﻿PALEONTOLOGY 
  AND 
  HUMAN 
  KELATIONS 
  

  

  By 
  Stuakt 
  V/eixeu 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  my 
  purpose 
  to-day 
  to 
  deviate 
  somewhat 
  from 
  the 
  usual 
  custom 
  

   of 
  speakers 
  on 
  occasions 
  like 
  the 
  present. 
  I 
  shall 
  attempt 
  to 
  present 
  

   to 
  you 
  neither 
  the 
  results 
  of 
  research 
  in 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  engaged, 
  

   nor 
  an 
  outline 
  of 
  the 
  progress 
  of 
  the 
  science 
  which 
  I 
  represent, 
  during 
  

   the 
  past 
  year. 
  I 
  shall 
  attempt, 
  rather, 
  to 
  outline 
  briefly 
  a 
  train 
  of 
  

   thought 
  in 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  interested 
  for 
  many 
  years 
  and 
  which 
  

   may 
  have 
  a 
  somewhat 
  more 
  general 
  interest 
  than 
  the 
  presentation 
  of 
  

   a 
  more 
  technical 
  subject. 
  

  

  Doubtless 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  topic 
  which 
  possesses 
  a 
  wider 
  interest 
  for 
  

   members 
  of 
  the 
  human 
  race 
  than 
  the 
  topic 
  of 
  man 
  himself, 
  and 
  I 
  

   have 
  found 
  during 
  my 
  30 
  years 
  of 
  teaching 
  paleontology 
  that 
  students 
  

   of 
  this 
  subject 
  are 
  always 
  deeply 
  interested 
  in 
  any 
  contacts 
  which 
  can 
  

   be 
  suggested 
  or 
  established 
  between 
  the 
  problems 
  associated 
  with 
  the 
  

   extinct 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  earth 
  and 
  human 
  aifairs. 
  

  

  To 
  the 
  average 
  person 
  the 
  word 
  " 
  fossil 
  " 
  conveys 
  the 
  impression 
  

   of 
  something 
  dead, 
  something 
  so 
  absolutely 
  dead 
  as 
  to 
  be 
  beyond 
  all 
  

   possibility 
  of 
  resuscitation. 
  It 
  carries 
  the 
  impression 
  of 
  something 
  

   that 
  is 
  unchangeable. 
  The 
  epithet 
  " 
  old 
  fossil," 
  when 
  applied 
  to 
  a 
  

   man, 
  signifies 
  the 
  superlative 
  of 
  conservatism, 
  a 
  man 
  so 
  devoid 
  of 
  the 
  

   possibility 
  of 
  change 
  that 
  he 
  is 
  mentally 
  dead. 
  

  

  From 
  a 
  study 
  of 
  the 
  fossil 
  trilobite 
  and 
  brachiopod 
  remains 
  in 
  the 
  

   ancient 
  strata 
  of 
  the 
  earth's 
  crust 
  to 
  a 
  consideration 
  of 
  human 
  rela- 
  

   tions 
  in 
  the 
  year 
  1926 
  A. 
  D. 
  may 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  path 
  of 
  interminable 
  

   length, 
  but 
  notwithstanding 
  the 
  remoteness 
  of 
  the 
  time 
  when 
  the 
  

   Cambrian 
  faunas 
  represented 
  the 
  life 
  of 
  our 
  planet, 
  or 
  of 
  the 
  still 
  

   vaster 
  remoteness 
  of 
  the 
  earliest 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  Cambrian 
  trilobites 
  

   and 
  their 
  associates, 
  there 
  has 
  been 
  a 
  continuity 
  of 
  life 
  on 
  the 
  globe. 
  

   Man 
  himself 
  has 
  unquestionably 
  arisen 
  from 
  a 
  more 
  lowly 
  and 
  less 
  

   specialized 
  ancestor 
  than 
  himself 
  ; 
  this 
  ancestor 
  in 
  turn 
  looks 
  back 
  for 
  

   his 
  origin 
  to 
  still 
  simpler 
  forebears, 
  and 
  so 
  on 
  back 
  and 
  back 
  into 
  

   the 
  long 
  past 
  periods 
  of 
  earth 
  history. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  the 
  task 
  of 
  the 
  paleontologist 
  to 
  carry 
  on 
  researches 
  concerned 
  

   with 
  the 
  extinct 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  earth, 
  but 
  the 
  continuity 
  of 
  this 
  extinct 
  

  

  1 
  Presidential 
  address, 
  read 
  before 
  the 
  Paleontological 
  Society 
  Dec. 
  28, 
  1926. 
  Reprinted 
  

   by 
  permission 
  from 
  Bulletin 
  of 
  the 
  Geological 
  Society 
  of 
  America, 
  vol. 
  38, 
  Mar. 
  30, 
  1927. 
  

  

  74906—28 
  21 
  

  

  309 
  

  

  