BRUTE-MAN'S HELPLESSNESS 21 



other insect pests found on the trunks and branches 

 of forest trees and shrubs, so far as known, do not 

 easily propagate in hair or fur. The insects and 

 disease germs which are dangerous to brute life 

 find conditions favorable to multiplication in moist 

 and wet regions on the ground, but not on the 

 trunks or branches of trees. Hairlessness, there- 

 fore, has no survival value for apes. 1 



It is, however, quite rational to believe that the 

 wearing of artificial covering would make hairy- 

 men lose their hair, but the offspring of such would 

 not, therefore, be born less hairy than their parents. 

 Again, if men were formerly hairy and had only 

 become hairless by the wearing of artificial covering, 

 then those tribes and nations which have never 

 worn artificial covering would still be hairy. But 

 some of the savages of Africa and Australia, and 

 some of the natives of India, have gone naked since 

 time immemorial, and still do so; yet they are as 

 free from hair as the people of Europe. Finally, 

 why should creatures covered with fur or hair be 

 supposed to wear artificial covering? 



1 It has never been investigated whether the Ainos are in- 

 jured by their hairiness or whether conditions appertaining to 

 their habitat or to their variety modify the results of hairiness. 



The existence of this one hairy nation can therefore not be 

 urged against the above argument. Nor can the fact that ver- 

 min sometimes infest the tufts of hair existing in several places 

 on the bodies of human beings. For neither has this been ade- 

 quately investigated. 



Civilization has essentially altered the absolute and com- 

 parative values of various factors in survival. It seems, there- 

 fore, hazardous to apply to primitive man conclusions drawn 

 from existing societies. 



