Man in the Light of Evolution 



be embraced. Hence what is first needed, what 

 is fundamental in all reform or education, is 

 usually not more instruction in knowledge but 

 more inspiration, not argument but uplift, not 

 more information but a higher purpose and a 

 stronger will set on right. Evolution leaves us 

 still face to face with the old baffling problem, 

 how to change and improve the will. 



We noticed in our study of the evolution of 

 the animal kingdom that at every stage a large 

 part of the group refused to go farther, and 

 either strayed from the upward path or stag- 

 nated and degenerated. This is what we might 

 well expect. Nature surrounded the progressive 

 form by stronger competitors which drove it 

 into and along the right way. The primitive 

 vertebrate was compelled to swim by mollusk 

 and crab ; the mammal was hunted into shrewd- 

 ness and agility; the arboreal mammal was com- 

 pelled to climb. The fittest arose not from 

 choice so much as from compulsion. 



Once and again in human history the same 

 compulsion has been necessary and has proved 

 effective. Our ancestors were nomads, perhaps, 

 on the plains of Asia. They had to become 

 agriculturahsts, cultivators of the soil, if any 



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