568 NATURE CROWNED IN MAN 



segregated off. The evolving human stem was further pruned by 

 the divergence of doomed races, — Pithecanthropus, Neanderthalers, 

 and perhaps the men of the Sussex Weald. It is perhaps a million 

 years since the human standard of brain was reached. 



In Man's bodily structure there is an all-pervading similitude with 

 the higher Anthropoids ; his blood mingles harmoniously with theirs ; 

 he is a museum of relics in the form of vestigial structures and he 

 is shot through with atavistic proclivities; in his development he 

 climbs up his own genealogical tree. Man is solidary with the 

 rest of creation. 



On the other hand, Man is quite unique in his capacity for form- 

 ing and experimenting with general ideas or concepts (reason), 

 in his power of reasoned discourse (language), in his vivid con- 

 sciousness of himself as a personality with a history behind him 

 and with strong kin-instincts binding him for his own self-realisation 

 to his fellows. Man is apart from the rest of creation. 



Of the factors in the establishment of human species we are very 

 ignorant. A great increase in brain capacity, implying marked 

 educability, perhaps arose as a mutation, as genius does still. 

 Perhaps a temporal variation, implying a prolongation of ante- 

 natal life, infancy, and childliood, was of importance. Also to be 

 considered are the results of arboreal life, of the emancipation of 

 the fore-limb, of walking erect, of using sticks and stones, of 

 building shelters, of living in families, of talking a good deal — and 

 all these began in Primates lower than Man. Furthermore, there 

 were a good many experiments in social organisation prior to Man. 



Human history, though continuous with, is more than a continua- 

 tion of animal evolution. Man is a rational and social personality, 

 understanding something of his own evolution and seeking to have 

 a hand in it, directing it in reference to an ideal. When the 

 factors in social history are compared with those of organic evolu- 

 tion, great differences appear. In society we have to deal with 

 integrates which work as units, in a manner which cannot be ade- 

 quately described in terms of the functions of the component in- 

 dividuals. In social evolution enormous importance attaches to the 

 extra-organismal, — to societary variation, to the social heritage, and 

 to deliberate social selection by social methods. 



In what sense may we say that Nature is crowned in Man? He 

 is the outcome of a persistent trend towards dominance of mental- 

 ity, and he carries this to finer issues. Man cannot be regarded 

 as * accidental ' or * episodic ' ; he is the outcome of a long-eon- 



