ASPECTS OF KINETIC EVOLUTION 2\J 



period or stage of development. Thus the monkeys and anthro- 

 poid apes seem to have secured from their larger brains no 

 special advantage over other animals. No species of anthro- 

 poids seems to have become very abundant or widely distributed. 

 Only one member of the group continued brain-development to 

 the point of utility in the struggle for existence, and gradually 

 gained supremacy over the mundane creation. But mental 

 development has by no means remained restricted to simple 

 environmental requirements. Cerebral convolutions have con- 

 tinued to multiply among the more specialized or highly civilized 

 varieties of mankind until they have become, if recent statistics 

 are to be trusted, a positive hindrance to the well-being of the 

 species, like the overgrown plumage of the pheasants and birds- 

 of-paradise, or the burdensome antlers of the extinct Irish elk. 

 Civilized man is now facing a crisis in his own evolution. He 

 must soon decide whether he will make use of his over-developed 

 intellect for solving the problems which now beset his existence, 

 or allow it to carry him entirely out of contact with his environ- 

 ment and compass his destruction. As the supply of barbarous 

 peoples of high mentality has almost run out, the present experi- 

 ment of our race with civilization presents an element of histor- 

 ical finality which adds, if possible, to the natural interest of 

 such phenomena. All former civilizations of the European or 

 Mediterranean peoples have proved suicidal. It remains to be 

 seen whether the modern faith in science will be justified by 

 the finding of means to avoid another repetition of history. 



Capable individuals tend always to assume parasitic habits 

 and to become infertile, until the race is represented only by the 

 relatively incapable immunes, upon whom civilization gets no 

 hold. Science must make plain to capable people the folly of 

 becoming parasites, or of permitting parasitism. Scientific dis- 

 coveries have placed civilized man in many new relations with 

 his environment, but these relations must have complete bio- 

 logical adjustment if they are to contribute to the evolutionary 

 progress of the race. Scientific discoveries have transformed 

 the arts of production and transportation, but they have had no 

 corresponding influences upon social organization. Luxury, 

 idleness and over-education are dangers to society, not merely 



