SCIENCE, 



[Vol. XL No. 266 



the stalks of grass into a basket held in the other ; then, to sepa- 

 rate the grain from the chaff, he tosses it on a tray, that the passing 

 breeze may cleanse it ; then the grain is roasted, and ground be- 

 tween stones, one lying on the ground, and another held in the 

 hands, — two mealing-stones ; and the flour is spread on a stone, 

 and baked into a cake on the coals. So stick and basket and tray 

 and mealing-stones and baking-stone are the implements and de- 

 vices for gathering and preparing the cereal food of the savage. 

 Then man invents a reaping-hook, then a grain-cradle, then a 

 reaper; and in the process of invention from the sickle to the 

 reaper, what a multitude of inventions are developed ! Along this 

 course how many tools, implements, and machines become obsolete 

 and useless, that the one great reaper may remain ! Here it is that 

 we have ' the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence ; ' 

 and man, by his genius, transfers this struggle from himself to the 

 work of his hands. The way from basket-reaping to power-reaping 

 is long, but all the steps that way have been taken in the endeavor 

 of mankind to secure greater happiness." 



Major Powell also illustrated the evolution of the power-thresher 

 from the flail, of the most improved winnowing-machine from the 

 fanning-tray, of the steam or water power flouring-mill from the 

 mealing-stones, etc. 



" The sheep, the ox, and the horse make their struggle for exist- 

 ence with teeth, tongue, and lips ; but mankind has passed beyond 

 the stage where he must struggle for existence, into that condition 

 where he endeavors to secure greater happiness. Tongue, teeth, 

 and lips are no longer developed along the line of animal evolution ; 

 but human evolution is established by the development of human 

 arts, and this struggle for existence is transferred to painless ob- 

 jects." 



This truth was further illustrated by describing the evolution of 

 the chronometer from the clepsydra and the hour-glass, and of the 

 ocean steamship from the raft. 



" Among bi-sexual animals, one of the agencies of evolution is 

 sexual selection. Brutes light with one another for mates, and in 

 the grand aggregate the weaker are killed, and the stronger are 

 preserved to perpetuate their kind ; and various devices are gradu- 

 ally developed for attracting and winning mates, and the forms, 

 colors, and habits of animals are modified thereby. But even in 

 savagery this battle for sexual love is largely avoided, and, that 

 peace may be preserved, marriage institutions are established. It 

 seems at first that men in groups agree to marry women in groups. 

 A group of men holding a group of women in common, defend one 

 another's rights from violation from without, and live together in 

 peace. On this plan there supervenes another system of institu- 

 tions for marriage, where a group of men are destined to become 

 husbands of a group of women in severalty, and the selections are 

 not made by the parties themselves, but by the elders ; that is, 

 where marriage is by legal appointment within prescribed groups. 

 Thus marriage institutions change from age to age, and from state 

 of culture to state of culture, until the highest civilization is reached, 

 where the man marries the woman of his choice on the sole condi- 

 tion that he is the man of her choice, and where the man must have 

 but one wife, and the woman but one husband, and the twain are 

 one in love, in purpose, and in law. But in the course of this evo- 

 lution of marriage institutions, how many customs have obtained, 

 how many agreements have been made, how many laws have been 

 enacted ! And along the entire course of the history of marriage 

 institutions, customs and laws have disappeared, that new and bet- 

 ter customs and laws might take their places ; and the struggle for 

 mates existing among the lower animals has been replaced by the 

 endeavor to secure peace and happiness in human society. Thus 

 man has transferred the struggle for existence from himself to his 

 institutions. The marriage ceremony of the beast with his mate is 

 a battle with a rival : the marriage of a man with his mate is a 

 festival of kindreds and friends. And wherever any vestige of the 

 beastly struggle remains in human society, there crime is committed, 

 and the course of human evolution is checked. The way from com- 

 munal marriage to monogamy and personal choice is very long, but 

 every step in it has been taken by man in his endeavor to secure 

 greater happiness." 



The evolution of institutions was further shown by the establish- 

 ment of authority, the history of which was traced from the elder- 



right through the right of the noble, by constant and long endeavor, 

 into the right of the representative. 



" Comparing animals with men, among the brutes rights and du- 

 ties are distributed by hoofs and claws and horns and fangs, and 

 by all brutal powers ; but among men rights and duties are dis- 

 tributed by institutions. 



" In this brief review of the growth of institutions, it is observed 

 that forms of government are ever changing, that the constitution 

 of the State is ever changing, and that the laws are ever chan- 

 ging. As these changes proceed, better institutions are selected by 

 men ; and thus is secured a ' survival of the fittest in the struggle 

 for existence ' among institutions. In civilization man does not 

 struggle with man for existence ; but by the invention of institu- 

 tions he emancipates himself from the reign of terror inherent in 

 brutal competition, and transfers the struggle froin himself to the 

 institutions of his creation. 



" All of this statement may be summarized in this manner: man 

 does not compete with plants and animals for existence, for he 

 emancipates himself from that struggle by the invention of arts; 

 and, again, man does not compete with his fellow-man for exist- 

 ence, for he emancipates himself from that brutal struggle by the 

 invention of institutions. Animal evolution arises out of the strug- 

 gle for existence ; human evolution arises out of the endeavor to 

 secure happiness : it is a conscious effort for improvement in con- 

 dition. 



" But arts and institutions alone have not secured the evolution 

 of mankind, for they have been powerfully aided by two other classes 

 of human invention, — namely, linguistics and opinions, — and the 

 part which they have taken must be mentioned." 



Major Powell then showed that the same struggle for existence, 

 and the same survival of the fittest by human selection, which have 

 been found among inventions, and again among institutions, may 

 be discovered among languages and linguistic methods and devices. 

 " By human endeavor, man has created speech, by which he may 

 express his thoughts. And out of this endeavor, in all lands and in 

 all time, the unorganized languages of savages have been developed 

 into the languages of modern civilization ; and all this progress, all 

 this evolution, is by human endeavor ; and in it natural selection, as 

 that term is understood in biology, has played no part. 



" Along the course of human progress opinions have been chan- 

 ging. The cruelty of nature in biotic evolution has been set forth. 

 In this figure of speech, Nature is personified, and, if we still per- 

 sonify Nature, to the savage man Nature was ever a deceiver and a 

 cheat. 



" Nature tells the savage that the earth is flat, over which the sky 

 is arched as a solid dome ; then Nature tells the savage that the 

 sun travels over the flat earth, and under the sky of ice, by day 

 from east to west, and returns again in a cave by night from west 

 to east ; then Nature tells the savage that the rain comes from the 

 melting of the ice of the sky. Many, strange, foolish, and false are the 

 stories that Nature tells to the untutored savage. Nature is the Gul- 

 liver of Gullivers, the Munchausen of Munchausens. Nature teaches 

 men to believe in wizards and in ghosts. Nature fills the human 

 mind with foolish superstitions and horrible beliefs. The opinions of 

 the natural man fill him with many fears, give him many pains, and 

 cause him to commit many crimes. Out of all these savage super- 

 stitions, man has travelled along way into the light of science. .-Xnd 

 how shall the opinions of modern civilization be characterized .' 

 And who can tell how the knowledge of the highest civilization 

 transcends the knowledge of the lowest savagery? And so opin- 

 ions have been changing, — old opinions have died, and new opin- 

 ions have been born, — and philosophies have struggled for exist- 

 ence as man has endeavored to learn ; and with man forever the 

 struggle to know has been the endeavor to secure happiness, for 

 truth is good, and wisdom is joy. 



" Attention has already been called to the fact that among the 

 lowest forms of life there exists a marvellous rate of reproduction. 

 As life advances, and plants and animals are developed, the powers 

 of reproduction are curtailed, until man in the highest civilization, 

 and in the highest culture of that civilization, is reached, when the 

 rate of reproduction is at a minimum. In this state of culture the 

 transfer of the struggle for existence from man to the works of his 

 creation is completed. With this transfer there occurs another of 



