226 DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



symbols in question. A man of ancient times drew a 

 tree to represent his conception of this object; in the 

 writing of English we now use four letters to stand for 

 the same object, and none of these symbols is in any 

 way a replica of the tree. It is certainly obvious that 

 some change in the mental association of symbol and 

 object has been brought about, and to this extent there 

 has been mental evolution, 



Passing now to other departments of human culture, 

 we must deal in the next place with the basic "arts of 

 life"; that is, the modes of conducting the necessary 

 activities of every day. All men of all times, be they 

 civilized or savage, are impelled like the brutes by their 

 biological nature to seek food and to repel their foes. 

 The rough stone club and ax were fashioned by the 

 first savage men, when diminishing physical prowess 

 placed them at a disadvantage in the competition with 

 stronger animals. Smoother and more efficient weapons 

 were made by the hordes of their more advanced de- 

 scendants, some of whom remained in the mental and 

 cultural condition of the stone age like the Fuegian, 

 until the white travelers of recent centuries brought 

 them newer ideas and implements. In Europe and 

 elsewhere the period of stone gave place to the bronze 

 and iron ages, and throughout the changing years 

 human inventiveness improved the missile and weapon 

 to become the bow and arrow of medieval civilization 

 and recent African savagery. The artillery and shells 

 of modern warfare are their still more highly evolved 

 descendants. 



