272 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



possession of articulate speech is the grand distinctive 

 character of man. It was no sudden acquirement, but 

 was slowly, step by step, evolved from the significant 

 grunts and cries of apes in the course of long ages, and 

 corresponded in its progress with a parallel progress in 

 mental capacities. Once attained, it led to the formation 

 of vast educative products, namely, to oral tradition, 

 to written and then to printed memorials and records. 

 It is not desirable in our present state of knowledge 

 to speculate as to whether the transitional ape-man 

 acquired the use of fire before or after he had invented 

 articulate speech. It probably was acquired very soon 

 after some skill in the flaking of flints had been attained, 

 and was of immense value, both as a defence against 

 predatory animals and as a means of preparing food. 

 Man probably learnt at a very early period to cover 

 himself with clothing made from the skins of other 

 animals, and thus to tolerate cold climates. The use 

 of clothing was correlated with the diminution of his 

 natural hairy covering. As to the circumstances which 

 led to the reduction in size of his canine teeth and the 

 diminution of the projection of his jaws, it is impossible 

 to say more than that this was favoured by the increased 

 skill of his hand and by the use of weapons, and 

 probably was directly correlated with an increased 

 growth of the brain. It is an interesting fact that very 

 young children still exhibit the ancestral tendency to 

 bite when angry, and that the use of the teeth as 

 weapons of attack is more frequent among lower races 

 with " prognathous " jaws than among Europeans. 



A definite habit of the human infant, that of " crying " 

 — the peculiar spasmodic howling of very young children 

 — seems to be unknown in any of the apes. I do not 

 know what ingenious reason may have been assigned 



