442 



NA TURE 



[September i, 1904 



available, even though they be modern examples, reveals the 

 ' fact that, if classified according to their apparent morpho- 

 logical affinities, these types show a tendency to fall into 

 line, the gap between the extreme forms — that is, the most 

 simple and the most advanced — being filled by a succession 

 of intermediate forms, more or less completely linked 

 together, according to the number of varieties at our dis- 

 posal. We are thus, at any rate, in possession of a sequence 

 series. Is it unreasonable for us to conclude that this 

 reflects, in great measure, ttie actual chronological sequence 

 of variations through which in past times the evolutionary 

 history of the instrument was effected from the earliest 

 rudimentary form ? 



It is difficult to account at all for the existence of many 

 of the forms such as I have briefly described, except on the 

 supposition that they are survivals from more or less early 

 stages in a series of progressive evolution ; and, for myself, 

 I do not believe that so inefficient and yet so elaborate an 

 instrument as, to take an example, the harp of ancient 

 Egypt, Assyria, and India could have come into being by 

 any sudden inventive process, by " spontaneous generation," 

 as it were, to use a biological term ; whereas, the innate 

 conservatism of the human species, which is most manifest 

 among the lower and more primitive races (I use the term 

 conservatism, 1 need hardly say, in a non-political sense) 

 amply accounts for such forms having been arrived at, since 

 the rigid adherence to traditional types is a prevailing 

 characteristic of human culture, and only admits of improve- 

 ment by very slight and gradual variations upon existing 

 forms. The difficulty experienced by man in a primitive 

 condition of culture of emancipating himself from the ideas 

 which have been handed down to him, except by a very 

 gradual and lengthy process, causes him to exert somewhat 

 blindly his efforts in the direction of progress, and often 

 prevents his seeing very obvious improvements, even when 

 they are seemingly forced upon his notice. For instance, the 

 early Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek harps, as I have already 

 stated, were destitute of a fore-pillar, and this remained the 

 case for centuries, in spite of their actually e.xisting in an 

 environment of other instruments, such as the lyre and 

 trigonon, which in their rigid, unyielding frames possessed 

 and even paraded the very feature which was so essential 

 to the harp, to enable it to become a really efficient instru- 

 ment. The same juxtaposition of similar types, without 

 mutual influence, may be seen in modern Africa among 

 ruder forms of these instruments. 



And yet, in spite of instances such as this — where a 

 valuable feature suggested by one instrument has not been 

 adopted for the improvement of another, even though the 

 two forms are in constant use side by side — we must recognise 

 that progress in the main is effected by a process of bringing 

 the experience gained in one direction to bear upon the 

 results arrived at in another. This process of grafting one 

 idea upon another, or, as we may call it, the hybridisation 

 of ideas and experience, is a factor in the advancement of 

 culture the influence of which cannot be overestimated. It 

 is, in fact, the main secret of progress. In the animal world 

 hybridisation is liable to produce sterile offspring ; in the 

 world of ideas its results are usually far different. A fresh 

 stimulus is imparted, which may last through generations 

 of fruitful descendants. The rate at which progress is 

 effected increases steadily with the growth of experience, 

 whereby the number of ideas which may act and react upon 

 one another is augmented. 



It follows, as a corollary, that he who would trace out 

 the phylogenetic history of any product of human industry 

 will speedily discover that, if he aims at doing so in detail, 

 he must be prepared for disappointments. The tangle is 

 too involved to be completely unravelled. The sequence, 

 strictly speaking, is not in the form of a simple chain, but 

 rather in that of a highly complex system of chains. The 

 time-honoured simile afforded by a river perhaps supplies the 

 truest comparison. The course of the main stream of our 

 evolution series may be fairly clear to us, even as far as to 

 its principal source ; we may even explore and study the 

 general effect produced by the more important tributaries ; 

 but to investigate in detail the contributions afforded in 

 present and past of the innumerable smaller streams, brooks, 

 and runlets is clearly beyond anyone's power, even supposing 

 that the greater number had not changed their course at 

 times, and even, in many cases, run dry. While we readily 



NO. 1818, VOL. 70] 



admit that important effects have been produced by these 

 numberless tributary influences, both on the course and on 

 the volume of the river, it is clear that we must in general 

 be content to follow the main stream. A careful study of 

 the series of musical instruments, of which I gave but a 

 scanty outline, reveals very clearly that numberless ideas 

 borrowed from outside sources have been requisitioned and 

 have affected the course of development. In some cases one 

 can see fairly clearly whence these ideas were derived, and 

 even trace back in part their own phylogenetic history ; but 

 a complete analysis must of necessity remain beyond our 

 powers and even our hopes. 



It will have been observed that, in the example of a 

 sequence series which I have given, the early developmental 

 stages are illustrated entirely by instruments belonging to 

 modern savage races. It was a fundamental principle in 

 the general theory of Colonel Lane Fox that in the arts and 

 customs of the still living savage and barbaric peoples there 

 are reflected to a considerable extent the various strata of 

 human culture in the past, and that it is possible to re- 

 construct in some degree the life and industries of Man in 

 prehistoric times by a study of existing races in correspond- 

 ing stages of civilisation. His insistence upon the import- 

 ance of bringing together and comparing the archsological 

 and ethnological material, in order that each might serve 

 to throw light upon the other, has proved of value to both 

 sciences. Himself a brilliant and far-seeing archaeologist 

 as well as ethnologist, he was eminently capable of forming 

 a conclusion upon this point, and he urged this view very 

 strongly. 



The earth, as we know, is peopled with races of the most 

 heterogeneous description, races in all stages of culture. 

 Colonel Lane Fox argued that, making due allowance for 

 possible instances of degradation from a higher condition, 

 this heterogeneity could readily be explained by assuming 

 that, while the progress of some races has received relatively 

 little check, the culture development of other races has 

 been retarded to a greater or less extent, and that we mav 

 see represented conditions of at least partially arrested 

 development. In other words, he considered that in the 

 various manifestations of culture among the less civilised 

 peoples were to be seen more or less direct survivals from 

 the earlier stages or strata of human evolution ; vestiges of 

 ancient conditions which have fallen out at different points 

 and have been left behind in the general march of progress. 



Taken together, the various living races of Man seem 

 almost to form a kind of living genealogical tree, as it were, 

 and it is as an epiphyte upon this tree that the comparative 

 ethnologist largely thrives ; while to the archaeologist it may 

 also prove a tree of knowledge the fruit of which may be 

 eaten with benefit rather than risk. 



This certainly seems to be a legitimate assumption in a 

 general way ; but there are numerous factors which should 

 be borne in mind when we endeavour to elucidate the past 

 by means of the present. If the various gradations of culture 

 exhibited by the condition of living races — the savage, semi- 

 civilised, or barbaric, and the civilised races — could be re- 

 garded as accurately typifying the successive stages through 

 which the higher forms of culture have been evolved in the 

 course of the ages ; if, in fact, the different modern races 

 of mankind might be accepted as so many sections of the 

 human race the intellectual development of which has been 

 arrested or retarded at various definite stages in the general 

 progression, then we should have, to all intents and purposes, 

 our genealogical tree in a very perfect state, and by its 

 means we could reconstruct the past and study with ease 

 the steady growth of culture and handicrafts from the 

 earliest simple germs, reflecting the mental condition of 

 primsval man up to the highest manifestations of the most 

 cultured races. 



These ideal conditions are, however, far from being 

 realised. Intellectual progress has not advanced along a 

 single line, but, in its development, it has branched off in 

 various directions, in accordance with varying environ- 

 ment ; and the tracing of lines of connection between 

 different forms of culture, as is the case with the physical 

 variations, is a matter of intricate complexity. Migrations 

 with the attendant climatic changes, change of food, and, in 

 fact, of general environment, to say nothing of the crossing 

 of different stocks, transmission of ideas from one people to 

 another, and other factors, all tend to increase the tangle. 



