78 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



This analysis leads to a somewhat equivocal result. On the one hand, 

 the high cerebral specialisation that makes possible all these developments, 

 and the extraordinary rate at which success has been attained, both point 

 to the conclusion that this is a species destined to a spectacular rise and 

 an equally spectacular fall, more complete and rapid than the world 

 has yet seen. On the other hand, the wide range of directions into which 

 the specialisation extends, and the measure of control over environment 

 that it entails, seem to suggest a peculiar kind of plasticity that might pass 

 for generalisation, with the consequent hope of a long time-range. In 

 this uncertainty we must look for such facts as are available, facts of 

 history which are at least comparable with the record of Palaeontology. 

 But first we must estimate the relative value of the evidence afforded by 

 human history. 



Fossils and historical documents alike give but a fraction of an account 

 of the matters of which they treat. In both cases the story of the early 

 stages of racial progress is imperfect and often mythological ; the episodes 

 of decline and fall are more fully documented. But, in contrast to 

 palaeontological evidence, human accounts are always suspect. Written 

 records of events represent an impression made on one, or at best a few, 

 minds ; they may, indeed they must, be tainted with prejudice and ignor- 

 ance even when they are not deliberately falsified. The impious rebellion 

 of one writer is the glorious revolution of another. Whatever may be the 

 criticisms levelled at the transcribers of Natural History, no doubts can 

 be cast on the essential truth of the record they try to interpret. As an 

 academic proposition, it may be debated as to whether a misread fact 

 is preferable to a misread falsehood ; but there is at least a chance of 

 finding the truth in the former case. 



Again, the bulk of human history is the record of the performance of a 

 few actors on a specially selected stage ; Palaeontology, with all its im- 

 perfections, gives a picture of events in fairer proportion. The parts of 

 human history usually recorded represent the activities of man the in- 

 tensified animal rather than of man the half-fledged angel. The behaviour 

 of the animal is the more rational, and so easier to remember and describe. 

 But from very early times another factor has entered into human affairs — ■ 

 a factor illogical and wayward, but every bit as real to a man as his animal 

 qualities. This factor, which we may call ' altruistic,' makes human 

 actions often unintelligible in the present, and still more so in the past. 

 For example, it is easier to find a rational explanation of the presence and 

 characters of a Micraster in the Chalk than to form a plausible hypothesis as 

 to the meaning of the Stonehenge that men erected over it. Man can 

 safely claim to be unique, for he is the only irrational creature in the world. 

 A palaeontologist may be excused for looking askance at a record of 

 creatures like that written by one of themselves. 



Nevertheless, man leaves other traces of his activities besides written 

 screeds, and many of these records are as revealing, and as unintentional, 

 as the shell of a mollusc. By piecing together archaeological materials, 

 and fitting documentary accounts into the plan of this mosaic, a conception 

 of human history can be gained that comes within measurable distance 



