CHAPTER 11 



EVOLUTION AS SEEN IN THE 



GEOLOGIC RECORD: 



EVOLUTION OF MAN 



Pope's dictum that "the proper study of mankind is 

 Man" may be taken as symbolic of the enhanced interest most people feel 

 in members of their own species, as compared to their interest in other 

 portions of the animal kingdom. Probably it is only natural that the subject 

 of the evolution of man arouses more widespread interest than does, for 

 example, that of the evolution of the horse. Yet it is unfortunate that the 

 "man in the street" thinks of evolution only in terms of its bearing upon 

 the question of man's ancestry, instead of recognizing that man's evolution 

 is one scene in a much vaster drama. But perhaps our criticism of the 

 average citizen's myopic vision should be mitigated by the realization 

 that he is occasionally encouraged in this restricted view by those who 

 should know better. 



The foregoing is not intended to belittle man or the importance of his 

 evolution, but to suggest the perspective in which all evolution should be 

 viewed. Many animals have arisen through evolution, among them man. 

 The same principles at work in the production of other animals operated 

 in the production of man. Man is the finest product which has yet arisen 

 through the evolutionary process. But that is not to say that the evolution- 

 ary process was set in motion in the first place for the express purpose of 

 producing man. 



Why is man the finest fruit on the tree of fife? The very fact that he can 

 ask the question suggests the answer. Man is the only product of the 



218 



