APPENDIX 373 



scarce, and conflicts were so numerous and savage 

 that to many a poor soul life seemed not worth liv- 

 ing. In this extremity, our dog-like or creodont 

 ancestor, exercising the usual wits for which our 

 whole line of progenitors has ever been noted, with 

 an aspiring mind began to look heavenward in hope 

 of some sort of relief. He viewed the silvery moon 

 and the twinkling stars, and was pleased with their 

 brightness. He also observed that on the trees hung 

 luscious fruits, some of which, partly decomposed, he 

 had picked from the ground, and that numerous 

 glossy, fat birds flitted by day among the foilage and 

 roosted on the boughs of the trees by night. He 

 said to himself, " What a feast if I could only 

 climb!" The intense desire soon became father to 

 the deed. He soon selected a peach tree of that Age 

 on which there hung much golden fruit. His first 

 effort at climbing was extremely awkward, and he fell 

 to the ground. Again he renewed the effort with all 

 his strength, in doing which he so jarred the tree 

 that some of its best fruit fell to the earth. This he 

 eagerly devoured. Encouraged with his success he 

 repeated the process " until his stomach was fairly 

 filled." His mind was then fully made up to seek 

 the things that were above — to climb into a world 

 where none of his close kindred had ever been. So 

 he gave himself up to the severest course of training. 

 He hugged the trees for hours at a time in order to 

 give his arms the best shape for grasping. He patted 

 his fore feet and hind feet against stones in order 

 that they might be flattened into hands for grasping 

 and feet for biped locomotion. He pulled his fingers 

 to increase their length, and placed wedges between 

 what are now the thumb and the forefinger, in order 

 to make the former stand out as a thumb. In like 

 manner he developed the big toe into a grasping 



