bEPTEMBER 2 1, 



1893] 



NA TURE 



507 



the organic repre-<>ntalive of the energy expended in the exercise 

 of the enormous complexity of human actions, as displayed in 

 the movemeuts of his body and in the skilful manipulations 

 necessary to the manufacture of implements, weapons, clothing, 

 &c. All such actions have to be represented by a larger bulk 

 of brain matter than is required for the most profound philo 

 sophical speculations. The kind of intelligence evinced by 

 savages, however low their position in the scale of civilisation 

 may be, is different from, and incomparably greater than, that 

 manifested by the most advanced of the lower animals. To me 

 it is much more rational to suppose that the development of the 

 large brain of man corresponded, pari passu, with that of his 

 characteristic physical attributes, more especially tho^e conse- 

 quent on the attainment of the upright position. That these 

 attributes were acquired exclusively through the instrumentality 

 of the cosmic forces was, as the following quotation will show, 

 the opinion of Mr. Darwin : — " We must remember that nearly 

 all the other and more impjrtant differences between man and 

 quadrumana are manifestly adaptive in their nature, and relate 

 chiefly to the erect position of man ; such as the structure of his 

 hand, foot, and pelvis, the curvature of his spine, and the posi- 

 tion of his head." ("Descent of Man," p. 149.) Mr. 

 Wallace, however, considers the feet and hands of man 

 "as difficulties on the theory of natural selection." 

 "How," he exclaims, "can we conceive that early man, 

 as an animal, gained anything by purely erect locomotion ? 

 Again, the hand of man contains latent capacities and powers 

 which are unused by savages, and must have been even less 

 1 used by palaeolithic man and his still ruder predecessors. It has 

 ' all the appearance of an organ prepared for the use of civilised 

 ' man, and one which was required to render civilisation 

 possible." ("Natural Selection," p. 198.) But here again this 

 i acute observer diverges into Ihis favourite by-path, and intro- 

 I duces a " higher intelligence " to bridge over his difficulties. 

 I We have now reached a stage in this inquiry when a number 

 I of questions of a more or less speculative character fall to be 

 I considered. On the supposition that, at the start, the evolution 

 1 of the hand of man was synchronous with the higher develop- 

 ment of his reasoning faculties, it is but natural to ask where, 

 I when, and in what precise circumstances this remarkable coali- 

 1 tion took place. I would not, however, be justified in taking 

 j up your time now in discussing these questions in detail ; not 

 I because I think the materials for their solution are unattainable, 

 ( but because, in the present state of our knowledge, they are too 

 i conjectural to be of scientific value. In the dim retrospective 

 I vista which veils these materials from our cognisance I can only 

 I see a few faint landmarks. All the osseous remains of man 

 I which have hitherto been collected and examined point to the 

 ) fact that, during the larger portion of the quaternary period, if 

 I not, indeed, from its very commencement, he had already ac- 

 ; quired his human characteristics. This generalisation at once 

 I throws us back to the tertiary period in our search for man's 

 ! early appearance in Europe. Another fact — disclosed by an 

 I analysis of his present corporeal structure — is that, during a 

 I certain phase of his previous existence, he passed through a 

 (stage when his limbs, like those of the present anthropoid apes, 

 ! were adapted for an arboreal life. We have therefore to look 

 I for the causes which brought about the separation of man from 

 his quadrumanous congeners, and entailed on him such a trans- 

 f')i ination in his form and habits, in the physical conditions that 

 would supervene on a change from a warm to a cold climate. 

 In the gradual lowering of the temperature of the subtropical 

 climate which prevailed in Central Europe and the correspond- 

 >ing parts of Asia during the Miocene and Pliocene periods, and 

 iwhich culminated in the great Ice age, together with the con- 

 current changes in the distribution of land, seas, and moun- 

 jtains, we have the most probable explanation of these causes. 

 'Whether man forsook his arboreal habits and took to 

 plains from overcrowding of his own species in search 

 different kinds of food, before this cold period sub- 

 jected him to its intensely adverse circumstances, it would 

 pe idle for me to offer an opinion. Equally conjectural 

 jwould it be to inquire into the exact circumstances which led 

 him to depend exclusively on his posterior limbs for locomotion. 

 During this early and transitional period in man's career there 

 was no room for ethics. Might was right, whether it emanated 

 I'rom the strength of the arm, the skill of the hand, or the cun- 

 ling of the brain. Life and death combats would decide the 

 ate of many competing races. The weak would succumb to 



NO. 1247, VOL. 48] 



the strong, and ultimately there would survive only such as 

 could hold their own by flight, sirength, agility, or skill, just as 

 we find among the races of man at the present day. 



In summing up these somewhat diicursive observations, let me 

 just emphasise the main points of the argument. With the 

 attainment of the erect position, and the consequent specialisa- 

 tion of his limbs into hands and feet, man entered on a new 

 phase of existence. With the advantage of manipulitive organs 

 and a progressive brain he htC'SuVn^ Homo sapiens, and gradually 

 developed a capacity to understand and utilise the forces of 

 nature. As a handicraftsman he fashioned tool-> and weapons, 

 with the skilful use of which he got the mastery over all other 

 i animals. With a knowledge of the uses of fire, the art of cook- 

 ing his food, and the power of fabricating materials for clothing 

 his body, he accommodaied himself to the vicissitudes of climate, 

 and so greatly extended his habitable area on the globe. As 

 ages rolled on he accumulated more and more of the secrets of 

 nature, and every such addition widened the basis for further 

 ■ discoveries. Thus commenced the grandest revolution the 

 organic world has ever undergone — a revolution which culmi- 

 nated in the transformation of a brute into civilised man. Dur- 

 I ing this long transitional period mankind encountered many 

 difficulties, perhaps the most formidable being due to the inter- 

 necine struggles of inimical members of their own species. In 

 these circumstances the cosmic processes, formerly all-powerful 

 so long as they acted only through the constitution of the 

 • individual, were of less potency than the acquired ingenuity 

 and aptitude of man himself. Hence local combinations 

 for the protection of common interests became necessary, 

 I and with the rise of social organisations the safety of the in- 

 ! dividual became merged in that of the community. The 

 j recognition of the principle of the division of labour laid the 

 foundationsof subsequent nationalities, arts, and sciences. Co- 

 incident with the rise of such institutions sprung up the germs 

 of order, law, and ethics. The progress of humanity on these 

 novel lines was slow, but in the main steadily upwards. No 

 doubt the advanced centres of the various civilisations would 

 oscillate, as they still do, from one region to another, according 

 as some new discovery gave a preponderance of skill to one 

 race over its opponents. Thus the civilised world of modern 

 times came to be fashioned, the outcome of which has been the 

 creation of a .special code of social and moral laws for the pro- 

 tection and guidance of humanity. Obedience to its behests is 

 virtue, and this, to use the recent words of a profound thinker, 

 "involves a course of conduct which in all respects is opposed 

 to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. 

 In place of ruthless self assertion it demands self-restraint ; in 

 place of thrusting aside or treading down all competitors, it re- 

 quires that the individual shall not merely respect but shall help 

 his fellows ; its influence is directed, not so much to the sur- 

 vival of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible to 

 survive. It repudiates the gladiatorial theory of existence. It 

 demands that each man who enters into the enjoyment of the 

 advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt to those who 

 have laboriously constructed it, and shall take heed that m act 

 of his weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to live. 

 Laws and moral precepts are directed to the end of curbing the 

 cosmic process and reminding the individual of his duty to the 

 community, to the protection and influence of which he owes, 

 if not existence itself, at least the life of something better than 

 a brutal savage." (Huxley, on "Evolution and Ethics," p. 33.) 

 These humble remarks will convey to your mind some idea of 

 the scientific interest and profound human sympathies evoked by 

 the far-reaching problems which fall to be discussed in this sec- 

 tion. Contrasting the present state of anthropological science 

 with its position some thirty or forty years ago, we can only 

 marvel at the thoroughness of the change that has taken place in 

 favour of its doctrines. Now man's immense antiquity is ac- 

 cepted by a vast majority of the most thoughtful men, and his 

 place in nature, as a derivative animal at the head of the great 

 chain of life, appeals for elucidation to all sciences and to all 

 legitimate methods of research. But among the joyful psjeans of 

 this triumphal march, we still hear some discordant notes — notes, 

 however, which seem to me to die with their echoes, and to 

 have as little effect on scientific progress as the whistling 

 of an idle wind. For my own part I cannot believe that a science 

 which seeks in the spirit of truth to trace the mysteries of human 

 life and civilisation to their primary rootlets, a science which 

 aims at purging our beliefs ol superstitious figments generated 



