t. ARBOREAL STAGE. The evidence that driniitive mun spent hiuch time in and about 

 the trees, and presumably had his crude home there, is shown in the characteristics of the 

 skeletons of his more immediate descendants. According to the development theory his body 

 and probably his mind had been derived from a tree-climbing creature that lived in some 

 tropical, or sub-tropical forest region. In the light of our present knowledge we may select 

 the islands immediately south of Asia as the most likely cradle of the human race. Inherit- 

 ing then the necessary structures and instincts it is to be supposed that he simply continued 

 the life of his ancestors, after he had risen to the human plane. Surrounded by the powerful 

 and ferocious beasts of the later Cenozoic time and greatly inferior to them physically, he was 

 Le/er safe upon the ground, even in his waking moments. His method of climbing is sup- 

 posed to have been similar to that now practiced by the higher apes and some savage peoples ; 

 placing the soles of the feet against the side of the tree and holding the upper part of the body 

 at arm's length. Clothing and shoes were unnecessary and would have seriously impeded his 

 movements. His body was protected by a light covering of hair. His food was vegetable in 

 large part and uncooked, he not yet having domesticated fire. Language probably consisted 

 of inarticulate calls and cries by which were expressed simple wants and ideas. Weapons only 

 of wood were probably at first used and discarded when no longer needed. These were very 

 ineffective against the large mammals of the time and kept man in a continual state of fear. 

 He was biding his time ! Darkness brought to him terrors both real and imaginary and his 

 bete noire was probably the terrible boas and pythons that could follow him to his very shelter, 

 as the dog family and larger cats and bears could not do. Of high winds and the lightning's 

 flash he stood in wholesome fear. He acquired a sufficient knowledge of plants to enable him 

 to select those suitable for food and to leave alone those that were unfit or poisonous. His 

 knowledge of animals was limited mainly to knowing how to escape their fangs and claws. 

 By long residence under these arboreal conditions the human eye became adapted to the color 

 chlorophyll green. The social unit was the family, plus or minus the father, the care of the 

 children devolving mainly upon the mother. The younger children were carried upon her 

 back in order that her arms might be free for climbing. Those unable to cling sooner or later 

 lost their lives by falling, leading to a survival of those best fitted to this mode of life. It 

 seems likely that crude cradles of vines, or tough bark, were eventually invented by which 

 means the children could be swung from the branches, or more conveniently carried upon the 

 back. Under this strenuous life parental care must necessarily cease at a relatively early age 

 and the young then became largely dependent upon their own efforts. Egoism was in the 

 ascendency. No region could support much of a population and as the numbers increased the 

 weaker individuals were crowded into the surrounding regions, more or less unfavorable, and 

 demanding adjustment of habits to new conditions. Upon the ground this type of man was 

 unsteady, walking more largely upon the outer edge of the foot and probably securing more 

 perfect balance by placing the hands upon the ground. 



2. HUNTING AND FISHING STAGE. Through a combination of circumstances pmbably, 

 rather than to any one, certain individuals, or groups of individuals, gradually gave up their 

 arboreal habit and lived more fully upon the ground. This may have been brought about by 

 the discovery of the use of stone for weapons and the advantages of co-operation in fighting 

 enemies. The "taming of fire," so that it might be employed in man's defense against wild 

 animals, may have been an important factor in this forward step of the race. In part, it may 

 have been forced upon man by his inability to find suitable trees for homes, the scarcity of 

 food or the necessity of obtaining clothing in those less congenial regions into which he had 

 bean crowded. This change in environment called at once for new habits of living, necessi- 

 tated new structures, or rather the modification of old ones. In order to wield his newly dis- 

 covered weapons he must stand erect and secure stability and fleetness. This called for a 

 readjustment of muscular and skeletal development and alterations in the various proportions 

 of the body ; changes which are still in progress in the body of civilized man. 



With certain divisions of the race this stage of mankind has continued to the present day 

 (American Indian) and in the long time involved, migrations, impossible in the preceding stage, 

 distributed man over the greater part of the habitable globe. The most marked improvement 

 took place in every direction now that his mental powers were fully aroused. Had he been 

 superior physically to the animals about him his mental development would have been greatly 

 retarded, if not absolutely checked. Beginning with stones shapen only by Nature he learned 



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