220 Does Man's Evolution Continue? 



variable human race there may not emerge (or may 

 not be emerging!) a new species, destined to progress 

 as far beyond the average Homo sapiens as the Mod- 

 ern Man type did beyond that of the Neanderthalers ? 

 This question of the continuance of human evolution 

 is of great interest, and may be briefly considered by 

 itself. 



§9. The Continuance of Man's Evolution. 



Man has a long ascent behind him, but is he still on 

 the way up? Is he continuing to evolve as an organ- 

 ism? Does he show an organic racial change in defi- 

 nite directions ? It is plain that his external or social 

 heritage is changing, but is man himself changing? 

 He suffers dints and he puts on veneer; he fattens 

 himself and makes himself lean; he develops San- 

 dowian muscles and dulls his sense of smell: but are 

 these and similar changes more than superficial modi- 

 fications? Do they in any direct way grip the race? 

 It does not seem easy to prove that man as an organ- 

 ism is evolving either up or down, either progressively 

 or retrogressively. It seems as if animal species often 

 took a rest after a period of marked variability and 

 progress. Perhaps man is in one of these periods of 

 stability. Perhaps human evolution has passed from 

 being mainly organismal, as in the days of primitive 

 man, to being mainly outside the body — that is to 

 say, in the social environment. 



We can prove the reality of continued evolutionary 

 change in a race of domesticated animals or of culti- 

 vated plants when we have definite records of the 



