THE ASCENT OF MAN.* 



By Frank Baker, M. D. 



The scit'Uco of Antbropology, oue of the youiij;er daiigbters of human 

 knowledge, ivS so vast in its scope that to master all of its different ram- 

 iticatious seems a hopeless task. Having- for its object the compreben- 

 sive study of man, including his origin, his development, and bis present 

 condition, its aim is to focus and co-ordinate the general results derived 

 from avast number of subordinate branches. The philologist contrib- 

 utes information concerning the origin and growth of language and its 

 elitect upon civilization; tbe mythologist tells of the psychological side 

 of tbe buman mind and traces the rise and progress of religious ideas; 

 tbe arcbaaologist, in order to fix their places in the history of mankind, 

 searches for the remains of peoples long since passed away. All these 

 depend for their material upon external records, left by tradition, by 

 writing, by sculpture, or by implements and weapons. With greatest 

 care every ancient habitation of man is searcbed in order to learn from 

 it the details of tbe life of its former inhabitants. 



Within comparatively recent times still anotber avenue of informa- 

 tion has been found, for we have learned that it is not alone by these 

 external records that man's bistory can be traced, but that important 

 facts may be obtained by studying the constitution of his body; that 

 the changes and vicissitudes of his existence are recorded on his very 

 bones, in cbaracters long undeciphered, but to which the clew has at 

 last been found. My labors have led me more particularly to this 

 department of anthropology, and a concise summary of the main heads 

 ot this research may be of value and interest. 



The views propounded by Lamarck in the early part of this century-, 

 with reference to the modification of living organisms by use and adap- 

 tation, have been remarkably confirmed in modern times. Exhaustive 

 researches into the constitution and properties of the cells composing 

 living tissues show that they are subject to continual change, each im- 

 pulse from without being registered by some small alteration in their 

 physical condition. Impulses of a similar kind continuously acting 



* Address of tbe Vice-president before tbe section of Antbropology, of tbe American 

 Association for tbo Advancement of Science, at tbe Indiana])olis meeting, Augnst 20, 

 1890, (From ['roccedinqa Am, Assoc. Adv, ^ci. vol, xxxix, pp. 3^)1-1373.) 



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