THE ERA OF HELPLESSNESS 47 



sections of brain have undergone intrinsic and essen- 

 tial changes. Considering the enormous difference 

 in brain mass and quality, the slow rate at which 

 intellectual power increases, the exceeding small- 

 ness of the addition possible in the transition from 

 one generation to the next, the conclusion seems 

 inevitable that an enormously long period was 

 required for the gradual substitution for the brute 

 sense of our earliest upright ancestors of that superior 

 intelligence which men must have possessed when 

 they began to arm themselves artificially. 



The validity of this conclusion has been assailed 

 on two grounds; viz., on the supposition or hypothe- 

 sis that the highest mammalians are subject to 

 transformations by sudden freaks, sports, and muta- 

 tions similar to those which have been reported to 

 occur among the lowlier forms of vegetable and 

 animal life, and that the earliest upright ancestors 

 of man may have received their enormously enlarged 

 and developed brains and intelligences by these 

 same means; and on the assumption that these 

 same first specimens perceived the advantages of 

 clubs and missiles, and began quickly to use them. 



Since the hypothesis has been current in scientific 

 and the assumption in quasi -scientific literature, 

 they are both entitled to conscientious, impartial, 

 and thoroughgoing discussion • in these essays. 



The hypothesis derives plausibility from the 

 reports of sudden mutations in the markings, colors, 

 forms, and sizes of various parts of evening primroses, 



