884 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1016 



mon consent, it has been supposed that 

 primitive man was in the possession of 

 spoken lan^age, developed to such a 

 degree as to enable him to communicate 

 effectively with his associates. 



A moment's reflection will be sufficient 

 to bring to mind the immense importance 

 of language to any animal fortunate enough 

 to have found, by chance or otherwise, a 

 means for its development. He has for the 

 first time, in the words of his language, a 

 sort of concrete receptacle for his thoughts. 

 Prior to the acquisition of this tool for 

 thinking, his thought had been, as it were, 

 a fluid stream from which he could take 

 up and hold permanently only that which 

 would adhere to a sieve dipped into the 

 stream. He could not give his thought ob- 

 jective existence as- standing out before 

 him. He could only feel its passage as it 

 was driven through his mind by one im- 

 pulse after another from his material en- 

 vironment. But with language at his dis- 

 posal the case becomes different. Between 

 the language and his thought there is a 

 mutual reaction; and by means of the 

 former the latter is deposited so that it 

 may become the subject of objective study. 

 The immense impetus which this would 

 give to the development of the intellect 

 must be apparent to every one. 



There is another and greater element of 

 development in the invention of language, 

 namely, that which is associated with the 

 power of intelligent intercourse. By its 

 means our primitive man has become able 

 to live in part outside of himself and in the 

 thought of others. Thus he can project 

 into himself the experiences of many other 

 persons. This gives a new richness and a 

 new meaning to his life. He is no longer 

 confined to the range of his own experience 

 as his means of development. All his con- 

 temporaries, so far as he knows them, can be 

 made to contribute to his progress and be 



themselves gainers in the act. And even 

 more than this is true: the experience of 

 one generation can be passed down by tra- 

 dition to the next. Thus the cumulative 

 effect of the progress of one generation 

 after another first became available to our 

 primitive ancestors. It gave a great im- 

 petus to progress. 



Indeed, it is true, I believe, that man 

 has not yet taken another step of advance- 

 ment of as great importance to him as this 

 firet one ; and consequently I have dwelt on 

 it at some length. It is also to be con- 

 trasted, as you will see, with the greater 

 part of his later progress. For, it is essen- 

 tially intellectual in its character, whereas 

 much of the other depends for its value on 

 the increased control which it gives man 

 over his material environment. 



The next stage of development was 

 brought in, it is supposed, by the discovery 

 of the uses of fire. The knowledge of fire 

 is so widely distributed that it is a question 

 whether any authentic instance is on 

 record of a tribe altogether ignorant of it. 

 By means of its use man became able to 

 leave the tropical parts of the world and 

 to go into the more invigorating temperate 

 climates. He also had an enlarged and 

 more nutritious food supply, owing to the 

 increased value of many meats and vege- 

 tables on being cooked. 



The next prime invention appears to 

 have been that of the bow and arrow. Its 

 chief contribution to progress is also in the 

 increased and improved food supply which 

 it made available. A tribe using the bow 

 and arrow could have meats at all times. 

 Such a diet probably contributed to in- 

 crease the physical vigor and the courage 

 of the savage possessed of it for the first 

 time. The primitive tribes of Australia 

 and Polynesia had not advanced to this 

 stage when they were discovered a few 

 generations ago. 



