Chapter VIII 



PHYSICAL EVOLUTION 

 I 



EVOLUTION OF RACE-ENERGY 



ENERGY is born of conflict, conflict with enemies or with stern Conflict 

 physical conditions. The savage, armed only with a flint 

 instrument, had enemies fierce and formidable. There were energy 

 wild beasts who were not far from, or quite, his match. There 

 were other savages ready to fight him for what food or clothing 

 he had managed to get. The barbarian is at a higher stage ; he 

 belongs to a tribe with some organisation and with customs that 

 are binding upon all its members. But with barbarians, as with 

 savages, war is the normal state of things ; the temple of Janus 

 is closed only during short breathing spaces. The Afridis are 

 now at a stage through which all civilised peoples have passed, 

 and it is said that when an Afridi wants an interval of peace he 

 can only obtain it by enlisting in one of the regiments of the 

 British Raj. 



From all this fighting there result great courage and great 

 energy. Conflict with other tribes and wild beasts is the main 

 source to which we must trace the strong combativeness that 

 makes men find a pleasure in overcoming difficulties and facing 

 dangers. 



But though there is no practice for fighting equal to fighting 

 itself, yet the tribe which, having for the time reduced its rivals 

 to impotence, settles down, tills the ground, develops the arts 

 of peace and accumulates wealth, has a great advantage in war. 

 Accordingly, some tribes passed out of the stage where hunting 

 and war were the only occupations. They domesticated cattle ; 



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