500 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EVOLUTION OF THE HUMAN FOEM. 



By CHARLES MORRIS, 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



rriHAT men, or thinking beings akin to man, exist only on that 

 -*- minute fragment of the universe we call the earth is a conception 

 so highly improbable, in view of the vast multitude of planets which 

 we may logically conceive to exist, that it seems as if no reasoning 

 being could entertain it. It is true, indeed, that in our own solar 

 system perhaps only two or three of the planets, perhaps only the 

 earth, are in a condition suitable for human habitation, and that the 

 earth has been so for a comparatively brief period. It may well be, 

 therefore, that only a very small percentage of the planets of space 

 are in a similar condition. But in view of the vast multitude of 

 planets that presumably exist, the number of those that possess rea- 

 soning beings is probably great. If we deal with this question from the 

 point of view of actual evidence, the fact that the only planet whose 

 conditions we know is inhabited by man is a strong argument in favor 

 of his wide-spread existence. On the other hand, the fact that man's 

 existence upon the earth is dependent upon a certain limited range 

 of temperature, of brief duration in the earth's total history, is an 

 argument on the opposite side, and goes far to narrow the possible 

 domain of life in the universe. Yet if we extend our view to embrace 

 the past and the future as well as the present, we can not avoid the 

 conclusion that the realm of life and thought in the universe is an 

 immense one. 



To this question of the existence of thinking beings appertains 

 another, that of their form or physical character. Are we to suppose 

 that these beings, wherever placed, resemble man, or that each planet 

 develops a type of its own, and that, if we could bring together a collec- 

 tion of the men of different sections of the universe, we should have a 

 diversified museum of animal forms, vdth but one characteristic in 

 common, that of the faculty of abstract thought? This is the con- 

 ception usually entertained by those who have indulged in speculation 

 or fiction concerning the inhabitants of Venus, Mars and other planets 

 of our system. Yet it is one that may be questioned. A study of the 

 development of life upon the earth seems to lead to the opposite con- 

 clusion, and yields warrant for the theory that thinking beings, wher- 

 ever they may dwell, resemble man in body as well as in mind In 

 other words, we have reason to conclude that, if we were capable of 



