THE ERA OF HELPLESSNESS 59 



and remain in the hand, not to mention the subse- 

 quent series of necessary accidents, must have re- 

 mained of exceedingly rare occurrence in the life of any 

 one of our two-footed ancestors. For they were not 

 fitted for tree life. Their two feet made them unfit 

 for it. Their proper habitat was the solid earth. 

 On this their conditions were sufficiently against 

 them, but up in the branches of trees apes, ser- 

 pents, felines, and great birds had them at much 

 greater disadvantage. 



The assumption that brute-man used sticks as 

 weapons, before his intelligence had made con- 

 siderable advance, is for these reasons untenable. 



Passing from sticks to stones, it seems even more 

 improbable that the two-footed brute should have 

 learned the use of missiles from the frequent repeti- 

 tions of accidents competent to induce the motions 

 involved in the seizing and throwing of stones at 

 a mark. 



For, while standing or moving, the hands of the 

 two-footed upright creature dangle from eighteen 

 to thirty inches above ground, and at that elevation 

 can never come accidentally in contact with stones. 

 When in a sitting or horizontal attitude, the acci- 

 dental contact with stones is more probable; but 

 what accident should induce a brute in either of 

 these two postures to lift, swing, and throw a stone 

 at a definite mark, with a definite purpose, in 

 advance of experience? While the contact might 

 be accidental, it is utterly unthinkable that from 



