316 Proofs of Evolution. 



most perfect man there is simply a development of the functions 

 and attributes of the lowest organism, the amoeba. The observa- 

 tion of this universal fact of continuity — that nothing anywhere 

 comes from nothing — constitutes the strongest philosophical 

 proof of Evolution. 



Mr. Benjamin Eeece: — 



Let us note some of the convincing proofs of Evolution in the 

 field of Sociology. Professor Clifford says, the selfhood of the 

 tribe is of more importance than that of the individual. In ani- 

 mals that were gregarious the chances of survival were greater 

 than in those which were not. Slavery, in the evolution of morals, 

 was an advance upon cannibalism; it at first was prudential, then 

 it became immoral to kill in cold blood. The influence of environ- 

 ment upon morals is seen in negro slavery in our own country. In 

 the North, where slavery was unprofitable, its ethical wrong was 

 earlier seen than in the South, where the institution was of advan- 

 tage to the slave-owners. Again, in the North the moral percep- 

 tion was manifested in denunciations of the inhumanity of the 

 practice of slave-holding; in the South, in the kind treatment of 

 the slave. Now even the slave-holder has discovered that slavery 

 was both economically unprofitable and morally wrong; and slavery 

 is universally condemned, because it has been proved to be un- 

 suited to its environment. With the decline of the ancient tribal 

 fealty, and the sense of personal comradeship, comes in the feel- 

 ing of a wider relationship, of a universal brotherhood. In some 

 communities, however, the fact of brotherhood and equality of 

 rights is perceived subjectively before the functional development 

 of the masses renders its legal establishment practicable or possi- 

 ble. Hence arise conflicts and political dissensions. A sudden 

 change in environment, for which the subject is not prepared, 

 results disastrously. Thus the North American Indian, in common 

 with other savage races, was not prepared for the additional leisure 

 which the improved implements of warfare furnished by the whites 

 gave him, which enabled him to procure subsistence in half the 

 time which had formerly been required, and left him without 

 sufficient occupation, while, to make a bad matter worse, the 

 white man's stimulants came in to fill the gap. He was not pre- 

 pared to use the advantages of civilization, which were suited to 

 the condition of the white man because he had evolved them. 

 There was a break in the continuity. Without occupation, man 

 reverts to his original barbarous condition, as seen in the sports 

 which engage the attention of the wealthy idlers among us, of 

 which horse-racing and fox-hunting are illustrations. 



