September 21, 1893J 



NA TURE 



50: 



be able, at a moment's warning, to gird himself with one of 

 these as with a life-belt on board ship, and so descend in safety, 

 or one or more automatically opening in case of disaster might 

 be fitted to the aero-plane as a whole. 



Eventual Exhaustion of Fuel Supply. 



I have still to refer to one other question, the consideration 

 of which must always give rise to very serious thoughts. We 

 have seen that the decisive victories which, in modern times, 

 man has gained over matter and over other animals have been 

 due to his use of power derived from other than animal sources. 

 That power has invariably proceeded from the combustion and 

 the destruction of fuel, the accumulations of which in the earth 

 are necessarily limited. 



Mechanical appliances, involving the consumption of fuel, 

 have, for a century at least, been multiplying with alarming 

 rapidity. Our minds have been set mainly on enlarging the 

 uses and conveniences of man, and scarcely at all on economising 

 the great sources of power in nature, which are now for the 

 most part its fuels. Terrible waste of these valuable stores is 

 daily going on in almost every department of use. Once ex- 

 hausted they can never be replaced. They have been drawn 

 upon to some extent for looo years, and extensively for more 

 than too. Authorities say that another I003 years will exhaust 

 all the more accessible supplies. But suppose they last 50OJ 

 years — what then? Why, then, as far as we can at present see, 

 our only motive-powers will be wind and water and animals, and 

 our only mode of transit, sailing and rowing, driving, cycling, 

 riding, and walking. 



Sir Robert Ball has estimated that in not less than 5,000,000 

 and not more than 10,000,000 years the sun will have become 

 too cold to support Ijfe of any kind on this planet. Between 

 the 5000 years when fuel will certainly be exhausted and 

 the 5,000,000 years when all life may be extinguished, there 

 will still be 4,995,000 years when, according to present 

 appearances, man will have to give up his hardly-earned 

 victories over matter and other animals, and the latter will 

 again surpass him, each in its own elcnen", because he has 

 no fuel. 



Conclusion. 



Leaving to our posterity these more remote troubles, we may, 



I think, justly draw from the entire discussion the conclusion 



that we have still a great deal to learn from mechanisms as they 



; exist in nature. Great as have been the achievements of man 



I since he first began to study mechanical science, with a view to 



directing the great sources of power in nature for his own use 



and convenience, the entire field of research is by no means yet 



, fully exhausted. We must continue to study the same science 



with undiminished ardour. In so doing we shall do well to bear 



in mind that success can be achieved only by the patient, accu- 



I rate, and conscientious observation of the great lacts of nature, 



; which are equally open to us all and waiting for our attention ; 



I and by drawing correct inferences therefrom, and by applying 



j such inferences correctly to the fulfilment of the future needs and 



I destiny of our race. 



SECTION H. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Opening Address by Robert Munro, M.A., M.D., 

 F. R.S.E., President op the Section. 



The science of anthropology, in its widest sense, embraces 

 ' all the materials bearing on the origin and history of mankind. 

 ' These materials are so comprehensive and diversified, both in 

 ! their character and methods of study, that they become neces- 

 I sarily grouped into a number of subordinate departments. From 

 a bird's-eye point of view, however, one marked line of demar- 

 cation separates them into two great divisions, according as they 

 ! relate to the structure and functions of man's body, or to the 

 works he has produced — a classification well defined by the 

 fioxd.% anthropology in&archaologi/. The former, in its limited 

 acceptation, deals more particularly with the development of 

 ; man — his physical peculiarities, racial distin :lions, linguistic 

 ; manifestations, mental eidowmsnts, and, in short, every 

 {morphological or mental miJIficalion he has undergone 

 ! amidst the ever-changing phenomena of his environ- 

 ' ments. The latter, on the other hand, take> cogni- 

 isanceof man merely as a handicraftsman. During his long 

 journey in past time he has left behind him, scattered on the 



NO. 1247, VOL. 48I 



highways and byways of primeval life, numerous traces of his 

 ways, his works, his culture, and his civilisation, all of which 

 fall to be collected, sorted, and interpreted by the skilled archae- 

 ologist. In their general aspects and relationship to each other 

 most of the leading subjects in both these branches of the science 

 have already been expounded, in the presidential addresses of 

 my predecessors, by men so distinguished in their respective 

 departments that they have left little to be said by anyone who 

 attempts to follow in their footsteps. There is, however, one 

 phase in the progressive career of man which has not hitherto 

 been so fully illustrated as the subject appears to me to merit. I 

 refer to the direct and collateral advantages which the erect 

 position has conferred on him ; and to this I will now briefly 

 direct your attention, concentrating my observations successively 

 on the following propositions : — • 



(i) The mechanical and physical advantages of the erect 

 position. 



(2) The differentiation of the limbs into hands and feet. 



(3) The relation between the more perfect condition of these 

 organs and the development of the brain. 



In the process of organic evolution it would almost appear as 

 if nature acted on teleological principles, because many of her 

 products exhibit structures which combine the most perfect 

 adaptation of means to ends along with the greatest economy 

 of materials. This is well exemplified in some of the structural 

 details of the organs of locomotion in which many of the so- 

 called mechanical powers may be seen in actual use. The 

 primary object of locomotion was to enable the organism to 

 seek its food over a larger area than was attainable 

 by a fixed position. The acquisition of this power was 

 manifestly so advantageous to animal life that the principles 

 by which it could be efifected became important fac'.ors in 

 natural selection. I need not here dwell on the various 

 methods by which this has been accomplished in the 

 lower forms of life, but proceed at one; to point out that in the 

 higher vertebrates the problem resolved itself into the well- 

 known mechanism of four movable limbs, capable of supporting 

 and transporting the animal. As these quadrupedal animals 

 became more highly differentiated, in virtue of the necessities of 

 the struggle for life and the different and ever-varying condi- 

 tions of their surroundings, it followed that the limbs became 

 also modified fo as to make them suitable, not only for locomo- 

 tion in various circumstances, but also useful to the animal 

 economy in other ways. Hence they were subjected to an end- 

 less variety of secondary influences, which finally adapted them 

 for such diverse purposes as swimming, flying, climbing, grasp- 

 ing, &c. The anterior limbs, owing to their proximity to the 

 head, were more frequently selected for such transformations as 

 may be seen, for instance, in the wings of a bird. But whatever 

 modifications the fore limbs may have undergone, no animal, 

 with the exception of man, has ever succeeded in divesting them 

 altogether of their primary function. This exceptional result 

 was due to the erect position, which necessitated a complete 

 division of labour as regards the functions of the limbs — the two 

 anterior being entirely restricted to manipulative and prehen- 

 sile purposes, and the two posterior exclusively devoted to loco- 

 motion. Coincident with this notable specialisation of their 

 function a new field for advancement was opened up to man, in 

 which intelligence and mechanical skill became the leading 

 factors in his further development. 



Man is thus distinguished from all other animals by the fact 

 that, in the normal position of walking or running, he carries 

 his body upright, i.e. with the axis of the vertebral column 

 perpendicular, instead of horizontal or oblique. In this position 

 all its parts are so arranged as to require a minimum amount of 

 exertion in the performance of their functions. If any of the 

 other higher vertebrates should ever assume an erect attitude 

 it can only be maintained temporarily, and its maintenance in- 

 volves an additional expenditure of force. In a certain sense 

 a bird may be looked upon as a l)iped, but there is this dis- 

 tinction to be drawn between it and man, viz. that the former 

 has not only its body balanced obliquely on its two legs, but 

 also its fore limbs converted into special organs lor motion 

 in the air. The anthropoid apes hold an intermediate posi- 

 tion, and so carry their body in a semi-erect attitude. But this 

 .shortcoming in reaching the perfectly upright position, however 

 slight it may be in some of these animals, represents a wide gap 

 which can only be fully appreciated by a careful study of the 

 physiological and psychological phenomena manife-ted in their 

 respective life-functions. 



