226 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



Everyone is beginning to realize the importance of a comprehension 

 of the relations between ideas, actions, and all other manifestations, on 

 the one hand, and the conditions under which they are produced, on the 

 other. A sound body and a sound mind imply a sound environment. 

 The criminologist seeks just as much the conditions of the transgression 

 in the environment as does the physician that of disease. There is 

 mental as well as physical susceptibility. Any reform is futile that fails 

 to get hold of the conditions. All are seeking the aid of psychological 

 assistance — physicians, teachers, and reformers alike. It is this feeling 

 of the integral relationship between the individual and his environment 

 that characterizes the modern spirit, and that makes for a more efficient 

 system of education. This spirit makes it inevitable, even for the 

 biologist, to mix up psychology with his theories of evolution. It is 

 this last statement and its relation to educational philosophy that I wish 

 to discuss. 



As already intimated, evolution imposes on us a dynamical view of 

 the world. And all scientific evidence seems to corroborate the fact 

 that all forms and aspects of life have evolved. No other conception 

 has any standing in the court of science, and no failure is as yet recorded 

 against it. The keynote is a common origin of all life from simple 

 forms. In the light of a common origin many attempts have been 

 made to account for man's ascent over his fellow creatures. Wallace 1 

 was the first to strike a successful keynote of explanation in applying 

 the principle of Natural Selection to mental as well as physical qualities. 

 He argues that after man had partly acquired those intellectual and 

 moral qualities which distinguish him from the lower animals, he was 

 but little liable to bodily modifications through natural selection, or 

 any other means. He is enabled through his mental faculties to keep 

 with an unchanged body in harmony with the changing universe. With 

 increased intelligence he has greater power of adapting his habits to 

 new conditions of life. He invents weapons, tools, and various strata- 

 gems to procure food and to defend himself. When he migrates into 

 colder climes he uses clothes, builds shelter, and makes fire ; and by aid 

 of it cooks food otherwise indigestable. He aids his fellows and antici- 

 pates future events. 



• Anthropological Review, May, 1864. 



