22 PHYSICAL BASIS OF CIVILIZATION 



A disclaimer must, however, be entered here. 

 Comparative hairlessness has been discussed in this 

 place because it is interesting in connection with the 

 human body. The subject has, however, very little 

 bearing on the theses and conclusions in the essays, 

 which will stand on as sound foundations if the views 

 here expressed on hairlessness should be untenable. 



Distinguished by the eight differences above 

 noted from the genera most nearly related, the 

 "genus homo," as a new type of life, had to share 

 in the struggle for existence, battling with the 

 unthinking, unfeeling forces of nature, and with 

 great numbers and varieties of creatures fiercer and 

 more powerful than he, which, in addition, were 

 naturally armed and provided with means for pro- 

 tection, escape, and rapid multiplication. Was he 

 well fitted for the trial? Few if any brutes were 

 less so. 



The adaptations by which animals when not 

 otherwise disadvantaged survive in the struggle for 

 existence may be broadly classified under these four 

 heads: i. Means of offense and defense; 2. Means 

 of protection ; 3. Means of escape ; 4. Means of mul- 

 tiplication. Under all these heads, hardly a creature 

 among the higher mammalia, birds, fishes, reptiles, 

 and insects, would rank as low, for natural endow- 

 ment, as man's brute ancestors did before they 

 had learned the use of sticks and stones. 



Considering the four classes of adaptations in the 

 order above stated, it is found that: 



