MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY.
»i» i^
Received August, 19 37
Accession No. 47874
Given by C. ?• Hoagland C o
Place, Somerville, New Jersey
*jj.*flo book OP pamplilet is to be removed tvorci tbe liab-
opQtoi^ laithout the pepcnission of the Trustees.
A Story Outline of Evolution
•r^/
A Story Outline of Evolution
By
CHAS. W. GRIMES
PRESS OF
THE C. P. HOAGLAND COMPANY
SOMERVILLE, NEW JERSEY
1937
COPYRIGHT, 1937
by
THE C. P. HOAGLAND COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
^y^o*"^*^
'Qs7^«
PREFACE ^^<^J>
TN this enlightened age, the word Evolution arouses
unfortunate prejudices in certain sections. State legis-
latures have enacted laws forbidding the teaching of its
principles in the public schools. An attempt has been made
to enlighten the general public on the beauty and harmony
of these principles and their relation to all things.
The primary object of this book is to present to the
reader in simple language and in the fewest words a com-
prehensive story of the development of life. Within the
memory of those still living, Science has added to the
storehouse of knowledge more harmonious facts relating
to natural law than had been accumulated by all the pre-
ceding generations of men. And yet, great numbers of
typical individuals who have, perhaps, been denied the
opportunity to pursue their systematic education very far,
are deeply ignorant of many of these facts. In many cases,
the story of scientific discoveries is so circumscribed by tech-
nical terms that the simple truth becomes clouded and not
easily understood.
Evolution embraces all of Science and all of Art. These
are divided into many branches. A lifetime may be spent
[5]
Preface
in the study of a single division. Evolution shows how
these branches are tied together in one harmonious plan.
It is not given to any one mind to possess a perfect knowl-
edge of all of these branches and their relation to one
another but, nevertheless, they furnish a never-ending
stream of reflective thought that opens up vast avenues of
understanding that lead to higher Culture.
This book is not intended to be a learned treatise on
Evolution. It is meant to be an introductory study — an
outline, in the mysteries and harmonies of Nature^ s laws.
It is written by a layman for the laymen. If it has added
one new thought to Cultural Evolution, its purpose has been
accomplished. CHAS. W. GRIMES.
Tulsa, Oklahoma.
January Sy 1937-
[6]
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I — Evolution in General 11
Part One — Cultural Evolution.
II — ^The Dawn of Civilization 25
III — Developing Into Social Order 36
IV — A Written Record of Achievements 49
V — Evolution of the Alphabet 59
VI — The Developing of Morals 68
VII — The Developing of Transportation 80
VIII — The Developing of Communication 93
IX — The Developing of Power 106
X — ^The Developing of Art . ..^ 119
XI — Developing the Art of Music 130
XII — ^The Unity and Application of Art 139
Contents
Part Two.
Chapter Pcig^
XIII — Organic Evolution 153
XIV — A Little Astronomy and Geology 164
XV — The Beginning of Life 171
XVI — The Preparation for Higher Life 182
XVII — Complex Life — The Invertebrates 192
XVIII— The Reptiles 199
XIX— Cooperation of Plant Life 208
XX— The Birds 216
XXI— The Mammals '. 222
XXII — The Evidence Furnished by Embryology 234
XXIII — The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology 242
XXIV — Casting Off the Useless Organs 256
XXV — The Life Spark and The Soul Spark 268
XXVI— What the Future May Develop 278
[8]
A Story Outline of Evolution
f^f^ <v«-*»' "^-^-^^^
CHAPTER I. \5>; ^" '
Evolution in General.
p VOLUTION Is the story of life from the first living cell /
to the present time. It is Nature's story of the history
of life with its successive changes. It is a logical story of
the method of creation based on scientific facts. Its funda-
mental principles have been weighed in the balance of rea-
son by many thousands of trained and capable investigators
in every branch of Science. It shows the developing of
Nature's negatives so that we can see the unfolding of the
real pictures of life's growth. The purpose of this growth
is to reach a higher plane where the struggle for existence
may be more easily overcome. It lifts the veil of mystery
from the mythical suppositions of life's processes and pre-
sents them as a harmonious working order each directed
to the creative whole. It is a history of the sum total of
many thousands of connecting facts, all In complete har-
mony, that cannot be reasonably explained in any other way.
All great discoveries add to the universal knowledge
and understanding of the mysteries of Nature. The prin-
ciples back of these discoveries have always been the same.
The principles of steam, electricity, the telephone, radio,
television and all other great discoveries were of little value
until they were applied to the uses of man. It is a knowl-
edge and application of these principles that make them
useful. Throughout the ages, the principles of Evolution
[III
A Story Outline of Evolution
have been the same. These principles have surrounded all
men of all ages but they could not see them until great
thinkers had woven them together and proved that the pow-
ers of Nature are working through a universal method of
growth. The veil of mystery has been lifted and we now
see the workings of Nature as they really are.
Prior to about seventy-five or eighty years ago, the
great Sciences were being studied as separate and inde-
pendent branches of knowledge with no thought of their
dependence and relationship to one another. But long prior
to that time, the gentle waves of human thought had begun
to quicken and to concentrate on the origin of species.
Aristotle seems to have caught the first nebulous mental
flash of the principle of natural selection. Goethe in Ger-
many, Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire in France and Dr. Erasmus
Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin, in England,
had reached approximately the same conclusions in 1794-
1795, namely, that species undergo modifications and that
the existing forms of life have not been perpetuated since
the origin of all things. Lamarck of France in 1801, then
in 1809 and again in 18 15 had thought out crude and imper-
fect outlines asserting that "all species, including man, are
descended from other species." From this time on until
1859, a score or more of naturalists in Germany, France,
England and the United States added their contributions to
the unorganized scientific thought of the world concerning
the materials and the powers of Nature action.
Charles Darwin after twenty-two years of intensive
study and research work published, in 1859, his famous
book on the "Origin of Species." This book quickly crystal-
[12]
Evolution in General
llzed scientific thought toward Nature action and the sepa-
rate Sciences were quickly woven Into the fabric of the
creative whole. This book revealed the fact that there Is
a universal method of growth and that all Nature action
is governed by laws In perfect harmony with the entire
plan. It was through this mental achievement that Charles
Darwin Is regarded by most great thinkers as one of the
greatest thinkers of all time. His conclusions form the
fountain head and reservoir where our organized knowl-
edge of Evolution began.
The waves of human thought now became like unto a
mighty sandblast cutting away the very foundations of
human beliefs. No other book ever printed has aroused so
much controversy among thinking people. No other sub-
ject within living memory has so challenged traditional
beliefs, revolutionized the world of Nature and moulded,
congealed and crystallized human thought as has that of
Evolution. It has been on the firing lines of controversy
for three-quarters of a century. Bitter controversies raged
over the principles of Evolution throughout the entire
world. It challenged the traditional beliefs in the method
of Creation and world-wide traditional beliefs are not easily
broken down or destroyed. These attacks have only served
to make It stronger and more easily understood. Instead of
yielding ground, it has advanced to a point of almost uni-
versal acceptance among thinking people. Its chief creden-
tial lies In the fact that its principles are persuasive, con-
vincing and unanswerable and that no imagination of man
could have developed a story so wonderful, or worked out
a plot so intricate and complete and that at the same time
[13]
A Story Outline of Evolution
so harmonious and simple. And yet today the typical per-
son of fairly liberal culture is deeply ignorant of its plan and
blind to its harmony and beauty. For him Evolution is no
part of his intellectual training. He has not been schooled
in its principles. To the average person, it means that man
has descended from a monkey.
Traditional beliefs cannot be easily changed. They are
still defended after the traditional interpretation is proved
by reason to be fallible. Every new thought which has
added to and brought about the advancement and progress
of our civilization has met with opposition if it interfered
with a traditional belief. When Jesus of Nazareth appeared
upon the stage of human action teaching a new philosophy
of life, he was persecuted and crucified for his teachings that
disturbed the old order of things. When Paul, one of his
followers, went about proclaiming those same teachings and
doing all in his power to elevate humanity, he was impris-
oned, scourged and beheaded. When his pupils attempted
to follow the precepts which he had taught, they were cruci-
fied, burned and torn to pieces by wild animals before a
blood-thirsty mob In the Roman arena. These terrible
butcheries were so frequent and so numerous that the seats
in the Roman arena were sprinkled with costly perfumes in
order to overcome the stench of human blood and gore.
Socrates, the greatest of the Grecian philosophers, was con-
demned to death and forced to drink a cup of poison because
he would not believe In the mythical gods of Greece and
because he taught the youth of Athens that these mythical
gods had no divinity. When Galllleo first taught that the
earth is round instead of flat, as was the traditional belief,
[14]
Evolution in General
he was threatened with death and forced to retract his
heresy because the Bible spoke of "the four corners of the
earth." For many centuries, many millions of over credu-
lous persons believed that a woman has one more rib than
a man has. The church taught this doctrine.
Seventy years ago, there appeared a front page news
item in a Boston newspaper, under the caption, "Swindler
Exposed, New York Authorities Uncover Gigantic Fraud,"
the story quoted is as follows : "A man about 46 years of
age, giving the name of Joshua Coppersmith, has been
arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from
ignorant and superstitious people by exhibiting a device
which he says will convey the human voice any distance over
metallic wires so that it will be heard by the listener at the
other end. He calls the instrument a 'telephone,' which is
obviously intended to imitate the word 'telegraph' and win
the confidence of those who know of the success of the lat-
ter instrument without understanding the principles on
which it is based.
"Well-informed people know that It is impossible to
transmit the human voice over wires as may be done with
dots and dashes and signals of the Morse Code, and that,
were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical
value. The authorities who apprehended this criminal are
to be congratulated and it is hoped that his punishment will
be prompt and fitting, and it may serve as an example to
other conscienceless schemers who enrich themselves at the
expense of their fellow creatures." This statement was
made within the memory of those still living. The above,
no doubt, reflected a popular view at the time when it was
[15]
A Story Outline of Evolution
printed. The reader thereof today, In the light of the great
development In communication, Is amused. The subject of
this notorious "swindle" Is today almost a household neces-
sity. We may now talk from the very location where the
above statements were written to all the leading countries
of the world and also to the great ships at sea. With the
18,000,000 telephones In this country, with the 12,000,000
radios and the beginnings of television, it is probable that
the generations which will follow us seventy years hence will
be amused at the crude ways we are doing things now.
Following the invention of the automobile, some cities
passed ordinances forbidding the use of automobiles on the
streets because they frightened the horses. The inventor
of one of the best known makes of automobile, whose name
is a household word, told the "City Dads" in his city that
the day would come when automobiles would drive all the
horses from the streets In all the cities. This prophecy was
made only thirty-two years ago and how true it was can best
be proved by driving an automobile through the congested
districts of any of our large cities today.
Hundreds of such examples might be mentioned show-
ing the force of traditional beliefs. There have been innu-
merable traditional beliefs forsaken as our knowledge of
things has increased and as our civilization has advanced.
It must be remembered that it matters not how many beliefs
there may be or how universal they are, belief alone cannot
establish a scientific fact. Unless beliefs are founded on
Truth, they cannot permanently endure. They must adapt
themselves to the changing order as Truth unfolds.
[16]
Evolution in General
During the past three generations, Evolution has been
subjected to the most searching and bitter criticism, both
honest and biased, of any subject of world-wide Interest that
has claimed the attention of thinking people. It has with-
stood the test of all these criticisms and after each new
attack. It has emerged with more Impregnable armour than
before. It Invites honest and Intelligent criticism. There
is nothing to be gained In Its defense except that reward that
is gained in the defense of Truth.
Evolution may be properly divided into two general
heads, viz., i. Organic Evolution, and 2. Cultural Evolu-
tion. Organic Evolution treats of growth and changes of
all forms of life in both the plant and animal kingdoms
from the life that stirred In the first protoplasmic cell mil-
lions of years ago down to the present time. It is the Indeli-
ble record of the physical changes and methods employed
by Nature in bringing about the present stage of perfection
in all forms of life. Cultural Evolution treats of the
changes that have been wrought through and by the men-
tal processes of man's brain. It Is a record of man's adap-
tation and use of the material things about him as aids In his
struggle for existence. It is a record of his achievements in
harnessing the forces of Nature and making them obedient
to his will.
All the knowledge which we have comes to us through
our special senses and deductions and also from the per-
sonal experience of human beings that they have in some
manner imparted to us. A vast multitude of earnest work-
ers have devoted their lives to a careful and methodical
study of the laws of Nature In an effort to solve Her mys-
[17]
A Story Outline of Evolutiois
terles. We call this great body of patient toilers — scientists
and the results of their work — Science.
Science is merely classified knowledge — a catalogue of
Truth. This great multitude of scientists have spent and
are spending their lives questioning, observing, testing,
measuring and comparing innumerable fragments of knowl-
edge and building them Into an orderly coherent story of
the whole plan of Creation. Each fragment of knowledge
is subjected to the severest tests. It is forced to withstand
trials and experimental tests based on the experiences of all
men of all ages. If it Is found to be a part of Truth, it then
becomes a scientific fact and is catalogued as such.
To know the truth is the greatest ambition we can have
for it Is the most satisfying and substantial thing there is.
It cannot be purchased and can only be known by continued,
persistent and sacrificial work.
Science deals only In facts. In order to know the work-
ings of the things around us, we must know Evolution. We
cannot know Evolution without knowing Nature and we
cannot know Nature without knowing it as Evolution's
story of Creation.
Evolution's story cannot be told without an explanation
from the workshops of the scientists for they embrace its
all. It is the patient toil of these scientists that makes Evo-
lution's story complete. We go to the workshops of the
geologists and find them in the quarry, on mountain tops, in
canyons and river valleys, with pick and shovel, core-drill
and microscope. They tell us that the earth Is thousands of
millions of years old; that they have divided the age of the
earth into geological divisions; that the shortest period of
[i8]
Evolution in General
time of any of these ages is hundreds of times as long as the
whole of history; that life has been on this earth for a
period of, perhaps, a thousand million years; that by prob-
ing down into the earth, they find that the deeper they go,
the simpler are the forms of fossilized life revealed there,
until finally no life can be found at all.
We go next to the workshops of the botanists and we
find them in the garden, on mountains and in the val-
leys, in the deepest jungles, studying the plant life of this
world. They tell us that some of the plants are our friends
and some of them are our enemies; that all animal life lives
and is dependent on plant life; that all plant life is strug-
gling for existence and adapting itself to its surroundings;
that there is fossilized plant life the same as fossilized ani-
mal life; that plant life is older than animal life and that
the deeper down in the earth's formations they go, the sim-
pler plant life becomes, and finally no plant life can be found
at all.
We then go to the workshops of the biologists and we
find them in their laboratories with microscopes, test tubes
and culture pans studying the forms of life, how they are
builded up, and the uses of their different parts and their
relation to each other. They tell us of the kinship between
plants and animals; of the myriads of animals that cannot
be seen with the naked eye; of th^ grouping of the cells; of
the foods they eat and how each part is related to the whole,
each performing its separate, yet, related function.
We go next to the workshops of the physicists and we
find them in their laboratories surrounded with all kinds of
delicate instruments — measuring the speed of light, study-
[i9l
A Story Outline of Evolution
ing matter, energy, atomic weights, electrons and everything
the earth is made of. They tell us that within each cell
there are millions of molecules; that within each molecule,
there are millions of atoms; that within each atom, there
are millions of electrons, each traveling around its nucleus,
like the earth around the sun at a speed of hundreds of
miles each second.
And then we go to the workshops of the astronomers.
We find them in their observatories peering through huge
telescopes and surrounded with many measuring devices.
They are studying the movements and structures of the
planets and stars. They are calculating the time of each
eclipse of the moon and sun to the exact minute a hundred
years hence. They tell us of the unmeasured immensities of
space; that light travels more than 186,000 miles per sec-
ond and that it takes 100,000 years for light to pass from
the "Milky Way" to the earth and that the space beyond
the "Milky Way" is millions of times more extended than
is the space between the "Milky Way" and the earth; that
the nearest star is 25 trillion miles away; that there are bil-
lions of stars; that all heavenly bodies are moving through
space in accordance with certain fixed and unchangeable
laws; that their movements are so accurate and well-
balanced that every leaf that falls from a tree affects the
movements of the most distant star; that the same law that
guides the electron In its orbit, holds and guides the planets
In their courses; that space Is limitless and that time is
eternal.
After visiting these various workshops and many others,
and seeing that there is a harmonious Plan of Creation
[20]
Evolution in General
extending from the first protoplasmic cell to the most dis-
tant star and that all things are related to one another and
are living under the same universal laws, we are convinced
that nothing that lives on earth has come by chance. That
there is a great creating, controlling and directing Power
back of all things, in all things and above all things which
we call God. These scientists do not dispute this Power.
They recognize this Supreme Power. They are searching
to discover what God has done and is doing, how it was
done and why it was done that way.
There is nothing in Evolution that challenges the vital
truth of religion or that contradicts the true principles of
Christianity. Everything in the Bible story of Creation
relates to questions effecting the order of the natural world
except the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis which
declares that — "In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth." Evolution does not challenge this state-
ment. It admits that all finite existence has been called into
being by a Power which transcends the finite. It must be
admitted that a Power that has developed all life from the
lowest forms that we know to the present forms of life
could have created all life in its present forms as easily in
an instant as in a thousand million years, but such was
not the method chosen. Evolution is concerned with the
methods which the Creator has.actually pursued. It, there-
fore, is not the enemy of religion, for Mental Evolution
embraces all of religion. The many evidences of Evolution
are the only scientific proofs of a directing and divine Crea-
tor we can have. The harmony of Creation is the means
man uses to justify his religion.
[21]
A Story Outline of Evolution
We know that every living thing had its origin in a
single cell and that its method of growth has been through
processes of addition, multiplication, subtraction and divi-
sion. The powers of reason show us what the present
method of creation is and these same powers show us that
this method has never changed. When man has learned
that all life has come from the lowest forms known and that
the universal order has been purpose, design, harmony,
work and growth; and that he, himself, stands at the head
of all forms of created life; that his intelligence is a part
of the Universal Mind; and that he can put his mind in tune
and harmony with the Infinite Mind, then his religion is
justified by Evolution.
It is only reasonable to assert that it is easier to follow
the verdict of our God-given intelligence than it is to defend
a fallible interpretation based on traditional belief.
[22]
PART ONE
Cultural Evolution
CHAPTER II.
The Dawn of Civilization.
T^HE earliest evidence of mental action is found in crude
flint chips wherein primitive man sought to make a
sharped edged or cutting instrument. Civilization had taken
its first step when the human brain conceived the idea of
making and using some tool to aid him. So far as positive
present records go, this was the beginning of reason. All
the progress, culture and achievements of the human race
are built around this first step, but before this step was
made, much preliminary work had been done.
The laws of Nature demanded that all life be developed
and sustained by certain of the elements or combinations
thereof. The fundamental and necessary requisites of
human life are food, water, oxygen, clothing and shelter,
the last two of which are dependent largely on climatic con-
ditions. So far as human habitation is concerned, oxygen
is the only one of these necessary requisites that is universal
and is found in all parts of the world where human hfe is
found. The others may be transported to places where they
do not exist and there used. Nature has supplied all those
requirements in one form or another and it is through the
processes of adaptation and selection, modification and
change that their uses are applied to the necessities of
mankind.
[25]
A Story Outline of Evolution
Wild creatures obtain their food from the store houses
of plant Hfe or from other creatures whose bodies are built
up from such store houses. All animal life, whether her-
bivorous, carnivorous, or Insectivorous ultimately depends
on plant life. The wild creatures take their food as Nature
has prepared It for them. Instinct teaches many of these
that Nature Is not always generous with food supplies suita-
ble to their existence throughout all seasons of the year and
that It Is necessary for them to store away the excess of food
supply for their use during periods when Nature Is resting.
This Is a necessary expedient with many species of birds,
animals and Insects In their struggle for existence. How-
ever the creatures that have been domesticated by man have
learned to rely largely upon him for their food supply.
Nature has taken care of the lower order of creatures
by giving to them protective coverings for their bodies
suitable to meet the conditions of their environments. The
warm-blooded animals have coats of hair, the birds have
feathers, the fishes scales and the lower orders protective
shells, all adapted to the greatest degree of protection for
the environment in which each passes Its existence. These
protective coverings are not sufficient to protect these crea-
tures at all times from the elements and from their natural
enemies and, because of this, they have selected and con-
structed shelters as additional methods of protection.
The vestigial organs of the human body bear evidence
that primitive man and his primitive ancestors relied upon
the raw products of Nature for their food, the hair cover-
ing their bodies for protection, and the trees, caverns of
the earth and other protected places for shelter, in the same
[26]
The Dawn of Civilization
manner as do the lower animals today. They were then as
we are now both herbivorous and carnivorous in their use
of foods and they were gregarious and migratory in their
habits. As an additional protection against their enemies,
it is not unreasonable to suppose that their special senses,
like the wild animals of today, were more highly developed
than they are now in this artificial age where protection
against savage beasts or savage men is no longer a necessity.
In the early periods of man's existence, his foods con-
sisted of the uncultivated products of the open plains and
forests, life from the lakes, streams and the ocean, and the
animals he was able to kill. Those living along the water
courses and the ocean made use of the clams, fish, oysters
and all other forms of aquatic life that they could acquire.
Judging the past by the lowest order of human life found
today such as that of the Australian Bushmen, it is reason-
able to assume that he also made use of worms, bugs and
grubs as a part of his daily diet. As early as the late Palaeo-
lithic Age, he had learned the art of making harpoons for
spearing fish. Wild berries, grain, nuts and the early forms
of all of our fruits and vegetables were used for food. He
was particularly fond of the marrow from the bones of the
animals and the uncovered rubbish heaps of Mousterian
man show that the bones of the large animals had nearly all
been split or cracked in order, to secure the delicious mar-
row. Whether this was a matter of necessity or taste we
do not know, but the fact remains that it was a common cus-
tom among the early tribes.
The teeth of early Mousterian man furnish evidence
that he ate the buds of trees and plants much in the same
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A Story Outline of Evolution
manner as do the grass eating animals of the present time.
He had no idea of game preservation and protection and
the eggs of birds and waterfowl furnished him with another
item of food. For unknown centuries, the flesh of the beasts
he killed was eaten raw. Doubtless, much of this was in a
putrid condition. Like the animals of today, the stench of
putrefaction was pleasing to his sense of smell. At a period
dating back some 25,000 years ago, we find the ashes of his
hearth fires and a cupped out stone which was the beginning
of the grease lamp. This is evidence that he had begun to
cook his food and to use the animal oil for lighting pur-
poses. He doubtless rendered out and preserved the ani-
mal oils in order that his cave dwellings might be made a
more cheerful place in which to live. Many of the carv-
ings on cavern walls depicting now extinct species of ani-
mals, could have been made only by the use of artificial
light. His mind had reached a stage where it was restless
and craved action. While he was hemmed in from the win-
ter's storm, he found relief in painting or carving the pic-
tures that clung to his memory upon the cave walls or on
pieces of ivory from the gigantic hairy elephant that fell
a prey to his cunning. Little did he realize that he was
leaving a record of his achievements that would be eagerly
studied by his descendants, eager to learn something of his
ways of living, 25,000 or 50,000 years after the record was
made. His mind was as yet in an unorganized state and
it required long periods of time for a change to come about,
but experience was giving him new ideas which were being
slowly tested out and put into action.
[28]
The Dawn of Civilization
All growth and development are processes of addition,
multiplication, subtraction and division. His Ideas were
added to, multiplied and divided and the useless ones were,
In time, subtracted from his accumulating storehouse of
knowledge and cast into the discard just as has been done
in Organic Evolution. But through all these processes,
progress was being made and no backward step was per-
manent. The Impulse of searching for newer things had
taken hold of the human mind and has grown and devel-
oped with each succeeding generation to the present time
and It will continue to grow and develop until the processes
of Nature are all uncovered and understood.
The urge of hunger has always developed an Impulse
with all creatures to seek its satisfaction. It was, doubt-
less, from this Impulse that primitive man first began to use
primitive weapons In securing his food. Many authorities
agree that the first weapon used by man was a club. With
this he could strike a more deadly blow than could be done
with his hands or teeth. The first implement or tool which
he used was a sharp edged flint which served as a knife for
cutting purposes. He learned that he could crack nuts or
the heavy bones of the animals he killed with a stone easier
than could be done with his teeth.
He struck together two pieces of flint and generated a
spark of fire. He learned that fire will consume wood and
that It would warm him when he was cold; that It would
give a fragrant smell and different taste to meat when
cooked and which he had been eating raw. He learned that
the skins of the animals he killed would protect his feet
from the sharp rocks and thorns and his body from the
[29]
A Story Outline of Evolution
cold; that their bones could be cracked into splinters which
he could use for awls in puncturing and sewing the skins
together.
It is not definitely known how long it required primitive
man to learn the use of these simple aids nor how far their
discoveries are removed from the present time, but it is
known from drawings on cavern walls, from images carved
on ivory and stone, from man made implements found
buried in ancient river beds and elsewhere that it was at a time
when many animals now extinct, such as the mammoth, bison,
wild horse, elk and other species roamed over Europe and
when climatic conditions were far different than they are
today. By applying all the knowledge acquired by scientific
searchers to the evidence thus gathered many scientists place
this period at approximately 200,000 years ago, while others
place this period at more than double that length of time.
It was during this period of discovery that man first
began to reason. It is the very dawn of civilization where
man's achievements began. Beyond this point there is, as
yet, no light that can penetrate the darkness to discover
more of his mental actions. The fossil evidence in the form
of crude flint chips and drawings mark the end of the road
which our civilization has traveled. The form and struc-
ture of his body may be traced many centuries beyond this
period, but his mental actions, at present, can not be further
traced.
It is from these simple discoveries as a starting point
that all of the mechanical devices have sprung. Securing
food was a matter of life or death with primitive man. The
many drawings on cavern walls of the dangerous and giant
[30]
The Dawn of Civilization
beasts of his time bear evidence of the hazards of the chase.
His inventive genius was directed to perfecting weapons
that would give to him both meat and mastery in his strug-
gle for existence. He learned that the giant brute force
of the forest had to be met with the force of mind.
He soon learned that flint rock could be chipped into a
sharp and pointed instrument and this could be fastened in
the end of a shaft thus making a spear that could be stabbed
or thrown into the body of a beast with deadly effect. This
invention is still in use among all of the uncivilized tribes at
the present time.
Man had no powerful organs of attack or defense or
muscular strength suflicient to enable him to meet in combat,
on an equal footing, with the wild beasts of the forests.
Their superior strength together with their tusks, teeth,
claws and horns gave to them an advantage and made him
an unequal competitor in asserting right of possession to
some favorite watering place or food supply. To overcome
these advantages possessed by the wild animals, he had to
depend on the quickness of motion and his ability to climb
as a means of safety when pursued or attacked.
These advantages possessed by the wild beasts caused
him to be on the alert against danger at all times. There
was developed in him a cunning for the purpose of out-
witting and deceiving his enemies. Many hunters of the
present time use deceptive methods of luring within gunshot
range the game they kill. The bull moose may be lured by
imitating the call of the cow with a birch bark horn. Wild
turkeys and ducks may be lured by artificial imitative calls.
Many of the wild animals at the present time such as the
[31I
A Story Outline of Evolution
fox, wolf and many others have developed a similar cun-
ning for the purpose of deceiving their enemies and of lur-
ing to them their prey. A fox, when pursued by hounds,
will sometimes run into the midst of a flock of sheep and
continue with them in circles over the pasture in order that
the hounds may loose the scent of a fox's track. In other
cases, where the hounds are pursuing a fox that has a mate,
the foxes will exchange tracks in order to rest each other.
This is accomplished by running together for a distance
and then the tired fox will get into a stream of water and
go down the stream keeping in the water and its mate will
cross the stream just as it is approached, thus luring the
hounds after the obliging mate. This "trading tracks" is
accomplished in many other ways such as the tired animal
jumping over a cliff while the animal's mate leads off in
short steps along the top of the cliff. Many of the birds
with a brood of young have developed the deceiving habit
of fluttering off apparently with a broken wing in order to
lure her enemy from her brood. Many other cases might
be mentioned concerning the mental processes of dogs which
transcend instinct.
Because the wild animals were superior in muscular
strength and possessed more powerful organs of attack and
defense, it became necessary for man to outwit and over-
come his enemies by methods developed by his reasoning
powers. This applies to a period when he had no heritage
of achievements from the ages other than that of instinct.
Experience had taught him that a club to horn, tooth or
claw combat with the wild beasts was a dangerous under-
taking and that he must devise some weapon with which
[2,2]
The Dawn of Civilization
he could strike a more telling blow and at a farther and
safer distance than could be done with a club.
The next step in primitive mechanical development was
one of the most important that the world has ever known.
It was the invention of the bow and arrow. Primitive man
had learned that flint could be flaked and chipped into a
sharp edged and pointed instrument and that this instru-
ment could be fastened in the end of a shaft that could be
stabbed or thrown into the body of a beast, thereby produc-
ing a mortal wound. A piece of flexible wood was bent into
the shape of a segment of a circle and held in this position
by a piece of animal skin attached to each end of the stick.
This was the simple process of developing the bow. By
using a smaller flint tipped shaft, the arrow came into being.
By flexing the bow into a larger segment and by suddenly
releasing the string, the flint tipped arrow could be thus
propelled instantly and accurately for great distances. The
use of the bow and arrow became the common weapon of all
mankind. It was in use for unknown centuries in every part
of the world where man has had a habitation. It was and
now is used by every savage tribe of people, wherever found.
It has been in use for a greater period of time than has that
of any other weapon ever made. It was the weapon of
war used by all the ancient nations. With its use primitive
man could strike more death dealing blows and at a farther
and safer distance than he could do with any other means
at his command. It overcame the advantages of superior
strength and size, of tusks, teeth and claws which the wild
beasts possessed. It was the weapon that prepared the
[33]
A Story Outline of Evolution
world for civilization and gave to man mastery in the king-
dom of life.
The fossil evidence of early human intelligence is brought
to us through the imperishable tools and weapons that he
made from flint. They were first made and used at a period
of time when the geographic boundaries and climatic condi-
tions of Europe were much different from that of today.
They were made and used at a period of time when primi-
tive man was still in the Mousterian or Neanderthal stage,
part human, part animal, and while great herds of wild
horses, bison, elk, the cave bear and the cave lion, the hairy
mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and many other species of wild
animals, now extinct, roamed over and occupied the Euro-
pean continent and adjacent countries.
The only weapons of attack and defense that he had
were the flint knives, flint or stone axes, flint spears, and
the bow and arrow. The law of the jungle was the only
law he knew. It was the "survival of the fittest." When
we consider that it was with these crude weapons that he
established mastery and dominion over all the beasts of
the forests that were larger and more vicious than any we
know today, we shall then appreciate the force of the bow
and arrow as a weapon and the part it has played in the
advancement and progress of our civilization.
Scientists tell us that Neanderthal man roamed in vast
herds over the greater part of Europe, England and Ireland
at the time of the last Ice Age. At this time, England and
Ireland were, perhaps as yet, a part of the continent. There
is some evidence that he occupied what is now the valley of
the Nile River in Egypt at a time when its surface geologic
f34]
The Dawn of Civilization
strata was 50,000 years removed from the time of the first
Egyptian Papyri Rolls.
There is a gradual evolutionary growth shown In the
manufacture and use of all the primitive weapons and tools
from the first crudely chipped Implements to the horizon of
history. New implements were added and forms were
changed, but this period was so great and the growth so
slow that vast periods of time intervened when no per-
ceptible change can be noted. It is the purpose here to show
that these crude flint implements and weapons represent
the earliest mechanical devices used by man and from these
first Ideas of helpful aids there have grown the billion
mechanical forces now In use. The most mysterious fact
about all this development is that there had been more prog-
ress and improvement made during the past century than
there had been during all the preceding centuries. Most
of the ideas that have changed the manners and customs
of the human race have been put into use within recent
times. This change did not come until man began to study,
understand and control the forces of Nature and to apply
these forces to his daily work. Throughout the ages they
have lifted the burdens of mankind that had clung to him,
like a millstone about his neck. The sweating, aching, plod-
ding toil of the billions of men and women who had crossed
the stage of human action before a knowledge of these
forces came Into being, cannot be recalled, but a soothing,
comforting thought comes to us, their descendants, from a
school of Greek philosophers who taught that happiness
comes from within and not from without.
[35]
CHAPTER III.
Developing Into Social Order.
^T^HE human mind had reached a state of development
wherein it had begun to reason from cause to effect and
to understand the "reason why" of many things, but it was,
as yet, in an undeveloped and unorganized state incapable
of reasoning out a complicated problem. It must not be
assumed that man's mind was a blank before he began to
fashion implements of flint, for such is not the case. No
psychologist has, as yet, pointed out a satisfactory dividing
line between animal instinct or animal intelligence and rea-
son, because they are blended together like the colors of
the rainbow. Since mind has played a stellar part in the
evolution of organic nature, animal intelligence must be
called on to supplement instinct.
We do not desire to provoke an argument with the Pro-
fessors, but when we consider that the ants and bees have
colonies in which some of the principles of human social
organizations are found such as slavery, sexual regulations,
division of labor, customs of friendly salutation, centraliza-
tion of resources, armies with oflicers, domestic animals,
government distribution of food, capital punishment, etc.,
we may then wonder how far-reaching is the admonition of
the writer of the proverb — "Go to the ant, thou sluggard,
consider her ways and be wise," or what hidden significance
there is in the proverb — "The ants are a people, not strong,
[36]
Developing Into Social Order
yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Are we to dis-
cover that these insects have a developed reason which is
a part of the Creative Mind and which we, as yet, do not
understand?
When the human mind became charged with and made
use of the thoughtful experiences of others that were
imparted to it, primitive man began to reason out complex
problems and when man began to reason out these com-
plex problems, his brain began to grow and the mists that
had clouded his understanding began to disappear. He
had begun to profit from experience and to study the cause
and effect of things about him and to tell others about them
with the few words at his command. The folds and con-
volutions of his brain began to develop and to increase and
as a consequence, his forehead was pushed out and up. The
particular fold that controlled his language or speech was
particularly noticeable in its development at that time; but
the development of the human skull from the gorilla-like
eyebrow ridges and the low receding forehead and its inner
arrangement and also the different ethnological ages of man
will be discussed under the title of Organic Evolution.
The great undiscovered world lay before him but he
had discovered some facts and, with these, he began to
work. There were many billions of facts to be uncovered
in the Universal Plan so that they may be seen and under-
stood through the process of reason. Their cause and effect
and their relation to each other were to become known as
his mind developed and as his comprehension gained
momentum.
[37]
A Story Outline of Evolution
Throughout unknown ages, he had depended upon the
swiftness of motion and his abihty to cHmb as a means of
safety against the attacks of larger and more dangerous
animals. He now met these attacks with a piercing sting
from a sharp pointed and penetrating arrow. Instinct soon
taught the beasts of the forests that he was a dangerous
creature and that he should be shunned. This same instinc-
tive impulse is seen in animals today. A rattlesnake by
giving a warning alarm will sometimes stampede a herd of
cattle on the western plains. A nest of hornets or bumble-
bees will put to rout the largest of both domestic and wild
animals. The beast method of fighting is by the use of
muscular force and the weapons which nature has given to
them and when they discover that some other creature
possesses an advantage that they do not have, instinct
teaches them that retreat is the most certain means of
safety. They have no pride of courage when the odds are
against them.
Only when primitive man had reached the stage of
development that he was feared, did he then become the
aggressor. The flesh of his animal enemies became his
food. Instead of being the hunted, he became the hunter.
His task of securing food was now much easier to perform.
The Chellean and early Mousterian races of men were more
herbivorous than carnivorous but, then as now, environment
doubtless played a large part in the food they used.
We have seen that he learned that with the use of a rock
held in his hand, he could crack a nut or the large bones of
the beasts he killed with greater ease than could be done
with his teeth. This act was the principle of the hammer.
[38]
Developing Into Social Order
He learned that flint rock could be chipped Into the shape
of an ax, but that It was easily broken and that there were
other stones such as hornblend and granite that were much
tougher and less easily broken; that these could be rubbed
Into the shape and size that he desired and that by rubbing
a groove around and Into the stone, a handle could be
applied thereto. This gave him the stone ax. With this
he could strike a more powerful blow. It was a weapon
of both offense and defense and a handy tool about his camp-
fire. It also became a weapon of universal use throughout
the world. It has gone through many forms In Its devel-
opment. The skill and patience of the workman who spent
long hours and days In shaping and polishing these weapons,
may be traced In varying degrees, the same as can be done
with products made by modern workmen.
The stone hammer and stone ax have. In the course of
centuries, been supplanted by hammers and axes of steel,
but the principle of their use has not changed. In tracing
the development of mechanical progress, It is sufficient to
show the beginning and the present In the development of
the mechanical aids which man has called Into use. At first
their size and the power of their blows were limited to
human muscular force. Now, by utilizing a force of Nature
in the form of steam, hammers are made that can strike a
blow that will break a solid piece of steel thirty-six inches In
thickness. The principle of the flint tipped arrow that could
be propelled by a bow for a distance of three or four hun-
dred feet, has changed to the instant expansion of explosives
that will drive a steel shell for a distance of seventy-five
miles. The sharp edged piece of flint that was, perhaps,
[39]
A Story Outline of Evolution
the first Implement used by man, has developed Into the
knives of Industry ranging from the pocket knife to every
steam and electrical knife In use.
His body was covered with a heavy coat of hair that
gave to him protection from the cold. Long centuries after
he had learned to make and use Implements of stone, a great
climatic change came over the Northern Hemisphere.
Great glaciers of Ice came slowly moving southward. The
tropical regions of Alaska that produced the great beds of
coal that are found there were changed to fields of Ice
moving southward, carrying, rolling, grinding and smooth-
ing pieces of broken granite Into sand and boulders. These
great Ice movements move southward In America to a point
as far south as the Ohio River, dropping their granite and
rock boulders along their way. They completely changed
ancient rivers and. In their stead, formed new ones that
flowed In altogether different directions. The main body
of this great Ice floe In America found a resting place along
the northern boundary of the United States where they
melted and formed the Great Lakes. The same conditions
were true In Europe. As the great Ice floes came moving
southward, there was the great migration of animal life
toward the warmer climate where food could be found.
Primitive man either remained or followed back his steps
as the Ice receded by melting. Evidence Is conclusive that
climatic conditions changed and that man and many of the
animals adapted themselves to the changed conditions. In
doing this, he sought the shelter of limestone caverns and
other shelters and made use of animal skins for clothing.
The hearthstone ashes of Mousterlan man may still be
[40]
Developing Into Social Order
found. The change of climatic conditions was the neces-
sity that caused him to rob other animals of their protec-
tive coverings and adapt them to his use.
When and how the art of weaving was invented, we
do not know, but primitive man learned that the wool and
hair of animals could be woven Into cloth that could be
used as a protective covering; that the bark of trees and
the fiber of plants could also be made into cloth that would
protect him from the cold. The skins of animals were
shaped and sewed about his feet for protection against the
cold and also against the rocks and thorns. But they were
mostly handmade until a few generations ago, when the
machine supplanted the hand loom and the cobbler's bench.
Hand weaving is still In use among benighted people, but
from these there have been developed the great textile mills
and shoe factories which produce the cloth and shoes that
furnish protection to human bodies In all civilized countries.
The caves and other natural shelters were not sufficient
in numbers or space to accommodate and afford shelter to
the Increasing families or tribes, so necessity again demanded
additional shelter which must be artificially constructed.
Like the Instinct that directs the beaver to construct his
house In a particular way and the squirrel his nest, man
began to construct crude shelters that would give to him
greater protection from the elements. At first, animal like,
these were very crude. He made use of the overhanging
cliffs with the skins of animals used as a break against the
wind and rain. He constructed lodges of stones loosely laid
together and covered with bark, brush and grass. He made
[41]
A Story Outline of Evolution
use of poles tied together at the top and covered with the
skins of animals.
His first Idea in building was one of shelter and the
idea of beauty In structure had not been conceived. He
learned that flat, smooth stones could be more easily fitted
together than round ones could be and that the rough,
irregular stones could be worked into smooth, square, or
rectangular ones; that mortar made of clay would bind and
hold these stones together and that it would also shut out
the cold air that penetrated through the openings. He made
bricks of clay and dried them In the sun or baked them in
heated ovens. With these he shaped his structures as he
desired. He hewed great stones into shape and placed them
one upon another until he had erected houses that would with-
stand the storms of centuries.
It was thus that the art of building was begun at a time
which antedates the earliest written history. From these
first ideas of shelter structures, there has grown the beauty
and design of both ancient and modern architecture. From
the single hut of stone, mud or grass, there have arisen the
Pyramids of Egypt, the structures of Greece and Rome and
the modern tall buildings of the American cities, with all
the intervening designs of structures. Fancy is a fad and as
fancy changes, the new gives way to the old and then returns
again to the new. As ground space becomes more desired,
additional stories are added and extended skyward and this
will doubtless continue until the tensile strength of all build-
ing material shall have reached a point where safety com-
mands that a halt be made.
[42]
Developing Into Social Order
There came a time in the history of man when his food
supply began to fail. As his tribes increased, the herds of
wild horses, bison, mammoth and other animals became
more scarce. Upon these, he had depended largely for his
food, and his mastery and greed drove them to extinction.
The wild grain that he had gathered and used as a food was
no longer found in sufficient quantities to supply his needs.
He had noticed that there was a "struggle for existence"
among the plants the same as there was among the animals
and that the plants could be made to yield more abundantly
when they were aided by his care. He therefore began to
cultivate the plants that were suited to his use and to destroy
the ones about them that were taking their nourishment
from the soil, thereby producing greater yields than
unaided Nature could do. Nature is an impartial mother
that gives to all her children an equal chance.
Here again, his inventive genius was, from necessity,
forced to devise tools with which to plant and harvest his
crops. These tools were developed as their necessity arose.
He had learned that the soil should be dug up and loosened
before planting took place in order that the plant roots
could more easily obtain their food and that moisture could
be longer retained. The first agricultural tool, therefore,
was doubtless a pointed stick with which he could dig and
stir the soil. Naturally, the soil selected, like his habita-
tions, was the productive alluvial soil of the valleys. The
first permanent tool that he used for digging was a spade
made from a broad, flat flake of flint fitted on the end of a
stick. Other evidences are found which show that he also
made use of horns of animals and large clam shells for dig-
[43]
A Story Outline of Evolution
ging purposes. It is not known what methods primitive
man used in harvesting his grain before the use of iron came
into being, but since that time, beginning approximately
3,000 years ago and continuing until 150 years ago, the
hand sickle was the tool of harvest. The grain was beaten
out from its seed covering with a hand flail or tramped out
upon the ground and the chaff separated from it by the
wind. It was then ground into flour by the primitive people
through a process of rubbing it between stones.
One of the strangest mysteries of mechanical develop-
ment is the small degree of progress that was made in
methods of harvesting for many centuries. From the begin-
ning of civilization to a period almost within the memory
of those still living, methods of harvesting the most impor-
tant article of food that has fed the hungry billions of men,
had undergone but little change. However, the progress
of the last few generations has more than balanced the
equation of unprogressive time with unprecedented mechani-
cal advancement by supplanting in turn the sickle with the
hand cradle, the cradle with the mechanical mower, the
mower with the self rake, the self rake with the self binder
and the self binder with the combine that cuts, binds,
thrashes and sacks the grain in one single operation, and
this is now followed by the portable flour mill propelled by
gasoline power that grinds the wheat into flour in the same
field where It Is produced. If our ancestors, a few genera-
tions removed, should again be permitted to view the
advance that has been made by their descendants, their
thoughts would be ? we do not know. If we shall
judge the future by the past, the generations living 500 or
[44]
Developing Into Social Order
even loo years from now, will be discussing the crude
methods we are now using.
Let us return again to the little clearing In the valley
forest. Primitive man had no sharp edged steel tools with
which he could fell the giant trees to make room for his
little garden of grain, but he had learned long ages before
that fire will consume wood and he set about building brush
fires about them which were continued burning until their
supporting trunks were eaten away and the trees fell for lack
of support. He had learned that plants require sunshine
and that the tall trees had crowded out their more feeble
relatives In reaching after It, and that by destroying the
trees, the plants that furnished him food would have a
better chance.
As the clearings widened, the pointed stick, the flint
spade and the clam shell hoe were no longer sufiicient to stir
the soil which it was necessary for him to cultivate in order
to secure the necessary amount of food supply. Hand dig-
ging required long days of toil and muscular force and it
did not meet the requirements of the growing tribes. He
had tamed and domesticated some of the wild horses and
used them In pursuing his game. He had also tamed and
domesticated some of the wild cattle and these In turn
had furnished him with a supply of milk. They each
possessed greater muscular strength than man possessed
and he now conceived the idea of using their muscular
forces to aid him in his struggle for food. He fitted har-
ness made of animal skin about their bodies and hitched
them to a wooden plow and with this arrangement he
[45]
A Story Outline of Evolution
stirred the rich alluvial soil that yielded to him his daily
bread.
It was thus that the beasts of burden came into use at a
period many thousands of years removed from the time
primitive man shaped his first implements from flint. Before
this period, the only force he controlled v^as the muscular
force of his body. After the use of iron was discovered,
the wooden plow was supplanted by one made from Iron.
The leather harness for cattle was supplanted by the yoke
and in this form the use of muscular power continued
throughout unknown centuries.
At the period when man first began to use beasts of
burden In his work, the herd instinct still clung to him but
his village sites were taking on forms of barbaric life. He
had tamed and domesticated horses, cattle, camels, hogs,
goats, sheep, dogs and chickens. Wild game was becoming
scarcer and more diflicult to secure and by taming the ani-
mals and having them about him, and by cultivating the
crops as he had learned to do, there was no necessity for
periods of hunger and starvation. He adapted himself to
the conditions of his environment just as people do today.
Upon the grassy plains, he became the herdsman caring for
his flocks, in the valleys, he became the farmer and the fruit
grower. In the colder regions, he wore clothing made from
skins or the cloth that he had woven, and in the tropical
regions, he wore no clothing at all. His food also was
regulated by climatic conditions and by his surroundings.
At about this same period of time, the custom of barter
and trade came Into being. The desire for private posses-
sion and ownership is an inherent human Instinct. Some
[46]
Developing Into Social Order
members of the tribe were more skilled and could make bet-
ter bows, arrows and spearheads than others could make,
while others were more skilled In using them and were bet-
ter and more successful hunters. Some were more skilled
in the art of tanning hides and of making articles of cloth-
ing than others and so on throughout the entire gamut of
primitive activity. This led to the practice of exchanging
one article for another whereby both parties to the trade
were benefited. One tribe, because of local surroundings,
could produce something that the other tribe did not have
and vice versa. This led to the establishment of a primi-
tive commerce which has grown Into the magnitude of the
present world commerce of today. Thoughtful human expe-
riences were being traded and exchanged. Helpful dis-
coveries that tended to the advancement and progress of
the human race were being woven into the fabric of our
civilization. Each new thought that lifted the burdens from
humanity and made man's struggle for existence easier, was
adopted and put Into use. But there were tribes that iso-
lated themselves from thoughtful contact with their neigh-
boring tribes and instead of marching with the crowd, they
have either perished or now exist as the benighted peoples
of the world, living in much the same manner as did their
ancestors before written history began.
As the early tribes increased, they bound themselves into
separate groups or states, each living under its particular
environment, developing its particular manners and cus-
toms and also developing a separate language. They were,
as yet, in a semi-savage or barbaric state but social, com-
[47]
A Story Outline of Evolution
merclal and political Intercourse was being carried on among
them. It was In this state of cultural development that the
leading races of men were found at the beginning of written
history.
[48]
CHAPTER IV.
A Written Record of Achievements.
T^HROUGHOUT the centuries of the social and cultural
progress of the human race, nothing has changed but
human thought. Forms and customs have changed but the
substance remains the same. Every step of our advance-
ment and progress has been first planned and designed by
some human brain and then put into practice and use. Most
of these thoughts have come from suggestions obtained
through observations of some action of Nature when the
idea is formed, and then the details worked out by experi-
ment. When a thought takes on action and form and
becomes of general use among mankind, it then becomes a
part of our advancement and progress. It Is then a heritage
for the ages. From the time our primitive ancestors struck
the first spark of fire from a flint and shaped their first bow
and arrow to the present time, each generation has con-
tributed something to succeeding generations which the pre-
ceding generation did not have.
Those of us living on the earth today, because of the
accident of the time of our birth, were born into the world
of a race of superior beings, superior in Intellect, training
and achievements. We were born into the world in an age
of advanced civilization, of culture, refinement and prog-
ress. There has been left to us as a social heritage the
thoughtful experiences of all men of all preceding ages.
[49]
A Story Outline of Evolutioi^
The past three generations have left to all future genera-
tions more achievements in mechanical progress than all the
preceding generations had done.
Mechanical progress, through the aid of the telescope,
has lengthened our vision a million times. Through the
radio, we can hear the human voice ten thousand miles away.
Through the use of the X-ray and the microscope, we can
see objects that no unaided eye can see. The human voice
and human vision are both canned and preserved for future
generations. By means of medical science, surgery and
sanitation, human life has been prolonged so that every
normal baby born has a life expectancy many years greater
than the preceding generations had. With the aid of the
airplane, we can transport our bodies through the air at a
greater rate of speed than any living creature has ever
traveled before. In this country we now have 30,000,000
automobiles, 18,000,000 telephones, 15,000,000 plumbing
connections, 12,000,000 radios and many millions of other
helpful devices that our grandfathers did not have. We
have a billion lifeless mechanical forces doing the lifting,
pulling, pushing, carrying and digging work that was for-
merly done by the muscular forces of man and beast.
But how did all these things come to be? Were they
evolved out of man's inner consciousness without effort on
his part, or are they the result of work, of adaptation, of
necessity and of mental growth? The answer to these ques-
tions Is obvious.
Man has divided his mental achievements into various
groups such as History, Art, Literature, Science, Religion
and Philosophy. These groups are sub-divided Into many
[50]
A Written Record of Achievements
other groups. Which of the above divisions of man's
achievements has added more to man's happiness is a con-
troversial question and not open to a discussion in a story of
this kind. A comparison of the sub-divisions of the above
groups may properly be made. The greatness of any sub-
ject is always to be measured by the influence it has over
humanity — whether it affects all men of all ages and all men
of all races in the same or similar manner; whether its use
has been constant and continuous; and whether its effect has
advanced man's progress and added to his happiness.
Applying the above test to the division — Art, the great-
est contribution that the preceding generations have left to
us and the one exercising the strongest influence over human-
ity above any other, is that of writing.
The invention of writing, a medium through which
man's thoughts have been preserved and transmitted from
generation to generation and through which his discoveries
have been communicated to others at a distance, has made
possible the passing from a state of barbarism to one of
civilization. The collective thoughts of mankind through-
out the ages have been preserved and placed before us
through the art of writing. It alone, as no other agency
has done, has made possible the continuous progress of the
human race. All intellectual achievements are based on a
system of communicating thought. Carlyle says, "Certainly
the art of Writing is the most miraculous of all things man
has devised. With the art of Writing, of which Printing is
a simple, inevitable and comparatively insignificant corol-
lary, the true reign of miracles for mankind commenced."
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A Story Outline of Evolution
All men of all ages and of all races have had a language
through which they could communicate their thoughts to
those about them. All available evidence points to the fact
that the growth of language was a slow and gradual process
in its development and, that at first, primitive man expressed
a thought by a single word, just as a year old baby begins
to express its observations and desires by a single word.
Just how the first spoken words were coined or what mental
reaction caused one object to be associated with certain
sounds of the human voice and another object associated
with some other sound, we do not know. It is likely that
he attempted to imitate with words many of the sounds of
Nature that he heard.
It is an easy matter to trace the origin of the newer
words of our language because they were called Into being
to express ideas. It is also an easy matter to trace to the
parent languages the origin of most of the words In com-
mon use that have been borrowed from other languages
because they also were called into being to express the ideas
of the objects and actions which they represent. A few
examples may properly be cited Illustrating this statement,
as follows : Evolution Is a word of Latin origin. The pre-
fix "e" In Latin means "out" and "volvo" means "to roll"
or "to unfold." Then Evolution simply means "to roll out"
or "to unfold." The English word "book" is probably
derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "hoc," meaning a
"beach," a species of tree with a smooth white bark about
a quarter of an Inch In thickness. Tablets made from the
bark of the beech tree were one of the substances on which
written characters were inscribed by some of the ancient
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A Written Record of Achievements
writers. These characters could be easily carved on the
bark of this tree with a sharp or pointed instrument and
they were durable and could be preserved. As an example
of the earnest desire of the ancient writers to find a sub-
stance upon which their thoughts could be recorded and
justifying the bark of the beech for such use, there are in
this country living beech trees upon whose bark names were
carved more than fifty years ago and they can still be read.
Our word "library" comes from the Latin word "liber," the
inner bark or rind of a tree used for paper. Our word
"paper" comes from the papyrus plant from which the
papyri rolls of ancient times were made and upon which
most of the ancient books affecting our civilization were
written.
Since the papyrus plant has furnished the substance upon
which a record of the ancient past has come to us, It Is only
proper to give, in some detail, at this time, some of the facts in
connection with its usefulness. It grew In the swamp or marsh
lands of Egypt, although It has long been extinct in those
regions. It is now found only In Sicily and along the upper
Nile. It grew in clusters of eight or ten pithy stocks coming
from one root and It attained a height of from three to ten
feet. Its stocks were triangular in shape and at their lower end
they were about four inches thick. Its uses were many. It
was used in the manufacture of baskets, boxes, boats, ropes,
sails, awnings and matting. Its roots were dried and used
for fuel. The pith of the plant was boiled and used as a
food by the poorer classes of Egyptians. The most impor-
tant use to which this plant was put and the one that now
concerns us most was in the manufacture of a kind of paper
[S3]
A Story Outline of Evolution
that still exists with the records thereon after a period of
more than 5,000 years. This primitive paper was made by
cutting the pith of the stocks into strips which were placed
side by side on a flat, smooth surface and over the layers
thus formed, a second layer was placed at right angles to
the first. The whole was then pressed, dried and smoothed.
The natural gum of the strips glued them tightly together.
The sheets thus made were white in color when new, but like
the paper of today they turned brown with age. The aver-
age lengths of these sheets were from nine to fifteen inches
and the average widths were from six to nine inches, while
in rare cases they were as much as seventeen inches in width.
The finest papyri are found in the "Book of the Dead,"
where the sheets are fifteen inches wide. These sheets were
doubtless constructed and cut to meet the conditions of
trade just as paper is prepared and cut today. The sheets
were often joined to make a roll. These rolls ran in length
from a few feet to more than one hundred feet. The rolls
used by the Greeks were seldom more than thirty feet in
length while some of the Egyptian manuscripts were more
than one hundred feet in length. These long sheets were
wound on cylinders of wood or ivory in the same fashion as
are our window shades of today. It was largely on these
papyri rolls, thus made, that a record was made and kept
and handed down to us giving in detail many of the earliest
recorded achievements of man. Edward Clodd, in "The
Story of the Alphabet," states — "The earliest known speci-
men of hieratic writing is a papyrus containing chronicles
of the reign of King Asa, whose date, according to a moder-
ate estimate of Egyptian chronology, is about 3580 B. C."
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A Written Record of Achievements
Babylon, Chaldea, and many of the ancient nations of
western Asia left their records on tablets of clay in cunei-
form characters. These tablets were made first into a form
of stiff mud on which the cuneiform characters were
inscribed with a sharp instrument and then the tablet was
baked in an oven. Edward Clodd again tells us that the
Babylonian writings "had passed the pictographic stage
long before eight thousand years ago." Thousands of these
tablets have been uncovered and their cuneiform inscrip-
tions translated.
Papyrus paper was in general use in Egypt, Greece,
Rome and other Mediterranian countries covering a period
of more than 4,000 years. For what greater period of time
it was in use, we do not know. It was not the only object
or substance on which was written a record of man's activi-
ties in the early written history of civilization. Other sub-
stances and objects were used in the early days upon which
man inscribed a record of his acts and conveyed his mes-
sages just as he does today. Inscriptions were made on
oyster shells, wood, leather, and carved in stone and bronze,
but the paper of commerce was made from the papyrus
plant.
The papyrus plant is no longer found where it once
flourished in such vast quantities. Its use continued in
Greece until about the year 670 A. D. During the last few
centuries of its use it was no longer joined or made in rolls,
but instead the records were kept on sheets in much the same
fashion as the sheets of music are kept today.
The inscriptions written on papyri rolls and clay tablets
many centuries ago show a similarity of interests of people
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A Story Outline of Evolution
of all times. They contain letters from kings to kings
regarding state matters, subsidies, taxes, preparation for
war and many others. There are letters from fathers and
mothers to sons and sons to fathers, brothers to sisters,
lovers to lovers, and friends to friends. The whole gamut
of human interest is found recorded there.
One writes to a sister, telling her "To have my tunic prop-
erly made and let them put good measure on it and be gen-
erous in coloring." Helene writes to a brother reproaching
him for not attending the funeral of another brother.
Herochides is asked to "match a white velvet color and to
purchase two dracham's worth." The request is accom-
panied by a gift of six quarts of "good apples." Dorion is
asked to let his brother "hear about our bald-headed
friend." Heratheon invites you to dine with him on the
occasion of his examination, at his house, tomorrow, the
fifth, at the ninth hour.
There are many letters — begging for money, notifying
debtors to pay, tax receipts, notices to look out for escaped
slaves, notices of the shipment of goods, complaint about a
donkey driver buying some rotten hay, the purchase of ox
yokes and manure, the prosecution of a woman handling
contraband oil and many others.
We have learned that men were able to read and to
write down their thoughts in a written language 8,000 years
ago; and many of these thoughts have been handed down
to us through characters inscribed on a kind of paper made
more than 5,000 years ago. What a heritage these records
are to us!
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A Written Record of Achievements
It Is only reasonable to Inquire what will the genera-
tions of man living In the year 7,000 A. D. be using as an
enduring substance upon which to record their achievements
for future generations?
The ancient peoples preserved a record of their dally
actions and achievements on stone, clay tablets and paper
by Inscribing thereon certain characters which form words
which are used to convey the Idea or thought of the person
who made them. A further Investigation disclosed that
these words are not the same as the words we now use; that
most of the words we now use can be broken up Into parts
and these parts traced back to some other parent language
from which they have been borrowed; and these parts may,
In turn, be traced back to the grandparent language, or
languages until our researches are lost In the darkness
beyond the horizon of history. We, therefore, see that the
words of our language have mostly come from older forms
and that there have been many changes In both spelling and
meaning before their present forms were developed.
A further Investigation discloses that in remote times no
abstract characters existed with which man could form
words to express his thought, but Instead, he used drawings
and pictures as a means of expressing his ideas and of
recording his achievements. These are the oldest forms
of writing.
The general law of development Is that thought tends
from the concrete to the abstract. These pictures or sym-
bols denote the object or idea as a whole which tells its own
story. These pictures are, of necessity, limited in scope and
are usually condensed means of expression. They could not
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A Story Outline of Evolution
be made to express the myriad experiences of the human
race. It is to these pictures, however, that we must look to
the origin of the complicated systems of expressing thoughts
in a visible and lasting shape so as to make them intelligible.
As human experience broadened, picture writing gave way
to phonetic writing, where the characters employed denote
the spoken word or its elements, either syllables or single
sounds, such as vowels or consonants. These picture writ-
ings were blended into symbols and signs which were at first
ony conventionalized pictures. The Sumerlans Invented the
cuneiform system of writing and this system was soon
adopted by all the leading nations of Western Asia. This
system of writing, likewise, originated In pictographs. It is
a combination of Idlograms, syllabic signs and vestiges of
the picture writings that preceded It.
Necessity demanded and called into use a more definite
and specific means of expression which led to the Invention
of an alphabet.
[58]
CHAPTER V.
Evolution of the Alphabet.
A N alphabet may be defined as a series of abstract char-
acters used to represent the single sounds of a language.
They form the words employed in expressing the ideas
which the language as a whole conveys. These characters
of the various languages form the vehicle of communication
and the depository of all knowledge which has been acquired
throughout the ages. Since primitive man scratched his first
crude pictographs on some enduring substance, more than
two hundred and fifty alphabets have come into being and
have been used as a means of expressing and communicating
thought. Of this number some fifty have survived and are
now in use. About one-half of this number are found in
India, where their use is both restricted and local. The
remaining numbers are variations of three scripts repre-
senting Roman, Arabic and Chinese characters which are in
use today. The one representing the greatest progress and
the highest culture to which the peoples of the earth have
attained is that of the Roman.
Until very recent years the method of teaching a child
on entering its first year in school was to begin with the
A, B, C's, the first three characters of our alphabet, which
is made up of twenty-six abstract characters. It is with
these twenty-six characters and also the abstract characters
representing the numbers that the child must work during
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A Story Outline of Evolution
his entire life because they represent the foundation of our
entire educational system and are used alike by the beginner
as well as the most advanced and cultured. The numbers
of the various combinations that may be formed from these
twenty-six characters are so great that they are beyond our
intelligent comprehension. It is by their use that all the
achievements of all men of all races and of all ages are com-
municated to us. They form the depository of all present
knowledge and the working tools through which all future
knowledge may be acquired.
It may be thought that it is an easy matter to trace down
the origin of, and the changes in, each of the twenty-six let-
ters of the alphabet used by the English-speaking races, but
such is not the case. Their tracks may be traced along a
fairly well-beaten road for a period of 2,500 years or
longer, but beyond this, the road forks so many times and
these divide again into dimmer roads and trails, branching
In many directions, until, at last, they disappear altogether.
Starting, then at the farthest end of the dimmest path, it
may be said that there Is no one place or time where the
characters of our alphabet began and that a table of their
derivations cannot be produced with any degree of certainty
and perhaps never will be. On the other hand, all of these
characters have sprung Into being as a result of necessity
and each has passed through many changes and adaptations
in both form and meaning and has developed through cen-
turies of slow and almost imperceptible growth.
The characters used In the English alphabet, with their
various changes and modifications, can be traced to the
Phoenicians, the trading branch of the Semites, but, beyond
[60]
Evolution of the Alphabet
this, we cannot go. It is here that the paths become so dim
that they cannot be further traced with any degree of cer-
tainty. The Phoenician alphabet that was carried to the
Greeks consisted of twenty-two characters, only three or
four of which correspond in form to the letters of the Eng-
lish alphabet that is in use today. Apparently, some of
these letters, and, perhaps, all of them, were meant to rep-
resent the names that had been applied to the objects or
things about these ancient people. Their Aleph, meaning
''ox"; Beth, "house"; Daleth, "door"; Jodh, "hand";
Kaph, "hollow of the hand" ; Mun, "water" ; Rosh, "head" ;
Shin, "tooth"; are examples of original meaning of some
of these Phoenician characters. However, this does not
estabhsh that their origin is lodged with the Phoenicians.
Many scholars have attempted to identify the Phoenician
letters with the characters representing Egyptian hiero-
glyphics. Emanuel de Rouge, a French philologist, sought
to prove that the source of the alphabet was to be found in
the hieratic characters as shown in the Papyrus Prisse, an
Egyptian document. Canon Isaac Taylor, in his book —
"The Alphabet," which is regarded as the most complete
treatise in English on this subject, adopted de Rouge's
opinion as to the origin of these characters; while, at a
later date, E. Clodd, in —"The Story of the Alphabet,"
challenged and denied this opinion. Other writers have
attempted to show a connection between the Phoenician
alphabet and the cuneiform systems of Assyria and Babylon.
The early Babylonian characters which are supposed to fur-
nish evidence of the origin of the Phoenician alphabet are
about 2,000 years older than the earliest Phoenician inscrip-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
tions and they had been subjected to many changes during
this time. There is evidence that the Phoenicians had trade
intercourses with both the Egyptians and Babylonians,
because some of the early Phoenician characters making up
the Phoenician alphabet resemble in many respects some of
the characters used by the early Egyptians and Babylonians.
Trade intercourse between peoples of different habits and
customs leaves certain distinguishing marks and influences
borrowed each from the other.
It will suffice for the purposes of showing growth and
development, to say that the present evidence points to the
reasonable conclusion that the employment of a small num-
ber of signs to represent the elementary sounds originated
with the Semites, of which race the Phoenicians were a
branch, and that it is from this source that the English
alphabet has come to us, with many modifications, changes
and additions through the Greek and Latin alphabets.
The curtain of time has veiled the origin of the alpha-
bet which we use in our daily life so that we can see through
it only dimly, but beyond this origin, however remote, there
was another system of communication known as picture writ-
ing, which was employed for unknown ages. This system
was in use among all the ancient nations, but it was more
highly developed and better preserved by the Egyptians
than by any other of the ancient people. This pictorial sys-
tem of writing is known as the hieroglyphic system and it
furnished some of the oldest and most artistic writing in
the world. Philologists have divided this system into three
groups known as Hieroglyphic, Hieratic and Demotic,
meaning pictogram writing, idiogram writing and phono-
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Evolution of the Alphabet
gram writing. The pictogram embraces signs representing
words, the idiogram representing ideas, and the phonogram
representing sounds. The Egyptians invented and pre-
served, in all, approximately seventeen hundred of these
hieroglyphs.
The cuneiform systems of writing consisted of wedge-
shaped, arrow-headed characters that were inscribed on clay
tablets, cylinders and monuments and doubtless on less
enduring substances which were in use in Babylon, Assyria,
Mesopotamia and, in fact, in all the nations of Western
Asia. There were many forms of these writings and they
served as a means of communication among these ancient
peoples for a period of more than 5,000 years. The decrees
of some of the ancient kings were written in inscriptions rep-
resenting three languages showing that the cuneiform sys-
tem had variations of form among the different nations.
This system was, so far as we know, the first step above the
pictograph system of communication. It was finally aban-
doned and supplemented by the more advanced, flexible and
comprehensive means of expression afforded by the alpha-
bet. After the alphabet came into being, the use of the
cuneiform system became obsolete. These wedged-shaped
characters served a large part of mankind as a medium of
recording his doings and achievements for a period covering
about one-half of all recorded history. The tragic thing
that happened to this system was that after it went into
disuse, the meaning and use of these characters was lost and
for a period of more than 1,600 years, no one was able to
understand or interpret them.
[63I
A Story Outline of Evolution
A further analysis of the above divisions of the hiero-
glyphics shows that a picture v^ould tell the whole story at
a glance. The modern cartoons are the evoluted forms of
hieroglyphic expressions. But when the necessity arose to
express ideas of abstract matters graphically this called for
the use of symbols and the picture idea of language was
modified. Symbols were used to express ideas and after
centuries of advancement and progress many of these in
modified forms are still in use. Almanacs still use the signs
of the Zodiac which were used by the ancient Chaldeans.
They use the symbols representing the new moon, second
quarter, third quarter and the full moon, the rising sun, etc.
Three balls hanging in front of a shop denotes a pawn-
broker, a custom still in use and patterned after the custom
of the ancient money lenders. A pole with spiral stripes
denotes a barber shop which is a sign of phlebotomy or the
act of bleeding. A wooden character in the shape of a
watch hanging in front of a building denotes a watchmaker
or jeweler. A wooden boot hanging suspended over a door
denotes a shoe shop, etc. A trumpet and harp denotes sound
and harmony and our modern musical notation characters
denote music.
It is known that communications written in cuneiform
characters were carried on between the kings of the various
countries of Western Asia and the Pharaohs of Egypt for
many centuries. These documents furnish valuable infor-
mation upon the political and commercial relations existing
between the ancient nations at that time. They treat on
many subjects showing the customs prevailing in Egypt and
Babylon among which were negotiations between kings for
[64]
Evolution of the Alphabet
the purchase and exchange of wives. They furnish us evi-
dence that the cuneiform system of writing was used in
Palestine 1500 B. C, thus spreading the legends of the
older nations over that country centuries before Hebrew
literature, as we know It, came Into being. These commu-
nications were sent by messengers and were accompanied by
interpreters as reference Is made to these Interpreters in
many of the documents. Another item of interest Is the fact
that copies of these letters and documents were kept by the
sender as an evidence of proof of what the original
contained.
The English alphabet in use today Is a lineal descendant
of the Hellenic branch of the Phoenician alphabet from
which has sprung practically all of the alphabets of the
world. It is known as the ''Roman type" because it came
through the Latin from Italy. The Phoenicians were a ven-
turesome, seagoing, trading people and they carried and
left the influence of their alphabet in all the countries bor-
dering the Mediterranean Sea. In its western course, the
Hellenes were the first to recognize its advantages, imper-
fect as it then was. It came to them without definite char-
acters representing the vowels, but this defect was supplied
by adding separate letters representing the vowels, so that
it contained a visible character for all the vocal sounds of
expression.
They transposed the method of writing from right tc
left by writing from left to right. They worked it over,
taking out and filling In, until It had attained a higher degree
of perfection than it ever before had had. It must be
remembered that there was physical separation, lack of
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A Story Outline of Evolution
unity of purpose and political disunion among the Greeks
or Hellenese, and for this reason It passed through many
changes before it reached the degree of perfection above
mentioned. There were forty local alphabets among these
known.
people, which is evidence of its appeal when Its force became
The Greek alphabet was introduced into Italy about
the eighth century B. C, where it became the Latin and
finally the alphabet of the Roman Empire. Here again,
it was subjected to many changes and adaptations until it
became the most important of all alphabets. It was passed
on and adopted by the countries of Western Europe and
then to us, still carrying vestiges of its growth through all
of its various stages from the cuneiform characters of Baby-
lon and the Egyptian hieroglyphs to the present time.
As human experiences broadened and as they were
woven into a closer fabric of commercial and social inter-
course, new ideas were formed that called for additional
methods of expression. But ideas must be expressed in sen-
tences and sentences are made up of nouns which are used
to express the names of persons or things; of adjectives
which are used to qualify or describe the things represented
by the nouns; of verbs, used to express action, being or con-
dition; of adverbs, used to modify the meaning of verbs,
adjectives, or other adverbs, and so on through all the other
parts of speech. Words grew In numbers faster than sym-
bols could be made to represent them and there were many
words that could not be expressed by the symbols then in
use. This led to a modification of the symbols already
invented and then In use and to a separation of many of
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Evolution of the Alphabet
them into various parts so that each part formed a char-
acter, and each character, thus formed, represented a sound.
These characters were combined so that they represented
words. Words are dying out and becoming obsolete while
other new words are being added to our language in about
the same ratio so that the decrease is about offset by the
increase. By adopting a series of twenty-six characters such
as our English alphabet contains, we have a system, the
combinations of whose characters may form many thou-
sands of times more words than are now found in any
dictionary.
It was thus that the alphabet was formed, but we know
not where nor when. It may be said, with certainty, that
it was not formed at any one place or at any one time, but
like every branch of both Cultural and Organic Evolu-
tion, it is the result of necessity, adaptation, modification,
change and growth. It has followed the Universal Plan of
Creation.
In discussing the development of the art of writing and
of the alphabet, the story of Cultural Evolution, by way of
contrast, has been advanced for a period of at least 100,000
years out of its regular order. Before the age of writing
had been reached, there were more serious problems to be
met and solved. These problems had engaged primitive
man's attention for unknown centuries before the necessity
arose for a system of writing. The law of self preservation
was his greatest urge and its impulse must be obeyed if he
was to survive in the struggle for life.
[67]
CHAPTER VI.
The Developing of Morals.
T F we shall turn back the curtain of time and look down
through the centuries of civilization to the very horizon
of history, we find that man's progress has been many fold
in its development. From the very beginning there have
stood face to face within the lives of all mankind and within
the councils of every state and nation two opposing forces
each struggling for mastery in the kingdom of life. One of
these forces, we call right, the other wrong.
The early history of our civilization is largely a history
of countless, cruel and bloody wars brought about by some
man or group of men seeking to live upon the fruits of other
men's toil. Its early pages are crimson with human blood.
The laws of the jungle are elevated to a degree of humane-
ness when compared with the tortures inflicted by man upon
his helpless brother. His superior intellect devised methods
of torture that no animal brain could conceive or inflict upon
its helpless victims. His spirit of revenge had no counter-
part in all animal creation and death alone would not satisfy
the demons of his nature.
From the earliest date to which our knowledge of his-
tory reaches, the divine right of kings was asserted and
marshalled against the common rights of humanity. The
divine right of kings asserted: "You work and earn bread
and I will eat it; I will compel you to do it with the sword;
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The Developing of Morals
might makes right." The common rights of humanity
answered: "All men are created free and equal and have
the right of life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness; right
makes might." From the dawn of civilization, this struggle
between right and wrong, between the divine right of kings
and the common rights of humanity found a common battle-
ground In the institution of human slavery.
Human slavery has existed from the beginning of his-
tory. In the early times, the men who were captured by an
opposing army were tortured and killed in the most fiendish
manner their conquerors could invent and their wives and
children were assimilated into the tribes. After centuries
of this fiendish butchery, the men who were taken as cap-
tives were kept as slaves for the king or state. The con-
quering kings learned that many of their captives possessed
knowledge which they did not have and that they were
more valuable than the common plunder of war.
The ego of these early rulers became personified and
their ambition knew no bounds. They desired that their
subjects should look upon them as one possessing the power
of deity. In many of the early nations the only purpose of
the rulers was that of self-aggrandizement. They were
both mad for power and Intoxicated with power and their
subjects were forced to spend their lives on the fields of
battle or in unrequited toil in carrying out the schemes of
these rulers.
The pages of history are replete with records of their
arrogance and cruelty. At Behlstun, Persia, bas-reliefs cut
on the face of a precipitous rock portray the scenes that
were enacted there 2,600 years ago at the direction of one
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A Story Outline of Evolution
of the well-known Persian kings. The effigy of Darius Hys-
taspas, bow in hand, stands with his feet on the prostrate
form of one of his victims. Nine other captives chained
together by the neck stand before him. Inscriptions carved
in three languages on the rock tell the story of his heartless
butcheries, how he slew his helpless victim and how another
was tortured by having his nose, ears and tongue cut off and
then crucified together with his associates. More than one
thousand lines are carved in cuneiform characters telling of
these exploits. These chronicles display the boastful ego of
King Darius. The central thought is : King Darius did
this and King Darius did that, etc. But this is only one of
thousands of similar records portraying the mental state in
the early written history of mankind. Other forms of tor-
ture are recorded that are so inhuman that it is better that
they never again be repeated.
An amusing Incident of stupid ego Is the story of Xerxes,
another Persian king, commanding that the water be whipped
because the wind had rolled the water into waves that dis-
turbed his ships. His ego was so great that he believed his
will could control the laws of Nature, but his deluded mind
discovered that the waves did not obey his commands.
The institution of slavery involved the greatest moral
question that civilization has known. It doubtless existed
long before the historic age. It was so universal in the early
days that it was regarded by all as both regular and natu-
ral, but with the advancement of civilization this viewpoint
has changed and no civilized country today recognizes slav-
ery as an Institution. The Bible tells us that God made a
covenant with Abraham for the redemption of all mankind,
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The Developing of Morals
yet Abraham was a slave owner. Some of his slaves were
"born" such and others were "bought with money." God
called Job "his servant," yet Job was a slave owner. When
Christ came into the world preaching a new philosophy of
life, he found slavery on every hand, yet he makes no defi-
nite mention of the relation of involuntary servitude. Of
a certain Centurian he said, "I have not found so great
faith, no not in Israel," yet that man of such great faith
was a slave owner. It must not be inferred that Christ's
teachings did not encompass the wrong of slavery, for it did.
He was dealing in spiritual matters which would correct all
human wrongs when pointed out and followed. St. Paul
condoned the institution of slavery by saying, "Slaves, be
obedient to your masters." Onesimus was an escaped slave
of Philemon. Both were converted under the preaching of
Paul and Paul sent Onesimus back to his master. Martin
Luther wrote: "He that says slavery is opposed to Chris-
tianity is a liar." It will thus be seen that the leaders of
moral thought at the beginning of our Christian era and
long thereafter accepted the institution of human slavery as
a condition established in the social order of mankind. The
early laws of many of the ancient nations permitted parents
to sell their children into slavery and this was a common
practice in Babylon, Assyria and other nations. These laws
also provided that if a person borrowed money which he
could not repay, the creditor, by due process, could make
the debtor his slave. These added greatly to the slave
population. They were bought, sold and traded as chat-
tels the same as are domestic animals today. Only a com-
paratively few of the population of any of the ancient
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A Story Outline of Evolution
nations were able to read and to write. The kings asserted
authority over them and like dumb driven cattle, they had
to obey. They had no other place to go. The nations
would flourish for a time and then fall into decay and finally
leave the stage of human action to be taken up and occupied
by some other person who claimed and asserted the divine
right to rule. The common rights of humanity, as yet, had
no leader to point the way to greater freedom of action for
the common masses. The common people had not, as yet
secured a charter guaranteeing to them their civil or politi-
cal rights.
As the nations rose and fell and as our civilization
advanced step by step, there appeared from time to time
upon the stage of human action great characters whose lives
and deeds have helped to shape the destiny of the human
race. Superior talents and favoring circumstances have
given to a few men since history began that special recogni-
tion which is called immortal by which their names and
deeds have been preserved and transmitted from generation
to generation and whose lives have furnished examples of
inspiring, helpful deeds as models for our emulation. These
few immortals since the beginning of our civilization have
identified themselves with great human principles in which
men of all ages and men of all races are interested. They
have helped to advance the progress of civilization and to
relieve the oppression and suffering of humanity. Their
names have passed beyond their country, beyond their lan-
guage, beyond their race and beyond the centuries in which
they lived and now stand as guideposts directing the path-
way of human progress. These immortals did not carve
[72]
The Developing of Morals
their names upon the rocks or build great temples or pyra-
mids, but instead, they wrote their names in deeds and acts,
the effect of which advanced all mankind to a higher and
happier state of existence.
Men began to reason that all men are of one flesh and
blood and that each person has the right of life, liberty and
the pursuits of happiness so long as he does not forfeit that
right by violating the established rules of society, and that it
is morally wrong for one person to enjoy the fruits of
another's involuntary and unrecompensed toil. This idea
was at first a nebulous thought but, like all other mental and
physical changes, when set in motion, it began to take form
and the nebulous idea became congealed and crystallized
Into the thought of the civilized world, thus becoming a
force that rules the conduct of mankind.
Society began to establish rules guaranteeing to Its memr
bers the rights of life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness.
Society decreed that he who should take a life in violation
of its rules, should. In turn, forfeit his own life as an example
to others against a violation of this established rule. The
time was when the rights of private property did not exist
among the common people. The right of private property
is a natural right. It is recognized by all forms of animal
life. The beasts of the forests will fight over the right of
possession of a watering place, over the right to use a cav-
ern, or over some favored nesting place. They will protect
their kill against other animals that had no part in the kill-
ing. Dogs will fight over the possession of a bone. Society
established rules governing the rights of private property.
It requires compensation for a violation of these rights and
[73]
A Story Outline of Evolution
provides a punishment for those who violate these rights.
In Babylon and Assyria the right of slaves to hold, use and
enjoy private property was recognized and regulated by
law.
Political rights were the most reluctantly granted of all.
Some rulers of vision with spirits of altruism, had, from
time to time, granted their subjects certain civil and political
rights and these rights would, in turn, be taken away by
some future tyrannical ruler. These rulers were jealous
of their power and sought to keep their subjects in a state
of complete political subjugation. But as intelligence among
the common people increased, the bud of liberty and free-
dom had swollen until the flower was bursting the bud. The
people had begun to assert their rights and to demand that
they be given a charter guaranteeing these rights to them.
England was ruled from 1190 to 12 16 A. D. by King
John, an illiterate, tyrannical, mean and cruel king. His
tyrannical rule caused a revolt among his subjects which
resulted in the granting of the first great charter of guaran-
teed liberty that humanity had ever experienced. The
barons of England met and formulated their complaints and
demanded redress of these grievances. It was not a request,
but instead, it was a stern demand. At first the king refused,
then procrastinated, and when he was faced with an army of
his subjects ready to do battle to enforce their demands, he
yielded and signed the Magna Charta in June, 12 15.
He was furious and like a caged savage animal he tore
his hair, gnashed his teeth, rolled his eyes, gnawed sticks
and twigs, but there in a sheep pasture at Runnemede, on
an island in the Thames River, he was forced to sign the
[74]
The Developing of Morals
great document that was the beginning of the end of the
principle of the divine right of kings to rule over the people
v^Ithout their consent. This was the first great triumph of
the common rights of humanity. The chief promises exacted
were —
1. That no free man should be unlawfully
Imprisoned, outlawed or exiled.
2. That justice should be administered to all.
3. That no taxes should be levied without the
consent of the people.
The protection of life, liberty, and property from arbi-
trary spoliations by some tyrannical ruler who claims his
right to rule Is divine, Is the most Important feature of the
charter. It may seem a long time since 1215 A. D., but the
processes of evolutionary development are slow and "The
mill of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly
fine." This document was the voice of the people In the
sheep pasture crying — arise and assert your rights; right
makes might.
The seeds of liberty were thus sown, but the moral mind
had not developed to a point of understanding that liberty
and freedom are natural rights belonging to all men of all
races and not alone to a particular race. For centuries the
sons of the men of Runnemfede were jealous of their own
political and civil rights, but heedless of the rights of other
races. This was an Inherited idea for Aristotle defended
slavery on the basis of "diversity of races." In both Greece
and Rome in the later days no person could hold a slave of
Roman or Grecian blood.
[75]
A Story Outline of Evolution
In 1776 the sons of the men of Runnemede, our fore-
fathers, brought forth in a new continent another immortal
document, declaring that: "all men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, etc.," but it required eight years of bloody war
to establish these rights in America. Human slavery existed
in all the thirteen colonies when this Declaration was made
and signed. After the war was ended and a government
was being formed and a constitution adopted, all the colonies
were slave owning colonies except that of Massachusetts.
Most of the leaders of the new nation, including George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick
Henry and others were slave owners. Because of climatic
conditions and Industrial pursuits, slavery was unprofitable
in the Northern States and profitable in the Southern States.
Both Northern and Southern colonies were equally guilty
for the slave Institution in their midst. A number of slave
vessels were fitted out by the Northern Colonies and were
engaged in bringing slaves from Africa, but not one vessel
was fitted out for this purpose by a Southern Colony. In
1778 the Colony of Virginia prohibited the further impor-
tation of slaves under heavy penalties. Georgia was the
first of the states to prohibit the further importation of
slaves by statute. Virginia pronounced the importation of
slaves as "a trade of great inhumanity."
After the Revolutionary War was won, the government
organized and the constitution adopted, the country began to
grow and prosper. Freedom of action was greater than
ever before experienced by any people. But the words of
[76]
The Developing of Morals
the Immortal Declaration — "all men are created equal" —
began to burn within the hearts of the Revolutionary patriots.
These words were either false or the free people were prac-
ticing not what they preached. As a consequence of this
reasoning, the people of both the North and South began
to free their slaves. The government census shows that
In the year i860 there were 268,817 free negroes In the
Northern States and 247,817 In the Southern States, thus
showing that the moral mind of both sections, popula-
tion considered, was nearly In an even balance. As a
corollary to the Civil War, the age old question between
the divine right of kings and the common rights of human-
ity was forever settled on American soil. It was not a local
or sectional question, but Instead, It was a question of one of
the moral thoughts of the ages that had passed through
Its evolutionary development and had crystallized into a
force that regulates the conduct of human society.
Marriage Is a social Institution that Is recognized by law
or custom by all the peoples, both civilized and uncivilized,
throughout the entire world. It is a natural relationship
and is the outgrowth of the natural order of sex mating.
Its counterpart is found among many other species of the
animal kingdom and it has developed out of a primeval
habit supplemented by Instinctive laws of altruism. It
Involves certain rights and dytles of the parties to the rela-
tionship and to the children born of It which the laws and
customs of society uphold and enforce. However, these
laws and customs have gone through many changes and
modifications based on human experiences until they are now
far different from what they once were. We are now con-
[77]
A Story Outline of Evolution
cerned only with the development of the moral Idea con-
cerning marriage.
Society has learned by costly experience that as a pro-
tection to the offspring, no marriage relationship should be
permitted within the third degree of consanguinity and most
all enlightened nations have laws prohibiting such mar-
riages. But in the earlier times, such marriages were con-
sidered both regular and natural. Genesis tells us that the
patriarch, Abraham, married his half-sister. The pages of
ancient history are replete with examples of incestuous rela-
tionships. Again society has learned that polygamy and
polyandry are conditions which are not conducive to the
best interests of the nation and all the enlightened nations
have established laws preventing such plural marriages. But
many of the patriarchs of Bible history had plural wives.
Wives were bought and sold as common chattels. Again
society has learned that no marriage should be permitted
between persons of tender years and all enlightened nations
have enacted laws preventing such marriages, and yet most
of the Oriental peoples permit marriages at the age of
puberty or earlier. Not only this, but their customs have
superceded the law of natural selection.
The same general rules of development are found In
every human action belonging to the moral code and society
has attempted to regulate the conduct of individuals to con-
form to established rules. The family is the unit of society.
Parental teaching is the most effective of all teaching. The
morals of no state can arise above the morals of the indi-
viduals comprising the state. It is the duty of the state to
[78]
The Developing of Morals
establish rules of conduct governing the acts of its members
in order that civilization may be advanced to the highest
quality of life. This has been done through the evolution of
its morals.
[791
CHAPTER VII.
The Developing of Transportation.
"CACH generation develops a group of men who fear no
undertaking and who dare the Impossible and prove It
to be real. Their urge is a desire to shorten time and to
eliminate space. They disdain to follow a traveled road
and are only content in cutting out new paths of thought
through the wilderness of the unknown. When the path is
once well marked and the brush removed, the clearing,
widening, grading and leveling work on the new Idea Is done
by those who follow them. If the new thought is useful and
helpful to mankind. It will not be relegated to the discard,
but will become another highway over which our civilization
may travel.
Human thought has not always been constructive. For
unknown centuries most of human thought was destructive.
It was devoted to planning methods to conquer and subdue
some neighboring tribe or nation and the early aggressive
wars were waged mostly for the purpose of conquest and
plunder. The nations thus attacked, fought under the
Impulse of primitive instinct as a means of self-preservation.
It was because of these prevailing conditions that so many
centuries of the history of civilization passed without any
great advance In Industrial progress. Development cannot
be had without adaptation to meet changing conditions.
[80]
The Developing of Transportation
In some countries there was such reverence for tradi-
tional customs that each generation would follow in the
footsteps of their fathers and do as they had done and live
as they had lived without any thought of improving the
conditions of life about them. This was contrary to the
laws of Nature for nothing in Nature is constant. Nature
has decreed that there must be growth, and without growth
there will be decay. Most of the ancient nations have passed
across the stage of human action and have gone into the
discard because they reached a point where growth was
no longer found. This law applies to every living creature
and thing that is found in both the animal and vegetable
kingdoms and its positive proof may be found on every
hand.
Mechanical progress, figuratively speaking, was in an
infant state until man began to use the forces of Nature to
aid him in carrying out his plans. One of the first prob-
lems that primitive man encountered was that of transport-
ing his body and the objects that it was necessary for him
to carry. By nature, he was not as fleet of foot as were
many of the other animals, and swimming was an art that
had to be learned. There were rivers and streams which he
desired to cross that could not be waded and in order to
overcome this obstacle, he constructed a raft of logs that
would float and at the same time carry his body. This was
the beginning of water transportation. The raft developed
into the canoe that he learned to propel by the use of a pad-
dle. He made use of the current of the streams that would
carry his primitive craft down stream propelled by the
force of gravity. The next step in water transportation was
[8i]
A Story Outline of Evolution
the sailing craft, whereby he made use of the wind for
motive power.
From these crude crafts there have been developed the
great steam propelled ocean vessels, where all the modern
conveniences of city life may now be enjoyed. Each genera-
tion adds to the convenience and safety of water travel some
advantage that the preceding generation did not have.
There Is a sense of satisfaction and a halo of glory sur-
rounding each new accomplishment. Each new accomplish-
ment bears promise of other new accomplishments. Our
primitive ancestors had little need for economy of time
except In cases of emergency, but there were times when
primitive man desired to transport his body at a speed which
could not be attained by the use of his legs. Doubtless, the
first time that he experienced the sensation of having his
body transported at a speed beyond the natural limit of his
own power of locomotion, was on the back of a horse. This
was the beginning of the science of rapid transit, to which
Is devoted more time, labor, capital and Inventive genius
than Is devoted to any other Industry.
Until approximately 300 years ago traveling in Europe
and In England was usually done on foot or on horseback.
In 1662 there were only six stagecoaches In all of England.
Prior to that time the Hackney Coach and the Cabriolet
had been in limited use, but these means of travel were
luxuries for the rich which the poorer classes could not
afford. The Hackney Coach was a boxlike affair with firmly
attached shafts protruding from both the front and the
rear. It had no wheels or running gear and two horses with
harness resembling pack saddles were placed between the
[82]
The Developing of Transportation
shafts, the one In front with Its tall to the front end of the
coach and the one In the rear with Its head to the rear end of
the coach, and with this arrangement the coach was car-
ried. The driver walked by the side of the front horse.
The Cabriolet was a two-wheeled cart resembhng the
Roman chariot, but the driver rode one of the horses In
order to make more room for the occupants of the cart.
Prior to the coming of the stagecoach, there were no
public highways — only trails leading from one place to
another in the same manner as new trails are made and
followed in all new countries. There were no bridges and
even these trails were at times impassable. As mail routes
were established and as the necessity for exchange and con-
veyance of goods and merchandise Increased, a road build-
ing program was carried on to meet the requirements of the
growing needs. Just as the stagecoach called Into being a
program for road building among all progressive people,
so has the automobile during the present generation called
Into being the greatest road building program that civiliza-
tion has ever known. New thoughts are always In the
crude, but when a new and helpful thought is developed as
a basic Idea for the advancement of some branch of human
culture, It Is added to and Improved upon to meet changing
conditions. The necessity for rapid transit has developed
new engineering skills, modern power driven road building
machinery and bridge construction that have eliminated
curves and grades, bridged rivers and chasms and tied the
entire country together with solid concrete slabs. There
has been more road building In the United States during the
past twenty-five years than there had been In all Its pre-
[83]
A Story Outline of Evolution
ceding history. As a result of this, the entire country has
become one big neighborhood. With the Improved roads
and the automobile, time and space have been ehmlnated to
a degree undreamed of a generation ago.
An overland journey that only two or three generations
ago would be planned for months In advance and would be
the occasion for making a will and the gathering of the
neighbors to bid farewell, may now be made In a few hours
with as little thought or concern as our forefathers had
oi making a trip to the mill.
Following the stagecoach, but before the coming of the
Improved highways and the automobile, there came Into the
industrial life of mankind the first steam railways, which
did more to advance the commercial Interests of all coun-
tries than any other Invention has ever done. Before the
coming of the steam railroad, tramways with wooden rails
and with coaches drawn by horses were used to some extent
in England. The first steam propelled carriage that ran on
the public highways without the use of rails was constructed
in France In 1769 and used on the public highways near
Paris. Its average speed was two and a quarter miles per
hour, and It had only three wheels, the driving wheel of
which was guided In a similar manner to that of a bicycle.
The next year another steam carriage was made which was
used on the streets of Paris and when It overturned at a
street corner, both the machine and its Inventor were seized
by the police.
The usual speed of travel In the early stagecoach days
was from two to four miles per hour. After the early road
building campaign was completed, a speed of ten miles per
[84]
The Developing of Transportation
hour was attained on the smoothest of the highways. This
speed was considered extremely hazardous and necessitated
the frequent change of horses.
The first pubHc steam railroad to be constructed con-
nected Stockton and Darlington In the county of Durham,
England, a distance of eleven miles. On September 27,
1825, the first train propelled by steam power made Its Ini-
tial trip over this new road. George Stephenson was the
man who Invented, built and piloted the engine on the epoch
making trip. It had a speed of ten or eleven miles per
hour and, then as now, an epoch making event was the occa-
sion for the greatest of Interest among the people. The
road was constructed for the purpose of hauling coal and
the cars were not much larger than a farm wagon, but
twenty-two of the wagons were filled to capacity by people
anxious for the first trip. In addition to this load of human
freight the little engine also pulled twelve wagons loaded
with coal on this Initial trip. The steam railway as a freight
carrier was now established, but the persons who had taken
their first train ride now began to demand that they be
taken regularly. This led to the establishment of regular
passenger train service and as the era of railway building
continued, the day of the stagecoach began to wane. The
basic Idea of a new method of transportation was put Into
motion and through growth, development and adaptation
the continents have been girded with steel rails.
The steam railway and steam navigation have developed
the commerce of the world so that the people from the
utmost parts of the earth may use and enjoy the products
produced by the people from all other places. The naked
[85]
A Story Outline of Evolution
ivory and rubber hunters from the jungles have learned that
they have products that can be exchanged for some useful
article manufactured by those living on the other side of the
earth. The trapper living within the Arctic Circle may
exchange his pelts for sugar and coffee from the equatorial
regions. Transportation at one end may be accomplished
in snow shoes and the dog sled and at the other by carrying
on head or back or in a dugout canoe, the hazards being
equally divided, but rail transportation and steam naviga-
tion join these extremes into a common artery or trade chan-
nel. This is a development of the idea of barter and trade
that was begun within the tribes of primitive man, and then
extended to other tribes and continued until all the world is
joined together as one great tribe of traders.
The idea of aerial navigation was a dream of thinking
people from the days of the Psalmist to the time of its
accomplishment. In the early days people were overawed
by their superstitious beliefs. The superstitious people could
conceive of more impossibles than a modern fiction writer.
The belief in witches and ghosts that could ride upon the
wings of the wind was a common belief among the ignorant
classes two or three centuries ago. Incredible stories were
told, believed and magnified as they were again retold.
Even the more highly educated classes were not free from
many superstitious beliefs. The mythological stories of all
the ancient people doubtless had their inceptions in dreams
brought about by overgorged stomachs and which left such
impressions on the ignorant minds that they ascribed reality
to them.
[86]
The Developing of Transportation
The principle of the aerostat, or passive balloon, v^^as
discovered and the Ignorant believed that this furnished a
key to the method of travel used by the witches. In Mln-
istre's "History of Lyons," an account is given of what
appears to be the first recorded Instance of aerial travel.
The record is silent as to the exact nature of the con-
veyance used, but the historian's words are as follows :
"Toward the end of Charlemagne's reign, certain persons
who lived near Mount Pilate, in Switzerland, knowing by
what means pretended sorcerers traveled through the air,
resolved to try the experiment, and compelled some poor
people to ascend In an aerostat. This descended in the town
of Lyons, where they were immediately hurried to prison,
the mob desiring their death as sorcerers. The judges con-
demned them to be burned, but the Bishop Agabard sus-
pended the execution and sent for them to his palace that
he might question them." Our own history records that
there were other helpless victims condemned to be burned
on American soil who had no good Bishop to suspend the
execution. Cultural Evolution Is fast casting Into the dis-
card the deluded thoughts of mankind that have sacrificed
so many thousands of their brothers upon the altar of
ignorance.
But a new thought was born that had potential possibili-
ties beyond the fondest hopes of any then living. Benjamin
Franklin said of this new method of aerial navigation, "It
is an infant, but it will grow." Balloon travel began in
England In 1784. The first ascension on September 15 of
that year drew out the greatest throng that had ever gath-
ered on British soil. The brave sons of England, France
[87]
A Story Outline of Evolution
and America offered their lives, if need be, in studying the
hidden secrets of air travel. As a practical, certain and
safe means of air travel, the passive balloon was not a suc-
cess; however, the motor driven dirigibles are, as yet, in
their infancy, and we know not what the future will bring
forth in the further development of this method of aerial
navigation. Only twenty-five years ago many of the best
informed in aerial navigation suggested that the possibilities
of the balloon had been exhausted, but we know now that
these possibilities are in the early stages of development.
A new thought was budded to the original ideas in the
form of the internal combustion engine as a motive power
and this has developed the greatest epoch of advancement
in rapid transit that civilization has known. Because it came
into being at so late a date, its evolution may be traced with
a greater degree of certainty than that of any other mechani-
cal force now in use. The internal combustion engine has
revolutionized all methods of travel on and under the
water, on land and in the air, and has done more to aid and
advance individual and family travel than all other methods
combined have done. It was not evolved out of some man's
inner consciousness fully developed and ready for use as we
now have it, but on the other hand, it has developed from
crude applications, modifications and changes until it has
reached its present form of near perfection. It is an end
to which thousands of the greatest engineers have dedicated
and consecrated their lives for the benefit of the succeeding
generations or until such time as some other and more con-
venient force shall supplant its use.
[881
The Developing of Transportation
Man's Idea of constructing a device whereby he could
propel himself on v^heels not drawn by animals is a modern
idea dating back a little more than one hundred years.
Apparently the first step In this direction was an evoluted
form of the child's play horse commonly known as the
"hobby horse." The new device was known as the "Dandy
horse." It consisted of two wooden wheels held In iron
forks in a similar manner to that of the modern bicycle.
These forks were fastened together by a bar of wood with
handle bars on the front fork in order that It might be
guided in the desired direction. A cushion or seat was
placed on the middle of the bar upon which the rider sat.
It was propelled by his feet pushing against the ground. It
would coast down hill without any pushing. This Idea was
the ancestor of the bicycle and riding the "Dandy horse" —
especially down hill — became a great fad In England about
one hundred years ago and they were also in common use by
postmen. It was an easy step In adding a crank, pedals and
a sprocket wheel which made the bicycle. Bicycling became
the craze of continental Europe, England and America.
New records of speed were established only to be beaten
again until the record time of the stagecoaches were beaten
by about one-half. Thus, with a muscle propelled machine,
man had transported his body over long distances at a
greater rate of speed than had ever before been done
except by the locomotive on steel rails.
A speed of forty-one miles an hour had been attained
by the muscle driven bicycle, but human muscles become
fatigued by long continued violent exercise. It had become
a means of rapid transit by professional and business people
[89]
A Story Outline of Evolution
generally and Inventive minds set about to perfecting a
motor that would supply the propelling power. This was
soon accomplished and the motorcycle came Into being.
With these greater speed was attained by the use of the
blind forces of Nature which do not tire and which need
only the directing force of trained Intellect to guide them in
their course.
Civilization had advanced to a point where necessity
demanded a conveyance capable of traveling swiftly over
the public highways and which was not limited to the costly
locomotive and steel rails. The expense in constructing and
operating railroads prohibited their use as a means of pri-
vate conveyance and Inventive genius was now directed to
the development of a light and speedy conveyance that
could be used for private purposes on the public highways.
There were many steam driven carriages devised and oper-
ated on the public highways but because of the weight,
smoke, noise and vibration of these vehicles, their use did
not become general and as a whole they were not satisfac-
tory and were soon cast into the discard. However, they
formed a link In the chain of motor travel and many of their
mechanical principles w^ere passed on to the next generation
of motor vehicles.
The next step in private motor conveyance was that of
the automobile, which has done more, perhaps, to change
the habits of mankind than any other conveyance yet
devised. The history of the development of the Internal
combustion engine and the detail of Its principles and
mechanics are so extensive that many volumes have been
[90]
The Developing of Transportation
written in explanation thereof. Like all other mechanical
devices that have become so universal in their use, it has
passed through an evolutionary stage of development,
adaptation, change and growth. It is sufficient here to state
that its simple principle is an explosion within a cylinder con-
taining a movable piston that is driven by the force of the
explosion, thus producing the power that is conveyed in
many ways. The application of this principle has done more
to eliminate time and to shorten space in transportation
than any other invention. Its power is applied alike on
water, land and in the air. It has made man a migratory
being and has extended his range of travel to uttermost
limits of the world. It has made possible a change in the
speed of land travel from the stagecoach's four miles per
hour to the automobile's four miles per minute.
Man had learned by observing the birds that the swift-
est medium of travel was through the air and he set about
to devise a method of overcoming the force of gravity so
that his body could be propelled through the air at a greater
rate of speed than any yet attained. The development of
the airplane has accomplished this end. With no rivers to
cross, no roads to grade, no tunnels to dig and no bridges to
build, the airplane now carries his body through the air at a
greater rate of speed than any living creature has ever
before traveled; and yet, air travel is still in its infancy and
its future possibilities cannot now be foreseen by those most
advanced in the science of air navigation. Now, better and
safer designs are supplanting the old. Statistics show that
air travel is now more than sixty per cent, safer than any
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A Story Outline of Evolution
other method of travel and It Is the prophecy of those best
qualified to speak that within a short time Its hazards will
have been removed and Its features of safety Increased to
approximate perfection.
[92]
CHAPTER VIII.
The Developing of Communication.
/"COMMUNICATION is the most necessary part of
^^ human society and without it organized human society
could not exist. The earliest efforts at communication were,
doubtless, outgrowths of the herd instinct. All animals
have some form of communication which is not only under-
stood by all members of the pack, herd or flock, but also by
other species that are living under the same or similar sur-
roundings. The danger signals of one are apparently under-
stood by all. The snort of a deer denotes the scent of a
common enemy. The warning call of the elephant silences
all the animals of the jungle and informs them of the
approach of danger. The sudden flight of the tick birds
prepares the rhinoceros for instant battle. These are
instinctive impulses that experience has taught must be
obeyed as a matter of self preservation.
Man has Inherited and still obeys the instinctive
Impulses of his primitive ancestors and it is only reasonable
to suppose that before the development of articulate speech,
and the power of reason, he followed the urge of instinctive
protection as a means of self preservation. It is largely a
matter of conjecture and speculation as to the warning sig-
nals used by man before articulate speech was developed,
but basing our observation on the Instinctive Impulses of the
lower animals and of man and examining the development
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A Story Outline of Evolution
of the earliest known human skulls, evidence is both cumula-
tive and persuasive that primitive man traveled In herds and
was guided and directed by instinctive impulses much in the
same manner as are the wild animals of today.
The emotions of both fear and anger will cause the hair
of many of the animals to "stand on end" and this nervous
reflex is accompanied by a warning growl. The purpose of
this Is, perhaps, to present the most hideous appearance to
the approaching enemy and to warn it of the danger of an
attack. Dogs will bare their teeth, raise their hair, stiffen
their muscles and growl before beginning a fight. A bull
will bellow, paw and horn the earth and stiffen his muscles
before beginning an attack. These are animal means of
communicating warnings of a purpose to overcome their
enemies by means of force and with the natural weapons
that they possess.
When articulate speech was in its infancy a single word
was used to express an Idea. Many of the first words
coined, as we have already seen, were used to represent
some Imitative sound and articulate sounds were applied
to represent certain objects or things and thus objects and
things were recognized by certain names. The expression
"bear" meant to primitive man "I see a bear" or "There is
a bear." If his companions were not In a position to see
the bear, then the one uttering the expression Indicated the
position or direction of the bear from the group by pointing
his arm or finger in the direction of the bear. It was in this
pantomlne manner that signalling became a means of com-
municating Ideas by primitive man. But there were times
when natural objects obscured the vision of the group of
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The Developing of Communication
hunters so that the pointing signal was of no use or benefit
and this led to the Invention of sound signals that could be
heard but not seen.
The signalling systems have reached a high degree of
perfection among all primitive peoples. The natives In the
jungles of Africa use a system of Imitative calls for sound
signals. These calls Imitate the common calls of the birds
found In the locality and their purpose Is to deceive the
hunted animals against their approach In case any unusual
noise Is made. Their reasoning Is well founded for so long
as the native birds are calling undisturbed, the animals that
are the objects of their hunt will not be alarmed at any slight
unusual sound. But there are times and conditions among
the savage tribes when it Is necessary as a means of self
protection to have a system of sound communication that
will outreach the human voice and this has given rise to the
practice of drum signalling. Sound signals by the use of
drums are employed as a means of communicating from vil-
lage to village in case of war and as warning against the
approach of an enemy. This is a code signal which Is under-
stood by all those members of the tribes who hear It and
nothing will cause greater consternation and quicker action
among the savage tribes than the warning signal of the
drums.
Another method of signalling among the savage tribes
by night is the building of fires at strategic points on the
hilltops that may be seen by some distant village and it in
turn will build another fire that may be seen by the next
village and this predetermined method of communication
may, and often does, extend over vast areas in a single
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A Story Outline of Evolution
night, thus serving as a means of communicating the mes-
sage it Is intended to convey. The sign language formerly
In such common use among the western tribes of Indians and
the sign languages of the deaf mutes are examples of the
effectiveness of these methods of communication.
From the beginning of civilization to the present time
the use of signals as a means of communication has been
employed by the most highly cultured as well as by the low-
est savage tribes. In the early days when life and death
were at stake, the necessity for speedy communication was
just as great as it is with our complex system of civilization
and called forth the greatest effort in its attainment. As
early as 260 B. C. there is a record of a completely devel-
oped signal corps which Is found in the writings of Polybius.
This was a method of signalling by night with torches and
was an evoluted form of the hilltop fires. This system
with certain modifications and additions was still in use In
parts of continental Europe as late as 1684. The first prac-
tical system of successful long distance signalling was estab-
lished between Paris and Lille by the French Government,
a distance of 150 miles. This consisted of a series of sta-
tions arranged at convenient points so that each station
erected was in view of the next succeding station. Each sta-
tion consisted of a pole, a beam, movable arm and ropes
and 192 different signals which were arranged on the mova-
ble arm as the contents of the message required. Skilled
operators who had been trained in the method of placing
the signals were stationed at each pole and with the aid of
the telescope, messages could be sent with considerable
dispatch. The first message sent over this line was one
[96]
The Developing of Communication
announcing a military victory in 1794. The message was
sent from Lille to Paris, where the Chamber acknowledged
the services of the army to the country and this message was
sent to the commander and his acknowledgment of the mes-
sage returned and received on the same day. Thus mes-
sages conveying definite human thought had been communi-
cated over this signalling system for a distance of 450 miles
in a single day. The success of this achievement led to the
establishment of many other similar lines throughout the
country.
The distance between the stations varied with the topog-
raphy of the country, but the usual distance was five to six
miles and the operators became so expert in the handling of
these signals that a message could be sent for a distance of
150 miles in three minutes. Other countries took up the
system of communication by signalling and established simi-
lar lines. At first these lines were used for military mes-
sage, but like the first passengers on the railroad, the people
began to request their use for commercial purposes. This
led to the placing of an additional movable arm on the pole
and one arm was used by the government for military and
other public messages, while the other was used, for hire, by
private individuals for commercial and other uses. The
cross-arms and the additional wires of the modern telegraph
pole Is an evoluted idea of the extra arm for commercial
purposes established on the poles of the signalling systems.
This system was a great advancement over the earlier
systems of signalling, but It failed to meet the demands at
all times of the ever-Increasing desire for speedy communi-
cation. On a clear day it was a success, but at night and
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A Story Outline of Evolution
during rains, snows and fogs It was useless. Some of the
signalling lines established In England were idle for periods
of as much as nine months each year because of excessive
fogs. Any system that had to yield to the changing condi-
tions of the elements must of necessity be cast into the dis-
card as soon as better methods were evolved; but like the
stagecoach, it served its purpose In Its day.
Man's Inventive genius has thus far been able to meet
the demands of the changing conditions of our civilization
by devising mechanical agencies, aided by the laws of
Nature, that will produce the desired results. Since speedy
communication Is the most important factor in organized
society, and since Cultural Evolution had advanced to a
state wherein necessity demanded a better system than was
then In use. Nature gave up another secret in the form of
electro-telegraphy that eliminated both time and space so
far as practical human calculations are concerned and made
approximately instant communication possible.
The ancients knew something of the force of frictional
electricity as early as 600 B. C. They did not understand
this force and neither do we after nearly 3,000 years of
experimenting with It. Amber is the fossil resin of a pine
tree and Is found on the shores of the Mediterranean sea
and elsewhere In Southern Europe. It was a semi-precious
stone among the ancients as it is now with us. When this
stone was rubbed against some other objects, it became mag-
netized and had the power of attracting lighter bodies to
It. Thales of Miletus, the father of Greek philosophy,
explained this mysterious effect by ascribing to it a "soul"
and he let it go at that; but as the centuries rolled on, men
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The Developing of Communication
of inquiring minds began to study this unknown force, and
little by little human intelligence began to uncover some of
its habits. By the time this force was called upon to become
a means of communicating thought, it had been discovered
that it had a speed sufficient to travel several times around
the earth in a single second and that it would follow a cer-
tain path in the form of a conductor if the human mind
would first prepare and direct the way, and that many
objects besides amber would attract lighter bodies when
rubbed, thus generating frictional electricity.
Like the acorn in its hull that contains all the potential
possibilities of the giant oak, so the force of electricity at
this period of Cultural Evolution contained all the poten-
tial possibilities that were to revolutionize the industries
of man and play so great a part in his habits and customs
and in his manner of living. He set about to direct and
control this force and to make it obedient to his will and
this procedure was one of many trials and experiments, of
discarding the useless and keeping the useful, of adaptation,
change, modification, development and growth, until the
combined ideas of the searchers had discovered a method of
control suited to his use. In this respect as well as in all
others, Cultural Evolution was following the lessons taught
by Organic Evolution that nothing comes by chance, but
that there must be adaptation, change and growth.
The problem that was now presented was the devising
of a system of signals that could be understood and inter-
preted by both the sender and the receiver. Many crude
but ingenius devices were conceived and put into limited use
for sending messages over wires, but the credit belongs to
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A Story Outline of Evolution
Professor Samuel F. D. Morse, of New York, for inventing
the telegraph system in 1837, which has since been modified
and is now in such common use throughout the world. The
original Morse relay weighed 300 pounds, while that
employed today weighs about three pounds. The Morse
code is a system comprising an arbitrary alphabet and con-
sisting of the dot, the dash, the ordinary space, the letter
space, the word space and the sentence space. The duplex
system, the sending of two messages at the same time in
opposite directions, was perfected by J. B. Stearns in 1872
and the next year Thomas A. Edison perfected a method of
sending two messages simultaneously in the same direction
over the same wire. This was quickly followed by the quad-
ruples and multiplex systems. This method of instant com-
munication has extended to the stock quotation tickers, the
typewriting and autograph telegraph as well as photography
by electrical transmission. These lines of communication
have been extended to all parts of the civilized world and
the necessity for speedy communication between the con-
tinents has been solved by the submarine cables that bind
them together for this purpose.
The telegraph, like the railroads, necessitated a system
consisting of a line of poles, means for producing the elec-
tric current, means for conducting the electric current, means
for controlling the duration of the current, and other fac-
tors as well as an understanding of the system and its code.
While this was a great public necessity and while its service
could be employed for hire by a private individual, yet the
complex system of modern civilization demanded a system
less complex in its nature and more practical in its use.
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The Developing of Communication
The telegraph was a conveyor of signals but civilization
demanded a conveyor of the human voice and one that could
be put to more general and practical uses In the every day
affairs of life. This necessity gave rise to the Invention of
the telephone, an instrument for the transmission and repro-
duction of articulate speech between two or more distant
points.
The telephone was a lineal descendant and a direct off-
spring of the telegraph that had preceded Its coming. All
the thoughts that had been conceived and applied in making
up the telegraph system were commingled and all the useful
parts were retained and the useless discarded and with the
addition of new Ideas, the telephone was developed. The
fact that sound could be transmitted over tightly drawn
wires had been discovered as early as 1667, but the first
practical demonstration in transmitting sound by artificial
means was through a tube and by the use of the string tele-
phone. Like that of the telegraph, many Impractical devices
came Into limited use, but it remained for Dr. Alexander
Bell, of Boston, to perfect the first practical Instrument for
conveying the articulate human voice to distant points. He
made application for a patent on his new invention on Feb-
ruary 14, 1876, and, strange as It may seem. Professor
Elisha Gray made application on the same day for a patent
on a similar instrument. Extensive litigation was then
entered Into between these two claimants, which was finally
decided by a decision of the Supreme Court sustaining the
claims of Dr. Bell.
The first Idea was that the telephone should be for pri-
vate use connecting the home of one person to that of some
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A Story Outline of Evolution
friend or relative, but Its usefulness was at once so clearly
recognized that the next year G. G. Hubbard conceived and
devised the switchboard, making It possible for the owner of
a telephone to connect with all other telephones In the neigh-
borhood. This Idea has been extended until it is now pos-
sible to reach many millions of telephones from a single
point. The Idea of a long distance telephone was an after-
thought and It was several years before this Idea took on
form and came Into being.
Newspapers are the most potent factors In spreading
written thought that civilization has known. They vie with
each other for every morsel of news that may be of Interest
to their readers. They furnish a record of the passing
events of the entire world with a swiftness undreamed of a
few generations ago, and yet the first newspaper report ever
received by wire was within the memory of those still liv-
ing. They were the first agencies to seize the opportunity
afforded by the telegraph and telephone and to make use
of them as aids In conducting their business. It Is difficult
for those now living In this age of electricity to understand
the sluggish methods employed by the newspapers and the
patience of their readers before its use as an agency of dis-
patch began, but we are three generations advanced and
each generation leaves a heritage which the preceding gen-
eration did not have and, doubtless, three generations hence
our descendants will look upon our sluggish ways with the
same lack of understanding as we do theirs.
All the systems thus far advanced in the electro tele-
graph and telephone required the aid of metallic conductors
over which the messages could be carried. These necessl-
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The Developing of Communication
tated the erection of costly lines which at best could reach
only a portion of the population of the earth and because
of physical barriers some portions of the earth could not be
reached at all. Millions of people had no access to either
telegraph or telephone lines, but experiments with the tele-
graph and telephone had revealed the fact that there were
many hidden secrets yet to be discovered in connection with
the electrical method of transmitting sound. The searchers
were not satisfied and they continued in their work.
Professor Morse, who perfected the telegraph, was one
of these searchers, and in 1842 he made experiments that
proved that electric telegraphy could be had between sta-
tions not connected by wire, but for what distance he did not
know. It had been discovered as early as 1838 that the
ground could be used as a conductor in completing the cir-
cuit in ordinary wire telegraphy. Hundreds of patient toil-
ers continued to experiment and traded to each other the
results of their observations, but it remained for Guglielmo
Marconi, an Italian, to perfect the first device for sending
signals based on the radiation and reception of grounded or
guided electromagnetic waves. This was in the year 1896,
and it was a combination of all that had been learned in this
connection together with the addition of new ideas put
into use.
At first messages were sent for comparatively short dis-
tances and the Morse code was used. Like all other discov-
eries, the basic idea was improved upon, obstacles were
overcome and new ideas added. Only seven years after this
new invention came out, or in 1903, a message was trans-
mitted across the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 2,300 miles,
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A Story Outline of Evolution
from President Roosevelt to King Edward VII of England
and a new era was ushered in upon the stage of human
action in the science of communication. If we shall suppose
that we are on a vessel in the middle of the ocean and that
the vessel is disabled and sinking or is on fire; that an
SOS call is sent out and an answer is received that aid is
coming, or perhaps we have taken to the lifeboats after the
assurance of aid is received, then and only then, can we fully
appreciate what wireless telegraphy means to civilization.
Before the development of this thought, many thousands of
persons whose lives to them were as valued as ours are to
us, were lost in the depths of the ocean without a trace.
But again the greedy searchers were not satisfied and
they continued to work. They reasoned among themselves
that since it is possible that signals may be carried on the
radiation and reception of guided electro-magnetic waves,
and since the signals represent sounds which are an arbitrary
alphabet, why is it not possible to carry the articulate sounds
of the human voice in the same or a similar manner?
The next link to be added to the chain of progress in the
science of electrical communication was that of the radio,
the most mysterious and far-reaching means of communica-
tion known to civilization. It is of such recent origin that
no description of Its parts is here necessary. Its hidden
secret was found In a vacuum tube and like so many of
Nature's secrets, this was discovered largely by chance. It
is one of the greatest means of education ever devised.
Scientists tell us that not a word we speak Is lost and that
every audible sound Is carried on the wings of the ether
waves to the uttermost parts of the earth. They may go,
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The Developing of Communication
for aught we know, flashing through space to the most dis-
tant star. It matters not how far you are removed from
civilization, for with the radio, the voices of speakers and the
dehghtful strains of music are brought to you wherever you
are. You may be flying through the air in a radio equipped
plane, or in the middle of the ocean, or in your car or In the
vastness of the mountains and you can hear the same voices
and the strains of music that are being heard by millions of
people — old and young, rich and poor, tradesmen and artist,
great and humble throughout the world. The soothing
lullabies that our grandmothers sang to our fathers and
mothers in tender childhood are again brought to us In the
nightly old-time programs. The old-time hymns that they
loved so well and that were Incarnated In their spirits are,
by the radio, being reincarnated in us. All that is holy,
sacred and good is again being brought to us without any
effort on our part except to listen. "What a comfort is this
heritage for the ages," to the sick and aflllcted and to the
''shut-Ins!"
The story of the mythical Orpheus with his entrancing
lyre Is dwarfed by the realities of fact. Like the develop-
ment of all forms of plant and animal life that have devel-
oped from the lower order to the higher under the direction
and guidance of the Universal Plan, so these methods of
communication have been developed from the primitive
ways of our primitive ancestors through the agency of the
human mind by the evolutionary process of change, modifi-
cation and growth.
[105]
CHAPTER IX.
The Developing of Power.
"PHYSICAL power Is the moving force of the world and
It represents the work done by a machine or any agency
In accomplishing any change which requires work. Until
man began to use the force of the muscular strength of ani-
mals and the forces of nature to aid In accomplishing his
work, all the utilized power was that of human muscular
force. Primitive man had lived through many thousands of
years before he began to utilize the muscular force of ani-
mals to aid him, and even then, he passed through many
more thousands of years before he began to utilize the
forces of nature. We have seen that he utilized the force
of the Instantly released tension of his bow to furnish the
propelling power that drove his arrow and that he used a
stone propelled by the muscles of his arm with which to
crack nuts or crush the bones of some animal he had killed.
These were, doubtless, the first agencies used by primitive
man aside from his own muscular forces.
Early In the history of our civilization primitive man
made use of the force of gravity In floating down the
streams on a raft or In a crude canoe and he also made use
of the force of the wind by attaching sails to his rafts or
boats. Aside from satisfying his hunger and protecting him-
self against the cold and his enemies, his wants were few,
but even before written history began he had discovered
[io6]
The Developing of Power
methods of moving huge stones, the movement of which
would baffle the greatest engineering skill of today and put
to the severest tests the heaviest machinery used in our
modern civilization.
As the relations of human society became more complex,
there came a demand for more power than human and ani-
mal muscles could produce. Man began to study and to
apply the forces of nature to aid him in his work. He made
use of the force of gravity by applying the power of falling
water to the wheels of his mill. One device would produce
the necessity for another. A new thought that contained
the possibilities of usefulness would be passed on to many
searchers and by the application of many minds, obstacles
would be overcome and the thought developed into concrete
and useful form. As knowledge increased, useful and help-
ful devices were multiplied in numbers until Cultural Evolu-
tion had advanced to the beginning of the Machine Age.
The beginning of the Machine Age is usually ascribed
to the invention of the steam engine in 1769. It is well
to pause here for a moment to see just what had taken place
in the development of steam power before Mr. Watt, as he
walked across a golf course, conceived the idea that made
its use practical. Like the signalling system, the telegraph,
telephone, radio and all other useful devices, the use of the
power of steam traveled the evolutionary path in its devel-
opment. Searchers of Italy, Spain, France, England and
other countries were seeking a means to control and utilize
the power of steam. It is reported that a Spaniard by the
name of Blasco de Garay in 1543 invented and made use of
a steamboat in the harbor of Barcelona, Spain, and in 1629
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A Story Outline of Evolution
an Italian invented a device which was in the nature of a
steam windmill, the steam being generated in a boiler and
then forced through a tube against the flat blades of a
wheel, which set the wheel in motion. The idea of the pis-
ton was conceived by a Frenchman. The early principle of
the steam engine was by throwing a jet of cold water into
the cylinder to condense the steam. This caused a vacuum
below the piston, which was forced down by atmospheric
pressure. The steam cock was then turned to admit fresh
steam below the piston, which was raised again. The open-
ing and shutting of the cocks was performed by hand, then
by a system of strings and valves and then by a system of
hand gear. By these crude methods, about three-fourths of
the steam admitted into the cylinder was lost and Its power
wasted. At this stage of the development of steam power
it was In about the same state of progress as was the sig-
nalling system used in France when the pole, beam and
movable arm were in use as a means of communication.
The Idea which Mr. Watt applied to all the Ideas then
in use for the control and use of steam as a power was the
providing of a separate vessel In which to condense the
steam and which could be constantly kept In a state of
vacuum without any loss. This simple principle of physics
made the use of steam the greatest agency for power the
world has ever known. The use of steam as a power has
done more to develop the Industries of the world than have
all other agencies combined. Its far-reaching effect on the
advancement of civilization was, at the time of Its origin,
beyond the power of human comprehension. It will suffice
to say that, whereas, the time was when all the utilized
[io8]
The Developing of Power
power of the world was derived from muscular force, now
more than ninety-two per cent, of the utilized power of the
world is obtained by artificial means.
When the power of steam began to supplant the power
of muscular force, the necessity arose for a method of meas-
uring this new power. It was at first measured in units of
human muscular strength, the power of ten men being equal
to that of one horse. The system of measuring power was
then changed and the force that could be exerted by a heavy
horse during a given period of time was then adopted as a
standard of measurement and since that time the power of
all steam boilers has been measured in horsepower. A
horsepower, therefore, means the strength or force required
to lift an object weighing 330 pounds to a height of 100 feet
in one minute, or 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute. As
an illustration of the increase in concentrated mechanical
power the mind of man has conceived and his hands con-
structed a single machine in the form of a steam turbine that
furnished power equal to that of 2,000,000 men.
After a method for the practical control of the power
of steam was discovered, the next problem that had to be
solved was a method of transmitting the power generated
by the parent motor to the machines that were to do the
work. In nearly all cases where steam is used for power, it
is necessary to transmit this power for considerable dis-
tances to the machines which are employed to do the
required work. Many methods have been devised in accom-
plishing the transmission of power and these methods are
classed as gears or gearing, belts, chains, ropes, compressed
air, hydraulic pressure, and electricity. For short distances,
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A Story Outline of Evolution
gearing is the oldest, the most extensively used and the most
efficient method employed in transmitting power. This is
accomplished by wheels containing teeth or cogs fitted on
shafts so that the cogs of one will fit between the cogs of the
other and they drive each other by pressure on the face of
the cogs. The speeds of rotation are governed by the size
of the wheels.
Next to gear transmission, the method in most common
use and the one used for longer distances is that of endless
belts fitted on pulleys, where the power is transmitted to the
driven shaft by means of friction or adhesion between the
surface of the belt and the surface of the two pulleys. The
power of rope drives is accomplished in the same manner
while that of the chain drives is nothing more than gearing
by remote control. Compressed air is extensively used for
transmitting power where it is necessary to move the power
from place to place, such as in mining operations and also
where it is necessary to apply the power instantly.
The discovery of a method of utilizing the power of
steam opened up vast avenues of other methods of produc-
ing power that are useful to mankind. It was discovered
before the coming of the steam engine that electricity could
be generated by friction, but power was required to furnish
the friction that would generate the electricity and steam
was the first agency to furnish this power.
Another means of deriving power from a natural source
is that of the windmill, which is a motor that utilizes the
energy of the wind for developing power sufficient to do
light work. It is used more especially on farms where
irregular power is sufficient to meet the necessary require-
[IIO]
The Developing of Power
ments, but it is dependent on the uncertain elements for its
force and until recent years its chief purpose was that of
pumping water which could be stored in sufficient quantities
to last until the wind was of sufficient velocity to pump
again. But within very recent years methods have been
devised whereby the force of the wind has been transmitted
to storage batteries, where its power can be utilized during
periods of calm and the battery is constantly recharged
when the wind again blows. With this inexpensive method
of operation, many farm houses, far removed from any
electric power line, now have the advantages of electric
lights and other electrical conveniences by utilizing the natu-
ral air currents.
When the steam engine became of general use and its
economic power had been proved, old methods that had
been in use throughout the centuries began to give way to
the new. Boards could now be made with the sawmill
instead of the whipsaw and the broad ax; the thrashing
machine supplanted the barn floor, the ground and the hand
flail as a means of separating the grain; the spinning wheel
and the handloom surrendered to the automatic shuttle;
water navigation no longer depended on the current of the
stream or sails with which to catch the wind; the pick and
shovel were supplanted by the steam shovel; the striking
power of the hammer was increased many thousands of
times; grain could now be ground without the use of the
water wheel and so on through out all industrial activities.
The steam turbine was late in its coming, but it represents
the greatest power to which the use of steam has been
applied. In a sense it is the principle of the water wheel
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A Story Outline of Evolution
propelled by steam pressure on the blades or paddles instead
of water.
Waterpower, or power produced by the force of grav-
ity in falling water, is the cheapest power yet known.
Unknown millions of horsepower in falling water are wasted
each day, and as yet it is only utilized in a small way. Its
force is being converted into power that can be transmitted
over long distances in the form of electrical currents and
applied to the uses of man in the form of light, heat and
power. The time is rapidly approaching when the power
of falling water will no longer be wasted, but will be fur-
ther utilized for the advancement of human progress.
It has been seen that electrical energy can be generated
by artificial means and the electric current is generated by
dynamos driven by steam, gas, wind or waterpower. The
power for commercial uses is generated at a central plant
from which point it is transmitted over wires to the places
where it is consumed. The developments of high-voltage
power transmission have made it possible to convey electric
currents for great distances, and the development of the
steam engine has made it possible for the development of
electrical power wherever fuel and water may be had. It
may be said that the development of controlled electrical
power had its origin in steam, but electrical power is now
fast supplanting the power of steam for commercial uses.
These two agencies have been the means of developing the
industries of the world to their present state of development
and of changing the habits and customs and the manner of
living of a large number of the human family, for wherever
the steam engine and electricity are not found, people are
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The Developing of Power
living In much the same way that they did 200 years ago.
The power produced by steam and electricity have called
into being a billion mechanical forces now aiding the work
that our complex system of civilization finds necessary to
be performed.
We have seen that power can seldom be used in the
exact place where It is produced, but that It must be trans-
mitted to machines that do the w^ork for which they are
designed and this, as we have seen, necessitates wheels,
shafts and bearings. For heavy work, these wheels, shafts
and bearings are made of steel and many of them rotate at
high velocities. These bearings rotate against each other
as steel on steel. They may be polished as smooth as glass,
but if they are examined under a magnifying glass. It will be
observed that their surface contains pits and protuberances
somewhat like the shell of an egg. These bearings working
against each other produce friction that develops heat.
This must be overcome by a film of oil floating between the
bearings at all times and if this film of oil Is taken away
from the bearings of the wheels of Industry for a single day,
the world's progress will stop. Animal and vegetable oils
were used at first to lubricate the wheels of Industry, but
as industries grew and bearings Increased, there was not
sufficient animal and vegetable oils for this purpose, so
again civilization demanded that a substitute be found. The
genius of man supplied this requirement by discovering and
utilizing petroleum or oil that was hidden In the rocks
beneath the surface of the earth, and thus another industry
sprang into being that was destined to play a greater part in
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A Story Outline of Evolution
the advancement of civilization and the development of
Industry than any other has ever done.
The discovery of crude oil or petroleum, like so many
other useful discoveries that have aided so greatly in the
progress of our civilization, was accidental. Oil seepages
or springs had been known since early Bible days. In west-
ern Pennsylvania oil springs had been discovered by the
early French explorers. The oil from these springs had
been used by the Seneca Indians before the Revolutionary
War. After the establishment of the United States Gov-
ernment, great hordes of people from the Eastern States
began their western march seeking new homes in the more
fertile regions of the unsettled West. Their only means
of travel was in covered wagons and on flat boats that
floated down the rivers. They carried all their earthly pos-
sessions with them. The forests abounded with game and
the rivers with fish and the virgin soil yielded abundant
crops, but there was one necessity that they did not have
and that was salt. Salt springs were extremely scarce and
these would not supply the demand for salt. Shafts that
were dug by hand developed the fact that the salt water that
was supplying the salt springs was coming through crevices
in the sold rock. This led to the devising of tools and to
the drilling into the rock seeking salt water from which salt
could be made. It was through this process that crude oil
and natural gas were discovered in their secret hiding places.
The first oil well that was drilled for the express pur-
pose of searching for oil was completed in 1859 ^^ western
Pennsylvania at a depth of fifty-nine and one-half feet. It
was not then and neither is it now given to man to know
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The Developing of Power
the far-reaching effect this discovery v^as to have on the
advancement and progress of the civiHzatlon of the human
race. Before the discovery and use of crude oil came Into
being the entire world was In darkness except for the light
furnished by the tallow candle and the lamps that burned
animal and vegetable oils. The resources of the country
were being rapidly developed. Steam driven, labor-saving
machinery was being developed more rapidly than at any
time in the history of civilization. Industries were spring-
ing up In every part of the settled country. Rail and water
transportation furnished a method of transporting products
to market. Roads were being constructed and cities and
towns were being built. Light and lubrication were the
greatest needs of civilization and crude oil now furnished a
means of supplying artificial light and of lubricating the
wheels of Industry.
Petroleum, or rock oil. Is composed chiefly of hydro-
carbons, and together with natural gas and asphalt it is
classed as a bitumen, the oil forming the liquids, the gas
the vapors and the asphalt the solid parts. Oil and gas
are so closely related that what is said of one practically
applies to the other, because liquids may be made from gas
and gas may be made from oil. Its discovery In quantities
was looked upon as the agency that would furnish light to
the darkened world and lubrIx:atIon to the wheels of prog-
ress, but its vast potential powers were undreamed of In the
beginning of the oil and gas industry. No other resource
had done so much to change the habits and customs of the
human family and to lift so many burdens from mankind In
his struggle for existence and mastery as this has done and
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A Story Outline of Evolution
yet the industry is in its infancy. The magnitude to which
this industry has grown in so short a time is the most stu-
pendous fact in industrial progress.
Its hidden powers were discovered from time to time
as the industry developed, but not without the costly sacri-
fice of thousands of human lives. New uses were found to
which it could be applied as an agency for advancement and
each new use discovered developed many other collateral
uses. In many cases these secondary uses developed the
by-products into the principal products.
In discussing the power of steam, no mention has been
made of the energy and compounds which are required to
produce the steam — namely, heat and water. Before the
discovery of crude oil and natural gas, the heat that pro-
duced steam was formed by the combustion of wood or coal,
but wood must be cut and coal dug from the ground. Natu-
ral gas is the only perfect fuel known to man and the only
product that possesses the quality of transporting itself by
its own force to the places where it is consumed. It not only
became an agency of light, but also an agency of heat in
the regions wherever it was found, and it soon became the
fuel in general use in these regions. But the searchers dis-
covered that when it was mixed with air in certain propor-
tions it would explode and that by causing it to explode in a
cylinder containing a piston, it would produce power and
thus was developed the internal combustion engine. But
natural gas being a vapor cannot be carried in an open
receptacle, but it must be contained and conducted in air-
tight pipes or other receptacles. The searchers discovered
that the more volatile parts of crude oil may be changed to
[ii6]
The Developing of Power
vapors and again to liquids that will vaporize and furnish
an explosive gas the same as natural gas will do. This
product we call gasoline. It was learned that gasoline may
be transported in barrels or tanks and in many other ways
to regions far removed from any gas line and there used in
the cylinders of internal combustion engines and thus the
automobile and other gas propelled conveyances came into
being. The searchers also discovered that natural gas is
composed of a series of gases and that some of these may
be reduced to a liquid that will instantly vaporize upon being
exposed to the air and that this liquid may be carried in con-
tainers to all parts of the world and there used. The com-
mon name of this liquid is butane and it is now coming into
common use In regions far removed from the place of its
origin.
A hundred other similar uses might be mentioned, but
these are sufficient to show that industry develops with the
development of human thought and like the growth in
organic life, development is a slow changing process. No
one knows what future devices may yet be developed to
which the explosive power of the hydrocarbon particles of
crude oil and natural gas may be applied, but within the
memory of those still living, It has wrought the greatest
change of any natural resource ever known. In its brief
period of time It has changed the habits and customs and
manner of living of the entire civilized world and has done
more in transportation to eliminate time and to shorten
space than any other natural resource has done. It has
changed darkness into light for multiplied millions through-
out the civilized world. It is lubricating the bearings of
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A Story Outline of Evolution
millions of machines with Its film of oil without which their
wheels would not turn for a single day. As a fuel, It Is both
instant, regular and automatic. It has largely driven the
horses from the streets and roads and unhitched them from
the plow. It propels man's body over the roads and through
the air at a faster rate of speed than any living creature has
ever before traveled. It furnishes the power for lifting,
dragging and pulling the loads that once were done by mus-
cular force. Competent engineers tell us that there are
known sufficient reserves to last for hundreds of years. It
is more valuable than all the gold, silver and diamonds In
the world. In our modern and complex civilization, It Is as
Indispensable as the sunshine. It Is liquefied sunshine stored
away millions of years ago to be used by mankind when
Cultural Evolution under the Universal Plan had prepared
him for its use. When it shall have been exhausted, doubt-
less, then Cultural Evolution will have devised methods of
extracting from the sun's rays or their products sufficient
power to supplant the needs of the generations then living.
[ii8]
CHAPTER X.
The Developing of Art.
\V7 E have thus far seen that since Cultural Evolution
began, nothing has changed but human thought. The
Searchers have been studying and classifying the forms,
structures, composition, laws and uses of the natural objects
and the forces of Nature and their relation to each other
and they find that Nature Is the expression of the Divine
Plan of Creation for nothing In all the world has come by
chance. But as primitive man began to understand and to
reason from cause to effect, he began to see beauty and
harmony In all things around him and to construct and put
together the things about him which Nature had prepared
in order that they might better serve him in a useful way and
add to his comfort and happiness.
The knowledge which man has acquired about Nature
is called "Science" while the work he has done In changing
the forms of Nature Is called "Art." He can neither create
nor add to matter but he can change Its forms. Art Is there-
fore the expression of the h^man mind in changing natural
objects and forces so as to better fit them to his use. After
he had left the trees and had come down to occupy the
caverns of the earth, his Art began to manifest itself in
carvings on cavern walls and on bone and ivory and also In
drawings and pictures of the chase. When he chipped a
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A Story Outline of Evolution
piece of flint into a cutting instrument or fashioned it into
a spear head, or struck from it a spark of fire, this was Art.
It was the changing of the forms of matter which Nature
had prepared into different forms more suited to his use.
We thus see that all created matter and the changes
wrought therein by man embrace the whole of Science and
of Art. But as Science, the knowledge of natural things, is
divided into many parts so also is Art divided into many
classes.
The principal divisions of the work that man has done
may be properly divided into two general classes : viz., The
Useful Arts and The Fine Arts. The man who makes a
shovel, a plow, a horseshoe or who builds a house is just as
much an artist as the one who paints a picture or chisels a
piece of marble into an image of life. The Useful Arts
have become so commonplace that we seldom ascribe to
them the name of Art, yet many of the Grecian philosophers,
and Plato in particular, placed them on a higher pedestal in
Cultural Evolution than they did the Fine Arts because of
their usefulness to mankind.
The Fine Arts are expressions of the human soul. They
are the efforts of man to re-create by his own hands the
beauties of Nature. From the flowers and verdure of
the countryside, the painter gets his inspiration of color
schemes, the snowflake gives to the architect and builder
its angles and designs, the rhythms of Nature and the
songs of the birds inspire the desire to reproduce them by
human effort. The material arts — Architecture, Sculpture
and Painting express the harmony, beauty and design of the
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The Developing of Art
things that man sees about him while the deeper emotions
are expressed in Music, Poetry and the Drama which tran-
scend the material forms and carry our souls away for a
glimpse into the realms of the Infinite.
The spark of genius that enters into the inner con-
sciousness of some persons and that gives to them the power
to re-create the things of Nature can not be explained by
any of the laws of psychology but they are mental processes
in tune with the Creative Mind which can not as yet be
explained. The spark of inspiration that gave to them
being may have been generated in a vision appearing to
some remote ancestor that set in motion the electronic
forces of the brain cells that continued to work through
succeeding generations until the plan was perfected and its
expression manifested in the genius of the Artist. It is
through these re-creations that man's soul is lifted up until
a glimpse of the perfect harmony of the Infinite may be seen.
We are all creatures of our environments and those
living in one particular part of the world differ from those
living in another part of the world. There are differences
in races, food, clothing, shelter, language, habits and cus-
toms. These differences create different thoughts and dif-
ferent emotions and create different ideas of beauty. They
find expression in race feeling, environmental emotions and
racial standards of beauty and design. Because of these dif-
ferences, we find the arts of one country or one people differ-
ing from the arts of another country or people. Some excel
in one line while others excel in another. Again no two peo-
ple see an object from the same intellectual angle. Like "The
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A Story Outline of Evolution
Twelve Blind Men of Hindustan" they all see an object
from a different viev^^point. A train carrying many pas-
sengers passes through a forest through which runs a beauti-
ful stream beside which are shaded grassy places. The lum-
berman at once sees the wonderful lumber that could be cut
from the giant trees of the forest, the cattleman sees the
pasture possibilities of the hillside, the engineer sees the
possibilities of the water-power the stream will produce,
the sportsman sees a place that is a paradise for the trout
fisherman, the geologist sees the earth's history written in
the rock cliffs, the botanist sees the beautiful wild flowers,
the naturalist sees a rare species of bird that is found in only
a few places in the world, and the landscape artist sees the
setting for a beautiful picture. They all see the same objects
but from a different mental viewpoint.
We have seen that man disputed the right to the posses-
sion of the caverns of the earth with the gigantic cave bear
until the power of mind overcame the power of brute force
and left man in complete mastery of the caverns as a place
of shelter and habitation. But the time came when the
natural caverns of the earth were not sufficient in size or
numbers to furnish a shelter for the increasing numbers of
the tribes. This led to the necessity of making artificial
caves as a place for both shelter against the cold and storms
and as a place for his habitation. He then began building
huts crudely constructed from sticks or logs and covered
with brush and grass as a place of shelter. He then learned
that the dried skins of animals made a better and more sub-
stantial covering for his hut than did the brush and grass
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The Developing of Art
that he had been using, and finally the idea came to him that
by placing flat stones upon each other he could construct a
wall that was more durable than any shelter he had yet
made. As yet he had no idea of beauty or design. His only
thought was that of a shelter, but by slow degrees he began
to conceive the idea of beauty and form in erecting struc-
tures. It was in this manner of evolutionary development
that the Art of Architecture had its beginning.
As man progressed in the art of building the environ-
ment under which he had been living began to express itself
in the buildings he constructed. They became more than
mere shelters and the racial characteristics of the builders
were woven into forms of beauty and design that were
pleasing.
In no other art is this environmental expression more
pronounced. In Chaldea, Babylon, Assyria and Egypt and
in fact in all the ancient kingdoms and empires the soul of
the people is expressed in its architecture. In Egypt we
find expression for man's dream for immortality in the Pyra-
mids, the Obelisks and the Sphinx. They reveal to us the
Egyptian's belief in the immortality of the soul and that of
his physical body as well. The ancient Egyptian rulers were
looking after the welfare of their own souls and bodies with
little or no thought of the welfare of the souls of the mil-
lions who slaved in the hot sun for unknown generations to
prepare a place for the repose of the soul of their ruler.
The wealthy people had their bodies embalmed and
wrapped in costly linens while the bodies of the poorer
classes were pickled in brine. Herodotus tells us that it
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A Story Outline of Evolution
required the labor of 100,000 men for a period of ten years
to construct a road from the Arabian stone quarries over
which the stones were dragged or rolled that were used in
building the Pyramid that was to shelter the soul of the
cruel King Cheops.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, King Solomon's
Temple, King Sargon's Palace, the Palace of the Persian
King Darius etc., are examples of the vanity of the early
rulers of Western Asia. Millions of men were worked
under the lash like dumb animals to satisfy the vanity of
those who ruled by divine right. The ancient architecture
of these massive buildings had reached a degree of perfec-
tion that, perhaps, is unsurpassed today with all the heritage
that has come to us through the centuries of the past. It is
recorded that in one of these the reward that the master
architect received was that his eyes were punched out in
order that he might never again erect another so beautiful
and pleasing.
Before written history began, the art of building had
reached a high state of advancement and in no place In all
the world had it reached a higher degree of perfection than
it had on the island of Crete. The Cretan kings flourished
for a period of about 1600 years, beginning, so far as our
knowledge goes, about 5,000 years ago. They were the
first to use a system of plumbing In their castles and used
fine cut stones and brick for building materials. At that
early day, they made use of highly colored porcelain tiles
and crystal panels. The vastness of these Cretan palaces
stagger our imagination in these modern times. The walls
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The Developing of Art
of some of them were fifty-seven feet thick and like a great
modern hotel there were quarters for many hundreds of
persons. They were constructed to embrace the purposes of
a state capitol, a hotel and a penitentiary combined in a
single building. Their supporting columns were made of
wood instead of stone but it was from these great palaces
that the ancient Greeks borrowed many of their ideas that
have made Grecian architecture so popular throughout the
world.
Ancient Greece, as we now call it, was niauc up of a
number of independent tribes or states in much the same
manner as are the North American Indians. As the various
tribes of Indians constitute a race, so the Hellenese forming
the various Greek tribes or states constituted a people of
the same blood. Many, many generations before the dawn
cf written history they probably sprang from the same race
ancestry as did the Persians, but their environments changed
their ways of doing and thinking, and as a consequence, they
have had a greater influence on the advancement of civiliza-
tion. Our records of their activities date back to about i lOO
B. C. but at that time they had the heritage of the preceding
generations of men to draw upon. They were quick to seize
the imperfect alphabet of the Phoenicians and to improve
upon it and they were also quick to seize the ideas that had
been developed in architecture during the preceding cen-
turies by the Cretans and others and to improve upon it
also. They had a marked fascination for columns in their
structures and of these they developed three distinct classes,
viz., Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, after which designs all
their buildings are named.
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A Story Outline of Evolution
Here, as in the case of Organic Evolution, the environ-
ment of the builders leave Its mark and Influence that
is passed on to the succeeding generations throughout the
centuries. The Doric column was developed by the Athe-
nians. The lonlans who lived on the Aegean Islands and
along the coast of western Asia developed the Ionic type
and the Corinthian type is largely a combination of the other
two. They put forth their best effort in erecting temples
to their mythical gods such as Apollo, Neptune, Diana,
Minerva, etc. In addition to the temples their principal
public buildings were the theaters, all of which were "open
air" constructions, some having a seating capacity of 50,000,
the market places, or public square where public meetings
were held, mausoleums and statues. What belonged to the
state belonged to the individual and the spirit of personal
greed had not as yet enmeshed the private citizen, and as a
consequence the shade of a fig tree was an acceptable place
for the discussion of the philosophies of life by some of the
greatest philosophers who ever lived.
Greek architecture has become classic. It introduced
proportion and depth. Flat surfaces were broken by curves
and beauty of outline was its predominating characteristic.
Like the styles In dress Greek designs will appear as the
leading pattern and then change to some other form only
to reappear at a later date. It has played a great part in
the world's buildings and it will, perhaps, never be cast into
the discard.
The Etruscans, or the people who Inhabited Italy before
the Romans came, carried with them the ideas of the archi-
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The Developing of Art
tecture of western Asia from where they are supposed to
have come at least 1,200 years before the Christian Era
began. Their temples, palaces, pyramids, mounds and
tombs were largely built of brick, which now form only ruins
but enough remain to show us something of their race spirit.
They doubtless came from the same ancestral stock as the
Egyptians. Their tombs bear evidence that they were con-
structed as a resting place for the soul.
Roman architecture, which was copied largely from the
Greeks, passed through the same evolutionary changes as
their alphabet, with many additions, modifications, adapta-
tions and changes. It became a style expressing the spirit
or the soul of the Roman people. Unlike the Etruscans,
they used more enduring substances in their buildings. They
discovered that by mixing a volcanic earth with lime, a
natural concrete was obtained and this substance played an
important part in developing their art. Their buildings,
like those of the Greeks, were made of enduring stone and
marble and many of their arches were made from the newly
discovered natural concrete, or pozzolana as it was called.
Their buildings were distinguished by their decorations.
The architecture of the world, represents a composite por-
trayal of the peoples of all races, over a period of centuries
and expresses the feelings of the mass mind in the locality
where the buildings were constructed.
The arts of sculpture and painting may be traced like-
wise back to their beginning 50,000 years ago. Within the
caverns of France and Spain are found crude Images of stone
and drawings, carved or scratched with a sharp piece of
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A Story Outline of Evolution
flint upon the smooth surfaces of the rock walls. Others
are found carved on bone and Ivory. These germ Ideas of
reproducing the mental pictures began to develop. The color
idea developed first and finally the art of painting came Into
being. The coloring matter which Nature had collected was
assembled and used to reproduce the mental pictures in an
enduring form. Perhaps the most perfect, the oldest and
the most Interesting specimen of prehistoric art Is found on
a cavern wall near Santander In Spain. It is a painting of
an extinct species of a bison bull in the act of charging and
it Is painted in three colors representing a partial shedding
of the long, black hair of winter leaving the shorter, red
hair of the springtime. From these beginnings, the arts of
sculpture and painting have climbed the evolutionary steps
to their present state of development.
There has been development, progress and growth In
everything that Is made and used by mankind. The devel-
opment of a useful Idea has called Into being great industries
and they In turn have been torn down and cast Into the dis-
card by the development of some other more useful Idea.
A generation ago the manufacture of buggies gave gainful
employment to many thousands of persons. The automo-
bile has been substituted for the buggy, these plants have
been changed and the workers directed into other activities.
The radio is supplanting the piano; fuel oil and natural gas
is fast taking the place of coal; the motor buses, private
automobiles and the airplanes are furnishing means of trans-
portation that the street cars and railroads once supplied.
These changing conditions of society have led to speciallza-
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The Developing of Art
tion and development in certain kinds of work for a great
mass of the human family in all civilized and progressive
countries. It has made them more dependent than Inde-
pendent and has taken much of the individual initiative from
them so that they are less able to care for themselves in
their struggle for existence as these changing activities of
society take place. This is because their natural environ-
ments have been largely removed and they are living un-
natural lives. This is one of the penalties of the "Machine
Age." The question Is worthy of our consideration whether
the art that man has developed will not In time destroy the
civilization that It has built? But the evolutionary law of
adaptation will, In time, adjust the habits of mankind to
every beneficial change that Cultural Evolution may develop.
[129]
CHAPTER XL
Developing the Art of Music.
L-IUMAN emotions are, to a certain extent, the same
throughout the entire world. The charms of music
appeal to all mankind. They appeal to the savage, though
to a lesser degree, perhaps, the same as to the cultured. It
has been written that: "Music hath charms to soothe the
savage breast." Some of the lower animals are affected by
Its charms. Dogs will sometimes stand and howl, bears and
monkeys will dance as an evidence of Its effect on their emo-
tions. Musical prodigies, in some cases, will leave the hall,
after hearing the rendition of a great concert or opera, over-
come with their emotions and apparently in a trance. Poets
have sung of its charms throughout the ages. Mythological
stories were Invented and written describing Its compelling
force. Its origin has been ascribed to mythical beings.
Physical experiments have been made which show that the
vibrations of harmonious music will produce, on certain
fluid films, beautiful and fantastic forms, and designs, all
moving in harmony and unison and apparently controlled by
physical laws, while a few harsh and rasping notes com-
pletely destroy these beautiful designs.
Physicists tell us that music Is a mode of motion; that
sound, the raw material from which music Is fashioned, Is
produced by motion and that it Is a modification by art of
aerial vibrations; that these vibrations, such as are audible
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Developing the Art of Music
to the human ear, have a rapidity which ranges from i6 to
36,500 per second. As a matter of comparison of some of
the different vibrations, heat vibrations begin at 134 trillion
per second, while light vibrations, visible to the naked eye,
begin at 483 trillion per second. Many others are so great
that they are beyond our sense perception. It can thus be
readily seen that sound vibrations are the slowest of all.
A demonstration of the process of vibration may be
made with a piece of string or wire. When it is tightly
stretched and undisturbed, it represents a straight line. When
it is plucked or scratched, it is bent out of its course and
forms a curved line or segment, and its elasticity causes it
to return to its former position. This is a single vibration.
But because of the momentum it has acquired by being dis-
turbed, it does not stop when it reaches its former straight
position but it goes in the opposite direction, thus forming
another curve, the same as the first curve produced but in
the opposite direction. This makes a double vibration. The
vibrations thus produced are isochronous; that is they
occupy exactly the same length of time. By shortening or
lengthening the strings, we get vibrations of different veloci-
ties, thus determining the pitches of the vibrations. The
same acoustical results may be produced with pipes or wind
instruments of varying lengths. All the qualities of music
depend upon the rapidity of the vibrations.
It is demonstrated that these vibrations are governed by
mathematical laws ; that the number of vibrations of strings
is inversely proportional to their length; that they are in
inverse ratio to their diameter; that they are inversely pro-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
portional to the square root of their density. Here again,
the laws of Nature are woven into the fundamental fabric
of music, which is, after all, just another method of inter-
preting the laws of Nature.
Beauquler says: "Musical vibration is only one partic-
ular mode of perceiving the universal vibration. Musical
art is the art of sensibility par excellence, since it regulates
the great phenomena of vibration into which all external
perceptions resolve themselves and transfers it from the
region of the unconscious, in which it was hidden, to that of
consciousness." When we shall better understand the proc-
esses involved in the vibrations that control our nerve
actions, we shall then better understand its stimulating or
soothing effect upon human emotions in leading soldiers into
battle, the bride to the altar, and intoning the grief for one
dying or dead.
It is the most complex and yet the most highly and com-
pletely developed of all the Arts. Some writers of recog-
nized authority assert that some phases of musical composi-
tion have reached a state approximating perfection. Crowest,
one of the most trustworthy of these, in speaking of Han-
del's masterpiece, "The Messiah," says, in "The Story of
the Art of Music," "The Messiah supplies the perfection of
oratorio." "After him, however, choral music could be
taken to no greater heights." "So far as sacred choral art
was concerned, no composer could hope to surpass Bach
and Handel." Time alone will tell whether or not these
statements are extreme.
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Developing the Art of Music
Music Is a combination of sounds blended In harmony.
It has its origin in the action of Nature. It is man's attempt
to garner all the sounds of Nature and to regulate and con-
trol them. It is his attempt to imitate the voice of Nature.
We have the elements of all music about us as we walk
through the fields and forests. The singing of the birds is
an expression of their joy and happiness. The sighing of
the wmd through the tree tops, the humming of the bees,
the chirping of the crickets, the singing of the Insects, the
croaking of the frogs, the murmuring of the streams, the
rumbling of the waterfalls and the roar of the thunder are
all elemental forms of music. Primitive humming, whistling
and chanting were, perhaps, man's first attempt to Imitate
these sounds.
The Evolution of Musical Instruments.
Primitive man learned that he could not reproduce
all the sounds of the voice of Nature with his vocal organs
and that there were other ways of imitating these sounds.
In prehistoric times, he made his living largely by the
use of the bow and arrow. He learned that he could
strike a more telling blow and at farther and safer distance
with a flint tipped arrow propelled by the quickly released
tension of a bow than he could with his hands or with a club.
His bow was bent with a string made from the hide or
tendon of some animal that he had killed. When the bow
string was released, there was a twang and a vibrating hum-
ming noise. He made use of all parts of the animals that he
killed. Their skins were dried and tanned and used for
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A Story Outline of Evolution
shelter or for clothing. They were stretched over hollow
logs, sea shells, or other hollow objects in order that the air
might reach both sides in the tanning process. When the
dried skin, stretched tightly over some hollow object, was
struck with a stick or stone, it produced an echoing sound, a
sound of percussion. He also made use of the horns and
large bones of the beasts he killed. They were used as
household implements, such as awls, spoons and drinking
cups. When air from his lungs was blown through these
hollow horns, it produced a bleating sonorous sound that
would carry far and could be heard at a greater distance
than that of the human voice. The beating of the dried
skin stretched over some hollow object was the principle of
the drum. The twanging of the bow string was the principle
of the stringed instrument. And the blowing through the
hollow horn was the principle of the wind instrument. No
other basic principles are involved in the entire scope of
musical instruments. With the discovery of three methods
of producing sound vibration, the foundation for the entire
universe of music was completed.
Instrumental music, as we know it today, is of compara-
tively recent origin. At best it dates back only 200 or 300
years, but prior to that time, we can figuratively trace its
embryonic processes of growth, as in organic development,
back to the first germ. A great orchestra tells the entire
story. It is made up of, perhaps, eighty or more persons
ready to execute their respective parts. They are all skilled
in the art of music. Some of this group are from Russia,
some from Italy, some from Germany and some from
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Developing the Art of Music
America or other countries. They speak different languages
and some of them do not understand what others of the
same group are talking about. They are arranged in separ-
ate groups and before them are many kinds of musical
instruments. These are arranged in different groups. Many
of these are so made that it is necessary to blow through
them in order to make a sound. These are of various sizes
and shapes. They are called wind instruments. Some of
these instruments have strings stretched across their surface
and these strings are either set in motion by scratching or
plucking. They are fastened at one end to pegs or posts so
that the tightening or loosening of the string may be accom-
plished by turning the post. This is done in order to produce
the proper vibration. Others are made up of the skins of
animals stretched over a hollow chamber. These are called
instruments of percussion or drums. Before each of these
performers are sheets of paper upon which are printed
strange and curious symbols. There are horizontal lines
extending entirely across the sheets. There are dots, dashes,
bars and many other symbols. To the persons unschooled in
the purpose of these strange markings and symbols, they are
as meaningless as are Egyptian hieroglyphics. But to the
musicians assembled, they are characters representing a
common language. These persons have spent the greater
part of their lives studying these characters and learning
their meaning. These characters were first aranged by some
great composer and these musicians are about to interpret
their meaning with the use of the instruments before them.
The rendition of some great masterpiece begins. The har-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
monlous vibrations of Nature are set In motion. Our nerve
centers are aroused and rejuvenated and our emotions are
charmed by the vibrations we are hearing.
"From harmony to harmony
This universal frame began.
From harmony to harmony
The diapason closing full in man."
This Is a heritage from the ages.
We have been listening to the voice of Nature Inter-
preted and reproduced by man through agencies made by
man. The peculiar characters and symbols recorded on the
sheets of paper are characters representing a sign-language,
a language through which music can be spoken and under-
stood. These symbols are the results of evolutionary growth
throughout the centuries. In the early times, the letters of
the alphabet were used as scale measurement markers. Next
came the neumes — from the eighth to the twelfth century,
which were characters used principally to denote a rise and
fall of the voice. Finally our present system of notes has
come to us through a long period of gradation. Likewise,
all the musical Instruments have come to us through cen-
turies of experiments by thousands of patient workers. They
are the results of trying out, comparing, eliminating, adding
to and changing in our effort to more nearly reach perfec-
tion. Egyptians, Hebrews, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans
were the leaders in ancient music, but their instruments were
of the crudest kinds. They consisted largely of harps, flutes,
trumpets, lyres, drums, tambourines and cymbals, but with
these crude instruments, the Egyptian orchestra had a reach
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Developing the Art of Music
of four and one-half octaves — more than one-half of our
full orchestra of today.
If we shall examine any stringed instrument of today,
we will find that it is only an evoluted form of the vibration
of the bowstring. When primitive man discovered that there
was the harmony of sound in his bowstring, it is only reason-
able to suppose that he tied on another string and then
another; that he bent the bow still more and added other
strings until he produced the harp as is evidenced by the
ancient drawings of the harp. The wind instruments of
today are evoluted forms of the first primitive horn used by
primitive man which he had taken from some beast. The
principle of blowing through a horn or hollow tube to pro-
duce sound has not changed but the forms have changed a
thousand times. The drum is the simplest of all instruments
and at the same time the oldest. Every savage tribe on
earth today makes use of the drum in their religious or
social rites. Rowbotham in "History of Music," p. 2, says:
"Never in the musical history of mankind is the lyre stage
found to precede the pipe stage, nor the pipe stage to pre-
cede the drum stage. That this should be the order of
development seems natural if we consider the mechanical
complexity of the instruments themselves. The drum is
evidently the simplest of all; the pipe is more complex than
the drum; but the lyre, which consists of strings bound
around pegs and strung on a frame, is the most complex of
all." We must therefore conclude that the drum is the least
evoluted of all instruments and that with a few changes, it
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A Story Outline of Evolution
represents the dried skin stretched over some hollow object
as prehistoric man first made use of it.
Many volumes have been written showing in detail the
various steps that have taken place in the various branches
of music in order that it might become the highly developed
Art that it now is. It is sufficient here to show that, like all
other branches of Art, it is the result of development and
growth and that it is a part of the Universal Plan.
U3^\
CHAPTER XII.
The Unity and Application of Art.
"VV/E have seen that Art represents the changes that man
has wrought in the forms of things that Nature has
created, and, while the forms have changed, the substance
remains the same. There is an art collection in every home
regardless of how humble it may be. Since man conceived
the first idea of changing the forms of Nature and making
them more fitted to his use, every step in human progress has
been motivated by a desire to eliminate time and shorten
space and to add to his comfort, convenience and happiness.
In a modern home a collection of the developed thoughts of
the ages may be found where their application is administer-
ing to the comfort, convenience and happiness of all who
share its shelter. It is here that the heritages of the present
and preceding generations are assembled. The useful arts
have become so commonplace that they are not generally
classed as art but they are, nevertheless, the product of
changed forms of Nature made useful to mankind.
There is no place where the application of the arts may
be more clearly demonstrated than in a modern home. Let
us analyze the things we find in use in such a home. We
drive to the home in an automobile. It is made of many
materials and of many parts. The tires are made of rubber
that is produced in tropical climates. Its production fur-
nishes a means of livelihood for many of the human family.
]i39]
A Story Outline of Evolution
But the tire is not pure rubber — it contains other materials
such as carbon, cotton, etc. The carbon is made mostly from
the carbon particles that have been burned out of natural
gas. Thus carbon represents another industry that has
changed it from the forms in which it is found in Nature.
The cotton fabric is produced from the fiber of a plant which
is cultivated, gathered, ginned and woven into the forms
necessary to make it useful. These changes all represent
various steps of evolutionary growth.
The tire is fastened to a steel rim which represents
another industry that has been 3,000 years in the making.
The rims and spokes are made of wood which again repre-
sents one of the oldest industries known to man. The seats
are covered with leather or with cloth, it matters not which,
because the leather represents the first artificial clothing
used by primitive man who developed the art of tanning
before written history began, while the cloth represents
another early art, that of weaving, which again is older than
written history. The metal trimmings represent various
phases of the metal industry, the paint another industry that
has grown and developed since primitive man painted
images of the now extinct bison on the cavern walls of Spain
more than 50,000 years ago. The glass in the windshield,
doors and windows represent another branch of art that has
developed through the ages.
Again, we find that the automobile carries a miniature
electric light and power plant that enables travel by night,
furnishes power to start the motor, and constant spark for
the ignition system. This is the nerve system of the machine.
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The Unity and Application of Art
The motive power comes from gasoline and Is produced
by small explosions taking place within enclosed cylinders,
the power from which is transmitted through shafts and
gearing to the point where locomotion takes place. But what
is gasoline? It Is a liquid substance, highly volatile, com-
posed of hydrocarbon particles that will explode when
changed to a gas and mixed with air when a spark is applied.
It is liquid sunshine stored away in the hidden recesses of the
earth's rocks millions of years ago. Its discovery and utili-
zation has grown Into one of the largest industries in the
United States. It Is a part of the Universal Plan of Crea-
tion. It Is a changed form of animal and vegetable life,
which in the economies of Nature, was stored away when
the earth was young and there held in reserve until Cultural
Evolution had prepared civilization for Its use.
Before we reach the house toward which we are travel-
ing, we find that the automobile in which we are being
transported represents many varied industries that give
employment and furnish a livelihood to millions of human
beings. It represents a combination of constructive ideas
that have been accumulating throughout the ages and now
assembled into one useful machine. It Is not the product of
any one mind, age or Industry, but it Is a product of the con-
structive thoughts of millions of human beings who have
changed the forms of Nature in order that they may be
adapted and applied to the uses of man. It is a device of
his making that eliminates time, shortens space and adds to
his happiness, comfort and convenience.
A Story Outline of Evolution
We approach the house. It is made of vitrified bricks.
They are cut and moulded In the same shapes as were those
of the ancient Babylonians thousands of years ago. They
are bound together with mortar made of sand and cement.
Experience has taught the builders that by baking the clay
bricks in a furnace under high temperatures for a long
period of time, the clay will become vitrified and more dur-
able, that they will withstand the elements better and hence
the discard of the sun-dried bricks of the ancients. The
roof is made of asbestos shingles. This material has sup-
planted the dried skins of animals used by primitive man,
the shingle or clapboard roofs of our grandfathers, the tin
and tile roofs of more recent years, because asbestos Is
lighter, more durable, fire-proof, more permanent and is not
affected by the elements. The windows are larger and more
artistically arranged thus providing for more light and
ventilation. The architecture and landscaping is a design of
beauty. The house thus constructed is both beautiful and
durable, and its appearance offers a suggestion of happiness
and comfort. It is an adaptation and modification of the
building ideas that have been developed throughout the ages
of our civilization.
On entering the house we see a beautiful piano. It has
ivory keys which may be connected to wire strings of varying
sizes and lengths. Its case or frame Is made of the choicest
mahogany or walnut highly polished. In a convenient rack
there may be found sheets of paper upon which are printed
characters expressing a universal language. It is an instru-
ment from which melody and harmony may be extracted, by
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The Unity and Application of Art
one trained In Its use, which appeal to the emotions of the
human heart. It again represents the changes man has
wrought In the forms of Nature In order to add to his
pleasure and happiness.
It represents centuries of growth and many applications
of new Ideas. It Is the evoluted form of the vibration of
the bowstring first observed by some primitive ancestor
when civilization was, as yet, in an embryonic state. It Is
the compounded principle of the harp of the Egyptians,
Babylonians and Greeks, the lute of the Middle Ages, the
harpsichord of our grandfathers and Its perfection has come
within the period of the lives of those still living. The char-
acters on the sheets of paper whose symbolic meaning must
be understood and followed in order that melody and har-
mony may be developed, represent the evolution of the
universal language that gives to music its interpretation.
Each line, space, dot, dash and note has Its own evolution-
ary development.
In an adjoining room Is another Instrument. It is neither
a stringed, a wind, nor a percussion instrument, and yet these
are all combined into one. It Is a re-creating instrument
that has become the most universally used of any Instrument
known to civilization. It is truly a "heritage for the ages."
It gathers from the ether waves and re-creates the music of
all times and people. Not only does it re-create music, but
it re-creates the human voice from all parts of the world. It
Is a world-wide messenger that brings information and
advice from all civilized countries. It has no barriers of
distance and Its parts are made up of materials that have
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A Story Outline of Evolution
been gathered from many places. It is the greatest of all
modern miracles and it has made the world one big neigh-
borhood. It carries both music and messages to millions of
people each hour. You may tune in or turn off just as you
choose to do.
The vibrations of the ether waves have carried every
sound made by man, beast, bird or the elements since the
world began. Each generation has developed and applied
new thoughts and as our experience in living has lengthened
it has remained for the present generation to develop the
radio.
On a table is another instrument. It is a telephone, an
Instrument of communication. It also is made of many
parts and many different materials that have been produced
and gathered from many places. It is, or may be, connected
instantly with millions of other telephones throughout this
and foreign countries. It carries the human voice around
the world, unchanged, with the accent and individual
sounds peculiar to the person speaking. It shortens time
and eliminates space but It Is not the result of one mind or
of one age. It is the result of a desire of man to communi-
cate instantly his thought beyond the natural range of the
human voice. It is the evoluted idea of the primitive sys-
tem of signalling wherein human thought was first conveyed
beyond the range of the voice by means of drums or the
brush fires on the hilltops. Like Organic Evolution it still
retains vestiges of the earlier forms through which and
from which it has developed.
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The Unity and Application of Art
We may now look upon this means of communication as
another modern miracle but who knows what the next age
or ages of our civilization may bring forth? It may be pos-
sible that the future shall bring forth a delicate sensitive
instrument that can be carried in a pocket of one's clothing
the same as a watch is now carried, and by the use of which
individual communication maybe carried on without the con-
necting wires now necessary with the regular telephone.
A fire is burning in the fireplace. A blue blaze is racing
over an asbestos grate. There is no smoke and the fuel is
neither wood, coke nor coal, but instead, it is natural gas,
the only perfect fuel known to our civilization. The gas is
coming from the hidden recesses of the earth's rocks some,
perhaps, a mile in depth beneath the surface of the earth.
It may be coming from a hundred wells or more and from a
distance of a thousand miles away. It is being transported
through iron pipes to the place of its consumption. If the
gas fields are reasonably close, it is transporting itself to
market in an effort to expand. This is the one fuel that
furnishes instant heat. Thousands of human lives have been
offered as a sacrifice in discovering how to reduce to posses-
sion, use and control this valuable fuel. But what you see
burning is, in many cases, only a residue product. The gaso-
line content in most cases has been extracted from this gas
before it has reached the burner tips in the fireplace before
you. Hundreds of thousands of people are engaged in the
industry that makes it possible for the furnishing of this
fuel in this home. The first spark of fire struck from a piece
of flint by our primitive ancestors that started combustion
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A Story Outline of Evolution
in some dry substance was the beginning of this cycle of
developing heat that ends in the grate before you, where the
''spirits" of the earth's interior are being changed into an
agency of convenience and comfort.
On the mantelpiece there is another instrument. It is a
clock that is measuring the days and nights into hours,
minutes and seconds. The year is measured by the time it
takes the earth to complete one revolution in its orbit around
the sun. The month is measured by the time required for
the moon to revolve around the earth and the day is meas-
ured by the time required for the earth to make one com-
plete revolution on its axis. We thus see that the longer
periods of time are measured by the movements of the
heavenly bodies. But as our civilization began to become
complex, the necessity for shorter divisions of time pre-
sented itself.
Perhaps the earliest effort made by man in solving this
problem was in the use of the sun-dial, or shadow clock, but
like the early attempt at communication by the signalling
system, the sun-dial was useless at night and on cloudy days.
Next came the fire clock, the water clock and the hour-glass.
The Chinese, Greeks and Romans used the water clocks and
during the Middle Ages the weight clock came into use. The
next step in the evolution of the clock was the use of the
pendulum. It will thus be seen that our modern clock has
passed through a cycle of centuries in its development.
If we shall examine the bathroom, we will find beautiful
bathroom fixtures where clear, sparkling water may be had
by the simple process of turning a faucet. It comes to you
[146]
The Unity and Application of Art
under pressure from some storage reservoir where it has
been chemically treated and the bacteria therein destroyed.
It has been Inspected by the health department and Is free
from disease germs. Not only Is It fit for the bath but it is
satisfactory for cooking and drinking purposes as well. The
open well and "The Old Oaken Bucket" have been cast into
the discard as a greater safeguard In the Interest of health,
but yet, they are beautiful memories.
As darkness comes on, a button Is pressed and there is
Instant light developed In Incandescent light bulbs. It Is
energy transported or conducted through wires from some
distant plant where the power Is generated. Perhaps this
electrical current is generated from the power of falling
water and then transferred to the wires that conduct it to
the light bulbs where It Is used In creating light. Where an
electric current may be had, the grease lamp, tallow candle
and the kerosene lamp have disappeared. They have run
their course and served well their purpose but as civilization
advanced, they have given way to the better, more Instant
and convenient uses of electricity. Not only does this energy
furnish light but it also furnishes power to run the washing
machine, sewing machine, vacuum cleaner, fans, refrigera-
tor, radio, stoves and other electrical devices.
The use of electricity is doubtless in its infancy, but what
the future generations may bring forth in the further devel-
opment of power that will supplant that now in use, is not
given to man to know. It is given to him to uncover the
hidden secrets of Nature and to adapt them to his use as he
needs them.
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A Story Outline of Evolution
We go next to the library and find hundreds of books
stored away in cases. They are bound in paper, leather and
cloth. The bindings are artistic and beautiful but the con-
tent of these books contains a record of the achievements
and doings of man dating back thousands of years before
written history began. The combined, constructive thoughts
of all men of all ages are recorded in these books. They are
recorded in a written or printed language. This language
is made up of sentences each expressing a thought. The
sentences are made up of words and the words are made up
of characters. Each character represents an idea and these
characters have each passed through many changes in their
development. They are the changed forms of the hiero-
glyphics of the Egyptians and the cuneiform characters of
the Babylonians. They have been combined and changed
by the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans and worked into
their present form by the more recent generations of men
from whom we have descended. They record events reach-
ing back to the horizon of written history. Through the
imperishable tools and implements that primitive man has
left as fossil evidence of his doings, we learn many things
about early man dating back to the time when he invented
the first bow and arrow and chipped the first flake of flint.
Every known living thing is here given a name and is classi-
fied. All the changes wrought in the forms of Nature are
here recorded.
Cultural Evolution proves itself beyond any honest,
reasonable doubt. Searchers are daily adding cumulative
facts to this storehouse of knowledge. New secrets of
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The Unity and Application of Art
Nature are being discovered and recorded with each suc-
ceeding year. But the end is not yet for we are just in the
beginning. It is a part of the Creative Plan that man should
continue searching until the hidden secrets of Nature shall
be unfolded and understood.
There are oriental rugs on the floors, beautiful in design
and rich in coloring, that represent a finished art of a people
with whom patience is a virtue and who know nothing of
the economies of time. The tapestries and table covers
represent the work of another group of persons who have
attained near perfection in the art they follow. The vases,
furniture, dishes, lamps, oil paintings, table linens and other
articles of household use have all been developed from the
crudest forms to their present state of advancement with
the experiences of the preceding generations woven into
their present construction.
The kitchen floor is covered with linoleum. If we shall
analyze its structure, we will find that it is made of many
materials such as oxidized linseed oil, known as linoleum
cement, various gum resins, ground cork, pigments, jute, etc.
All of these materials have been gathered from Nature's
storehouse from many parts of the world and the thoughts,
experiences, and hands of many thousands of persons have
woven them into a durable, waterproof covering for the
kitchen floor.
There is a gas cook stove and also an electric stove in
the kitchen and on the rear porch or in the basement, there
is an electric refrigerator. The same current of electricity
that is coming through the copper wires from the power
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A Story Outline of Evolution
plant is furnishing heat for cooking, light for illumination,
and is freezing ice in the refrigerator, all at the same time.
Like the natural processes of the same grass in the field
producing wool from the sheep, milk, hair, horn and muscle
of the cow, and the same soil in the garden producing the
different vegetables and flowers, so Cultural Evolution has
adopted the products of Nature, changed their forms, and
applied them to the uses of man.
Thus has human society been bound together. Each
person or group depending on the other. Step by step, the
procession has marched throughout the centuries, each gen-
eration leaving something that the preceding generation did
not have. The work of a genius may be noticed here and
there. It Is the work of a person who has noticed something
that no other person has noticed and who has created new
forms that no other person has created. They are useful
and helpful to mankind. They are adopted and become of
general use. They are now a part of human progress and
a part of Cultural Evolution.
[150]
PART TWO
CHAPTER XIIL
Organic Evolution.
TT has been shown in the preceding chapters of this book
^ that human civilization is the result of growth and devel-
opment and that there was a time in the age of man when
civilization did not exist; that every aid that man has called
into use to assist him in his struggle for existence may be
traced to its proximate or ultimate origin. In the regular
sequence of a story of Evolution what has heretofore been
written should follow what shall be written in the subse-
quent pages, but the transposition of the subject matter has
been purposely made as a means of clarity and as a founda-
tion for better understanding the laws of Nature working
through the Plan of Evolution.
In entering upon a discussion of the evidences of Organic
Evolution, we are brought face to face with the questions
that have disturbed the minds of so many millions of per-
sons, namely: What was the plan of creation? Was it, as
taught in the ancient Hebrew writings, an act of God that
extended over a period of six days? Or was it an act of
God that has extended over many millions of years i!
The late William Jennings Bryan who believed in the
"Special Creation" plan, in his lectures used these words:
"If it could be shown that man, instead of being made in
the image of God, is a development of beasts, we would
have to accept it regardless of its effect, for truth is truth
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A Story Outline of Evolution
and must prevail." Upon the premise that "truth Is truth
and must prevail," the story of Organic Evolution Is Indeli-
bly written.
Almost every race and tribe of primitive people had a
legend accounting for the origin of the world and of Its
Inhabitants. With the more primitive tribes, these legends
were handed down from generation to generation by word
of mouth and were added to and changed until they became
unreasonable myths. Their minds were childlike and they
were as easily persuaded as are children. They were over
credulous and ready to believe almost any unreasonable
story. The belief In a Santa Claus Is as real In the minds of
children of today as If this mythical person really existed.
Even the educated grown-up people of today still cling to
vestiges of superstitious beliefs as Is evidenced by Halloween
and New Year's demonstrations. As an evidence of these
stories, we have the mythology of the Greeks and the leg-
ends of the American Indians as well as the mythology and
legends of many other primitive people. The oldest of these
recorded legends are, naturally, found among the people
first using a written language. The ancient Hebrews had a
collection of documents which gave an account of the origin
of the world and all things therein. Some of these docu-
ments have been collected Into a book known as the Old
Testament Bible. It Is In Genesis, the first book of the Old
Testament, that the Hebrew account of the origin of the
world and its inhabitants is recorded. It begins with the
statement: "In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth." It is understood to teach that the world and all
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Organic Evolution
it contains was created about 6,000 years ago ; that the work
of creation covered a period of six days; that Adam was the
first man and was created on the sixth day; that Eve was the
first woman and that she was formed of a rib taken from
Adam w^hile he slept; that both Adam and Eve were created
of full stature, capable of speaking and understanding a
language; that Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years
and that some of his posterity exceeded that age; that Adam
named all living creatures ; that the earth was created before
the sun and that the sun and moon were created on the same
day; that after a period of 1,656 years a great deluge
destroyed all the descendants of Adam except Noah and his
family and all animals except a pair of each that were pre-
served In the "ark" with Noah and his family; that all the
different races of men are descended from Noah.
With the exception of the first statement In this Hebrew
account of creation: ''In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth," which is a declaration of the super-
natural origin of all things, all the other propositions relate
to matters affecting the order of the natural world. Evolu-
tion does not take God out of the universe — far from this !
It does not dispute the supernatural origin of all things.
Thelstic Evolution teaches that we must turn to the Divine
Creator to find the origin of life; that Evolution Is only a
method. It Is not an agent. It is only concerned with the
method of creation and makes no attempt to explain the
origin of life. It gives a description of the method of crea-
tion and stops with this. It matters not whether man was
made out of protoplasm or dust, the result is still the same.
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A Story Outline of Evolution
All arguments in an attempted explanation of the origin of
life lead only in a circle. If man was made out of proto-
plasm or dust, then the question naturally arises — who made
the protoplasm or dust?
It matters not whether man was created in an instant
or in ten million years, the result is still the same. Genesis
recites : "And God said. Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness." Bible scholars tell us that this is not physical
and has no reference to the body, but to the spiritual side of
man. The traditional belief was that God had a body and
sat on a throne, whereas our modern conception of God is
that He is a spirit and therefore our possible likeness to
Him is in moral and spiritual attributes.
It must be remembered that the Bible is a book of Reli-
gion and not of Science. It is the most permanent founda-
tion of the conduct of men and deals with the moral and
spiritual progress of the human race. Matters affecting the
moral and spiritual affairs of men are subject to our religious
beliefs or ideas of God and His relation to the universe and
they are largely a matter of personal faith. Matters affect-
ing the natural order come directly within the field of direct
observation and are subject to proof. The Hebrew con-
ception of creation was that of the work of a master magi-
cian, while that of Theistic Evolution is that of a living,
immanent, ever-working God. It teaches that nothing has
come by chance but that creation is a marvelous order which
has been worked out and is being perfected through natural
law. No child should be taught that the Bible tells the
story of Nature as it has been revealed to us through the
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Organic Evolution
centuries of observation and research. In studying the
method of creation, we should look at the universe as men
see it today and not as the ancient Hebrews saw it with their
limited vision.
Many erroneous traditional beliefs have been shattered
when the light of truth came to the knowledge of man.
Many honest and well-meaning students of the Bible have
brought about a misunderstanding of the Hebrew story of
creation simply because they were ignorant of the facts
surrounding natural law. Doctor Lightfoot, one of these
Bible students wrote: "Heaven and earth, center and cir-
cumference were made in the same instance of time, and
clouds full of water, and man was created by the Trinity on
the 26th. day of October 4004 B. C. at 9 :oo o'clock in the
morning." In the museum rooms of some of our eastern
universities, there are now ancient writings whose origin are
definitely proved to date back to 6000 years B. C.
The facts that Cultural Evolution have developed dur-
ing the past century of observation and research concerning
the earth and its inhabitants are so well known and furnish
such an array of positive evidence, that they form the foun-
dation for the statement that Organic Evolution has passed
out of the realm of hypothesis and theory to one of scientific
fact. It now takes its place with the other great discoveries
of the laws of Nature. It is' now taught in all the great
universities of the world both state and secular. It should
be taught in our schools simply as the story of Nature. This
simple story is full of moral and spiritual force. Its moral
principle is that nothing can be gained in this world without
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A Story Outline of Evolution
an effort. The spiritual principle of Evolution is that of
beauty, order, design and harmony and that in all things
Nature is seeking perfection.
At the time the book of Genesis was written, the Hebrew
people and their contemporaries were very limited in their
view of the universe and all it contains. They saw it with
the naked eye and without the background of centuries of
careful observation and research which we now have. They
believed that the earth was flat instead of round; that the
earth was the center of the universe. This same belief was
perpetuated by Ptolemy whose teachings satisfied the minds
of the peoples of the earth for a period of more than four-
teen hundred years. These teachings were that the earth
was the center of the universe and that the sun, moon and
stars revolved around It. Aristotle taught that the earth
was a globe suspended in space; that it was the center of the
universe around which the sun, moon and stars revolved.
Great thinkers had begun to direct their thoughts to an
understanding of some of the laws of Nature.
In the early part of the sixteenth century, a young Polish
astronomer, Nikolaus Copernicus, developed a theory that
the sun is the center of the universe and that the earth and
the planets revolve around it, and that the moon revolves
around the earth. He was a man seventy years of age and
on his death bed when his book was published proclaiming
his solar theory. The Church objected to this theory as
being contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Then came the
discovery of the Law of Gravitation by Newton, and Galileo
with his telescope proving the solar theory of Copernicus to
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Organic Evolution
be correct. A traditional belief was shattered. The Church
of the Middle Ages condemned the teachings of Galileo
because his teachings were contrary to the Bible. He was
forced to retract his statements under penalty of death. He
had to deny the truth for awhile to save his neck from the
brutal guillotine and his head from a basket of sawdust.
Next came the great Kepler with his discovery of the laws of
the planetary movements, showing the wonderful precision,
balance and uniformity running through the movements of
all heavenly bodies. Scientists tell us that this balance is so
perfect that every leaf that falls from a tree affects the
movement of the most distant star.
It Is only proper to inquire : Which is better? To blindly
believe with the ancients that the earth Is flat; that it Is the
center of the universe; and that the sun, moon and stars
revolve around It; or to use our God-given Intelligence In
searching out the truth as to the Plan of Creation; to gaze
into the infinitude of space and to see the billions of heavenly
bodies floating therein all regulated by Infallible laws; and
try In our finite way to comprehend the infinite Mind that
conceived and created all this? The majesty of God was
voiced by the Psalmist when he exclaimed: "The heavens
declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His
handiwork; day unto day uttereth speech and night unto
night showeth knowledge."
The discovery of Truth is the greatest duty Imposed
upon man in the Plan of Creation. Otherwise, he would
have been endowed with a knowledge of all Truth. Without
Truth we see blindly. If Science is able to show us a little
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A Story Outline of Evolution
more clearly just what the Plan of Creation Is, we ought to
be very grateful to the persons who spend their lives In the
laboratories and observatories searching out and charting
before our eyes and the wonderful plan of which we are a
part.
We live and move and have our being under Natural
laws. These laws are unchangeable and they were the same
In the beginning of our existence and they will be the same a
million years hence. It Is our duty to know, understand and
obey them. If we shall fall to do this, we will pay the pen-
alty of violation.
Aside from the statement of the supernatural origin of
all things as set forth In the first chapter of Genesis, the
other and above-mentioned statements are all concerning
subjects that may be examined and analyzed In the light of
facts and knowledge that have been accumulated through-
out the ages of man's existence. The test of their truth
must be determined by scientific methods. They are secular
truths and therefore must stand the examinations applied In
testing other similar statements In determining their truth.
These statements all pertain to matters about which the
experiences of mankind may be applied in determining their
truth.
The declarations In the book of Genesis that the world
was created about six thousand years ago and that the crea-
tion of the world and Its inhabitants and also the sun, moon
and stars covered a period of six literal days are statements
of fact concerning physical matters whose truth Is not self-
evident. In order to establish the truth of these statements,
[1 60]
Organic Evolution
they must withstand an examination based on the logical,
cumulative observations, investigations and experiences of
man throughout the entire period of civilization and still
remain undestroyed as to truth. If these statements cannot
be disproved by all the accumulated knowledge possessed by
all mankind, then they are accepted as true. On the other
hand, if these statements are contrary to well-known natural
laws and well-established scientific facts, they must fall
because they have no foundation in truth.
The secular statements contained In the book of Genesis
relative to the age of the world and of man, of the method
of creation, of the deluge, of the longevity of the lives of
the early Bible characters, of the destruction of all life
except one family and the animals with it in the ark, are all
amenable to proof and must be examined in relationship
with the established facts of geology, astronomy, anthro-
pology, ethnology, archaeology, and other branches of
Science.
Since Science has proved by reasonable conclusions that
the age of the world Is many millions of years, and has
traced In an unbroken line the life of some of Its creatures
for a period of millions of years, and has established the
fact of man's evolution from a lower order of creatures, the
story of creation as recorded in the book of Genesis must
be taken as poetic Instead of being a literal truth.
Dr. Alexander WInchell, a great scientist, author and
Bible student, in his book: "Preadamites" page 456, gives
his ideas of Bible Interpretation In these words : "I maintain,
against the narrow and pernicious dogma that the Bible is
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A Story Outline of Evolution
sufficient everywhere to Interpret Itself, that, on the con-
trary, it was ordained to be Interpreted under the concen-
trated light of all the learning which has been created by a
God-given Intelligence to man. I believe the biblical docu-
ments, so far as dictated by inspiration, have been written
for all time; and that their meaning Is so often so deep and
so rich that the accumulated learning of the latest generation
of men will be unable to exhaust it.
"The pretense that the Bible must be interpreted gram-
matically and Hebraically, without scientific aids. Is an
implicit denial of Its divine inspiration, and Is one of those
self-destructive claims which a blind faith is ever setting up
against the demands of common sense."
Since the Bible is a book of religion it Is well to take the
testimony of those best qualified to speak on the relation-
ship of Evolution to Religion. Dr. Henry Drummond, a
great naturalist, author, and minister, whom Dwight L.
Moody characterized as the "greatest preacher In the
world," In his book: "The Ascent of Man," pages 341 and
342, published in 1894 in the days of Evolution's dawn,
harmonized Evolution and Religion in these words : "Is
Nature henceforth to become the ethical teacher of the
world? Shall Its aims become the guide, its spirit the inspira-
tion of Man's life? Is there no ground here where all the
faiths and all the creeds may meet — nay no ground for a
final faith and a final creed? If all men could see the inner
meaning and aspiration of the natural order, should we not
find at last a universal religion congruous with the whole
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Organic Evolution
past of Man, at one with Nature, and with a working creed
which Science could accept?
''The answer is a simple one : We have it already. There
exists a religion which has anticipated all these requirements
— a religion which has been before the world these eighteen
hundred years, whose congruity with Nature and with Man
stands the tests at every point. Up to this time no word has
been spoken to reconcile Christianity with Evolution, or
Evolution with Christianity. And why? Because the two
are one. What is Evolution? A method of creation. What
is its object? To make more perfect living beings. Through
what does Evolution work? Through love. Through what
does Christianity work? Through love. Evolution and
Christianity have the same Author, the same end, the same
spirit. There is no rivalry between these processes. Chris-
tianity blended into the Evolutionary process with no noise
or shock; it upset nothing of all that had been done; it took
all the natural foundations precisely as it found them; it
adopted Man's body, mind and soul at the exact level where
Organic Evolution was at work upon them; it carried on the
building by slow and gradual modifications; and, through
processes governed by rational laws, it put the finishing
touches to the Ascent of Man."
[163]
CHAPTER XIV.
A Little Astronomy and Geology.
\ if ANY, many millions of years ago, at a time so remote
that it should be counted in eons instead of years, our
sun was much larger and much more volcanically active
than it now is. It is a large gaseous mass in a state of con-
stant change and confusion. There Is positive evidence
that the sun contains more than half of the elements In a
gaseous state, of which the earth is composed and scientists
believe that It contains all the elements found In the earth.
The phrase "our sun" Is advisedly used because there are
millions of suns all controlled by the same solar laws.
Great changes are constantly taking place In this mass
of whirling electrons. The inner disturbances of this seeth-
ing mass sometimes throw out great masses of expanding
gases thousands of times as large as the earth. During the
life of the sun, it has thrown off such masses which took on
form, and obedient to solar law, formed the sun's planets.
These planets In turn threw off a part of their mass which
took on form, and still obedient to solar law, formed the
moons of the planets.
When we speak in astronomic terms and of astronomic
figures, our finite minds fail us for want of comprehension.
The sun Is more than a million times in volume that of the
earth. Its diameter is 866,000 miles and Its distance from
the earth is approximately 93,000,000 miles. This distance
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A Little Astronomy and Geology
may seem great but when it Is compared to the distances of
some of the other planets from the sun, It fades Into Insig-
nificance. Uranus Is so far removed from the sun that It
takes it eighty-four of our years to travel around the sun
while Neptune is approximately three thousand million miles
from the sun and It requires one hundred and sixty-five of
our years for it to complete its revolution around the sun.
As great as these distances may seem to us, yet they fade
Into nothingness when compared to the distances of the
stars.
The nearest visible star is twenty-five trillion miles away
while others are so far away that it takes light from these
traveling 186,000 miles a second, more than a million years,
to reach the earth. And lo ! this is just the beginning of
our understanding, for space Is limitless and time is eternal.
At the present stage of development our finite minds fail us
in their comprehension, and we cannot, as yet, understand
either space or eternity.
There are other theories concerning the manner in
which our earth and the planets got away from the sun, got
out Into space and there got into balance in the solar system
but scientists all agree as to their origin from the mother
sun. But let us take the earth as we find it and apply the
accumulated knowledge of the ages in trying to discover
some of the truth It reveals.
We know that the earth is a sphere approximately 8,000
miles In its diameter, rotating once each day on its axis and
traveling in Its orbit through space at the rate of 65,000
miles each hour; that it Is held In its path by the universal
[165]
A Story Outline of Evolution
law of gravitation and that It completes Its revolution
around the sun once each year and continues on repeating
this process; that It has once been a gaseous mass and as It
cooled, Its atoms formed the elements and the compounds
of which It Is composed; that It is made up of 88 known ele-
ments whose combinations make up everything of which the
earth and Its Inhabitants are composed; that the smallest
particles of Nature are the electrons carrying a negative
charge of electricity, and the protons, which carry a positive
charge of electricity; that these electrons travel in their
orbits around their nuclei at the rate of hundreds of miles
each second in the same manner that the earth revolves
around the sun; that the electrons make the atoms which
are so small that they can not be seen even with the aid of
the most powerful microscope; that the atoms make up the
molecules which are still too small to be seen; that the mole-
cules make up the cells of which all organic matter Is com-
posed; that these elements may exist in the form of a gas, a
liquid or a solid.
Nothing in Nature Is constant. These tiny particles of
which all things are made possess the properties of force and
energy, the force being the cause of a change In a body and
energy Is the power that creates the force. Energy Is found
In many forms all of which may be divided Into the two gen-
eral forms kinetic and potential, while the natural forces
that accompany these such as gravitation, cohesion, chemi-
cal, electrical, magnetic, etc., are the forces which supply
motion and life to the universe. Our earth Intercepts less
than one two-bllllonths parts of the amount of energy that
[i66]
A Little Astronomy and Geology
the sun radiates, yet the earth Is receiving energy from the
sun at the rate of 160,000 horse-power for every man,
woman and child living on it. The sun is a star and to the
inhabitants of the earth, it is the most Important member of
our entire solar system because all life depends on it.
There is no known means of estimating the age of the
earth prior to the time when stratified rocks began to form
since there Is no available data upon which a reasonable esti-
mate may be made. Geologic time, therefore. Is generally
understood to begin when the earth reached Its present form
and condition. The sedimentary rocks furnish a starting
point where estimates may be based on a study of the rate of
erosion, the thickness of the stratified rocks and many other
physical conditions so that the estimates now made are re-
moved from the realm of mere unintelligible guesses. Any
estimate now made as to the age of the earth since sedimen-
tation began to take place may be many millions of years in
error because it Is not known what different conditions may
have existed in the past. But the general conclusion among
geologists Is that many millions of years — some estimates
as low as 100 millions of years, and some as high as 1,000
million years — have elapsed since sedimentation began to
take place. Evolution is not concerned so much with the
time as it is with the method of creation.
As this great blazing ma^ss of gas from which the earth
was formed took its position in the solar system and began
its endless journey In space under the control of Nature's
laws, it took the form of a sphere and It began to cool. Some
of the gases turned Into a liquid crust and in the course of,
[167]
A Story Outline of Evolution
perhaps, billions of years, the crust became thicker and
thicker. While the crust was still glowing with heat it con-
tained all the elements that form the substance of all things
found in and on the earth today. In this cooling process, the
atoms of these gases began to unite. Two of these gases —
oxygen and hydrogen — by uniting two atoms of hydrogen
to one atom of oxygen forms water. When the first water
was formed, the earth's crust was still so hot that it formed
great clouds of steam mingled with air and as this steam was
condensed into raindrops that fell to the earth, it was sent
back in clouds of hissing steam. This process of change was
continued for many millions of years. As the cooling process
continued, great volcanoes would belch forth fire and liquid
rock from the seething interior of the earth. Again, the
earth's surface or crust would be broken and upheaved thus
forming the mountain ranges. After many millions of years,
the earth's crust became sufficiently cool to retain the falling
rain and the water began flowing over the surface of the
earth and to form the oceans, lakes and rivers. The rains
were constantly beating down the upthrust mountains and
the rivers were carrying away and leveling up this eroded
material. The rivers were forming the valleys and erosion
was now taking place. As the waves of the ocean were beat-
ing down the shores in some places, they were building up
and leveling them in others.
Some of the igneous rocks that were formed from the
cooling gases of the flaming earth were ground into fine
particles and some dissolved into liquid crystals by the action
of moving water. These were again solidified Into different
[i68]
A Little Astronomy and Geology
forms, and thus the process of sedimentation began. Dur-
ing all of these millions of years of grinding, washing and
leveling of the earth's surface, it was being prepared for the
greatest event that has ever occurred since the universe
began — -namely, the creation of the first "Life Spark." All
the forces of Nature were at work — the electrons, the
atoms, the molecules, gravitation, adhesion, cohesion, light
and heat waves, chemical and magnetic forces, putting all
things in order for the coming "Life Spark." The poisonous
gases from the Innumerable volcanoes were being purified
and were now forming into an atmosphere composed mostly
of oxygen and nitrogen, the elements necessary to support
life. The atmosphere of today like all other things, has
passed through an evolutionary process. The original
atmosphere was squeezed out of the materials of which the
earth is formed, and its component parts were far different
in the early history of the earth from what it now is.
The original oceans were composed mostly of fresh
water but throughout the centuries of erosion of the earth's
surface, the soluble salts were dissolved and carried by the
rivers into the oceans where they are now carried in solution.
The original oceans covered many portions of what are now
land and the present oceans now cover much land that was
once parts of the continents. The drilling for oil and gas in
Oklahoma and Kansas has furnished proof that great moun-
tain ranges and mountain peaks lie buried beneath the sedi-
mentary deposits of the grassy plains of these two states.
The temperature of the earth had cooled, the atmos-
phere had been purified, the earth's elements had been com-
[169]
A Story Outline of Evolution
pounded, the mists had cleared away so that the sun's light
and heat rays could penetrate to the earth. Sub-vital com-
pounds such as colloids, protelds and liquid crystals which
are the essential components of all living things had been
formed and the earth was now prepared for the first "Life
Spark."
From whence did this "Life Spark" come? It must be
admitted that nothing in all the world has come by chance
and that up to this period of the earth's history, there was
no life of any kind on the earth and that nothing that has
life has originated from lifeless matter without the interven-
tion of a Higher Power; that the unchanging laws of Nature
were in force and doing their creative work from the begin-
ning; that all things originated from a Creative Force which
we call God and that the first Life Spark was created by God
and that the plan of His creation was that of Evolution.
This conclusion is based on the conceptions of the most
intelligent thinkers of the world who have spent their lives
in seeking to discover the method of creation — the divine
truth as revealed In Nature.
[t7o|
CHAPTER XV.
The Beginning of Life.
T^IOLOGISTS believe that the first "Life Spark" came
into being more than a thousand million years ago In
the form of minute, protoplasmic bacteria resembling the
simplest form of life that is now known. It may have been
like the Algae, the simplest form of plant life. Since all
animal life is dependent on plant life, it is only reasonable to
suppose that it was more plant than animal but at the same
time, possessing the properties of both. It was a unicellular
bit of protoplasm possessing the power to divide itself into
new and complete cells. In whatever form It may have been
it was the forerunner of all plant and animal life. It was
made up of millions of electrons, atoms and molecules each
following their established laws yet possessing qualities and
power that no other group of electrons, atoms and molecules
had ever before possessed. It possessed the power of multi-
plying itself by division — the power of growth. This is the
greatest miracle of all time. It Is a thousand times more
miraculous than the traditional belief that man was created
of full stature, possessing a language, an understanding, and
all the attributes and qualities that a full grown man pos-
sesses, because the Evolution of this first cell up to man has
been traced with reasonable certainty and convincing clear-
ness. From this first cell through the life actions of sensa-
tion, digestion, locomotion, circulation, protection, adapta-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
tion and reproduction every living thing — both plant and
animal has developed. It possessed the potential powers
and properties of all life. It was governed and regulated
by natural laws. It was the starting point from which the
design of all life has been planned. Each epoch or genera-
tion has Improved upon the one preceding It. Out of the
potential power of this first life cell the creative arts and
sciences have been developed, the whole culminating In the
God-given Intelligence of man and Into altruism and love,
the ultimate essence of the plan of life.
It Is a part of the Plan of Creation that man shall know
the truth. It Is the most alluring and elevating accomplish-
ment toward which the mental energies of man can be
directed. But we cannot know the truth without long and per-
sistent work. A knowledge of truth cannot be purchased. It
cannot be acquired by wishing or praying and the only way
It can be acquired Is by long and continued mental digging.
A knowledge of the first life cell or of the electrons,
atoms and molecules would have been both useless and
impossible with primitive minds because these belong to
realms of thought to which the reasoning powers of the
primitive people had not attained. It was Cultural Evolu-
tion that through long periods of study, observation, adapta-
tion and growth, developed the mind of man to a greater
comprehension and understanding of the Intricate, yet sim-
ple, Plan of Creation as revealed to us by scientific research.
As the mists that clouded the understanding of primitive
man cleared away and as development and growth opened
up avenues through which the sunlight of truth could pene-
[172]
The Beginning of Life
trate, the true Plan of Creation began to reveal itself to the
understanding of man. It is still revealing itself for there
are, as yet, many mysteries unsolved, and it will continue,
through the persistent and sacrificial efforts of man, to reveal
itself until we shall know the entire truth for it was so
ordained in the beginning.
Educated people of today see and understand the Uni-
verse to be one great working system wherein each and every
part is related and working in harmony with all other parts;
that all these parts are directed in their work by unchanging
laws and that each part performs its own creative function.
It has been shown in the preceding chapters how Cultural
Evolution has changed the forms but not the substance of
things in order to adapt them to the uses of man. So Organic
Evolution has developed all of life by simply changing and
multiplying the first life cell.
The scientist tells us that protoplasm in which the first
life cell was originated is made up of certain materials, com-
posed of the atoms and molecules of hydrogen, carbon,
nitrogen and oxygen and that these materials are found in
both living and dead things ; that they are borrowed by liv-
ing things from Nature's storehouses and then go back to
replenish and increase the storehouses from which they
came. Again the scientist tells us that the energy which
produces action in protoplasm is the same kind of energy
as that found in atoms, molecules, in heat, light and elec-
tricity, and also in the heavenly bodies. It has been proved
that nothing can destroy this energy. Its only change is in
its method of work. He also tells us that all bodies in the
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A Story Outline of Evolution
universe work on each other, thus preserving a balance
without a waste of energy; and that by natural law, It Is
impossible to create something out of nothing.
In the early days of our knowledge of Evolution as Its
great truths began to unfold, Its advocates were frequently
asked: "Why was such a plan of creation used by the Crea-
tor ?" The answer to this question Is now a simple statement
of fact — that It Is not given to the mind of man to con-
ceive a plan more simple, more perfect, more beautiful and
more harmonious than that of Evolution. Its undlsputable
evidence Is before us In all things — In everything we see,
hear, smell, taste and feel. We cannot understand the m.ean-
Ing and purpose of life without knowing something of Its
history and Evolution Is the simple story of the history of
life. Nothing but divinity could crowd within the walls of
a single, microscopic, protoplasmic cell all the attributes of
all plant and animal life. It Is given to man to trace the
process of life but the power of creation Is beyond our finite
comprehension and belongs to God.
This first life cell possessed the power of growth. It
absorbed through Its skin water and such bits of matter as
would furnish It food for growth. It began to develop a
system for taking nourishment and of digesting Its food.
When the food supply about It was exhausted, It then began
to develop little tubes, or feelers so that It could reach out
farther for Its food. When Its bodily structure was devel-
oped. It made use of another power It possessed, that of
splitting Itself Into two parts so that Instead of a single life
cell, there were now two life cells In the world. As each new
[174]
The Beginning of Life
cell repeated this process, In a short time, there were mil-
lions of life cells each living the same way as the first parent
life cell. After the original cell had passed on its life to
other cells of the same kind, its purpose In life was fulfilled
and It could die for through Its power of reproduction, life
could go on in the world. As these life cells increased Into
countless numbers, the environments of some were different
from others, just as It is with both plants and animals today.
The food supply of some was not as abundant or as easily
secured as that of others and as a consequence, the ones less
favored In their surroundings, had to perish for lack of food
or to become more active and to reach out farther in their
search for food. Each reaching out brought about a change
In their environment and necessitated an adaptation to the
new surroundings.
This movement of change and adaptation has developed
growth from a lower to a higher state. Just as adversity
and the overcoming of obstacles have developed great men
of our time, so the overcoming of obstacles In their "strug-
gle for existence" among the first family of life cells have led
to newer and higher forms of life. But there were those
life cells whose environments were sufficient to supply their
necessary food requirements and other life conditions. These
made no effort to change their life conditions and as a con-
sequence, they are living today just as they did a thousand
million years ago.
As these life cells were forced by changing conditions to
change their environments and habits, there came one of the
first great steps in the advance of the process of life. It was
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A Story Outline of Evolution
that of the method of reproduction. The Plan of Creation
now begins to demonstrate Its workings. The sexes came
Into noticeable being — male and female — positive and nega-
tive just like the positive and negative forces of electricity
as displayed In the electrons and protons. The plan of
Nature Is that there must be two parents to an offspring and
that the offspring Is neither like the father nor mother, but
possessing the attributes of both. In plant life, from the
Algae to the most highly developed plant, this process of
reproduction takes place In the plant through different mem-
bers of Its own body while In animal life this process Is the
result of the functions of different and separate bodies.
In the earliest forms of life, the process of reproduction,
so far as we know, was simply one of splitting a living cell
into two living cells; whereas. In the early forms of plant life
a group of fully developed cells was developed ready to start
their process of development and reproduction at the same
time. This is also true of the lower order of animal life
where parental care cannot be had. These single cell plants
by the aid of different food, water and environments began
to form in groups and out of these, there came the earliest
forms of compound plant life such as fungus plants, mosses
and lichens and some of these In turn developed into ferns.
It is generally understood that the earliest life was created
In mud or water along the seashore and that the early plant
life was what we now know as water plants drinking in Its
food supply from the water, and the soft accumulated par-
ticles of matter. As the seashores changed, many of these
plants were left on dry land. Again it was the same problem
[176]
The Beginning of Life
of self preservation — of adaptation. The plants thus re-
moved from their environment, must change their habits of
living and adapt themselves to their new environments or
perish. By adaptation, they developed roots that secured
their food and water supply from the ground, and through
their leaves, oxygen from the air. As the forms of plant
life increased, the struggle for existence became more pro-
nounced. Each plant was struggling to receive its share of
food from the ground and to draw its oxygen from the air.
It was, indeed, a battle wherein the "survival of the fittest"
determined the outcome. Some of these plants extended
their body stems high In the air in order to drink in a little
more sunshine and thereby gain an advantage over their
competing neighbors. Some of the more determined and
aggressive plants, not to be robbed of their share of sun-
shine, and whose bodily structure would not support Itself
In reaching high altitudes — unsupported, turned bandits in
their habits, became creepers using the bodies of their
stronger neighbors to which they fastened the supporting
tendrils, climbed to the uttermost tops of their stronger
neighbors and there smothered and choked them to death.
There was then as now, a crowding, pulling, drinking, and
sucking of the food substance of the soil and the sunshine
from the air. In this struggle for food, water and sunshine,
thousands of forms of plant life were choked, starved and
smothered out but the stronger survived.
During all the millions of years that this struggle was
taking place, there were many changes taking place in rela-
tion to the method of reproduction. Nature is striving for
[-^77]
A Story Outline of Evolution
perfection but like human beings, she has made many mis-
takes. She always profits by these mistakes. In some of the
lower forms of plant life, two little chains of cells — one
representing the male and the other the female grow
together Into one forming the first principle of the seed or
egg. Others produced "spores" which had the power of
perpetuating the parent life. Nature was not satisfied with
this method of reproduction. She must develop something
better than the fungus plants, the lichens, mosses, creepers
and ferns; something that will be of greater food value for
the life that Is to follow; something that will withstand the
changed conditions of soil and climate; something that will
add beauty and fragrance to the world; something that will
be more useful to Cultural Evolution when Its age arrives.
Up to this time all plants have been both flowerless and
seedless but their lives have not been In vain. They have
developed, flourished and decayed and In their decay, they
have helped to form and enrich the soil from which all
future life will live. A part of the great fern forests have
stored away the energy of the sun In the form of coal which
again Is used by man In aiding In the Plan of Creation.
Thus far all the work of plant life has been In prepara-
tion for some higher forms of life. Before we proceed to
the higher forms of plant life or to the beginning of animal
life. It Is well to know more of the part these single celled
plants played In preparing the world for the higher life that
was to follow. Bacteria are very Important living plants.
They have adapted themselves to their surroundings and
are now present everywhere — In the soil, In the water. In
[178]
The Beginning of Life
the air in countless numbers. They are so essential in the
Plan of Creation that the higher forms of both plant and
animal life, including man, could not live without their aid.
No other living things perform a more necessary service to
man. There are both helpful and harmful kinds but the
friendly or helpful ones outnumber the harmful ones many
hundreds of times. Great minds, through scientific research
have learned how to destroy and to overcome the harmful
ones such as those that cause tuberculosis, pneumonia, diph-
theria, typhoid fever and others while at the same time, they
have discovered methods of cultivating and increasing the
friendly ones. Every plant and animal since the first life cell
that has lived, died and gone into decay has been worked up
into plant food by these lowly bacteria. Every leaf that has
fallen from every tree, every stalk of grass, every lichen,
moss and fern, every log, every animal that has borrowed
its bodily structure from the soil, the water and the sunshine
pays these substances back to rebuild other lives. "Dust
thou art to dust returneth" is literally true. There is an
endless procession of life and death — of decay and a new
life. The farmer plants his fields to corn, clover or alfalfa.
These take up the substance from the soil, and oxygen from
the air. They are fed to his stock and the refuse is hauled
out as manure and placed again on the land. Immediately
these bacteria break this up into plant food and the plants
reproduce the substance of the parent plants. Thus the end-
less cycle continues. This process has been going on from
the beginning of life and it will continue so long as life
endures. Nothing in Nature is wasted. Everything is
[179]
A Story Outline of Evolution
created for a purpose. These little bacteria have their
work to perform. They are a part of the Plan of Creation
and they make a part of the harmonious whole, without
which life on earth could not exist.
Many millions of years ago, we know not where nor
when, but It was, perhaps, many thousands of years after
the appearance of the first plant cell, there appeared in the
tropical waters along some ancient seashore a microscopic
one-celled animal. It was doubtless like the lowest form
of animal life now known — the Amoeba. It Is composed
of a jelly-like substance and has no definite shape, yet it
breathes, eats living food, rids itself of wastes and has the
power of reproduction. When it moves it simply extends
a part of Its body in the desired direction and the remainder
of its body follows. So far as Is now known it has no mouth
nor any definite digestive system. It absorbs Its food. When
it comes In contact with another life cell, either plant or
animal, it wraps Itself about this cell and sucks and absorbs
its food substance from it and releases as waste such parts
as it cannot use. Like the lowest forms of plant life. It
reproduces itself by dividing its body Into two cells.
Because of the changing environments and food condi-
tions, some of these single-celled animals began to adapt
themselves to the changing conditions by combining Into
groups, by forming layers and double layers of cells. They
had learned that in union there is strength. In order to
perform their functions In life they developed mouths, a
digestive system, a rudimentary nervous system and means
of protection against their enemies. By adaptation, change
[i8o]
The Beginning of Life
and evolutionary growth thousands of different forms of
squirming creatures came into being. As the Algae devel-
oped into the fungus plants, the lichens, mosses and ferns,
so the single-celled animals developed into the many-celled
animals such as the corals, sponges, worms, brachiopods,
trilibites, etc., whose skeleton forms are now found as
fossils in the rocks which were once the floors of ancient
seas. Both plants and animals traveled the same road in
their development. The distinguishing characteristic between
the earliest forms of plant and animal life is that the plants
obtain their food from dead matter — from the soil direct
while the animals obtain their food from living bodies —
either plant or animal. Thus all animal life is dependent on
plant life for its existence.
But Nature is always struggling for perfection. The
plants could go no further without a flower and seed and the
animals could make no further progress without a backbone.
[i8i]
CHAPTER XVI.
The Preparation for Higher Life.
T^HE entire scheme of life is one that is constantly reach-
ing out for something that is higher, better and more
perfect. Eivery effort of Nature is directed to the accom-
plishment of this purpose. From the first bacteria of plant
life and the first protozoa of animal life, there is one har-
monious blending of effort and a progressive betterment and
adaption of plants and animals to one another.
These changes for the higher and better life may be
traced from the algae to the most highly developed plants
and from the first protozoa to man with persuasive and con-
vincing certainty. Before we reach the flowering plants and
the vertebrate animals, it is well to observe the preparation
for higher life and the blending of all the energies of Nature
into one harmonious effort in order that this result may be
accomplished. In doing this, it is necessary that the labors
of the geologist, the zoologist, the botanist, and many other
searchers be consulted and their findings used to demonstrate
the scheme of harmony.
As a method of identifying the different strata of the
earth's crust and fossil life therein contained, geologic time
is divided into eras and these eras are again subdivided into
periods each representing the kind and thickness of the
deposits and the kind of life that lived on the earth during
the time that these deposits were being laid down. The
[182]
The Preparation for Higher Life
oldest of these eras is known as the Archaeozolc or the first
life. This era is estimated to embrace about one-half of
geologic time, or the period since sedimentation began to
take place. During this era, no fossil plants or animals are
found but there is evidence, based on the substance of the
deposits, that the simplest forms of plant and animal life
existed during this era.
The next era is known as the Proterozoic or early life.
This era is estimated to embrace about one-fourth of geo-
logic time and still there is, as yet, no definite fossil plants
found but based on the substance of the deposits covering
this era of sedimentation, there existed the simplest forms
of plant life. It was during this era that the first known
fossil animals made their appearance. These early forms
of fossil animals embrace the protozoa, worm, sea scor-
pions, trilobites and others. The trilobites had advanced
to the stage of a three-lobed animal (tri-lob-ites), with a
mouth, a head, a protective shell, a digestive system, and a
method of reproduction. They inhabited the mud flats of the
ancient oceans, lagoons and rivers. In the original matrix
of these early animals they may be found in a crawling
position with body fully extended. They are also found in
a sleeping position doubled up with their tail and mouth
touching in the same manner as many of the present day
worms are found. This important group of marine crab-
like animals has been extinct for many millions of years yet
they form an important group and the fossil remains of the
more than 1,700 different families furnish much evidence of
the development of the various evolutionary steps in early
life. This group of animals was the first to develop eyes.
[183]
A Story Outline of Evolution
The earlier groups were eyeless as were all other groups of
animals that had preceded them. There finally appeared a
tiny "eye speck" which in the course of many millions of
years developed into a compound eye containing as many as
15,000 lenses. The efforts of Nature to develop an eye to
fit the surrounding conditions of early life may be clearly
traced. Changing environments changed the plans of Nature
and many of the eyes became useless, atrophied and were
cast into the discard.
The next great era of geologic time is known as the
Paleozoic Era and this is subdivided into periods known as
the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississip-
pian, Pennsylvanian and Permian. In the Cambrian Period,
the first fossil sea weeds are found but there is, as yet, no
evidence of any land plants that can be distinguished, while
on the animal side of the tree of life, animal forms are rap-
Idly increasing. In the shallow beds of the ancient oceans,
sea scorpions, trilobites, corals, clams, snails, starfish, cri-
noids, sponges, great worms and other forms play their
parts in evolutionary development.
In the Ordovician and Silurian Periods great changes
were taking place on both land and in the sea. It was dur-
ing these periods that the first land plants and land animals
by adaptation came into being. As the seas receded, the
marine plants began to adapt themselves to the changing
conditions, to develop and to send down roots into the soil
for food and water and to drink in oxygen from the air , and
the sun's energy as well. It was during these periods also
that some of the sea animals cast upon or left on the land,
as a matter of necessity, changed their habits to enable them
[184]
The Preparation for Higher Life
to continue In their "struggle for existence/' Some of these
water animals became land Insects with hinged joints and
wings to aid them In their locomotion. They had legs with
which to walk, eyes with which to see, and wings with which
to fly, and a nervous system controlling their sensations but
still they were Invertebrates.
Nature's method of adaptation to meet changing con-
ditions, always was, now Is, and always will be the same.
If a limb be cut from a willow tree and the cut end stuck
Into the soft mud along the shore of a river, pond or lake.
Nature, In order to preserve the life force contained In this
limb. Immediately sets to work to adapt this limb to Its new
surroundings. It can no longer depend on Its parent body
to carry It food and water from the soil and consequently,
through Its cell Intelligence, buds are formed on that portion
of the limb that Is burled In the mud that develop Into roots
performing the same functions that the roots of the parent
tree perform. The limb now Is nourished through the
agency of these newly formed roots and It develops Into a
tree through the process of adaptation. This Is an example
of speedy adaptation to meet a changed environment. Every
form of animal life must adapt Itself to changes In food,
climate, protection against enemies and other surroundings
In order to continue In the "struggle for existence." The
curly hair of the African negro furnished an example of
adaptation for the protection of the brain against the exces-
sive heat of the tropical regions of Africa. The excessive
heat In these regions will cause sun stroke to many white
persons even with their heads protected while the curly hair
of the negro forms air pockets that absorb the sun's heat
[185]
A Story Outline of Evolution
thus making him Immune to sun stroke. There have been
many thousands of plant and animal forms that have failed
to adapt themselves to changing conditions, and, as a con-
sequence, they have been cast into the discard and are now
extinct.
The trilobites were the ancestors of the crabs and the
crabs were among the first to adapt themselves to life on
land. The trilobites had developed eyes, a shell or armour
covering the upper or exposed parts of the three lobes and
their heads, and a method of transportation. Legs with
hinged joints had come into being and such are now classi-
fied as Insects. They were at first water creatures and out
of these, the land insects were developed through adapta-
tion to the conditions surrounding them. Sea crabs became
land crabs, sea scorpions became land scorpions and In like
manner thousands of sea animals and insects left the sea and
adapted themselves to the conditions on land. But many
of these as we shall later see when we shall reach the age
of the mammal type of land animals forsook the land after
millions of years and returned again to life in the sea.
Swifter progress was now being made. Many of the land
insects were developing wings. These were not true wings
but were wings with a hinged joint. Among the greatest
of these were the huge dragon flies with a wing spread of
thirty Inches and a compound eye and the giant cock roaches
two or three feet in length.
The law of Nature Is that animals shall live on one
another, either directly or Indirectly. In their "struggle for
existence'' Nature began far down the scale in both plant
and animal life to construct agencies of protection around
[i86]
The Preparation for Higher Life
its creatures as a means of defense against their enemies.
Some of the insects and animals developed spines and quills,
scales and stings. The crabs developed a protecting armour
and the moUusks, oysters and shellfish of all kinds developed
a process of extracting lime from the water and forming it
into shells of beautiful designs and coloring as a protective
home in which to live. The more active insects developed
speed of legs and wings with which they might escape their
enemies. The law of the sea as well as the law of the jungle
is that the most cunning as well as the swiftest and most
powerful shall survive. In order to outwit their stronger
and more powerful enemies, it was necessary that a sensitive
system of body communication be established and that this
system be centered in a directing brain. From this brain
messages must be sent to all the various parts of the body
and in turn all the various organs of the body must be guided
in their functions by the brain.
It was destined that the nerve centers were to play the
greatest part in evolutionary growth. Throughout all of
life's history covering a period of many millions of years
this process of developing a nerve system had been going
on. A central nerve center, first a knot or ganglion, had
developed into a rudimentary brain. Its importance in the
scheme of life demanded of it greater duties and the highest
degree of protection. It was also necessary that the center
of this nerve system be connected with a conductor reaching
to all parts of the animal organism and that this conductor
be equally protected against injury in order to properly per-
form its functions. This led to what is commonly called the
*'next great step" in evolutionary progress — that of pass-
[187]
A Story Outline of Evolution
ing from the invertebrate to the vertebrate type of animals.
However, this is a misnomer as there are no abrupt steps in
evolutionary growth, but instead, there are changes so
gradual that they blend like the colors of the rainbow. But
it was this change from the invertebrate to the vertebrate
type that led to the more rapid development in the forms of
higher life. It must be remembered that nearly three-
fourths of all of life's history had passed before the animals
of this period came into being. But before passing on to
the life of the vertebrate animals, it is of interest to note
the forms of life that make up the connecting link between
the invertebrates and the vertebrate animals.
Many of the oldest classes of animals known because
of some basic defect in their structure or their habits of life
have gone into a "dead end" or "blind alley" road and there
remained in practically the same form for millions of years
content to live without development. Many thousands of
classes have lived their lives without adaptation and have
passed from the scene of struggle. Others have degenerated
from a higher form to a lower form and have lost the
advancement that had been made by their ancestors. Included
in the classes that have failed to make progress in their
advancement are the star fishes, moUusks, cephalopods, sea
urchins and many others. The parasitic animals belong to
this class for no animal, regardless of how far down the
scale of life or up the scale of life, can live on the labors \of
another and, at the same time keep abreast with the school,
flock, pack, herd or crowd. Many of the unprogressive
types have constructed walls about them over which they
cannot climb or built a load of lime around their bodies that
[i88]
The Preparation for Higher Life
they cannot lift or cast off. But above these, there is a
main Hne that forms the tree of advancing life.
The jprincipal classes of this main line are the worms,
arthropods, ostracoderms, fishes, amphibia, reptiles and
mammals. It is through this chain that Organic Evolution
has developed the tree of life by progressive changes from
the lowest to the highest forms. Unlike the other non-
progressive groups, the bodies of the classes above named
began to take on a general form and a similar internal struc-
ture. They were divided into separate segments for flexibil-
ity. They became straighter in order to enable them to
travel faster. As a result of this form, their nervous systems,
digestive systems and circulation systems all extended in the
same direction paralleling each other. Many of the other
organs of the bodies of the various classes were compound
in their nature but by adaptations to the most economical
and practical uses, most of these became paired, two eyes,
two ears, two lungs, two nasal passages, two gills, two kid-
neys, two fins, two legs, two wings, etc. With this arrange-
ment, these classes of animals were better prepared to solve
changing conditions of life and to make adjustments to meet
changing environments. Many of the segments of which
their bodies were composed were combined and enlarged
and many were reduced to meet the necessary conditions of
adaptive growth and to elirninate a duplication of effort.
All the organs of all bodies have been placed in the most
advantageous positions, by adaptations, to perform their
particular functions with the greatest economy of effort and
in coordination with all other organs.
[189]
A Story Outline of Evolution
The nerve conductors of the lov^er forms gradually
wove themselves into a central string commonly known as
the notochord. Around this sensitive organ a cartilaginous
substance was formed which was the beginning of the back-
bone. The many jointed segments of the lower forms,
through adaptation became the skull and vertebrate of the
higher forms which were to follow. As necessity for a
larger brain developed, the segments which formed a part
of the invertebrate forms were pushed out and formed a
mould which surrounded as a protective covering the grow-
ing brain. The cartilaginous substance as a means of greater
protection through the course of ages became hardened
into bone.
The gradation between the invertebrate and the verte-
brate animals, is the most obscure page in the history of life
but there was a class of animals, now long extinct, that con-
nect the two great divisions. Scientists call them ostraco-
derms and like the animals connecting one class with a higher
class, they possess some of the characteristics of both. They
were developing cartilage into bone. The first bone was
formed around the notochord which was the main channel
of sensation and this was formed in segments correspond-
ing with the segments of the body. As the vertebrate were
gradually formed, the protective armour that formed a
shield for the body was changed into more flexible forms
to correspond to the flexible vertebrate. This armour became
the scales of the fishes, the feathers of the birds and the
skin of the mammals.
These ostracoderms were long and joined and had two
or three sets of jaws. They were a higher form than the
[190]
The Preparation for Higher Life
sea scorpions and yet a lower form than the true fishes that
were to follow. They were, doubtless, the immediate ances-
tors of the lampreys and ganoids, the most primitive of the
true fishes. Their fossil remains are among the rarest
known as only a few entire forms have been discovered, but
sufficient fragmentary remains have been found to give them
their important place in the tree of life.
[191]
CHAPTER XVII.
Complex Life — The Invertebrates.
\yf ORE than half way up the tree of life, measured In
terms of geologic time, vertebrate life came Into being.
This upper part of the tree of animal life consists of five
classes, namely — Fishes, Amphibia, Reptiles, Birds and
Mammals. All these classes have the same basic structure In
their organization. The more Important characteristics
which cause them to be grouped under one heading are a
jointed vertebral column composed of cartilage or bone
which acts as a protection and support of the nervous sys-
tem. From now on up the scale of life, the nerve sensations
play the major part In animal progress. To the backbone
there are usually attached pairs of ribs, two pairs of limbs,
which may be either fins, legs or wings, and In the front, this
backbone terminates In a more or less highly developed skull
as a protective covering for the directing brain. In the body
cavity protected by the ribs, a digestive system is located
which turns the energy force of food Into body energy. A
highly organized circulatory system Is also enclosed within
the body cavity which carries the blood to all parts of the
body.
The function of breathing in the aquatic animals Is car-
ried on by means of gills and in the air breathing animals
by means of lungs. The nervous system centering In the
brain and through the spinal cord controls the activities of
[192]
Complex Life — The Invertebrates
the entire body. The sense organs that have developed a
high degree of acuteness now render Hfe much more com-
plex than it has been before.
All vertebrates are bilaterally symmetrical with their
body parts basically the same but modified to function best
in the environment with which they are surrounded. The
fins of the fishes, the legs of the animals and the wings of
the birds are simply locomotor appendages developed to
perform their functions in the most advantageous manner.
The most important cranial nerves and eye muscles of a
fish, frog, reptile or bird have their corresponding parts in
man and the other mammals.
The forces of Nature are immutable — they always were
and always will be the same. The vibrations of light, sound,
heat, the forces of gravitation, adhesion, cohesion, mole-
cular and atomic were the same at the time of the first life
spark as they are today. It was the function of Evolution
to develop the special sense organs of animal life so that
the agencies of Nature could be made use of In the advance-
ment of the animal kingdom.
Evolution's foot prints may be traced with convincing
certainty, with the chief steps In the modification of all of
their body changes from the fishes up to man. The devel-
opment of the highly organized special senses and the loco-
motor appendages made it possible for nearly all vertebrate
animals to transport their bodies to new environments in a
shorter time, to reach new food supplies and to protect
themselves against their enemies. Different environments
called for different adaptations and as a consequence, differ-
ent forms. From the first true fishes, to the present time
[193]
A Story Outline of Evolution
these adaptations have developed about ten thousand kinds
of bony fishes. These are divided into approximately two
hundred different families and these may be grouped into
eighteen or twenty orders. These adaptations and changes
in forms are found in a proportionate degree in all the other
classes of the vertebrate group. But fishes are those verte-
brate creatures which spend the whole of their life in water
and which do not develop legs, fingers or toes. There was
a call from the sea to the land but fins and gills were use-
less on the land because they are adapted for use in the
water. To prepare for the environment on land, it was
necessary for the fishes that desired to change their environ-
ment from sea to land, to develop lungs with which to
breathe the air, limbs and toes with which to crawl, walk
and climb. One group of fish began to develop lungs,
whether from desire or necessity we do not know, but some
of their lineal descendants are still found in the rivers of
Australia, Africa and South America. They breathe like
other fishes during the wet seasons and then breathe with
their lungs when the rivers dry up. They are the ances-
tors of the next general class of vertebrates — the Amphibia.
But since fins are useless as a means of locomotion on land,
they then began to develop legs. Nature aids the efforts of
her creatures if these efforts are directed in the right direc-
tion. When gills were of no further use, she developed a
spongy lung capable of extracting oxygen from the air.
Where fins could be no longer used, she developed legs as
a means of locomotion. As the fish were flopping about in
the shallow water, the fins became less useful and the neces-
sity for legs increased. If we wear a tight fitting shoe
[194]
Complex Life — The Invertebrates
where some part of the foot is subjected to constant rubbing,
Nature thickens the skin of the disturbed part until it
becomes thicker and calloused as a means of resisting the
friction and as a protection to the more tender parts.
In like or similar manner, little appendages began to
form on the bodies of the fishes. These developed with
use and as their constant use continued, Nature developed
therein bones, supporting muscles and all that goes to make
a useful leg. Scales were cast off and a flexible skin then
covered the entire body. With the development of legs
and other body changes, the new animal could then hop or
crawl on land. Thus, through adaptations, another great
step in the chain of life was taken and another class, that of
the amphibia, came into being.
Nature does not abandon the work in which she has been
engaged for millions of years in a single day. While the
new class of animals took on new habits of life on the land,
they still clung to many of the habits of their aquatic ances-
tors. Amphibians, even to the present time, are essentially
fishes in their development in early life. The amphibians
and in fact every animal that is hatched from an egg repeat
the history of their ancestral development. Tadpoles are
hatched in the water. When they are first hatched, they
are blind and mouthless and have neither ears, nose nor
gills. In the eggs from which they have come, they have
repeated all the life processes that have preceded them. But
soon after hatching, they develop a mouth, eyes, ears, gills,
nose and a horny jaw, but they are, as yet, essentially fishes.
They are not yet ready for life on land but within a few
weeks hind limbs begin to develop beneath the skin and, like
[195]
A Story Outline of Evolution
a baby cutting its teeth, they finally protrude. At a little
later date fore limbs develop in the same manner. The tail
which was used in swimming is now of no further use and
is therefore cast off. These limbs now serve as arms and
legs upon which are attached fingers and toes. Their lives
will be spent in and near the water and, because of this,
webs of skin are attached between the toes to aid them in
swimming. They are now able to swim, crawl and hop.
When approached upon the bank of a stream or pond, they
revert to their primitive instincts by jumping into the water
as a means of protection.
If we shall notice a fresh water stream or pond in the
springtime, we can see the very processes of Evolution work-
ing before us. Fastened in strings upon the water weeds
or marshy grass may be found the eggs of frogs in the
process of incubating. In this act they are repeating all the
former life processes. From day to day we can see the
metamorphosis of the tadpole taking place — eyes and ears
developing, gills and tail disappearing, mouth opening, legs
protruding, the notochord changing to a jointed back-bone,
bones forming in the limbs and a skull forming as a protec-
tion to the brain. They change from gills to lungs, and
from a vegetable to an animal diet. Aill this is just repeat-
ing the life processes of millions of years in a few week's
time.
Different environments have brought about different
habits among the various amphibia. Some have abandoned
the water as a place for depositing their eggs. Some of the
salamanders bring forth their young alive. In a few species
of tree toads that have abandoned the water, the eggs are
[196]
Complex Life — The Invertebrates
sitored in a pouch on the back of the parent until the early
stages of growth are completed while in one of the South
American toads, the eggs are placed by the male on the
back of the female where they sink in cavities of the skin.
Here, true to their ancestral heredity, they pass through
the tadpole metamorphosis and emerge with the form of
the adult in a similar manner to that of the marsupialia.
It is a noteworthy fact that many of the frogs, like many
of the fishes are cannibals and eat their own offspring. The
toads live chiefly on insects, and insect larvae while the prin-
cipal food of the frogs consists of water insects, small fishes,
snails, bugs, and such other small life as live in marshy
places. Another noteworthy fact is the power some of this
group possess to change their color to correspond to the
objects about them as a means of protection against their
enemies.
In some of the tree toads this chameleonic character-
istic is so highly developed that they have the power of
changing their color with each change of position. Others
have gorgeous colors, perhaps, as danger signals, which give
warnings to their enemies to beware of the poison which
they possess while in others the warty protuberances of their
skin emit a milky, bitter secretion that protects them against
their enemies.
The amphibians, the same as the fishes, are cold-
blooded; that is they do not possess the power of regulat-
ing the body temperature and as a consequence, their move-
ments are noticeably reduced when the temperature sur-
rounding their bodies is lowered. The heart of the fishes
has only two cavities, an auricle and a ventricle. But when
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A Story Outline of Evolutio
N
the amphibians crawled out on land and began to breathe
their oxygen from the air, a new adaptation was necessary
and Evolution stepped in and created a new or third heart
chamber which gave to them greater capacity for purifying
the blood and becoming more active in their new environ-
ment. The circulatory system of the fis;hes is much more
complex than that of the invertebrate animals and the cir-
culatory system of the amphibians is much more complex
than that of the fishes. In like manner all the other body
organs were changed to meet the new environment surround-
ing them.
The amphibians were the first to leave the water and to
take up their abode on land. Here they literally left their
"footprints on the sands of time." Their tracks are found
imbedded in the sandstones as early as the Devonian period.
They became armored giants in the Carboniferous period
attaining a height and length of several feet. The early
amphibians lived in a period of world-wide uniformity of
climate with a warm moist atmosphere with less light and
heat coming from the sun. At this time the air was perhaps,
not yet sufficiently purified for the life of man but Evolution
was preparing the way for the higher life that was to follow.
[198]
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Reptiles.
' I HE next class or division in the tree of animal life Is that
of the reptiles. To a casual observer it may seem that
the reptiles having the general shape of body and to a cer-
tain extent a similar internal plan are not materially differ-
ent from that of the amphibians. But notwithstanding
external resemblance, they present to those concerned with
Evolution's facts a distinct line of demarcation. They were
the first true air-breathing land animals and they dominated
the earth for millions of years. They developed the first
egg with a shell and hatched their young on land without
returning to the sea. They pass through the fish-like stages
of ancestral development within the shell but they breathe
by lungs only after they are hatched. In these the circula-
tory system was undergoing great changes to meet the
changed conditions on land and the heart had developed
into four chambers. The size of the brain had increased
and nervous sensation had become more highly developed.
During the period of more than thirty million years
covering the Age of Reptiles, hundreds of bird-like, fish-like,
animal-like forms were developed. They became, through
adaptation, crawlers, climbers, runners, flyers and swim-
mers. They were both carnivorous and herbivorous. They
developed Into the most gigantic forms the world has ever
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A Story Outline of Evolution
known — giant lizards, turtles, crocodiles, serpents, dino-
saurs, pterosaurs and many other "saurs."
This was an age of physical combat among the giants
of all ages in their efforts to survive. The weaker were
conquered by the stronger and in turn the stronger were
conquered by the cunning of the weaker. Each group
played its part in the scheme of life and passed from the
stage of animal struggle yet leaving certain heritages for
the future life that was to come. Out of all the vast num-
bers of these that struggled for millions of years for sur-
vival, only four orders remain and these representatives are
the snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles. It has been
said that during this vast period of time, Nature made many
experiments and many mistakes. Adaptations that fit con-
ditions today could not fit conditions a hundred million years
ago for animal life has no part in geologic changes or
changes in climatic conditions except adaptations to meet
these changes.
It is the purpose of this outline to show, not all, but only
a few of the successive steps which animal life has taken in
passing from the lower to the higher forms. What special
progress has this class made over the heritage of the past
that will be a heritage for all life that is to follow? To
enumerate some of the changes in progressive development
we find that, after emerging from the egg, the gill slits are
gone and the animals of this class breathe by lungs; that the
first evidence of parental protection for the offspring begin
to appear; that the eggs are larger and fewer in number and
that they have a hard or leathery shell; that the eggs are
deposited in protective nests or sand best suited to their
[200]
The Reptiles
proper Incubation; that the heart now has four chambers
instead of three as in the preceding class; that the special
senses are more highly organized; that the size of the
brain has increased and bodily activities have been greatly
extended; that life on land was completely emancipated from
its former life in the sea, the primal home of all life; that
leathery wings were developed by which animal bodies were
first transported through the air; that the digestive system
was changed to meet food conditions on land; that many
forms of body armor and body weapons were developed
to aid them in their struggle for survival. All of these
changes were improvements over the body functions of the
amphibians and not only placed life on a higher scale, but
prepared it for the next great step of animal progress.
It was during this period that the most gigantic life
forms were developed. This was, indeed, an age of mons-
ters. Many species of dinosaurs, both carnivorous and her-
bivorous came into being. These were species of lizards —
some giants, some pigmies — some the size of a chicken and
some eighty feet long and standing nearly thirty feet high.
There were huge flying crocodiles and flying serpents. Some
of the giant, clumsy vegetarians attempted to grow a brain
in their tails. Some had massive hind legs and massive tails
which were used as a tripod when the lizard reared up to
feast upon the tops of the pahns and ferns. These vege-
tarians developed the thickest armor and the flesh eaters
developed the biggest and the sharpest teeth.
The flying crocodiles were insect eaters. As these devel-
oped their forelegs into wings and took to the air in quest
of their favorite food, we find the forces of Evolution,
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A Story Outline of Evolution
Nature's way, again changing their body forms to meet their
new environment. They shed and cast away their teeth.
Their long and heavy tails disappeared. Their bodies devel-
oped a shape that would offer the least resistance to the air
and their bones became thinner, lighter and stronger. Their
plate-like armor was cast off because their swiftness of
motion enabled them to escape their enemies and this protec-
tive armor was no longer needed. Their wings were bat-
like and in some, had a wing spread of twenty feet. The
change from land to air was no quick and sudden change
but on the other hand, it was a change covering millions of
years. It is generally conceded that like the flying squirrel,
it was at first a crawler or climber to the palm and fern
tops after its favorite food and as necessity arosie, folds of
skin were flattened out to resist the air and, perhaps, lessen
the fall. Then the hind legs were reduced and the fore legs
developed into wings. Nature was laying the foundation
preparing the way for a new order of flying creatures —
the birds.
We have seen that the heart of the fishes was two-cham-
bered, the amphibians three-chambered, while that of the
reptiles was four-chambered. But the circulatory system
was not yet perfected to a point where the body temperature
could be controlled and the blood purified as in the next
class — the mammals. The reptiles were still cold-blooded.
Many of these reptiles, after living for millions of years on
land and adapting themselves to its uses, forsook the land
and returned again to the sea. Nature began all over again
to adapt their bodies to the environment of the sea. Here
their legs were developed into flappers and they became the
[202]
The Reptiles
Ichthyosaurus or fish lizard. Another group left the land
for the sea and became the great snake lizards — the Moso-
saurus. Great battles daily raged among these monsters on
both land and in the sea. They were struggling for suprem-
acy in the kingdom of life and In many cases their kind Is
blotted out for reasons beyond their control. It may have
been because their food supply gave out or because the ani-
mals upon which they were living changed their habits or
were exterminated by some pestilence. It may have been
because of changing climatic conditions or geological up-
thrusts of the surface of the earth. At any rate, they lived,
moved and had their being at a time and under conditions
far different than those of today. Their bodies In count-
less numbers, together with the fishes of the ancient seas,
were covered by earth movements, by waves, mud and sand
and their struggles In life preserved to oil the wheels of
industry when Cultural Evolution found a way to reach and
use the oils and gases which they had accumulated by their
labors when the earth was young. Little does the average
person think as he drives into a filling station and asks that
the crank case of his motor be filled with oil and his tank
with gasoline, that he Is using the substance of power
gathered and preserved by these fishes and reptile millions
of years ago. Everything In Nature has a purpose and noth-
ing is wasted. The sunshine and moisture brought forth the
palms and ferns and sea weeds that furnished food for the
insects, fishes, amphibians and reptiles and they In turn
changed these foods into the oils and gases of their bodies,
the power of which transport us In our automobiles and in
aeroplanes from place to place. We have seen that the first
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A Story Outline of Evolution
flying animal was the wide-wlnged flying crocodile and that
these were insect eaters. In principle, the modern aeroplane
is patterned after the flying crocodile whose muscular power
was furnished by the insects it ate and the source of the power
that propels and lubricates the parts of the mechanical ma-
chine is the same as the flying crocodile used millions of
years ago. Every plant that has been swayed by the wind
or ocean waves, every animal that has squirmed, wriggled,
swam, crawled, walked or flown has played its part in the
advancement of our civilization. All things are a part of
the Creative Plan. It was so in the beginning, is now and
ever will be. It is given to man to search out the relation-
ship of every part and apply it to the entire Plan. In no
other way can this be done except through the processes of
Evolution. We have seen that out of all the hundreds of
forms of animal life that were developed during the "Age
of Reptiles," only four of these orders still survive. One of
these orders is represented by the snake family. Since the
snake developed form and habits that have made it possible
for it to survive throughout the ages while many of its kin-
dred have passed from existence, it is well to learn some-
thing of its habits and history. The snake's ancestors were
forelegged animals of the lizard type. Somewhere down
the tree of life, there came a condition that caused it to
change its habits and its form. It may have been a change
in its food supply or it may have been brought about by some
enemy that preyed upon this particular family, but it gained
an advantage by casting off its legs and becoming a wriggler.
The snake, more than any other animate creature possesses
properties of mystery. Without feet or claws, fins, legs or
[204]
The Reptiles
wings, it travels on land and on water without noise or warn-
ing. It climbs a smooth barked tree or pole, thus apparently
defying the force of gravitation. Its movements are grace-
ful and weird and its strikes its foe with the speed of an
arrow, winds its body about its prey and crushes the breath
of life from its victim. Many of this family have developed
poison fangs which all other animal life have learned to
shun. Because of the hinged and movable joints of its jaw
bones, it is enabled to swallow a victim three times the size
of its own neck. It sheds its skin and comes forth renewed
and rejuvenated. The glow and piercing of its eye has the
power of producing a paralyzing charm in its intended vic-
tim. Because of these mysterious qualities, the highest forms
to which animal life has attained — that of man in a savage
state, have worshipped the snake as possessing powers of
divinity. There is no mythology or ancient sculpture in
which the serpent does not bear a part. In the early ages
of man, serpent worship or Ophiolatry was universal. The
greatest prehistoric monuments of the savage races were
dedicated to the snake — the "stranger in the grass." Not
only do we find proof of its effect upon the minds of the early
primitive savage races in the form of serpent mounds made
mostly of earth but we find the same evidence in the lowest
strata of civilization in Egypt, Assyria, India and many of
the other ancient nations from which our civilization has
sprung.
In "Rivers of Life; or Sources and Streams of the Faith
of Men in all Lands" published in London, 1874, by Profes-
sor J. E. R. Forlong, and also in Bryant's "Ancient Mythol-
ogy," published in London, 1807, may be found what is per-
[205]
A Story Outline of Evolution
haps the most exhaustive study of serpent worship that has
been printed. Moses, In the name of God, forbade the
Israelites from Inquiring about the daemons, Ob and Ideone,
serpent gods, which shows that Ophiolatry had gained a foot-
hold on the primitive mind before the Bible was written.
When Nature takes a forward step and develops a new
and higher form of life, this new form Is not fully developed
but It must start at the beginning and crawl before It walks.
It Is surrounded by many enemies and In order to survive, it
must outclimb, outrun or outwit these enemies. Some of the
reptiles had begun to develop and hatch their eggs within
their bodies. Nature had been at work In many ways — adding
some Improvement here and casting off the useless In other
places. Preparations had been made for another order whose
advance guards had begun to appear. The reptiles had gone
as far as they could go and many of them were being cast
into the discard because of changing conditions. Up to this
time, there was little of parental care or altruism in the
world.
Nature always leaves sufficient vestigial organs In her
creatures to show us how Evolution works In building from
a lower to a higher order. We have seen that the reptiles
had four-chambered hearts but these were incomplete. Even
with the four Incomplete chambers, the reptiles had no power
of controlling the temperature of their blood. Like all cold-
blooded animals, they had no power of adaptation along
this line. But sometime toward the end of their 30,000,000
year reign, some reptile developed a true heart with two
auricles and two ventricles capable of separating the pure
and revitalized blood from the impure. They developed
[206]
The Reptiles
pores In their skin to help regulate the body temperature, and
changed their scales to hair and feathers. They began to
hatch their eggs within their bodies and to give birth to their
offspring. It must not be understood that the contempo-
raneous classes then living copied these new body functions
and adapted them to their present use — far from this. These
new developments furnished additional opportunities for
adaptation but all the new species that follow have sprung
from the parents that made the change. The other groups
have stayed In their own blind alley and failed to progress.
The foundation structure for two new general classes —
that of the birds and mammals was now prepared.
The birds are not directly descended from the leather
winged flying crocodiles, for their race is now extinct; but
instead, they have developed from a type of running or jump-
ing lizard that used only Its hind legs In running and chasing
Its food. They ran semi-upright using their forellmbs In a
flapping motion until they developed into wings. Their scales
became elongated and split up and developed into air cham-
bered feathers as an adaptation to their use. In the same
or similar manner, all their other bodily functions have devel-
oped to meet the conditions of their environment.
[207]
CHAPTER XIX.
Cooperation of Plant Life.
TOURING all the vast period of time since the first "Life
"^^^ Spark" came into being, there has been a community of
interest between all plant and animal life. Their progressive
struggles have been constant and contemporaneous. They
have marched hand in hand from the lowest to the highest
forms — each giving, each receiving from the other. With-
out this reciprocal arrangement, neither could long survive.
The algae is paired with the amoeba, the lowest forms of sea
weeds with the lowest forms of worms and protozoa, the
mosses and lichens with the trilobites and crinoids, the early
ferns with the flying insects and scorpions and so on through-
out the entire scale of life.
The vegetable kingdom possesses powers which the ani-
mal kingdom does not have. The plants extract oxygen from
the air and mineral foods from the air and soil. They have
the power of forming protoplasm and of storing the sun's
energy in usable form. They provide the food such as nuts,
roots, fruits, grains and grasses upon which all animal life
must depend, while animal life in turn, through its bacteria,
worms, etc., recreates the dead plants into plant food. In
addition to this, the higher forms of animal life become dis-
tributors, transporters, and fertilizers of plants and seeds.
As it required millions of years for the animals to reach
the stage of a backbone, so it required millions of years for
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Co-operation of Plant Life
the plants to reach the stage of a true leaf and other millions
of years for the plants to reach the stage of a true flower.
Throughout all of life there has been a perfect balancing of
equations in the forms of both plant and animal life. These
forms have gone through thousands of changes casting off
the useless and holding on to the useful and adapting them
to a higher purpose.
The lowest forms of plant life like the lowest forms of
animal life absorbed their nourishment through their cell
walls while floating in or on the water. When one of these
threw out an arm to get more food, that was action, change,
progress. Nature demands action and change and for these
she offers as a reward — development and progress. The
mosses that had developed into tree like ferns were still
reproducing themselves by spores. Life had reached a medi-
eval period in both the plant and animal kingdoms. It was
necessary that another forward step be taken and this was
brought about by the development of the leaf so arranged
that it could drink in and store away its energy from the sun.
In order to develop strength, it must have sunshine. We
have all seen a potato sending out its long, tender white
sprouts in a dark, damp cellar. It is simply reaching out and
searching for a ray of sunlight from which it may draw its
chlorophyll which gives to it both color and strength. The
roots are reaching out for water and plant food from the
soil while the leaves are drinking in energy from the sun, the
function of each is to build the main body and fit it for its
struggle in life. It does not possess the power of locomotion
and must of necessity adapt itself to its environment. If by
chance, its environment is cast in a favorable spot where
[2091
A Story Outline of Evolution
fertile soil, moisture, sunshine and favorable climatic condi-
tions are found, it will develop into a perfect specimen of its
species w^hile if these favorable conditions, or any of them
be wanting, the plant's struggle become greater and its devel-
opment dwarfed. Proper environment, therefore, is just as
important in the development of plant life as it is in the
development of animal life.
In the sacred scriptures we have the admonition, "Con-
sider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not,
neither do they spin, yet I say unto you that even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." If we
shall heed this admonition and consider the make-up, the
construction of these lilies, we shall find that the flower is
the immediate agent in the production of the seed which con-
tains the embryo which resurrects and brings forth a new life.
What may be said of the lily may also be said of all the
flowering plants. The seed embryo is the end toward which
the whole structure is designed. The organization of the
flower forms one of the most interesting studies in Nature.
Its parts are many and these parts are each performing their
separate functions. They vary in form to an almost infinite
degree but with one central purpose of reproducing their
kind and playing their part in the plan of evolutionary
growth. The juices of the rushes, mosses and ferns fur-
nished the lower animals food which enabled them to develop
into higher types and as these higher types developed, it was
necessary that the plant types take the lead in order that the
advancement of the animal types should be unretarded.
The pistils, the female part of the flower which bear
the seeds, occupy the center of the flower. These are sur-
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Co-operation of Plant Life
rounded by the stamens, the male part of the flower which
fertihzes the seeds. Nature had discovered that "in breed-
ing" produces degeneration and that "cross breeding" pro-
duces new varieties and progress. Since the plants do not
have the power of locomotion and since both male and female
sex organs are located in the flower, Nature arranged a
reciprocal plan between the flower and insects that would
bring about "cross breeding" thus insuring new varieties and
stronger offspring. This arrangement forms one of the most
interesting pages in Nature study. The stamens produce the
pollen dust that fertilizes the seeds. In some plants the wind
will carry this pollen dust to a neighboring plant but not in
all varieties. Insects carry this pollen dust on their bills, feet,
legs and wings. In some of them, it is carried in baskets on
their legs. But going from plant to plant calls for work
which must be rewarded. The flowers have developed both
color and fragrance to attract the insects and then as a
reward, the flowers have developed little cups of nectar-
honey which is a delicious food for all honey loving insects.
In gathering this honey which surrounds the pistils of the
flower, the pollen dust from the nearby stamens is brushed
off and attaches to the bill, feet, wings, legs and baskets of
the insects and is then carried to some neighboring plant and
brushed off on its pistils. Thus the plan of cross breeding is
carried on among the plants.
But this reciprocal agreement is not always carried out
in good faith and conscience because some of the plants have
turned criminal, have become flesh eaters, and use their honey
as a bait for the trap into which they can entice their prey
and then fasten them up and devour them. Others are par-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
ticularly partial to certain kinds of insects. Experience has
taught them that they receive better returns in their cross
breeding from some insects than they do from others and as
a reward for the better service, they protect their honey cups
so as to give advantage to the favored class. The plants
that depend on the aid of insects for cross fertilization
develop the most beautiful flowers, the greatest amount of
nectar and the sweetest fragrance while the ones that depend
on the wind to bring about their cross fertilization, make no
effort to develop these unnecessary functions.
According to the evolutionary plan, from the beginning
of life, it was ordained that there should be change and
growth and that each change should be for the better and
that the ultimate end should be perfection of the type in rela-
tion to the creative whole. Plant Intelligence In making
changes for the better and in adaptation to surroundings is
another Interesting demonstration of the cooperation of all
life in order to reach the ultimate end — perfection. It Is
not given to our finite minds to understand the cunning of
plant Intelligence nor the secret processes by which the mar-
velous changes are wrought. When we realize that the beau-
tiful and snow white water lily Is only a changed form of the
mud and slime from which it grows, and that the life germ
of each seed possesses all the plant's traditions of the past
and Its potential powers of future changes and growth to
meet the conditions of a changing environment, we must con-
clude that no other plan could have been devised to meet
these changing conditions except that of Evolution.
It must not be understood that the lives of the plants
have been floating on "flowery beds of ease" for such Is not
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Co-operation of Plant Life
the case. On the other hand, there have been and now are
just as fierce struggles going on in the vegetable kingdom as
there are in the animal kingdom so far as a survival of
the fittest is concerned. The law of the jungle is no less
merciful than the contest that is constantly going on for
advantage and supremacy in plant life. The roots of all
plants are pushing out, moving and struggling for moisture
and the life giving substances which they are gathering from
the soil to pass on to the parent body, while, at the same time,
the leaves are drinking in body building elements from the
air and sun. If these root fingers come in contact with the
root fingers of some rival plant whose quest is for the same
life giving substances, the root fingers are entwined in a
stranglehold of death for the weaker of the two. While
these struggles for mastery are going on unseen beneath the
soil, the upper branches are pushing, crowding and reaching
higher for the other life giving substances from the air and
sunshine. The contest is not always awarded to the one
possessing the greatest strength of body, but instead, the
cunning intelligence of the weaker plant, such as the creeping
vines, sometimes overcomes the superior strength of the
stronger rival. Thus the endless struggle for the survival
of the fittest plant has gone on from the beginning and it
will continue to do so throughout the future centuries.
The cooperative effort of plant life has furnished food,
clothing and shelter for the animal kingdom without which
no animal life could exist. Just as animal life has advanced
in gradual and successive steps through long periods of time
from the amoeba to man, so has plant life developed from
the algae to mosses, from mosses to ferns, from ferns to
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A Story Outline of Evolution
shrubs and plants and from plants and shrubs to trees. They
have yielded fruits, nuts, roots, grains and grasses as foods
for animal life, their fibers for nests and clothing and their
bodies for shelter and protection. During this period of
development many thousands of changes have taken place.
Many have fallen by the wayside and perished; many have
gone Into blind alleys and failed to progress, while others
have been content to remain in the same condition as they
were at the dawn of creation.
The changes that have taken place in the forms and
varieties of plant life have been brought about through
adaptation to fit surrounding conditions but just what force
or condition or combination of forces and conditions are
required by unaided Nature to produce a new variety of
fruit, grain, grass or vegetable is not known. Unaided
Nature has been forming these throughout the ages. But
when Cultural Evolution came to the aid of Nature, all mat-
ter of useful plant life has been Improved by selecting the
strongest seeds from the strongest parents, by destroying
plant enemies, by cultivating and fertilizing the soil, by cross
breeding, by budding, grafting and pruning, and through
these processes new varieties have been created. Through
the cooperation of plant life with animal life and through
the aids of Cultural Evolution to plant life, the vegetable
kingdom and the animal kingdom have climbed upward to
higher plains of existence. If we shall judge the future by
the past, it would be a hazardous guess to predict what may
be possible In the way of future development. The statement
of the Grecian philosopher — "Most men are fools, Alcebia-
[214]
Co-operation of Plant Life
des, because they fail to discover in the germ or even in the
growing stalk the vast possibilities of development" is more
pregnant with truth today than it was when uttered more
than 2,000 years ago.
UiSJ
CHAPTER XX.
The Birds.
"D EFORE taking up a study of the last and greatest class
in the tree of animal life, the mammals, it is instructive
to note the cumulative evidence presented by the birds in a
story of Evolution. In an outline such as this volume is
intended to be, they shall only be considered in their relation
to adaptation and environment; of the part they play in the
Plan of Creation and of their importance to all life, both
plant and animal. Birds are the warm blooded near rela-
tives of the reptiles. Their toothed, reptile-like ancestors
began to change their scales into feathers and fossil evidence
has been found in that of the Archaeopteryx which was appar-
ently half bird and half lizard and having a tail as long as
the body with two long feathers growing from each vertebra.
This proves their ancestry. We have seen that their fore-
limbs have been developed into wings by their constant flap-
ping while chasing their food or escaping from their enemies.
In these fossil birds the wings were not as yet fully developed
and the claws on the fingers were distinct in what is now the
wing tip of all true birds.
These were the connecting link intermediate between
reptiles and birds. These ancestors of the birds developed
a four-chambered heart that started their development along
a branch contemporaneous with but different from the branch
that has been followed by the mammals. The food supply
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The Birds
of both the birds and mammals is determined by the environ-
ment surrounding them and all the many thousands of differ-
ent forms into which they have developed is directly trace-
able to their food supply. The most distinguishing mark of
birds above all other creatures is that of feathers which are
designed for both strength and lightness and fits them for
the power of flight. Their feet and toes are still covered
in a modified form with the ancestral scales of the lizard.
Their internal structure has been modified to meet modifica-
tions of their bodily forms. In the far distant past, they
developed their upper and lower jaws into hornlike bills or
beaks. These have a great variety of forms depending on
the kind of food upon which they live. The necks are either
long, short or of medium lengths depending entirely upon
their food and environment. The forellmbs have developed
into wings with the same number of bones as are found in
the other vertebrates. The hand of their ancestors has been
developed Into a flattened bone Indicating the joining of the
several bones of the hand.
Their circulatory system is developd to a high degree,
which together with their air chambered covering of feathers,
gives to them an even body temperature ranging from 102°
to 100° Fahrenheit. Because of their pure blood and high
body temperature, they are unusually active in their habits
and develop a great amount of endurance. In some species
during their period of rapid growth, the young will consume
food in quantities equal to three times their own weight in a
single day.
Their ancestral teeth were cast off before the seeds and
grain had developed Into their present hardness. To over-
[217]
A Story Outline of Evolution
come the necessity of grinding teeth, they developed their
stomachs into muscular gizzards and among the grain and
seed eaters, these gizzards are aided in their cutting and
grinding by sand and pebbles. They have thus developed a
mill within themselves Instead of reverting to their ancestral
teeth. In those species using food that requires the greatest
amount of stomach work before It can be digested, their
esophagus is dilated Into a crop In which the food Is softened
before passing on to the gizzard for grinding.
The waders present an Interesting study. They are aqua-
tic in their habits but Instead of swimming and diving for
their food, they seek and obtain their food by wading along
the shores of the creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes and oceans.
Because of this habit, they are commonly called "shore birds"
or "waders." Nature has adapted them for such an exist-
ence by giving to them long legs, long necks and bills that are
longer than their heads. The night herons that belong to
this class are uncanny In their methods of fishing. They
stand In the reeds along the shallow shores sometimes for
hours waiting for their prey. The smaller fish are picked up
and swallowed whole while the larger ones, some weighing
as much as four pounds, are pierced to the vertebra by the
sharp bill and paralyzed, and then cut into pieces small
enough to be swallowed.
No place in the entire scheme of life are the social rela-
tions of plants and animals to one another more clearly dem-
onstrated than in the part played in the ecology of Nature
by the birds. Each of the many species of birds are playing
their part In the Plan of Creation. The vultures and scaven-
gers are ridding the earth of its putrefying dead. The song-
[218]
The Birds
sters are filling the world with joy and gladness. The insect
eaters, the most important of all groups, make the existence
of plant and animal life on earth possible and, without their
aid, no life can long exist. Each plant and animal has an
enemy and some of them have many. The parasites and
saprophytes are those that live on the work of others. The
statement that "Every louse has a louse" is partly literal
truth. But besides the parasites and saprophytes, enemies of
all life, there are hundreds of thousands of other forms that
are depending on the same foods that man depends on for
his existence. These insects produce their offspring by the
millions at each hatching, whereas the mammals produce
only a few. Many insects develop into adult form within a
few hours or days at least, whereas, most mammals require
months or years to develop into an adult stage. There must
be a means of keeping all life in balance and the birds fur-
nish this balance above all other creatures.
Chester A. Reed, an eminent authority on birds, in his
"Bird Guide," says: "The daily consumption of noxious
insects in Massachusetts is twenty-one thousand bushels. The
estimate is good for about five months in the year. May to
September, inclusive : during the remainder of the year the
insects, eggs, and larvae destroyed by our winter, late fall and
early spring migrants will be equivalent to nearly half this
quantity." It must be remembered that Massachusetts is a
small State but multiply this by forty-eight for all the states,
multiply the millions of insects contained in a daily ration
and then multiply this number by the potential reproductive
capacity of each insect and egg destroyed and we have astro-
nomical figures which portray the possibility and probability
[219]
A Story Outline of Evolution
of the extermination of all life in a short time if it were not
for the balance brought about by the birds. Many of these
birds turn these harmful insects into an agency of food for
man. As we use the stored energy of dinosaur and flying
crocodile in our automobiles, so likewise when we sit down
to a chicken or turkey dinner, it Is a la bug, worm and grass-
hopper, our enemies transformed, that we are eating.
Nature has developed the form of each group so that it
is best fitted to secure the food It eats with the least effort.
Every part of the entire form Is adapted for a specific pur-
pose. Every wing, neck, bill, foot, leg and feather are
adapted to some particular function. The swimmers are
endowed with webfeet, the waders with long legs and long
bills, the fish eaters with sharp claws and hooked bills and
their colors are usually developed to match the colors of
their surroundings as a protection against their enemies.
Their ancestral tails have been drawn up Into a little knob
yet containing an atrophied vertebra which furnishes a flexi-
ble tail rudder in their flight. But some of these families
found places where food could be secured with little effort.
Some of their body organs that had been developed as a
matter of necessity In their struggle for food were no longer
needed and no longer used. Nature demands action of its
creatures and unless action continues, she sets up processes
of destruction whose purpose is to destroy the Inactive part,
for nothing In Nature Is constant. All life Is either advanc-
ing or retreating. Because of a change of food In some of
the birds or because of its abundance, they quit the use of
wings and as a consequence. Nature began to tear down and
[220]
The Birds
to atrophy these inactive members and this accounts for the
birds that have lost the power of flight.
We have seen that the first dim evidences of parental
care began to manifest themselves in the fishes. These
increased with the amphibians and reptiles; but the true
parental instinct came into being when the heart became
four-chambered and the blood turned warm. This instinct
of caring for, feeding and protecting the helpless offspring
was distilled in the first warm blood. It was a part of Evolu-
tion's plan. It did not descend like a falling meteor at any
particular time or place but instead it came by ages of growth
in blended stages. It was the forerunner of the end toward
which all life is directed — that of giving life for the life of
others.
Thus far all the struggles in life have been physical but
now Nature brings forth a manifestation of animal affec-
tion that later on in the highest order of creation develops
into the cosmic force which we call love. It started in the
lower order of birds and mammals and is now revealed in
its highest form in man. The mother love in the bird fam-
ily has developed along the same lines as that of the mam-
mals until they will give, if need be, their lives in order that
their offspring may survive.
[221]
CHAPTER XXI.
The Mammals.
I HE mammals constitute the topmost branch In the tree
of animal life. They are all warm blooded, air breath-
ing, terrestrial animals except those that have forsaken the
land and returned again to their primordial home — the sea.
The whales and seals are representatives of this order and
these are still air-breathing, warm-blooded creatures. Their
early development takes place Inside the body of the mother
where most of the processes through which all former life
has passed are again repeated. After birth the young are
suckled or nourished from the fatty, or milky, secretions of
the mammary glands. These secretions have been distilled
from the food which the mother takes and from her body
tissues and developed Into a digestible form containing the
greatest amount of nourishment with the least digestive effort
for the young offspring.
The overlapping scales of the fishes and reptiles have
given way and been changed into a coating of hair with which
the bodies of most mammals are generally covered. This
serves as a body protection and helps to keep the blood at an
optimum temperature.
There^are three groups in the mammal class of animals,
namely :
1 — Those whose body forms are completed within the body of the
mother.
[222]
The Mammals
2 — Those whose body forms are only partially developed within
the body of the mother and then removed to a pouch on
the underside of the body. In this pouch the young are
suckled until they are able to gather their own food. The
opossum and kangaroo belong to this order. The opossum
is the lowest order of mammals found in the United States.
3 — Those that are hatched from an egg and suckled from the
breasts of the mother.
This third group is the lowest order of the mammal
class. In Australia, "The Land of Inverted Orders," we
find living along the rivers an animal which the scientists call
Ornithorhynchus, a duck mole, which has the bill of a duck,
a body and tail resembling an otter and which lays one egg
each year from which its young is hatched. It then suckles
its young in the same manner as do the other mammals. The
duck moles and a type of ant-eaters are the only mammals
which lay eggs.
The first of these groups may be divided into the follow-
ing orders :
1 — Insect Eaters — such as moles and shrews.
2 — Toothless Mammals — such as the anteaters, sloths and arma-
dillos.
3 — Bats — insect eating flying mammals.
4 — Rodents or Gnawers — such as mice, rats, squirrels and por-
cupines.
S — Hoofed Mammals — One-toed: horse. Two-toed: cow, sheep,
etc. Four-toed: hippopotamus. Five-toed: elephant.
6 — Mammals that have left the land and returned to the sea;
whales, seals, etc.
7 — Flesh Eaters — cats, dogs, wolves, etc.
8 — Man-like mammals — such as lemurs, monkeys and man.
[223]
A Story Outline of Evolution
There are more than 10,000 species of mammals in
existence at the present time, the greater number of which
belong to the first of the three general groups above men-
tioned. They are found under all possible conditions of life
from the equator to the poles. They have adapted their
bodies for habitations on the soil, in the subsoil, in trees,
caverns of the earth. In the air, and In both fresh and salt
water. Their range and distribution cover all conditions of
existence In a variety of adaptations to meet the conditions
of the environments surrounding them. They nourish their
young upon milk which is produced from the mammary
glands of the mother and from which the class is named.
These glands are arranged In pairs and In no animal Is the
number less than two with the number Increasing In propor-
tion to the number of young produced at each birth. Dur-
ing the period of gestation, these glands are developed so
that their secretions may furnish the proper food for the
delicate digestive system of the new born offspring which is
unable to digest the food upon which the mother lives. The
position of these glands Is determined by the convenience
they afford to the young offspring so that it may secure Its
nourishment with the least effort. Nature always devises
ways providing for the functioning of body organs with the
least effort. In the whales that have forsaken the land and
returned again to the sea, prolonged sucking would be a
difficult process. Nature has overcome this difficulty by
dilating the glands where the mother's milk is collected in
a reservoir around which a compressor muscle Is developed
and the milk Is jetted into the mouth of the baby whale with-
out the necessity of a continuous sucking process as is
[224]
The Mammals
required In all land mammals. It Is the generally accepted
belief among scientists that the milk glands are an evolu-
tionary development of the sweat glands.
The transition from reptiles to mammals has covered a
period of many millions of years. We learn much from the
fossil remains of many species of mammals that were unable
to continue In their struggle for existence and we also learn
much of the ancestors of many living species whose forms
have been changed by evolutionary processes to meet the con-
ditions of changing environments. Nature leaves her foot-
prints which connect the trail of the dim past to the present
so that we may know how many of these changes came to be.
One of the most Instructive connecting links between
reptiles and mammals Is found In the living forms of the
duckbilled water mole heretofore mentioned and also of the
porcupine ant-eater, both of which are found only In Aus-
tralia and Its adjacent Islands. These animals are warm-
blooded, that Is they have developed four chambered hearts.
They have developed sweat glands to regulate the body tem-
perature. They have changed their scales Into hair and
quills, have only one excretory duct for the discharge of the
waste matter of the body, suckle their young like other mam-
mals, and yet they still lay eggs which are hatched somewhat
in reptile fashion. These are the first steps above the reptiles
yet they are the lowest order of the mammal group. Their
young are nourished from enlarged pores of the mother's
skin which secrete a milky substance. They furnish a living
example of Nature's first effort to nourish the young from
the mother's milk.
[225]
A Story Outline of Evolution
This duckbilled water-mole represents a great advance-
ment over the highest form of reptile life and yet it is the
lowest form of the more than 10,000 species of the general
class toward which all evolutionary effort has been tending.
It has remained in its own blind alley during millions of years
because it has failed to change into a higher form. Nature
has been experimenting and calling new forces into use.
Other living animal forms show us the next step in evolu-
tionary development. The opossums, kangaroos, certain
ant-eaters, the Tasmanian wolf and many small rodents
belong to this group. These have passed from the egg-
laying state but they have not reached the stage of advance-
ment where their young are born in a completely developed
state. They represent the order between hatching and true
birth. In this group, the young are partially developed
within the body of the mother and when they are born, they
are placed in a pouch on the under side of the mother's body,
each given a small teat to suck from which they are nourished
until they are ready to care for themselves. Even after they
leave the pouch, the mother cares for them and teaches them
in the art of securing food. The tails of the opossum are
without hair and still contain the atrophied scales of their
reptile ancestors.
The opossum has developed the very peculiar deceiving
habit of feigning death when attacked by an enemy and it is
so persistent in this deceit that it will remain apparently life-
less while its bones are being crushed by a dog or other enemy.
This same deceiving habit is found among many of the inver-
tebrates. The kangaroos use their powerful hind legs in a
hopping process as a means of locomotion and by this method
[226]
The Mammals
they are able to travel at a high rate of speed when fright-
ened or pursued. They use their tails as a third leg, which
with their hind legs, forms a tripod for the support of the
body while standing in much the same manner as did some
of the dinosaurs.
Nature has decreed that all life must have an urge — a
compulsion before It can leave Its low vaulted past and
ascend to a higher plane. This ascent is the result of mil-
lions of cooperating conditions, so admirably woven together
that they form the very essence of life Itself for every act of
living Is so related to the entire plan that It contains within It
the principles of progress. The great principles of progress
In all living things is work and without work, no progress can
be made. The whole economy of Nature produces a com-
pulsion that requires work which in turn creates progress.
Throughout the vast periods of time since life first
squirmed in a single cell to the coming of the mammals, the
great compulsions of life were those of satisfying hunger, of
self-preservation, and of reproducing their kind. Up to this
limb in the tree of animal life all life was selfish as a matter
of necessity for all the lower forms knew neither home nor
care. The first dim dawn of the care of offspring probably
appears with some of the fishes. This dawn Is brighter with
the amphibians and brighter still with the coming of the
reptiles but this care for offspring had not ripened Into affec-
tion until the last great class — the mammals was reached.
There had been maternity but no motherhood for there Is a
vast difference between these terms. Maternity embraces
only the physical act of reproducing in kind while that of
motherhood embraces all of maternity and in addition
[227]
A Story Outline of Evolution
thereto, It embraces love, affection, recognition and care of
offspring. When the lower orders produced and still pro-
duce offspring by the thousands and millions, there is no
time, opportunity or object for mother-love; but when the
offspring is reduced to one or a few, mother-love, with all
that the term implies is a physical necessity for the perpetua-
tion of the species.
Before the coming of the mammals, there were no
inherited traditions of the past experiences of ancestral life;
there were only life memories and the use of evolutionary
adaptations. But when the complete body was formed
within the body of the animal and when the new born off-
spring took its first nourishment from the parent body, then
the female parent became a mother. From the mother's
milk each new born creature in the mammal class sucks in
all the memories, the instincts, the traditions and experience
of the species of which it is a part. In no other way can the
inherited tendencies of ancestral experiences be reasonably
explained.
Mother-love is the most potent force in the world. It is
the foundation upon which all animal experiences and reason
are built. It is the force that developed the family life, the
herd instinct for mutual protection and brought altruism
into being. It is the basis of all social orders from the low-
est mammal forms to that of man. With the coming of
mother-love, the forces that have led to a higher life were
set in rapid motion and these forces have developed brains
as an agency for their operation. The evolving forces of
Nature through millions of cooperating conditions may now
be traced with increasing interest for the reason that all
[228]
The Mammals
mammals have so many things in common and because of
the similarity of all the animal forms of this class.
The basic structure and the organization of all mammal
forms are the same. Their anatomical structure is the same
or similar In minute detail. They are all warm blooded,
air breathing capable of adapting themselves to changing
weather conditions or geographical locations. Except in a
few cases, they all have four limbs, the front pair of which
may terminate either in hands or feet depending on the uses
to which they have been put. Generally speaking, they have
the same number of bones in the head and trunk. They all
give birth to, suckle and care for their young. They are all
developed from a single cell and during their embryonic
period, repeat again the processes through which all pre-
vious forms have passed. They all see, hear, taste, smell
and feel. Many of the higher forms, the ascending groups,
are Intelligent; they possess the faculty of memory, form
ideas and draw conclusions. They play, exhibit anger,
hatred, sorrow, love, joy, devotion and affection. These
attributes differ in degree only depending on the degree of
progress which the respective species has made in the tree
of animal life. The forms of the more than 10,000 differ-
ent species of mammals are determined by the environments
that they have adopted or In which their lot has been placed.
If proofs that lead to reasonable conclusions be applied
to a determination of the origin of the mammals, and If this
origin cannot be reasonably explained in any other way, then
the only reasonable conclusion based on the evidences of
Evolution is that the mammals have sprung from a common
reptile-like ancestor; that these ancestors developed a four
[220I
A Story Outline of Evolution
chambered heart, threw off the egg-laying process of repro-
ducing their kind, changed their scales to hair, gave birth to,
suckled and cared for their young and became mothers.
These new creatures began to develop and to increase their
brains to guide them in their struggles for existence. They
began to disburse and to adapt themselves to their surround-
ings and to seek out food for their sustenance.
The greatest factor in developing the vast numbers of
different animal forms is that of selecting food. As a par-
ticular food was selected by one of these creatures to nourish
and sustain its family. Nature changed the form of its body
and developed its body organs so that the particular food
thus selected might be more easily obtained. If this par-
ticular food gave out or if another kind of food was selected,
Nature again shaped its body form and body organs so that
it might secure and utilize the new diet in the most economi-
cal manner. The shape, bones, teeth, skin, claws and mus-
cles of each species were thus developed and changed.
The ground mole chose to burrow in the ground and to
live on grubs and worms. Nature developed its huge paddle
shaped clawed forefeet for digging its way through the soil.
Nature had given to it eyes but since it forsook the beauty
of day and the pleasure of seeing. Nature has robbed it of
its eyes which are now of its own choosing useless and rudi-
mentary. The giraffe and its immediate ancestors devel-
oped a liking for the tender top branches of the trees in its
surrounding and Nature aided it by developing for its use
long legs and a long neck so that these sought after tender
top branches might be more easily secured and with the least
effort. The giraffe's long neck has exactly the same num-
[230]
The Mammals
ber of bones as has the neck of a man. The elephant began
to develop long tusks and of such porportlons that It could
not crop the grass and tender shoots by reason of the Inter-
ference of Its tusks. Nature In order to overcome this diffi-
culty developed for It a flexible proboscis made up of 40,000
muscles, tendons and tissues with which It could gather and
feed Itself. The elephant would now be extinct from starva-
tion, had not Nature developed Its efficient trunk.
In the history of all mammal life there Is, perhaps, no
more conclusive and satisfying Illustration of the change In
animal forms and of their adaptation to environment than
Is the evidence furnished by the horse. The horse's ancestry
may be traced back through an unbroken line for a period
of approximately 3,000,000 years at which time Its ancestors
were no larger than a fox with four complete toes on each
forefoot and three on each hind foot. There Is considerable
evidence to support the belief that the ancestors of the ances-
tors had five toes on each foot as do most of the present day
mammals. Through the fossil evidence which they have left
to us, their life's history may be traced through succeeding
stages of change and progress. During this long period of
time the horse's ancestors passed through many changes In
all parts of the body, but especially In the feet and teeth.
These small primitive animals forsook the forests and parted
company with their jungle cousins and selected the open
plains as a place for their habitation. The modern horse
In a wild state still selects the open plains and plateaus as a
place for Its habitation. Here on these sun baked plains and
plateaus the horse and its primitive ancestors have passed
through eleven successive stages or changes which have cul-
[231]
A Story Outline of Evolution
minated In the form of the modern horse. These primitive
ancestors probably deserted the forests and jungles In order
to escape their jungle enemies or, perhaps, the scanty stunted
herbage of these plains produced a more satisfying food, but
in any event, there was no necessity for so many toes. The
middle finger or toe began to increase in length and the toe
nail to increase in size. This process continued throughout
vast periods of time and the other toes began to atrophy
and to be cast off. The horse now walks on its middle toe
and its toe nail has developed into a hoof. But Nature does
not cast off the work she has done through long periods in
a single day. She uses, perhaps, as much time in the destruc-
tion of an organ as she did in its creation. The evolution-
ary process of casting off the unused toes is still at work.
The little hoof like appendages on the inner sides of the
horse's legs near the knee joints are simply the rudimentary
toe nails of a toe that has been cast off for a lack of use and
Nature has not quite finished the work of removing the toe
nails. A corresponding change has taken place in the teeth
to meet the changes in the character of their food obtained
upon the plains. The contemporary ancestors of most of the
quadrupeds, perhaps all of them, have modified their teeth
to meet the changing conditions and character of the food
that gives nourishment to their bodies. The compulsion of
hunger must be satisfied if life continues to exist. When a
food which has been used, either through necessity or choice,
for a long period of time Is no longer obtainable, then the
animal using this food must change its diet and adapt Its body
organs to the use of the new food or perish. Nature, in
[232]
The Mammals
aiding its creatures, has chosen the plan of adaptation rather
than that of extinction.
The fossil remains of the earliest known mammals date
back to a period approximating 10,000,000 years ago. A
comparison of all the mammal forms leads to the conclusion
that all the orders of this class have sprung from a com-
mon ancestor. After this class had arisen above the preced-
ing and lower class of reptiles, they began to increase rap-
idly and to disburse from the original home of the parent
ancestors. Some took one road and some another. These
roads lead to the uttermost parts of the world. In travel-
ing these roads, they were led into new conditions and new
surroundings which called for a change in their habits of
living. Some progressed and some did not. A multitude of
cooperating conditions extending over millions of years
developed new species. All of the various orders have been
forced by circumstances to pass through many changes.
These various changes are more numerous and more notice-
able in the active and ascending orders. These orders are
constantly reaching out and upward. In this ascent, they
have been punished for their mistakes and rewarded for their
progress. The brain has gradually increased in size until
the species possessing the largest brain now has dominion
over all the world and its creatures. Through its functions,
the Plan of Creation and the relation of all things to each
other are now being revealed to the animal that has reached
the topmost branch in the tree of animal life as a reward
for its efforts.
[233]
CHAPTER XXII.
The Evidence Furnished by Embryology.
HTHE preceding pages of this "Outline" have been directed
to a study of the progressive history of all life from the
first original life cell to the present time. The changes in
this life history have been so gradual and they have covered
such long periods of time that they can only be classified in
periods of geologic time. They are blended together like
the colors of a rainbow. The fact of these changes cannot
be denied when they are subjected to an analysis based on
scientific tests. Progressive adaptations have taken place
but the basic laws of Nature have never changed. If Evolu-
tion was Nature's plan in the beginning, it is now and ever
will be the same plan. Any attempt to deny the laws of
Nature challenges the laws of reason and the laws of God.
No other branch of science has furnished more convinc-
ing proofs of the methods of evolutionary growth than has
that of Embryology. Here we can see the processes and
changes of life's physical development taking place. All
life is simply repeating the life processes of the past. These
processes not only repeat the actions of the primitive forms
through which all life has passed but, in addition thereto,
they repeat all the actions gained by adaptation and modi-
fication in the development of the particular species.
Just as it was in the beginning so it now is that all life
starts in the same way — from a single cell. The body of
[234]
The Evidence Furnished by Embryology
every living person, creature and thing in all the world has
been developed from a single cell. The first and original life
cell contained the potential powers of all future life whereas
the cells from which life now begins contains the history of
the past and the potential powers of development which are
possessed by the species to which the cell belongs. These
animal cells are all made up of the same substances. They
are round and are almost microscopic In size. They all have
a tough, skin-like, transparent outer covering which surrounds
and holds within its walls a protoplasmic substance and float-
ing within this substance is a globular speck which in most
cases can only be detected with the aid of a miscroscope. This
globular speck is the germ of the future body. It is the life
spark which contains the potential powers of development.
There Is no apparent difference in the form, size and com-
position of the germ cells of all the mammals. In fact, the
germ cells of a man, a mouse, a dog, elephant, cow, horse,
monkey or any other mammal are apparently the same but
they each contain far different ancestral history since their
remote ancestors started on different roads In their ascent
of life. When these germ cells begin their process of growth,
the first noticeable change Is a division by partition or seg-
mentation. The original cell is divided into two, the two
into four, the four into eight, etc., until the adult form is
reached when by multiplication and division the number has
reached into countless millions. As the original cell begins
its work of multiplication by division, each cell is put to work
in building up the complex structure of the species — some
working on one part and some on another but all in coopera-
tion with the whole plan. One set of cells have been work-
[235 1
A Story Outline of Evolution
Ing on the skin, another the hair, another the bones, another
the muscles and so on until the entire structure with its cor-
related functions is completed and again ready to reproduce
its kind. Since the first or parent germ cell of the body first
divided, nothing new has come into the structure except food
and work. The forms of Nature have been changed but not
the substance. The grass of the fields has been changed Into
bone, muscle, blood, skin and brain by the life processes of
work and growth. Each organ has been developed for some
particular function necessary for the preservation of the
whole.
The embryonic development of all mammals Is accom-
plished by much the same physical processes but human Em-
bryology has an Interesting appeal above all others because
It concerns the development of our own bodies. Just as we
have seen the development of writing, transportation, com-
munication, art, music and all other accomplishments in Cul-
tural Evolution from a crude beginning to a state of near
perfection, so likewise the development of the embryonic
cell, a thousand times more complex, may be traced with as
much certainty In Its various changes. It is not given to man
to see the mysterious life processes which cause these changes
but he can see the results of each change after the work h
done.
The human embryo is moulded into shape and form like
a drop of rain forming from the vapors and then moulded
Into the many angled snow flake or ice crystal. It does not
begin as a human form, but instead. It begins with the form
of its remotest ancestor. It does not assume the human
form until It has repeated the forms through which its ances-
[236]
The Evidence Furnished by Embryology
tors have passed. It develops vi^Ithln a few weeks' time the
form or forms that required millions of years for its ances-
tors to assume. These kaleidoscopic changes, these various
forms represent the superstructure of the life form that is
to follow. Before a wheel of a machine can be cast, the ore
must first be mined, smelted and transported; so in moulding
the human form the preliminary work must be done in order
that the basic structure can be formed. Each successive step
in the development of the human embryo shows where one
ancestor stopped and the next ancestor, a little better
equipped for life's struggle, began. Each of these ancestors
have played their part in the plan of life, and as they are
again reincarnated as a part of the higher form toward which
all life has tended, they each leave the useful accomplish-
ments of their lives as a heritage for the higher life of which
they are now a part. No effort in Nature is wasted. Mis-
takes have been made but it is through the overcoming of
mistakes that perfection is attained. The useless parts have
been cast off and the useful ones retained.
By way of illustration, let us suppose that a beautiful
building is standing on some commanding landscape. It is
constructed of many parts and its construction represents
the experiences of the preceding ages. The materials of
which it is made have come from no one time or place but
they have been gathered and compounded into the beautiful
and useful structure that it now is. The foundation stones
have come from the quarry where they were formed mil-
lions of years ago. In taking out these foundation stones,
the earth, and the defective parts have been left behind and
only the pure and perfect parts have been used. The lumber
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A Story Outline of Evolution
in this building has come from the forest. The trees from
which It has come have withstood the storms of centuries
but the Hmbs, bark, sapwood and the defective parts have
been left behind and only the best and most perfect parts
have been used. The metal parts of the building have come
from the mines. The ores have been smelted and fabricated
and the dross and slag have been left behind and only the
pure metal has been used. The glass has been melted from
the white unstained sand and all Impurities and Imperfec-
tions discarded and so on through the catalogue of all the
parts of which the building structure Is made. So likewise
when all the preceding ancestors of man have contributed the
essence of their llfes' work In building the various organs
which form the complex human structure, then and only then
does the human embryo assume human form.
The embryos of all mammals are the same or similar
until the life processes of reincarnating the useful attributes
of the common ancestors are completed but when the point
is reached where the mammals began to take different roads
in the ascent of life which led to new environments which
necessitated new adaptations and In turn developed new
forms, then the embryo takes on the form of the species of
its kind. The negative of the picture is now complete. The
processes of the development of all life that have passed
through the preceding ages have been repeated within a few
weeks' time. From this point or period of development, the
family history plays the important part. But even at this
stage of development, there are many parts which were use-
ful to our ancestors under the environments in which they
lived that are now no longer useful to us in the environments
[238]
The Evidence Furnished by Embryology
in which we live and therefore they must be changed to use-
ful purposes or cast off In order to permit the more perfect
functioning of the useful parts.
Many of the changes through which the human embryo
has passed before taking on Its human form represent char-
acters well known to men of science while others represent
characters not known to them but It Is known that they rep-
resent forms of departed types that belong in the chain of
animal life and that In the dim, dark past, they were the
highest forms of creation. Just as it Is Impossible for all of
us, or perhaps any of us, to trace the lineage of our ances-
try back fifty or even twenty-five generations ago and to
know the Influences that developed or retarded the bodies
and minds of our direct ancestors of that time, so It Is impos-
sible for us to know the life history of all the departed types
that have passed away leaving the gains of their lives as a
heritage to the succeeding types. But we do know that they
existed, that they played their part In the scheme of life, and
transmitted their useful experiences to their descendants just
as our direct human ancestors fifty generations ago have
transmitted to us the results of their labors which have been
reincarnated in us, their descendants.
The mysterious forces of life can neither be explained
nor understood. The facts of Embryology cannot be chal-
lenged or disputed without abandoning the foundations of
reason. The early life history of all life Is reproduced in
a moving panorama in the embryonic development of all
mammals — step by step, stage by stage until the true mam-
mal form climbs one step higher than the preceding forms
have climbed. The urge of hunger and the compulsion to
[239]
A Story Outline of Evolution
reproduce their kind are ever present. The class as a whole
begins to climb higher in the scale of animal life. Some take
one road and some another. Some of these fall by the way-
side and their types no longer survive. All encounter diffi-
culties but the procession moves on each shaping its body by
adaptations to aid it in its struggles for existence. Some
develop claws and teeth, some long legs and fleetness of foot,
some horns, some spines and some brains as aids in securing
food and as a means of self-protection against their enemies.
It was ordained from the beginning that brain power,
the force of reason, should rule and have dominion over all
the creatures of the earth. Several families of the 10,000
species of this class began to rely on mental action more than
on muscle, tooth and claw action as a means of securing food
and as a means of self-protection. Mental action called for
an increase in the size of the brain and as a consequence, the
families that increased the size of the brain emerged from
the crowd and climbed a step higher than all the rest.
The last and highest order of mammals that have
advanced to a higher step above all others is the order that
has developed the largest brain. Included in this order are
the lemurs, monkeys and man. The anthropoid apes such
as the gibbon, orangutan, gorilla and chimpanzee have
reached the step next to the top in the ascent of life but man
has outdistanced all of these and has reached the topmost
step in the scale of life. The brain of the lowest type of man
is twice the size of that of the highest ape. By developing
a brain greater in size than all the others and by developing
the power of speech, man has attained the position where he
has dominion over all the other creatures of the world. With
[240]
The Evidence Furnished by Embryology
these superior mental faculties, the power of speech and his
social habits of cooperation, man has now reached a stage
where civilization and Cultural Evolution began; where he
began to change the forms of Nature to aid him In his strug-
gle for existence, and where his actions were directed by
reason Instead of animal instinct. It has been a long road
that life has traveled since life first started in the original
cell but the road has been progressive all the way. The
same electrons, atoms and molecules that quickened life in
the first original cell quickens life in every living cell today.
[241]
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology.
T N the jungle forests of early mammalian life, there were
^ many perils that required much cunning to escape. Many
of the weaker of this class took to a life in the treetops as
a means of safety. True to evolutionary law, this new
environment began to change the form and functions of their
body members. Their brains began to develop and to devise
schemes that would outwit their enemies. The toes on their
forefeet began to grow into fingers sensitive to touch which
enabled them to grasp and hold on to the branches of the
trees and to hold the fruit and nuts while it was eaten in
safety while they were perched upon a limb. Their fore-
feet became both combination hands and feet. This new
environment had obviated the necessity for a keen sense of
smell and, as a consequence, their long fox-like noses began
to shorten and their sharp and pointed ears began to grow
flatter and more round. At some time and place, we know
not where nor when, the ancestors of man and the ancestors
of monkeys parted company. One took one road and one
another but both roads led in the same direction. That they
were both tree dwellers, we are sure. Presently, the great
apes appear upon the scene. Their fossil remains are found
in many parts of the world. Their brains, in proportion to
the size of their bodies, is much larger than the brains of any
other known mammal up to this time. Their jaw bones are
[242]
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology
heavy and their canine tusks completely interlock. Their
skulls are thick and unfurrowed by the brain. Their thigh
bones are curved outwards and they cannot as yet walk erect.
The immediate ancestors of these great apes — the orang-
utan, the gibbon, gorilla and chimpanzee, have passed
through many changes — many steps in their ascent in the
tree of animal life in order to develop their present forms.
These great apes of the present day have many human char-
acteristics. They have largely the same body form, the same
number of muscles, bones, nerves and a similar composition
of blood. Harmonious blood transfusion may be made
between ape and man or man and ape but not with any of
the other mammal species.
Many interesting stories are recorded of the habits and
customs of these great apes in their daily life; of their
throwing stones and sticks; of their vanity in decorating
their bodies; of their love and affection for each other; of
their methods of playing; of their limited and slow acting
powers of reason; of their hatred, rage, jealousy and many
other emotional characteristics the same as possessed by
man. They are near human but not human. Man has not
descended from either one of these but on the other hand,
he has traveled a similar road In his ascent. He has out-
distanced them all in his ascent. His ancestors have lived
as contemporaries with their ancestors. Man has developed
a larger brain, a chin, a larynx, a language, an erect body
position, a straighter big toe, a larger heel, more level teeth
and the powers of reason. The anatomical differences be-
tween man and the larger apes are slight but the size and
convolutions of the brain place man at the top of the tree
[243]
A Story Outline of Evolution
of life. All these accomplishments which they do not have
give to him mastery in the kingdom of life.
The immediate ancestors of man were super apes or ape-
like men. They traveled not the same road as did the orang-
utan, gibbon, gorilla or chimpanzee, but instead, they trav-
eled the human road in their ascent. Just where or when
the original ancestors parted company is not known but we
do know that our body forms have changed from ape like
creatures to that of human forms. Both man and the great
apes have cast off their useless tails in the long ago. Both
man and the great apes during their embryonic development
have tails as long as their bodies which are absorbed and
cast off before birth. The evidence of the immediate human
changes from a lower to a higher form is not as plentiful as
is that of the apes and other mammals but it is sufficiently
plentiful to establish the scientific facts that these changes
have taken place. Scientists have been searching in all parts
of the world for information and proof that will solve the
"Riddle of the Ages." They have been attempting to lift
the curtain of time, to widen the horizon a little further Into
the past. Finally their efforts are rewarded, a little here
and a little there. From Taungs in South Africa, there
comes the skull of a five-year-old child that is more human
than any of Its predecessors. Its skull has begun to bulge,
to fill out above the eyes. Its jaws are massive. It is not
human — it is a super ape. Geologists place Its age at a time
when India and Africa were yet joined Into one mainland.
Then from far off Java comes the incomplete skeleton of
something that Is half human, half animal. It is neither man
nor ape. It represents a step between the two. Its skull is
[244]
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology
thick, its teeth are too small for the jaw of an ape and yet
too large for that of a man. The convolutions of the brain
show development indicating the beginning of the power of
speech. The thigh bones are straighter indicating its erect
or nearly erect posture while walking. The scientists of the
world study it, compare and measure it and then declare it
to be an ape-like man.
In the long, long ago when continental Europe was vastly
different from what it is at the present time, when England
was still a part of the main continent and Africa was joined
to Europe in at least two or more places, the immediate
ancestors of man were struggling with the wild beasts of the
forest and plains for mastery and dominion. One of these,
a representative of her own race and a mother of a race or
races, has left to us her skull as an evidence of her physical
make-up. This is known as the Piltdown skull. Let us
examine it. It is a vast improvement over the child's skull
of Taungs in South Africa and the Java skull which, as we
have seen, were vastly superior and higher up in the scale
of life than were their predecessors. She has tusks that com-
pletely interlock like those of a gorilla. Her skull has broad-
ened until it is nearly as broad as it is long. Her eyes are set
somewhat obliquely and do not set straight to the front. Her
jaws are heavy resembling the jaws of the chimpanzee. Her
back teeth have begun to flatten like those of a human. She
has no chin but she has a distinct forehead and a larger brain
than that of the low-browed Java skull. Her skull is thick
and her brain is under-developed but its convolutions are
beginning to show development. This race had developed
the largest brain and the most nimble fingers and therefore,
[245]
A Story Outline of Evolution
at that early date, stood at the head of the animal kingdom.
This slow thinking race, whose members were still half ani-
mal, half human, had begun to use artificial weapons to aid
them in their struggle — weapons of wood, bone and stone to
supplement the force of their powerful jaws and teeth. Their
fossil intelligence is passed on to us in the form of the crudest
implements known, the eoliths, the stones of the dawn.
• The idea that was put into action by chipping a piece of
flint into a sharp edged weapon or tool, became contagious.
It was passed on from family to neighbor, neighbor to tribe
and from tribe to the most distant tribes. A useful thought
had become a heritage for the ages. The original discovery
was improved upon and the skill of brain and fingers devel-
oped new tools and weapons and these in turn led to new
and useful discoveries. It has been stated that our civiliza-
tion began when man first struck a spark of fire from a flint
or shaped it into a sharp-edged tool. If this was the begin-
ning of our civilization, then civilization began during a
period when the physical form of the human was vastly
different from what it now is.
It must be remembered that climatic conditions of Europe
were far different from what they now are when the first
flint tools and weapons were made. The saber-toothed tiger,
mammoth, cave bear, cave lion and many other, now extinct
animals roamed and occupied the forests of Europe at that
time. The herd instinct of man was fully developed at this
time as a matter of self-defense and protection of his species.
In just what manner these early races with their crude wea-
pons outwitted and overcame these dangerous and fierce
beasts of the forests before the coming of the spear and the
[246]
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology
bow and arrow, we do not know and, perhaps, we shall never
know these hidden secrets of the past. But we do know that
man stayed and the beasts departed.
We have already seen evidence of the advances made by
the above mentioned types — from Africa, Java and In West-
ern Europe and now scientists place much stress on and
classify the next and fourth great species of semi-human
beings, as those whose fragmentary remains are found in
Central Europe and sometimes known as the Heidelberg
men. The evidence of this race of beings Is based partly on
a jaw bone found deeply burled near Heidelberg, Germany,
partly from large teeth found elsewhere In this region and
partly from skeletons found In a cave of Yugo-Slavia and
partly from flint, bone and stone implements found near
these remains.
The evolutionary changes of the teeth to those more
human in form furnishes the key to the proof of their
advancement above the foregoing species. The Interlocking
tusks are gone and the teeth are almost human in form.
They had developed a higher degree of workmanship in
the manufacture of stone implements and doubtless they had
become more efficient in using them. As we may know the
stages of man's later development through Cultural Evolu-
tion by the tools, and other useful articles that he has made
to aid him In his struggles, sq we may know the stages of
early man's advancement by the same comparisons. The
tools of the Eocene type had changed to those of the Pleisto-
cene and these to a still higher type much more skillfully
chipped than the preceding types — called the Acheulean.
[247]
A Story Outline of Evolution
Like a hound dog following the scent of a trail and the
hunter and tracker the tracks of some certain animal after
a new fallen snow, certain men of science are following the
dim paths of early human progress that date back to a period,
perhaps, 200,000 or 500,000 years ago. These trails may
be lost for a time on some wind swept ridge or in a mass of
bramble where they are mingled with and obscured by many
cross trails; but they are gathered up again at points where
their identity Is certain and positive and the trail Is more
pronounced than ever before. These men of science have
been developing the negative of human forms and actions
that obtained in that remote period which we call the "dawn
of civilization." We must look through a dark veil, the
shadows of time, to see the real picture but these negatives
are being developed into pictures of life as it was In the dawn
of our human existence.
The next great step In the ascent of the human line is
found In the Mousterlan or Neanderthal men. This race
is called Mousterlans in England and Neanderthal men In
Germany but they were the same people who Inhabited most
of Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa before and
during the last or fourth great Ice Age. They were the
dominant creatures of the earth during a period about ten
times as long as the entire historical period of mankind.
They had climbed higher In the scale of animal life than any
of their predecessors had done. They were horrible looking
creatures but they were the first to reach the stage of devel-
opment wherein they are classified as human — just one step
beyond the dividing line between animal and man. Let us
examine the evidence that they have passed on to us so that
[248]
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology
we may know something about their forms and the activities
of their Hves. They were short in stature and heavy built,
the tallest being about five feet three or four inches tall.
Their eyes were extremely large and round and their eye-
brow ridges resembled those of the gorilla. They had a low
receding forehead, a thick broad skull, broad noses and short
thick neck. They had massive jaws, a protruding mouth but
no chin. Their teeth are more nearly human and yet not
human ; in fact their teeth bear evidence that for a considera-
ble period of their existence they were herbivorous in their
habits although at a later date they were flesh eaters. Their
hands were stubby, the fingers and thumbs short. For the
most part their bodies were supposed to be covered with a
thick coating of hair. Their big toes are widely separated
from the other toes much in the same fashion as those of the
great apes. Their thigh bones are still curved outwards
Indicating that they have not as yet reached a straight upright
position. The convolutions of the brain have begun to show
in dim foldings.
We are sure that Cultural Evolution Is as yet, figura-
tively speaking, in an embryonic state. That it began with
the immediate predecessors of the Mousterians, can not be
doubted. But what did this race contribute as a heritage to
the succeeding races of men? Let us examine the records
they have left behind for this race is now extinct; but the
monuments of their activities stand as guide posts along the
road that the human family has traveled in its ascent from
a lower to a higher state.
They had begun to develop a spoken language — to desig-
nate objects by names. In their time, perhaps, an Idea or a
[249]
A Story Outline of Evolution
sentence was expressed with a single word. Anatomists tell
us that their language must of necessity have been very
simple. They developed and used new weapons of stone and
improved on the types that they had inherited from their
predecessors. They w^ere the first, so far as is now known,
to make use of fire as an aid in keeping warm. The ashes
of their fires may still be found in many caves. They were
the first to use the rendered fat of the animals they had killed
for artificial light. Crude grease lamps have been found in
the caves that they occupied. They were the first to begin
the art of picture making by transforming some vivid
memory picture of the chase to the cavern walls that afforded
them shelter and protection. As the great Ice Age came
upon them after they had lived for thousands of years in a
warm climate, they were, doubtless, the first to make use of
the skins of animals for clothing. They believed in a rein-
carnated life after death because they buried their choicest
tools and weapons and a bountiful supply of food with their
dead. They were the first "cave men" as a matter of self-
preservation for when the great Ice Age came upon them,
they had to migrate to a warmer climate, to seek the shelter
of the caves or perish. But their race is run. They have
vanished from the earth after being the dominant creatures
thereon for a period of approximately 100,000 years. They
may have died from starvation as a result of a famine. Their
food supply may have moved on or given out. They may
have died from pestilence. Their skeleton forms bear evi-
dence that they suffered from many of the same ills that we
suffer today from mastoid abscesses, toothache, arthritis and
many other human ills. The Searchers tell us that we are
[250]
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology
not their descendants but that we have descended from an-
other race and that there is much evidence to support the
behef that we have come from the Piltdown race. But where
have they been during these 100,000 years? It has been
suggested that on the coming of the great Ice Age, some of
the other races moved on down into the tropical fertile coun-
try that is now the Sahara desert and there they lived and
multiplied and after the ice of the North had disappeared,
they returned again and exterminated the Mousterians in a
series of savage wars. There is much evidence to support
this theory that removes it from the realms of fancy.
When Cultural Evolution began among the ancestors of
man, the electronic forces of his brain became more active.
Brain cells began to multiply. New experiences gave origin
to new ideas and new ideas called for new brain cells to carry
these new ideas into execution and, as a consequence, these
accumulating cells gathered in folds or convolutions and
pushed the skull out and up. The skulls of some of the primi-
tive tribes were long; some were broad and round but they
all grew out and up. When man began to make things with
his hands, the making of which was directed by his brains,
the development of his skull which after all is only a bony
encasement for the brains, began a rapid development. The
useful discoveries of one tribe or race were passed on and
copied by other tribes and races just as is done to this very
hour. Skulls of primitive man found in Southern Africa, in
Australia, in Asia and in nearly all parts of Europe give
unmistakable evidence of contemporary development. The
form and character of the tools and weapons they used show
also a contemporaneous development.
[251]
A Story Outline of Evolution
Thus far we are still in the "Old Stone Age" of man's
existence. It started with the crudest chippings. The first
purpose of the men of this age was to secure food and to
protect themselves against their enemies. The manufacture
of their tools and weapons show a gradual development in
skill and workmanship. Someone developed the idea of
shaping a flake of flint into a pointed spear head which could
be fastened into the end of a shaft and with which a more
telling blow could be struck and at a farther and safer dis-
tance. This beneficial idea was seized upon and copied by
all the primitive tribes throughout the world. Then another,
even more original and thoughtful, invented the bow and
arrow. This simple invention which has been mentioned in
an earlier chapter of this "Outline" has been one of the
greatest if not the greatest factor in giving to man dominion
and mastery over all the beasts of the world.
During this period of man's history, another group of
this race began to satisfy their artistic obscessions by carving
images upon bone, horn, tusk and stone. Another group
began to make bracelets, necklaces and pendants from teeth
and shells as ornaments for their bodies. Their barbaric
crowns were studded with the teeth and horns of the victims
of their chase. Like the atrophied toe nails of the horse,
these barbaric displays of vanity still cling to us, their descend-
ants. Cultural Evolution will in time cast them off as it has
so recently cast off the song birds as ornaments to the head-
dress of our sisters.
During the vast period of time covered by the "Old
Stone Age" and the "New Stone Age," when Primitive Man
fought his way to mastery with weapons of flint, many races,
[252]
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology
now extinct or amalgamated, crossed the stage of human
action and passed from existence leaving only faint trails of
their daily lives. It is impossible to tell just where the labors
of one ended and the other began. Amalgamation, perhaps,
played a greater part in their passing than that of any other
factor. Some were round headed and some had long heads.
Some were tall and others short; some black and others
white. Neanderthal Men were round headed but supposedly
black and gorilla-like. The Plltdown Men were round headed,
tall and supposedly white. There were the Horse Eaters
of Solutre, the Magdalenlan Carvers, the Mammoth Hunt-
ers of Predmont and the Azillan Crab-Eaters and others.
During Primitive Man's life on earth, he has experi-
enced four great climatic changes — the four great 'Tee
Ages." Great Ice floes came from the North turning tropical
climates into regions of Ice. These periods would come, drive
all life before them, recede and then reappear again. Each
of these covered long periods of time. As the last and fourth
great 'Tee Age" disappeared, there came from Northern
Africa, Western Asia and perhaps, from regions now cov-
ered by the Mediterranean Sea, a race of humans following
and living on the vast herds of animal life that were return-
ing to the grassy plains, their ancient pastures from which
their ancestors had been driven when the ice floe came. These
men are known to science as the Cro-Magnard or Reindeer
Men. They represented the dominant and highest type of
human beings then living. They were the first to whom
science has given the name of "True Men." They were tall,
and erect, fleet of foot, had bigger and better brains, better
weapons and greater skill in using them, a better social organ-
[253]
A Story Outline of Evolution
ization and toward the end of their 20,000-year reign, they
began to construct crude huts as a place for their habitations.
They were a race of wandering, naked savages, but superior
to any race then living or of any that had preceded them.
They were hairy-flesh-eaters from whom the white race has
probably ascended. They have left a record of their man-
ner of living in many places. They had no knowledge of
planting seed and of tilling the soil or domesticating wild
animals to aid them in their struggles. These achievements
came at a much later period during the "New Stone Age"
but long before the use of copper.
The ashes of their camp fires and the refuse heaps where
they had gathered and feasted are found in many places.
They were mighty hunters and lived by the chase. The long
nosed, flat faced Soltureans of the Rhone Valley have left
as an evidence of their hunting prowess the skeletons of more
than one hundred thousand wild horses in a single camp upon
which they had feasted. They had developed a high degree
of skill in chipping flint and more than forty thousand flint
implements have been collected from this one camp.
They continued in their advance following the herds of
horses, deer, bison and elk until they occupied most of
European territory. Their true types have disappeared, of
course, but how? When they had occupied the regions
where the ice had been and from which it had receded, they
began to divide into separate tribes, to construct crude shel-
ters and to lay the foundations for social order. We are
not unmindful of the fact that a vast period of time inter-
vened between their Invasion and the coming of the Neolithic
Men. There were amalgamations and assimilations among
[254]
The Evidence Furnished by Anthropology
the tribes. A story of these changes may be found in the
many excellent works on Ethnology and Primitive Man.
Except for some minor variations the physical form of the
human body was now complete — the framework finished.
There is no doubt but what their blood is mingled in the
bodies of the white races today. In like manner the early
ethnological story of the other races may be told. It was
now the work of Cultural Evolution through the power of
mind and the nimbleness of fingers to develop man to a
higher state.
It has been a long time since Piltdown man matched his
wits, his superior force of brain and the nimbleness of his
fingers, with the horns, teeth and claws of the saber-toothed
tiger, mammoth, cave bear, cave lion and many other primi-
tive beasts. One hundred years ago, the people then living
knew little or nothing of the life of man prior to the time
of written history. But when the experiences and observa-
tions of many Searchers were joined into one stream, the
study of man became a science known as anthropology.
Through the aid of this science, we have learned much of
his form and actions before written history began. And if
we shall judge the future by the past, the succeeding gen-
erations will unearth much more evidence concerning their
activities that we do not now have. From this period of
human existence the activities of man are blended with what
has been written in the earlier pages of this "Outline."
CHAPTER XXIV.
Casting Off the Useless Organs.
TOURING the thousand million years or thereabouts that
^^^ life has been struggling from the first life cell to the
present forms, the earth has been subjected to many geo-
graphic and climatic changes. These changes raised moun-
tain ranges, submerged continents and turned tropical lands
into regions of ice. As a matter of self-preservation, the
existing types had to make adaptations in their forms and
habits to meet these changes or perish. Many fell by the
wayside and perished while others struggled on by adapting
their bodies and habits to meet these new conditions and
lived. These adaptations not only brought about changes
in the form and function of existing organs, but they created
new organs as well to meet the changing vicissitudes of life.
It required sons to make and change these organs and other
asons to destroy and throw them off. A complete nev/ diet
and a complete reversal of inherited instincts had to be sub-
stituted for the former ways of living. Nature never throws
off a completed structure if the structure can be put to some
useful purpose but when an organ has become outgrown and
useless, it is Nature's law that it shall be cast off.
A consideration of the structure of animal forms brings
us to one of the most conclusive proofs that God's plan of
creation was the evolutionary plan. Man and all other ani-
mals contain, in addition to their useful organs, many rudi-
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Casting Off the Useless Organs
mentary organs which have been outgrown and which have
not as yet, been completely cast off and destroyed. These
vestigial organs are not shadowed by the hand of time for
they are real, living parts of our own bodies and may be seen
with the naked eye without the aid of a microscope. They
stand as weathered monuments of the past marking the way
which our ancestors have traveled in their ascent. Their
existence and former functions can not be denied without
destroying the very foundations of reason. They are found
alike in the bodies of both man and the other animals. The
body of man shelters more than seventy of these vestigial
structures and their existence can be explained in no other
way except the evolutionary way.
Evolution measures the work which it has done and is
now doing not in terms of days, months or years, but, on
the other hand, its work of both creation and destruction is
measured in terms of geologic time. It required millions of
years for the ancestors of the horse to develop its multiple
toes and when its ancestors selected a habitation on the hard
grassy plains where the leaf mold of the forests was no
longer found and where a single toe was better fitted for its
new environment, it began to cast off Its useless toes — first
the shortest and then the next shortest. Sufficient time has
not elapsed for the complete removal of all of the useless toes
and therefore we see the vestiges of the last receding toe
in the form of an aborted toe nail far up on the horses' legs.
There are cases where some horses and mules have some-
what reverted to their ancestral type by developing a vesti-
gial hoof near the remaining hoof which in reality is nothing
more than a developed toe nail on its remaining toe. This
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A Story Outline of Evolution
is an Instance where we can see the processes of Evolution
still at work in casting off a useless organ.
The whale furnishes one of the most striking examples
of adaptation because it has passed through all the stages
of animal development until it reached the highest class and
then, either from choice or necessity or both, it has returned
to the environments of its ancient ancestors. During its
ascent, it developed all the organs common to the mam-
malian class — a four chambered heart, warm blood, limbs
and lungs, ears, a nose and perhaps a coat of hair. It gave
birth to and suckled its young and lived for millions of years
in much the same manner as did its contemporary cousins.
But there came an urge and it left the land for which its
organs had been patterned and returned again to the sea.
Millions of years had been required to build up these land
organs and now other millions of years will be required to
throw them off. Evolution Is doing this work of destroying
the useless organs without In any manner Interfering with
its daily tasks. It still gives birth to and suckles its young
but we have already seen that its young obtains Its milk in
an automatic "squirt gun" fashion. It Is gradually assum-
ing the form of Its fish ancestors but Its warm blood Is kept
warm by an abundance of fat beneath which Its blood is cir-
culated. Its teeth have disappeared and, In their stead, a
new substance like a flexible bone has been substituted suit-
able for gathering Its food supply. They have developed
huge fins or paddles and a horizontal tail fin as a means of
propelling their huge bodies through the water and arising
quickly to the surface. Burled beneath the smooth skin of
their fore paddles may still be found the vestigial remains —
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Casting Off the Useless Organs
bones, joints and fingers of the fore feet that were used
when their forefathers roamed in herds upon the land; and
buried still deeper beneath the surface of the breast, the
rudiments of the ancestral hind feet may still be found. The
life history of the seals, walrus, sea cows, dolphins and all
the other sea mammals may be traced in a similar manner.
The vestigial organs in all of these tell the evolutionary
story of their lives. In like manner the rudiments of out-
grown organs may be found in practically all the bodies of
all land animals which is the most persuasive and convincing
proof that these changes have been brought about by adapta-
tions to meet the conditions of changing environments.
The snail furnishes an example of the power of the Mol-
lusca to cast off useless organs and to adapt their lives to
changed environment. Its ancestors made their homes in
the sea and there built houses around their bodies in the
form of shells as a protection against their enemies. Either
voluntarily or involuntarily, its ancient ancestors were cast
upon or crawled out upon the seashore and were cut off by
some obstruction and forced to adapt themselves to land
conditions. While its ancestors remained in the sea, it was
apparently an easy matter to construct its house, beautiful
in design and coloring, from the minerals carried in solu-
tion in the waters surrounding it. But when its environment
had changed and the materials from which its shell was made
were removed, it had to set about making its shell in another
way or live without one. Limestone is simply a collection
of minute sea shells that have formed in the waters of the
early sea. The snails seized upon this substance and began
to construct their homes from the fossil remains of their
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A Story Outline of Evolution
ancestral cousins. But suitable materials for shell making
could not always be found, so some species of the snail fam-
ily ceased to struggle for these materials and began to cast
off their shells as useless armor. In some species of the snail,
the shell has nearly disappeared while others still cling to
ancestral habits of manufacturing sea shells for their bodies
though a thousand miles removed from any part of the sea.
They gather In great numbers in some shady places where
the limey skeletons of the dwellers of the ancient sea are
exposed and there they may be found working over the life's
work of their ancestral relatives.
In the Echo River, in the dark recesses of the Mam-
moth Cave of Kentucky, there Is found a species of fish.
It is not known from whence they came but they have been
hidden from the light of day for such a long period of time
that Nature has robbed them of their eyes. Evolution has
cast off and sealed up their eyes as a useless organ In the
environment in which they have been placed, doubtless, for
millions of years. When their heads are dissected, a nerve
is found leading to the atrophied eye which Is proof that. In
the dim ages past, their ancestors enjoyed the light of day.
We have seen In an earlier chapter that the human
embryo in its development repeats the forms of all life that
preceded the human form. We shall now examine the
human body for relics of an animal ancestral past that have
played their part In the scheme of human life but have become
outgrown. In the development of the human embryo, at an
early stage, a tail is developed that Is nearly as long as the
body. As the embryo Is developed into human form, this
tail is drawn up and disappears from external view but at the
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Casting Off the Useless Organs
end of the vertebral column there are In every human being,
the bones and muscles or the atrophied muscles of a rudi-
mentary tail. The number of these bones vary in number
from three to five. This coccyx and its attendant bands of
fibrous tissue served the ancestors of man as a useful organ
when they lived among the tree tops but after their tree
dwelling environment had changed, It became useless and
the external tail was cast off.
The teeth of man and of his immediate ancestors bear
evidence of his change of diet. The huge Interlocking tusks
and cutting teeth of the early ape-like men bear evidence of
their raw meat diet but when their food was cooked and
their diet became mixed, their teeth took on a human form.
Diet is the one and greatest factor in changing the form of
the teeth. We have seen the flying crocodiles lose their
teeth when they changed to an Insect diet and develop a
horn-like turtle mouth. Again we have seen the whale change
its teeth for flexible bone to fit Its change of diet. The tusks
of the ape-like men are still found in a dwarfed form in the
human mouth.
In the digestive systems of both man and the animals,
many changes have taken place as the forms and food of
ancestral life have changed. The most outstanding vestigial
organ of the human digestive system is the Vermiform
Appendix. In some of the herbivorous animals, especially
the sheep, this organ Is greatly developed and is of much
use in digestion; while In man, it serves no useful purpose
but serves as a dangerous receptacle or trap for foreign
substances and which when its membranous parts become
infected, will often produce death unless it is removed. It is
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A Story Outline of Evolution
now a rudimentary organ but It has served a useful purpose
along the pathway of human life.
It Is a well-known fact that the special senses are much
more highly developed In the wild animals than they are in
human beings or In the domesticated animals that have been
under the fostering care of man for many centuries. It was
through the warning of these special senses that the approach
of a dangerous enemy was detected. It was through these
warnings that the species have survived their enemies. The
early races of men were schooled In the laws of Nature so
far as these laws affected their survival. Their sense of
taste directed them In their choice of foods and enabled them
to discern the wholesome roots and berries from the harm-
ful ones. Their sense of hearing was developed to a degree
equal to that of the wild animals. Their ears were pointed
and movable. These were controlled by three sets of muscles,
which, except In rare Instances, are atrophied and useless.
Many animals of today. Including cats, dogs, deer, moose
and others, have the power of making their hair stand erect.
Extreme fear or anger excite the muscles controlling the
hair until It "stands on end." The ancestors of man pos-
sessed this power which, through lack of necessity, has been
cast off as useless. The expressions that we often hear —
"The cold chills ran up my back," or, "My hair stood on
end" are expressions attempting to describe the sensation of
an attempt of the atrophied muscles to raise the hair erect
when the persons uttering these expressions have been sub-
jected to some severe mental shock. These subcutaneous
muscles have lost their power on all parts of the body except
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Casting Off the Useless Organs
the ones still functioning on the forehead and in some
instances, the entire scalp.
It will be remembered that the fish purify their blood
by extracting the oxygen from the water as it passes through
their gills which are separated by slits or openings usually
five or seven in number and which open into a chamber on
each side of the neck or head. After the head takes form
in every mammalian embryo, the next most prominent fea-
ture of the entire embryonic structure is that of the gill slits
or openings on each side of the neck. So persistent is Nature
in repeating the life forms of the past that there are many
children born with these gill slits plainly visible being cov-
ered only with skin and in some cases, the openings are com-
plete. In a short time after birth, these openings close but
in many instances, some semblance of their markings are
carried through adult life. Nature has made use of many
outgrown organs by adapting them to some other useful
purpose and one of the strangest facts which the science of
Anatomy has brought to a common understanding is the
fact that Nature has constructed the external and middle ear
of the human species from the first cartilagenous gill opening
and its surrounding parts.
The ancestral fish In the chain of life had developed
lungs capable of extracting oxygen from the air before pass-
ing on to the Amphibian class. Up to this time, the sense of
hearing did not exist. This sense was developed millions of
years later than the sense of sight. But an organ capable
of giving the brain a warning signal against the approach
of danger and of receiving beneficial messages conveying
human and animal thought was necessary for an advance-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
ment to a higher plane In the kingdom of hfe. And thus
Nature developed these delicate organs as the necessity
arose.
Those who have hunted with hounds know the unbelieva-
ble degree of the delicate development of the sense of smell
among the lower animals. The wolf and wolverine possess
a sense of smell unsurpassed in the animal kingdom. They
both possess a vengeance and a desire to destroy. They both
can detect the scent of man or anything he has touched for
days after he has passed by. All big game hunters must stalk
the animals they desire to approach with the wind blowing
in their faces lest the scent of their bodies will betray their
presence while yet, in some Instances, a mile distant from
their intended prey. This delicate sense of smell is still
retained by the gorillas and other great apes. It is only
reasonable to suppose that early man and his ancestors pos-
sessed this same delicate sense of smell as a protection and as
a means of escaping his enemies. But since Man has become
the dominant creature of the world and is able to protect
himself against the animals that fear him, he has lost much
of his delicate sense of smell through non-use of the nerves
of smell.
Comparative Anatomy has shown that, In many Instances,
there is a reversion to certain phases of ancestral types.
Men are living today with thick coats of hair or manes run-
ning down their backs which are a recurrence of this char-
acteristic of their hairy ancestors. The hair on the outer
arm from the wrist to the elbow points toward the elbow,
while the hair on the inner arm points toward the wrist. The
same Is true In all the great apes but not In the lower animals.
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Casting Off the Useless Organs
This Is suggestive of similar habits among the ancestors of
both. Again there are Instances of record which show that
a cross between the different races of men will revert back to
the characteristics of the now lesser blood when many gen-
erations removed from the original cross.
The human body Is the most complex mechanism which
Nature has constructed. The physics and chemistry of non-
living matter had laid the foundation for life and when the
''life spark" was breathed Into a certain compound of non-
living elements, the mysterious processes of life began.
From the beginning of life to Its crowning development —
Man, Its physical and chemical actions have been In har-
mony with the physical and chemical actions of non-living
matter. Biologists have made many attempts to define life,
but these attempts have failed. All things In Nature are
guided and controlled by unchanging laws. There Is sym-
metry, design, purpose and harmony In every created thing,
both living and non-living, from the electron to the most
distant star. Again we repeat; "From harmony, to har-
mony, this universal frame began; from Harmony to har-
mony, the diapason closing full In man."
The complex mechanism of the human body Is made up
of a few of the eighty odd known elements, only fifteen mak-
ing up the most of It. But these fifteen elements with the
breath of life breathed Into them rule and dominate all the
creatures of the world. Through the processes of evolu-
tionary growth, these elements have been woven Into a per-
fect machine with the power of reaching out. In and up until
our understanding has begun to grasp some of the mysteries
of creation.
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A Story Outline of Evolution
If we shall examine the organs of the body, we find that
they are each designed to perform their particular function
with the least amount of effort for Nature teaches economy
in all things. All the organs of the body are in harmony
with each other. The muscles, bones, nerves, the organs of
special sense, and in fact all the organs of the body, are
placed in the most advantageous positions where their func-
tions may be performed without interfering with the func-
tion of any other organ. They are so related and in such
harmony that an injury to one, injures all.
When Cultural Evolution began to develop, the power
of brain was substituted for and began to replace the power
of muscle. Mechanical hands and fingers began to use the
physical forces of Nature. Mechanical eyes extended human
vision and mechanical ears extended the range of human
hearing and a mysterious brain endowed with the power of
reason and understanding began to comprehend the simple
processes of creation.
The vestigial organs of the human body were, at one
time, necessary and real organs that helped to lay the founda-
tion for the perfected body. Without their work in the ages
past, our bodies would not now be complete. The story of
the lesson they teach is best told by the eminent preacher.
Dr. Henry Drummond in "The Ascent of Man," as follows;
"Take away the theory that Man has evolved from a lower
animal condition, and there is no explanation whatever of
any one of these phenomena. With such facts before us, it
is mocking human intelligence to assure us that Man has not
some connection with the rest of animal creation, or that the
processes of his development stand unrelated to the other
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Casting Off the Useless Organs
ways of Nature. That Providence in making a new being,
should dehberately have inserted these eccentricities, with-
out their having any real connection with the things they so
well imitate, or any working relation to the rest of his body
is, with our present knowledge, simple irreverence."
[267]
CHAPTER XXV.
The Life Spark and The Soul Spark.
A N attempt has been made in the preceding chapters of
this book to trace a crude outline of the development of
life from the first and simplest pulsating life cell to the pres-
ent time. But, what is life? To this question, many hun-
dreds of answers have been attempted but none of these are
complete and satisfactory because they do not embrace the
whole, for life is an active force so broad and comprehen-
sive in its scope that it is beyond the powers of human defini-
tion. It cannot be defined, analyzed or explained. All of
our special senses and powers of reason fail us in its com-
prehension. We have begun to know some of its attributes
and purposes and how these purposes are accomplished but
any attempted definition covers only a small segment of the
whole. It is everywhere and everlasting and its creative
purpose is to advance the kingdom of life by creative proc-
esses until created beings may know and understand the
Creative Plan.
The greatest question that has ever challenged the minds
of thinking men is — "how did these life processes come into
being?" Men of all ages and men of all races have sought
to discover the secret of the origin of life. We have seen
that the human body is composed of a number of chemical
elements. The first four of these, namely — oxygen, hydro-
gen, carbon and nitrogen make up the greater part of the
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The Life Spark and the Soul Spark
human body and they form the most important ingredients
in the bodies of all plants and animals. One of the theories
advanced in an attempt to account for the origin of life is
that a meteor falling from the sky gathered a proper com-
bination of chemical elements together with a sufficient
amount of heat to generate the first life spark and set the
first life cell in motion. The fallacy of this theory is self-
evident. It implies a creative force before the first life spark
came into being for from whence came the elements through
which the life forces work and the meteor and the force that
pulled it down? We know that there is the power of
Thought — Mind — behind every achievement in Cultural
Evolution. Man has recorded these thoughts for the benefit
of others. These thoughts are invisible and intangible but
yet they are of such great force that they change the habits,
customs and the destiny of the human race.
The acts of setting the type, making the plates, and print-
ing the book upon whose pages a masterpiece of literature
is recorded are mechanical processes and yet these processes
are directed by Thought. It is just as reasonable to assert
that a ton of printer's type poured from a tall building, will
in the process of the fall, assume the proper arrangement,
letter for letter, ready to reproduce a literary classic without
the aid of a guiding hand or creative thought. Every great
painting and work of sculptured art must first be conceived
in invisible and intangible form in the artist's brain before the
pigments are spread upon the canvas and the marble chiseled
into images of life. The chemical elements and the physical
forces of Nature were created and set up as preliminary steps
in the preparation for life. This statement implies a crea-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
tlve force before the chemical elements and physical forces
came Into being and In our present state of knowledge no
more satisfactory answer for the origin of life can be given
than that this creative force Is the Infinite Life that we call
God.
All the known facts of Science have been assembled and
exhausted in an attempt to find a satisfactory physical
explanation for the origin of life but none has as yet been
found. The most reasonable and logical explanation for the
origin of life is that the Infinite Life descended into matter
and set the active life processes In motion In a single cell
and that Evolution directing these life processes has devel-
oped all the life forms in harmony with the Creative Plan.
If the human body be dissected and analyzed, it will be
found to contain chemical elements commercially worth, for
the average body, approximately one dollar and seventy
cents. There is found no difference in the composition of
the bodies of the most Ignorant and the most learned; the
richest and the poorest, for the substance Is the same. But
the physical body is not the end toward which all evolution-
ary effort has tended. The physical body is only an agency
designed to carry out the Creative Plan. Mind and Soul
are the ends toward which all life has struggled. There are
elements of genius in the brains of all normal humans that
are capable of infinite development. There are germs of
divinity in the brains of all normal persons which when
quickened and developed, will make them God-like in spirit
and action. The unlocking and quickening of these invisible
life forces have, through Cultural Evolution, developed the
civilization of the human family.
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The Life Spark and the Soul Spark
But from whence came the Soul Spark? Did it descend
as a Divine gift of super-consciousness at any one time or
place or did it travel the evolutionary road in its develop-
ment the same as the Life Spark has done? It must be
admitted that the Source from which these forces came was
the same in the beginning, is now and ever will be the same
but the Creative Plan was that these forces should be revealed
to man according to the law of evolutionary development.
When there is a constant sequence of events related as cause
and effect, this causal relationship is defined as a law. There
are natural laws and man-made laws. The natural or God-
made laws embrace all actions arising from or out of all
physical bodies and since both the power of Mind and Spirit
have been incarnated in the body of man, and since they both
came from the same source and are a part of the Creative
Plan, it is reasonable to assert that it is only through experi-
ence that the elements of genius and the germs of divinity
have been developed in the lives of mankind. There are
moments of inspiration but development comes through
experience and growth.
The Bible states — "There is a natural body, and there
is a spiritual body." And again — "Howbeit that was not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and after-
wards, that which is spiritual." There is no scientific formula
by which the existence of the Spirit may be proved neither
is there one by which a mother can prove she loves her child ;
but in a search after Truth, we are not limited to a scientific
investigation. The Infinite Life or the God-spirit in us is
not manifested through the special senses, but it is a con-
scious lifting force that is felt as joy and gladness.
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A Story Outline of Evolution
Among the early Greeks, there were two schools of
philosophic thought. The one taught : "You cannot be happy
from within unless you are first happy from without" ; while
the other taught : "You cannot be happy from without unless
you are first happy from within." The early Christian
Martyrs who sang hymns of praise as the flames roasted
their flesh proved that happiness is a conscious state that
comes from within.
The Soul Spark began to manifest itself millions of years
after the Life Spark began. It started as a faint spark of
super-consciousness after life had climbed far up the tree of
life. We do not know just when it started. It may have
begun with the mother instinct but figuratively speaking we
are sure that it had grown to the glow of a small torch when
early man began searching for a stronger and higher power.
All evidence points to the fact that as man began to think,
the mysteries of soul power began to be revealed to him.
The Infinite Life had again descended into matter and
planted the elements of divinity in the being of man so that
he could work out through evolutionary processes his rela-
tionship to the Creative Mind. Thus Evolution supple-
ments the last above mentioned biblical quotation by show-
ing why the spiritual comes after the natural because there
was no necessity for the soiritual until there was human
intelligence.
All the various religions of the world have had their
origin in man's belief in a power or powers beyond his con-
trol and upon which or whom he feels dependent. The high-
est ideal of all religions is perfect harmony of will between
the individual and the Power he w^orships. It is impossible
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The Life Spark and the Soul Spark
to know with definiteness the origin of religions but they
have passed through an evolutionary process contempora-
neous with and as a part of the development of civilization.
And like all other phases of human activity, the greater and
more advanced human culture becomes, the more variations
In religion are shown.
What Is perhaps the earliest evidence or manifestation
of a primitive religion is found among the Mousterlan cave
dwellers who inhabited most of Europe some 50,000 years
ago. Here skeletons have been found that show the manner
of the burial of their dead. The bodies are surrounded
with their choicest tools and weapons and an abundant sup-
ply of food, usually the joint of some extinct animal. Is placed
near by. The bodies are reclined with one hand resting
under the head. These facts bear evidence that these early
half human — half animal tribes had a belief In some life
activities after death. It is not given to us to know just what
their ideas of a hereafter were but their burials suggest a
connection with the ideas of the burials of the American
Indian who believed, that after death, they passed on to a
"Happy Hunting Ground." It Is, Indeed, noticeable what a
similarity In character Is found among all primitive peoples
of the world. A new Idea was seized upon and passed from
neighbor to neighbor, tribe to tribe, until It was carried and
utilized In all parts of the world. The use of flint, the bow
and arrow, the spearhead and many other useful Ideas were
carried and copied by the various races and tribes and it is
only reasonable to suppose that the idea of a life after death
found Its way and became a common belief among all primi-
tive people as they reached a certain degree of Intelligence.
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A Story Outline of Evolution
Likewise, there Is a similarity In many of the legends and
traditions found among nearly all of the primitive peoples.
It Is said that the legend of William Tell and also of the
Great Flood or Deluge are found as traditions among many
of the primitive tribes v^Ith only slight variations In the
accounts. Many theories have been advanced as to the
origin of the earliest religions. It Is asserted by many whose
opinions should be respected that the early religions began
with the worshipping of the objects or forces of Nature
such as the lightnings, thunder, rainbow, waterfalls, the wind
sighing In the tree-tops, etc., whose mysteries overawed and
filled the primitive minds with fear and that later their wor-
ship was extended to Include hundreds of the objects of
Nature.
Interesting as a study of the primitive religions may be,
there Is no space or need for an extended discussions of these
In a work of this kind. The pertinent part Is the fact of the
process of evolutionary development In religion the same as
Is found In physical and mental growth. It Is sufficient to
say that the primitive religions passed through Naturalism,
Animism, Fetishism, Shanmanism and others. These primi-
tive religions both developed and degenerated. Each tribe
or clan had a separate belief and religious custom, a sep-
arate god or many gods, a separate animal or many animals
as objects of their worship. But about four thousand years
ago, many of these religions began to crystallize into the
universal religions of "Sun-worshipping" and "Snake-wor-
shipping." From the tribe to the nation and from the nation
to the world, Is the evolutionary growth of the religions.
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The Life Spark and the Soul Spark
A universal religion is one which has no national limita-
tions but embraces all the races of mankind. The universal
religions are Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. A religion
that embraces all of humanity can have no higher goal than
the precepts it teaches. Like the human body, they all con-
tain vestiges of the past. Human society will become spir-
tually perfect when all the religions of the world are blended
In harmony and purpose and when all the members of soci-
ety live in perfect harmony with this harmony.
The basic foundation of all religions may be found in the
Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Likewise, all
civil laws governing the conduct of human society are based
on these laws. These rules embrace right and wrong, truth
and love, all of morals and all of religion. Generally speak-
ing, both standards of morals and forms of religion are
birth-rights of the individual. As the precepts of both are
instilled into the plastic minds of youth, so the concepts of
morals and religion are formed. These concepts are sub-
ject to environmental and experimental change but these
individual changes are the exception instead of the rule. The
forms of religion may differ but the purpose and substances
are the same. The purpose is to put the spirit of the indi-
vidual in contact and harmony with the spirit of the Infinite
Life from which the individual life has sprung.
In the Evolution of the human soul, it has passed through
many dark ages of superstitions, prejudices, oppressions and
persecutions, but the needle of its spiritual force has always
pointed to the Infinite Life. This force has struggled for
the equilibrium of harmony of the Infinite Life. Without
the directing power of intellect, we cannot uncover the hid-
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A Story Outline of Evolution
den secrets of Nature or penetrate Into the realms of the
Infinite Life.
The Evolution of mind, morals and religion have ad-
vanced hand In hand. Unfettered by the force of tyranny
and despotism, they have always reached out and up Into the
realms of a higher life. What was unmoral a few centuries
ago, we now treat as Immoral and criminal. The nebulous
clouds of misunderstanding are vanished and the light of
Truth Is becoming brighter day by day. Knowledge that
was once conveyed by symbols and signs Is now conveyed by
books, newspapers, magazines, the radio and the moving
picture. Science Is carrying the torch, lighting the way,
marking the pathway for civilization to travel. Vestiges of
superstitious beliefs still linger In the minds of men the same
as vestigial organs remain In his physical body but as the
light of Truth and Knowledge come In, the superstitious
beliefs are cast away. There Is no conflict between Science
and Religion for Science Is Truth and true Religion Is a
knowledge of God and obedience to His created laws.
Our sense of vision conveys the vibrations of light and the
shades of color to the sensitive brain cells where the Images
that have passed through the optic nerves are recorded.
Through the vibrations of thought these Images are repro-
duced and become permanent pictures on the walls of
memory. These may be transformed Into substance by the
vibrations of brain cell action. Is It then not reasonable to
suppose that Science may prove that the Divine Mind
descends Into matter through divine vibrations that are
recorded In the sensitive brain cells that have the power and
[276]
The Life Spark and the Soul Spark
quality to reproduce the force of the power they have
received?
The Infinite Life Is everywhere and In all things. It Is
from everlasting to everlasting. It Is In harmony with all
of creation. It was first revealed to Man through Faith.
It Is not given to all persons to know the facts which Science
reveals but no one Is denied communion with the Infinite
Life because of this. A man's Faith Is as much his own as
the scientist's Reason Is his own. Man's Faith works through
his emotions and feelings and puts his spiritual self In com-
munion and harmony with the Infinite Life. Faith laid the
foundation for the facts which Science has proved. In the
evolutionary development of the human soul It has been
revealed to mankind that his own soul Is a part of the great
cosmic intelligence of the Infinite Life and that he Is there-
fore, a part of Deity; that he is a creator and that creation
has never been finished and that his God-given intelligence
Is a part of the Creative Plan. The work which man has
accomplished through Cultural Evolution proves that he Is
a co-creator with God. This work of Co-creation shall con-
tinue until the cosmic Intelligence of the Infinite Life shall
be fully revealed to mankind. The Infinite Life has planted
within the lives of mankind the divine urge to create. Any
Influence that quickens this creative urge lifts humanity to a
higher plane — a little closer to the Infinite Life and any
influence that destroys this creative urge, gives civilization
a backward step. Without this creative purpose, society will
decay and humanity will revert to barbarism or to the law
of the jungle.
[277]
CHAPTER XXVI.
What The Future May Develop
T F we shall turn back the curtain of time and look down
through the centuries to the dim horizon when man began
to leave records of his mental achievements, we will find that
civilization has been a constant succession of rises and falls
of human effort. Nations have sprung up, have developed
into greatness, have flourished in splendor and power and
have then passed into decay and oblivion.
The "Rosetta Stone" brought to England in 1 802 was the
key that unlocked the hidden mysteries of the early Egyp-
tians and added an account of their early activities to our
storehouse of knowledge. During the present and past cen-
tury, excavations in what once was Assyria, Babylonia, Meso-
potamia, Egypt, Greece, Chaldea and many other places
have revealed to us a succession of ancient kingdoms and
empires in these places. Cities were built upon the ruins of
other cities. These cities flourished, many of them for long
periods of time and when they were destroyed, other cities
would spring up on their ruins. For a long time many
believed that the Troy of King Priam was a mythical city
but explorations have proved it to have been real. It had
been destroyed ages before the time of the blind poet.
Homer, but excavations have revealed that it had been built
on the ruins of several other cities. The ruins of these cities
have left traces of the civilizations of their particular time.
[278]
What the Future May Develop
These ancient nations began like a tiny ocean wave. They
gathered momentum and size as they traveled but they finally
were dashed upon the rocks and their force destroyed. The
history of each succeeding nation represented the progress
of Its time but Its end was the same. These nations were
not formed by accident or chance, neither were their down-
falls caused by accident or chance. Their history was the
result of evolutionary laws. Their beginnings and their
endings were the results of cause and effect. They had their
being under despotic rule where Might made Right — where
the Divine Right of Kings asserted — "You work and earn
bread and I will eat it, you are My subjects, My slaves. Do
as I command for I will forfeit your life if you do not obey
me."
These were times when much of human thought was
destructive Instead of constructive; when men were ruled,
not for their own good but instead, they were ruled to satisfy
the personal ambition and the vanity of those who ruled over
them; and when most of human thought was devoted to war
and conquest. But as the people became more enlightened,
the forms of government changed from one man rule to the
rule of many and finally to a rule of the people themselves.
Democracy is defined as the rule of the people. Experi-
ence has shown that this form of government secures the
best results for those people capable of efficient self-govern-
ment. But Democracy did not come by chance. It came
through ages of oppression, tyranny, suffering and blood-
shed. The Magna Charta which the barons forced King
John to sign at Runnymede In 12 15 is regarded as the most
outstanding milestone marking the progress of the people
[279]
A Story Outline of Evolution
in their fight for political and civil rights. But Democratic
government, even after generations of experiments and trial,
is far from perfect. There are many problems in Demo-
cracy that must be solved if this form of government shall
long endure.
The evolutionary law of life is that every living creature
and thing must work in order to survive. All plant life that
furnishes food, clothing and shelter for man and beast is
beset by enemies that must be destroyed if plant life shall
continue. All animal life is preyed upon by parasites that
live upon the labors of the animal whose bodies they inhabit
thus sapping the life blood and vitality of their victim. These
parasites must be destroyed if Nature is held in balance. So
likewise, the Political Democracy under which we live is
beset by political parasites whose dominating influence is
sapping the very life blood from this country. They are
living upon the fruits of other men's toil and unless this con-
dition is corrected, unless these political parasites are forced
to gainful employment, the wave upon which we have been
riding will go the way of all waves — it will be dashed upon
the rocks and its force broken and destroyed.
Evolution's time is measured in terms of eternity. Its
laws apply with equal force to all creatures. A nation Is a
collection of Individuals living under the same or similar cir-
cumstances and subject to the same political laws. Progress
has developed through personal initiative and any condition
or restriction that impedes personal initiative, destroys prog-
ress to an equal degree. No nation can permanently endure
that fosters and enforces laws contrary to the laws of Nature.
[280]
What the Future May Develop
Paternalism, beyond the Immediate family and the herd
Instinct, Is not a natural law. It Is an outgrowth of society
and much of It Is the result of sentimental Impulses. It will
reach a saturation point beyond which no government can
function without reducing Its citizens to a condition of Invol-
untary servitude. Dependence on paternalistic Institutions
destroys personal Initiative and reverses the Laws of Evolu-
tion. It destroys self-respect, creates Indolence and Increases
dependents Instead of decreasing them. The recipients of
too much paternalism and their ever-Increasing offsprings
become a burden on society and are. In effect, nothing more
than human parasites living on the body politic.
Many thinking persons are now discussing the question
— Has man built up a machine about him that will destroy
his civilization? This Is only Idle talk for it is unreasonable
to suggest that a helpful machine which man controls will
be permitted to destroy the civilization that has produced
the machine. The fault Is not in the machine It Is In the
administration of the government under which the machine
is operated. The machine may change the habits and activ-
ities of the men who did the work before the machine came
into being but adaptation to environment Is one of the funda-
mentals of the Law of Evolution. Man must adapt himself
to changing conditions the same as all his ancestors have
done.
There are billions of acres of Idle land capable of produc-
ing sufficient food to feed many times the population of the
entire world. The bodies of every man, woman and child
in the entire world may be placed In an open pit dug within
the boundaries of one square section of land and at a depth
[281]
A Story Outline of Evolution
of less than one-eighth of a mile. There are single states
capable of supplying sufficient food for all of these If all the
land should be Intensely and Intelligently cultivated and If a
stalk of grain should be made to supplant every weed.
Nature offers and gives a bounty to the Intellect of man as
a reward for aiding her constructive plan. Human thought
has changed the habits and customs of all the civilized races
of mankind. These changes are not constant, they are recur-
ring. The soil has been forsaken for the machine; but the
machine has become so efficient that a movement back to the
soil from whence the nourishment of all life comes, is inevita-
ble. We must learn again the lessons our ancestors learned
and apply them in a different way.
Man has scientific mastery over many of the latent forces
of Nature but not all of them. The harnessing of these
forces is only in the beginning. Who knows but what the
heat of the summer's sun may yet be bottled up and stored
away for winter's use or the frigid air of winter preserved
so that climate may be tempered at the will of man? The
firebug and the glow worm may lead to a perpetual chemical
light that may transform the darkness of the night into an
artificial day. The force of the wind and the ocean waves
will, in time, be a servant to mankind and subject to his will.
Long distance travel will, doubtless, be conducted through
the stratosphere at a speed now undreamed of. Mental
telegraphy may become a fully developed science requiring
no mechanical aids In distant communication. Man may dis-
cover a process of extracting the moisture from the air and
be able to produce artificial rain thus insuring a continuous
succession of bountiful crops. He may determine whether
[282]
What the Future May Develop
human beings inhabit some of the sister planets and if such
there be, he may develop a communication with them.
Who knows what geographic or climatic changes will
take place during the next million years ? It must be remem-
bered that four great "Ice Ages" have taken place, chang-
ing climate and driving all life before their irresistable force.
The last of these formed our Great Lakes and changed the
climate and geography of the Northern Hemisphere. A
forced change of diet or the use of soft prepared foods
which our civilization has devloped may lead to a toothless
race of men as it has done with other species of animals
because Evolution casts off the useless organs and its opera-
tions are not limited by time.
The above suggestions may, at first thought, seem to be
nothing more than fanciful dreams. That is all they are.
But if we shall judge the future by the past, they are all
within the realms of possible fulfillment. Dreams are the
first flashes from the great cosmic intelligence that set the
currents of human thought in motion and cause men to dare
the impossible. They have been back of all of the great
inventions and discoveries. They were back of the telephone,
the phonograph, the moving picture, the airship, the radio
and all the others. One hundred years ago, none of these
had even reached the dream stage, and yet, today they are
proven realities helping mankind along his upward path.
Already, the currents of human thought have begun to move
in the direction of the accomplishment of greater impossi-
bles and when human thought becomes congealed and crys-
tallized, it then becomes an irresistible force to which the
laws of Nature yields her secrets.
[283]
A Story Outline of Evolution
The Laws of Evolution may be aided and their processes
quickened and advanced by the cooperative efforts of man.
Many thousands of examples may be mentioned where this
has been done. Nearly all of our pot and garden flowers
with their fragrance and beauty have been developed by the
cooperative efforts of man from their wild state where they
were struggling with other species for existence. The same
is true of all our fruits, vegetables, cereals and domestic ani-
mals. Even the gold fish in your bowl or pool is a product
of three thousand years of experimental breeding starting
with a species of carp in eastern China. Who can imagine
what changes will take place in our flowers, fruits, nuts, vege-
tables, cereals, poultry and domestic animals after another
thousand years of cooperative effort of man and Nature?
Without human cooperation, many of these will become
extinct species because they have been so long under the
fostering care of human hands that they have lost their
power of adaptation while the remainder will revert again
to the wild state in which man first found them. A reversal
of the Laws of Evolution always leads to degeneration and
destruction of the species.
From the first pulsating "life spark" to the present time,
there is an intervening period of something like a thousand
million years. This period is so short that there is no known
method of comparing it with eternity. The one is finite, the
other infinite.
The greatest problem that faces civilization is the des-
tiny of the human race. Evolution has brought the human
race to its present conditions of existence and the processes
of Evolution will determine its destiny. Its highest achieve-
[284]
What the Future May Develop
ment at the present time is the creation of a creature endowed
with the power of understanding the processes of his own
creation. Its highest purpose is to make all of these crea-
tures happy, healthy and helpful and to blend their Hves
with the harmony of the Infinite Life in order that they may
each become co-creators with the Creator.
The first life cell from which all life has developed con-
tained all the latent powers of all succeeding life. Each
human life cell contains not only the history of the past but
the eternity of the future. Man has only recently begun to
learn something of the Laws of Heredity and the knowledge
gained from this branch of Evolution, will, when crystal-
lized, probably determine the destiny of the human race.
Based on the increase of the span of human life during the
past seventy-five years, some medical authorities whose opin-
ions are worthy of our consideration, assert that the span of
human life may be extended to a period of two hundred
years or more.
Civilization is fast approaching a Chemical Age when
synthetic foods and other articles will be the rule instead of
the exception. The chemical processes of Nature that trans-
forms the grasses and weeds of the fields into milk and
muscle, fats, hides, horns, hair and wool will, doubtless, be
understood and through the processes of chemistry, life
sustaining human foods may be extracted from these same
grasses and weeds. The future generations will be eating
foods and wearing clothing made from substances concern-
ing which we now know little or nothing. They will look
upon our generations as generations of wasters. The human
race will continue to change its habits and customs in the
. [285]
A Story Outline of Evolution
future as it has done in the past. Human thought will bring
about these changes. Each succeeding generation will leave
a heritage for the future which the preceding generations
did not have. The struggle for existence will continue.
What Nature has done for us and our ancestors, chemistry
and the machine will be doing for the future generations.
No person knows what our civilization will be five hundred
or a thousand years from now. The future generations then
living will be discussing the crude methods we now use in
our daily life. If our civilization shall be destroyed, it will
be because it has violated Nature's laws.
[286]
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