply set him upright on his feet and 

 accorded him the free use of his arms and hands; for, with his in- 

 herited mental endowment, these slight structural modifications were 

 just such as were necessary to make him a weapon-wielding animal 

 and so set him above his enemies. 



But besides becoming psychically and physically fitted for striking 

 and throwing, man's faculties had also to be trained before he could 

 acquire proficiency in the art of weapon-wielding. To deal a straight 

 blow with a club, or hit a distant mark with a missile, it is necessary 

 to take accurate aim; and this involves the development of a good eye. 

 Heredity favored the human prototype in this respect, for his ape-like 

 ancestors had for centuries been accustomed to rely upon their sense of 

 sight in their search for subsistence. In developing his incipient 

 capacity to strike and throw, the pliocene precursor had, therefore, 

 simply to turn his inherited acquisitive sense to the additional service 

 of distance-determining and range-finding. Long practice and hard 

 training must, nevertheless, have been necessary before primeval man 

 acquired the knack of aiming accurately. The semi-terrestrial apes, 

 whose instincts are still set and whose organs are primarily adapted to 

 swinging and climbing, have never acquired any special facility in this 

 direction. With the exception, indeed, of the land-dwelling, tree- 

 climbing baboon, who is apparently able to hurl branches and hard 

 clods with considerable dexterity, they all exhibit a ludicrous lack of 

 skill in striking and throwing. On the other hand, by dint of observa- 

 tion and imitation, the small boy of our day soon learns to take accu- 

 rate aim, and savages vidthout exception show surprising skill in this 

 direction. Considering the necessity of the case, and judging from 

 the fact of human survival, it is extremely probable, therefore, that 

 in the course of his contest with the carnivora the prototype acquired 

 the knack of aiming accurately and eventually became an adept in the 

 art of weapon-wielding. 



