ANIMAL SOCIETIES — SNODGRASS 443 



gists have named this first fossil man Australopithecus. Later, for 

 mutual protection or for hunting and killmg large animals for food, 

 families united mto tribes. Then some kmd of internal order had to 

 be preserved, and dominant males became tribal chiefs. (It may be 

 noted that males are still dommant in government and politics.) 

 Instead of fights among members of a tribe, wars now broke out be- 

 tween tribes, and have continued to the present when tribes have 

 become nations. It would be uiteresting to know something of the 

 appearance and accomplishments of these early apemen, whether they 

 were covered with fur or were naked, and if they had a language, but 

 bones tell nothing of these things. Modern "restorations" of fossil 

 men suggest that they were rather homely creatures. We do know 

 that primitive men very early made tools of stone and flint, and prob- 

 ably had weapons with which they could secure animals for food. 



Along with tlie apemen there lived, during the Pleistocene, species 

 of the genus Homo^ including H. rhodesiensis in Africa, H. neander- 

 thalensis in southern Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, and 

 H. sapiens^ our own ancestors (presmnably derived from Adam and 

 Eve). Of all these members of the family Ilominidae, Hoino sapiens 

 alone survived the Pleistocene. We can feel therefore that our species 

 must have been in some important way superior to the others. 



Man's fii*st use of his fingers and bram was m the making of stone 

 and flint tools. In the course of time he successively improved his 

 flint implements until he learned to make fire. Then he found copper, 

 next produced bronze by adding tin, and finally discovered iron. The 

 subsequent history of the human race through the age of gunpowder 

 to the splittmg of the atom is the story of Homo sapiens., which is told 

 in the history books. 



Probably the greatest asset that Homo sapiens possesses is spoken 

 language. The vocalizations of other animals are merely expressions 

 of emotions ; only man makes soimds that stand for names of things. 

 Man is thus the only animal that can transmit information, except by 

 example and mherited instinct, from one generation to the next. 

 Human education, moreover, is greatly facilitated by the long juve- 

 nile period of growth and brain development. AVithout language, 

 and its written symbols, we should be little better than dumb animals. 



Finally we come to what distinguishes Homo sapiens uniquely from 

 all the other animals. This is his ability to supplement his native 

 talents with artifacts from flint tools to airplanes. All this he owes 

 to his brain development, his manual dexterity, his accurate eyesight, 

 and his language. Hence our species has undergone much anatomical 

 evolution since the days of the apeman. (See Spuhler, 1959.) Lin- 

 naeus gave modem man the name of sapiens, the knowing one, about 

 1758, when man had learned something about himself, the world he 



