238 Summary 



of a process of natural evolution and the religious 

 interpretation of Man as the child of God. 



5. The idea of "emergent evolution" is useful. By 

 an "emergence" is meant a genuine novelty, not a 

 mere additive resultant. All the big steps have illus- 

 trated "emergent evolution," the appearance of new 

 syntheses ; and this is particularly true of Man. Just 

 as the remarkable properties of water are the un- 

 predictable, though now familiar, outcome of combin- 

 ing oxygen and hydrogen, so, but more subtly, birds 

 emerged from reptiles, and man from a simian stock. 



6. The pedigree of man illustrates a sifting-out 

 process — successive divergences of New World mon- 

 keys, of Old World monkeys, of small apes, of large 

 apes, of tentative men (Hominidae) , until at last what 

 we may call the progressive main stem is represented 

 by Homo. There was a persistent pressing on past 

 lower levels of existence, past side-tracks and blind 

 alleys, until at last there emerged the Man. 



7. Mutations often occur in Nature, transilient or 

 discontinuous variations. It is probable that Man 

 arose as a mutation. In his ancestry the period of 

 arboreal apprenticeship probably counted for much 

 — e.g., in the emancipation of the hand, the recession 

 of the snout region, the enlargement of the brain- 

 case, the shunting forward of the eyes, and changes in 

 the brain. But the critical time was probably when 

 climatic changes brought about a shrinking of the 

 forests, and the humanoids came to earth. That in- 

 volved a struggle for existence in which the premium 

 was on wits rather than on strength. Account must 



