160 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 787 



binical and Greek accounts, pointing to a relation- 

 ship between both. But the points of contact 

 between the Assyro-Babylonian account, on the 

 one hand, and the stories in Pseudo-Callisthenes 

 and the Talmud on the other, are too vague and 

 of a too general character to warrant the assump- 

 tion of a direct relationship between them. 



At the 439th meeting, January 4, 1910, Dr. 

 Ales Hrdlicka, of the National Museum, exhibited 

 a cast of the lower jaw of Homo heidelbergensis 

 donated recently to the National Museum by Pro- 

 fessor Schoettensack, of Heidelberg University. 

 This jaw, which is preserved at the university 

 and has been described in detail by Professor 

 Schoettensack, was found less than two years 

 ago near the village of Mauer, 10 kilometers 

 southeast of Heidelberg, under nearly 75 feet of 

 loess and ancient river sand. It dates from the 

 Upper Pliocene or the very beginning of the 

 Quaternary period and represents the most an- 

 cient being known that can be regarded as man. 

 To illustrate the remarkable characteristics of this 

 jaw Dr. Hrdlicka showed a number of mandibula 

 of different anthropoid apes along with those of 

 recent man. The paper was discussed by Messrs. 

 Theodore Gill, G. M. Kober, D. S. Lamb, Daniel 

 Folkmar and others. 



The remainder of the evening was devoted to 

 an address by Dr. W J McGee, on " Conservation 

 in the Human Realm." The speaker said that the 

 human realm may best be defined in terms of 

 relation to the other great realms in nature; and 

 these are most conveniently stated in the order 

 of increasing complexity, which may be consid- 

 ered also the order of sequence in cosmic devel- 

 opment. 



The initial realm is that pertaining to cosmic 

 bodies and their interrelations; the fundamental 

 principle comprises the actions and reactions of. 

 gravity, impact, etc., which together have been 

 denoted molarity; the field is largely covered by 

 astronomy, with a part of physics. The second 

 realm pertains to atomic and certain molecular 

 interrelations; its fundamental principle is af- 

 finity; and its field coinoidfiS fairly with chem- 

 istry. The third realm is that of organic activity; 

 its principle is vitality, which directly and in- 

 directly accelerated and multiplied the chemical 

 difl^erentiation of the earth-crust; its field is cov- 

 ered by a large part of biology, with cognate 

 sciences. The fourth realm (which is closely 

 allied to the preceding) pertains to those organ- 

 isms so complete in themselves as to be self-active ; 



its principle is motility; and its field is covered 

 by zoology and allied branches of knowledge. The 

 final realm is that in which motile organisms are 

 so completely self-active as to react upon and 

 dominate lower nature; its principle is mentality; 

 and its field is anthropology in all of those aspects 

 resting on a psychic basis. Now the entities 

 proper to the several realms coexist and interact; 

 and in general the entities of each higher realm 

 dominate over all those of the lower realms. This 

 is especially true of mentality, which employs 

 motility and directs vitality to control affinity and 

 molarity, thereby, making conquest over lower 

 nature for human welfare. In the power of men- 

 tality human strength lies, while danger also 

 lurks; for the power may be, and in the absence 

 of constraint often is, used for the destruction 

 rather than mere subjection of the materials and 

 forces of nature. Viewed broadly, the exercise 

 of control over the realms of lower nature per- 

 tains to the human realm no less than do the more 

 passive attributes of mankind. 



When this nation was founded but two re- 

 sources were recognized — the men, with the land 

 they made their home. Half a century later coal 

 mining and the practical manufacture of iron 

 began, and in another half century the industrial 

 exploitation of the forests. Yet statecraft lagged 

 behind industry so far that these enormous values 

 below and above the surface were alienated nom- 

 inally as land, passed under monopolistic control, 

 and were diverted from the whole people to which 

 they rightfully belonged; while free citizenship 

 largely gave place to industrial dependence. At 

 first water was neglected as a mere appurtenance 

 to land; and now that it is recognized as the 

 primary resource — that on which life depends, so 

 that it gives value to all the rest — it also is 

 passing under a monopolistic control whereby all 

 citizenship will tend to merge into industrial 

 dependence on centralized power. The situation 

 is one of the gravest ever confronted by any 

 people in the world's history, graver than any 

 ever survived by a nation; and it behooves those 

 possessing the advantage of scientific training and 

 knowledge of principles to give it earnest consid- 

 eration — and to aid in defining the interrelated 

 duties of the individual, the family and the state 

 in ways tending toward the perpetuity of our 

 people. 



A lengthy discussion of this paper closed the 

 meeting. 



John R: Swanton, 



Secretary 



