86 THE THRESHOLD OF EVOLUTION 



as some religious teachers would have us believe, a departure 

 from the laws of nature or a special miracle of God as is 

 the alteration of the laws of heat and cold in the Epoch of 

 Faith, or the alteration of the law of birth by the miracles of 

 redemption in the Epoch of Hope, or as will be the altera- 

 tion of the laws of death when we become sufficiently masters 

 of our own wills and sufficiently wise to sin without injury 

 and offence to others, which is to be the final perfection of 

 psychological evolution when we have learnt to use, not abuse, 

 the gifts of God and nature, and by so doing produce the 

 maximum population of the earth compatible with the greatest 

 amount of peace, comfort and content, when we will receive 

 the final rewards of joy, pleasure and happiness which will 

 convert this earth into heaven. 



So it is probable that man's desire to be possessed of a 

 long weapon of defence, and the discovery that he could use 

 it best in an upright position, were the incentives that urged 

 him on to the attainment of the principle of physical develop- 

 ment. Now throughout the whole course of evolution, the 

 species which have triumphed and continued to exist are those 

 which, by evolving excellences of brain power, energy and 

 perseverance, succeeded in triumphing over the presumably 

 greater magnificence of the bodily development of colossal 

 species. So in this last fight for physical superiority we find 

 that the same laws hold good amongst apes. The horse and the 

 dog may have beaten the ape in energy, but not in develop- 

 ment of brain or initiative or prolonged perseverance under 

 greater difficulties in the procuration of food ; while the 

 reptiles and mammoths increased in body, but not in brain, 

 and had in this manner lost their right to further progress 

 along the road to knowledge because they did not succeed 

 in all the directions required. The Gibbon had by the pro- 

 longed length of his reach of arm made himself the most 

 formidable ape when defending himself with a short stick, and 

 supporting himself on three legs became content to remain so 

 far the King of Monkeys. And the Orang-utan or Gorilla 

 evolving the maximum of ape strength was content with a short 

 stick so that by only raising himself upon his hind legs 

 to fight for a moment or two, or by supporting himself by an 

 overhanging bough, he could defeat all his foes with powerful 

 blows and so excel in defensive strategy. But neither of these 



