504 THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



Man's Futxjre. — Concerning the future of the human 

 race no one can speak with authority. Owing to his 

 superior mental development, inventive ingenuity and 

 spirit of cooperation, man has been able in past times to 

 overcome barriers and migrate over the earth and live 

 amid surroundings that would have annihilated a less 

 intelligent species. Brute strength and keenness of 

 sense are no longer the important factors they once were 

 in the struggle for existence and probably they are not 

 as highly developed as formerly. A hairy covering for 

 protection is no longer a necessity and it is more sparse 

 than in ancient man. The teeth are smaller and weaker, 

 the size of the toes, with the exception of the first digit, 

 is reduced, and many other organs are more rudi- 

 mentary. The brain appears to be increasing in size, and 

 skill in the use of the hand may likewise be developing 

 as a result of more perfect adjustments of bones and 

 muscles, but beyond this point no progressive changes 

 are known to be taking place. 



Whether man will ultimately become extinct, and a 

 new and perhaps more highly developed species take his 

 place is a much debated and insoluble question. Every 

 '' highest species " in the past has been replaced by more 

 competent, better adapted types, and it may very well 

 happen in the ages to come that a weakened constitution, 

 unfavorable mutations, new parasitic diseases or some 

 other agencies will forever remove man from the face of 

 the earth. 



