130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



SO does our existence, in its various stages, from the cradle to ma- 

 turity, exemplify the steps in man's advancement from the condition 

 of the untutored savage to that of a civilized being." 



The writer claimed that nearly every one of our " manners and 

 customs " betrays its lineage with some aboriginal proclivity, some 

 instinct, or some acquired tendency which had for its main object 

 the securing of a supply of food. 



On this basis Mr. Boyle accounted for the stone-throwing pro- 

 clivity on the part of boys ; and with advancing years, for their indul- 

 gence in the use of pea-shooters, slings, bows and arrows, revolvers 

 and rifles. 



Cruelty to animals, cocking-mains, pugilism, and man-bull fights 

 were traced to the same savage source. Sports and games were 

 regarded as impi'oved forms of old hand-to-hand encountei's. 



Music and dancing were rhythmical arrangements of sound and 

 motion, but connected with the celebration of victories in war, 

 dancing especially still showirig mimic capture and recapture by 

 contending parties. 



Fondness for raw meat and for putrescent vegetable matter led 

 the writer to the love of the human race for stimulants, and he asked 

 whether it would not " be rash to say that the desire for intoxicants 

 had not its origin in some instinctive and impelling longing to satisfy 

 a want in the human organism V 



Of the jack-knife carver on every available surface, the remark 

 was made : " He is a nineteenth century survival of Cave Man, and 

 refrains from committing murder only because he has a wholesome 

 regard for the terrors of the law." 



Personal adornment and love of display were the results of evolu- 

 tion from the days of paint and feathers. 



In concluding, the writer said, " The customs of modern society, 

 the refinement, the sestheticism of the present day are but evolutio- 

 nized forms of those natural expressions of instinct and of crude senti- 

 ment that are so characteristic of savage life wherever it exists. 

 That many of our proclivities bear so strong a i-esemblance 

 to savagery, is not only a proof of the " Descent of Man," but goes a 

 long way to show how exceedingly brief has been his so-called civil- 

 ized condition compared with the endurance of his primeval state. 

 . . . To acknowledge the prevalence of crime, is simply another 



