ON" THE HYPOTHESIS OF EVOLUTION". I55 



How much meaning may we not see, from this standpoint, 

 in the history of the intelligence of our little ones ! First they 

 crawl, they walk on all-fours ; when they first assume the erect 

 position they are generally speechless, and utter only inarticulate 

 sounds. When they run about, stones and dirt, the objects that 

 first meet the eye, are the delight of their awakening powers ; but 

 these are all cast aside when the boy obtains his first jackknife. 

 Soon, however, reading and writing open a new world to him ; 

 and, finally, as a mature man he seizes the forces of Nature, and 

 steam and electricity do his bidding in the active pursuit of power 

 for still better and higher ends. 



So with the history of the species : first, the quadrumane ; 

 then the speaking man, whose humble industry was, however, 

 confined to the objects that came first to hand, this being the 

 "stone age "of pre-historic time. When the use of metals was 

 discovered, the range of industries expanded wonderfully, and the 

 "iron age" saw many striking efforts of human power. With the 

 introduction of letters it became possible to record events and ex- 

 periences, and the spread of knowledge was thereby greatly in- 

 creased, and the delays and mistakes of ignorance correspondingly 

 diminished in the fields of the world's activity. 



From the first we see in history a slow advance as knowledge 

 gained by the accumulation of tradition and by improvements in 

 habit based on experience ; but how slow was this advance while 

 the use of the metals was still unknown ! The iron age brought 

 with it not only new conveniences, but increased means of future 

 progress ; and here we have an acceleration in the rate of advance. 

 With the introduction of letters this rate was increased manifold, 

 and in the application of steam we have a change equal in utility 

 to any that has preceded it, and adding to the possibilities of fu- 

 ture advance in many directions. By it power, knowledge, and 

 means of happiness were to be distributed among the many. 



The uses to which human intelligence has successively applied 

 the materials furnished by Nature have been — first, subsistence 

 and defense ; second, the accumulation of power in the shape of a 

 representative of that labor which the use of matter involves — in 

 other Avords, the accumulation of wealth. The possession of this 

 power involves new possibilities, for opportunity is offered for the 

 special pursuits of knowledge and the assistance of the weak or 

 undeveloped part of mankind in its struggles. 



Thus, while the first men possessed the power of speech, and 



