8 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



among theologians — a class of thinkers at first much 

 opposed to such a doctrine. 



Have Human and Animal Evolution Been Con- 

 trolled BY THE Same Laws? 



In all this line of reasoning there has been a tacit 

 assumption that human and animal evolution have 

 been controlled by the same laws, and therefore that 

 the conclusions reached concerning the development 

 of animals may be legitimately applied to the devel- 

 opment of the human race. This conclusion is a nat- 

 ural one, and is surely correct up to a certain point. 

 A human animal was doubtless produced by the 

 same laws that were concerned in the production of 

 a horse or an ape. But the human race is some- 

 thing more than a collection of human animals. 

 Human evolution has progressed along wholly new 

 lines, and has produced a result so different from 

 anything found elsewhere in the organic world as 

 to have led some to insist that mankind belongs to 

 a kingdom by himself distinct from plants and 

 animals both. Now, while no modern biologist will 

 hold such an extreme position as this, none can fail 

 to realize that, evolution in the human race has pro- 

 duced unique results. Whereas every other animal 

 may be regarded simply as an incident in an evolu- 

 tionary progress, each appearing and then disap- 

 pearing without leaving a trace of itself behind, 

 unless perchance it became a fossil, mankind is tak- 

 ing possession of the whole world, is exterminating 

 all forms of life except those that contribute to his 

 comfort and happiness, and, though he leaves few 

 fossils, is leaving behind himself traces which are 

 changing the whole face of nature. His evolution 



