EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



this should be so ? I think it can be shown, 

 with very few words, that between these two 

 facts there is a connection that is deeply in- 

 wrought with the processes by which life has 

 been evolved upon the earth. It can be shown 

 that man's progressiveness and the length of 

 his infancy are but two sides of one and the 

 same fact ; and in showing this, still more will 

 appear. It will appear that it was the lengthen- 

 ing of infancy which ages ago gradually con- 

 verted our forefathers from brute creatures into 

 human creatures. It is babyhood that has made 

 man what he is. The simple unaided operation 

 of natural selection could never have resulted 

 in the origination of the human race. Natural 

 selection might have gone on forever improving 

 the breed of the highest animal in many ways, 

 but it could never unaided have started the pro- 

 cess of civilization or have given to man those 

 peculiar attributes in virtue of which it has been 

 well said that the difference between him and 

 the highest of apes immeasurably transcends in 

 value the difference between an ape and a blade 

 of grass. In order to bring about that wonder- 

 ful event, the Creation of Man, natural selec- 

 tion had to call in the aid of other agencies, and 

 the chief of these agencies was the gradual 

 lengthening of babyhood. 



Such is the point which I wish to illustrate 

 in few words, and to indicate some of its bear- 

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