894 EEPOKT— 1893. 



would it be to inquire into the exact circumstances which led him to depend ex- 

 clusively on his posterior limbs for locomotion. 



During this early and transitional period in man's career there was no room for 

 «thics. Might was right, whether it emanated from the strength of the arm, the skill 

 of the hand, or the cunning of the brain. Life and death combats would decide the 

 fate of many competing races. The weak would succumb to the strong, and ulti- 

 mately there would survive only such as could hold their own by flight, strength, 

 agility, or skill, just as we find among the races of man at the present dav. 



In summing up these somewhat discursive observations, let me just emphasise 

 the main points of the argument. With the attainment of the erect position, and 

 the consequent specialisation of his limbs into hands and feet, man entered on a 

 new phase of e.xistence. With the advantage of manipulative organs and a pro- 

 gressive brain he became Homo sapiens, and gi'adually developed a capacity to 

 understand and utilise the forces of nature. As a handicraftsman he fashioned 

 tools and weapons, with the skilful use of which he got the mastery over all other 

 animals. With a knowledge of the uses of fire, the art of cooking his food, and 

 the power of fabricating materials for clothing his body, he accommodated himself 

 to the vicissitudes of climate, and so greatly extended his habitable area on the 

 globe. As ages rolled on he accumulated more and more of the secrets of nature, 

 and every such addition widened the basis for further discoveries. Thus com- 

 menced the grandest revolution the organic world has ever undergone — a revolu- 

 tion which culminated in the transformation of a brute into civilised man. During 

 this long transitional period mankind encountered many difficulties, perhaps the 

 most formidable being due to the internecine struggles of inimical members of 

 their own species. In these circumstances the cosmic processes, formerly all- 

 powerful so long as they acted only through the constitution of the individual, 

 were of less potency than the acquired ingenuity and aptitude of man himself. 

 Hence local combinations for the protection of common interests became necessary, 

 and with the rise of social oi"ganisations the safety of the individual became merged 

 in that of the community. The recognition of the principle of the division of 

 labour laid the foundations of subsequent nationalities, arts, and sciences. Coin- 

 cident with the rise of such institutions sprang up the germs of order, law, and 

 ethics. The progress of humanity on these novel lines was slow, but in the main 

 steadily upwards. No doubt the advanced centres of the various civilisations 

 would oscillate, as they still do, from one region to another, according as some new 

 discovery gave a preponderance of skill to one race over its opponents. Thus the 

 civilised world of modern times came to be fashioned, the outcome of which has been 

 the creation of a special code of social and moral laws for the protection and guidance 

 of humanity. Obedience to its behests is virtue, and this, to use the recent words of 

 a profound thinker, ' involves a course of conduct which, in all respects, is opposed 

 to that which leads to success in the cosmic struggle for existence. In place of 

 ruthless self-assertion it demands self-restraint; in place of thrusting aside or 

 treading down all competitors, it requires that the individual shall not merely 

 respect but shall help his fellows ; its influence is directed, not so much to the 

 survival of the fittest, as to the fitting of as many as possible to survive. It repu- 

 diates the gladiatorial theory of existence. It demands that each man who enters 

 into the enjoyment of the advantages of a polity shall be mindful of his debt to 

 those who have laboriously constructed it ; and shall take heed that no act of his 

 weakens the fabric in which he has been permitted to live. Laws and moral 

 precepts are directed to the end of curbing the cosmic process and reminding the 

 individual of his duty to the community, to the protection and influence of which 

 he owes, if not existence itself, at least the life of something better than a brutal 

 savage.' ' 



These humble remarks will convey to your minds some idea of the scientific 

 interest and profound human sympathies evoked bj' the far-reaching problems 

 which fall to be discussed in this Section. Contrasting the present state of anthro- 

 pological science with its position some thirty or forty years ago, we can only marvel 



' Huxley, on Evolution and Ethics, p. 33. 



