fiiiitlliil}

®t|p i. an. BtU ffitbrarg

Nortli (Caraltna S>tatF llntuerBitg

QH368
T9

D,H. HILL LIBRARY

jSf. C. Board of Health,

THIS BOOR IS DUE ON THE DATE
INDICATED BELOW AND IS SUB-
JECT TO AN OVERDUE FINE AS
POSTED AT THE CIRCULATION
DESK.

;isn:» ^ «

lOOM/1-77

MAN

IN THE LIGHT OF

EVOLUTION

MAN

IN THE LIGHT OF

EVOLUTION

BY

JOHN M. TYLER, Ph. D

PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY, AMHERST COLLEGE

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

NEW YORK

1908

Copyright, 1908, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Pumshed Oetoler, 1908

PREFACE

Almost fifty years ago Mr. Darwin pub-
lished the *' Origin of Species." His " Descent
of Man " followed some years later. A host
of books have since been written on evolution,
Darwinism, and natural selection. But com-
paratively few zoologists have attempted to
show the bearing of the theory of evolution on
man's history, progress, and hfe. They have
generally left this problem to the sociologist
and archaeologist.

This need not surprise us. All problems of
life are exceedingly complex. Nature is, or
seems, very illogical. Why, then, attack the
problem in its most difficult form in the highest
and most complex living being until we have
gained an approximate solution of the questions
involved in the life of the lower and simpler?
The zoologist wisely hesitates before the dif-
ficulties of the attempt.

This voluntary cession of the fairest part of

Preface

his kingdom has injured the zoologist in many
ways. If man is the product of evolution, and
all life belongs to one grand series, though with
many branches, the lower and incomplete mani-
festation should be viewed in the light of man's
structure and powers as well as the converse.
Failure to recognize this truth has sometimes
made our science one-sided and narrow.

Meanwhile many have discussed the evolution
of family, society, morals, and religion who have
not fully recognized the complexity of the prob-
lem. Some have looked at man entirely in the
light of lower animals, almost as if he were a
mere clam or worm, and have formed theories
of human evolution adequate only to these lower
forms. We have had many " gladiatorial theo-
ries " in spite of Professor Huxley's warning.
Others, recognizing more clearly man's unique
position, have practically discarded all laws of
evolution applicable to lower forms. Some such
writers have almost neglected the power of natu-
ral selection.

The great body of thinkers and workers have
little interest or care for facts or theories of
zoology which do not seem evidently related to
human life. The anatomy of worms and the

vi

Preface

number and structure of chromosomes unfortu-
nately does not appeal to them.

Hence many, seeing the diversity of theories
of evolution, find little in any of them which Is
clear and sure and of practical Importance. It
Is too academic for their tastes. Hence we hear
of the inadequacy, decline, or failure of Dar-
winism, or even of evolution. Even when
Darwinism Is not denied, it is often not accepted
with the cordiality and enthusiasm which it de-
serves. The " splendor of truth " has not been
recognized as widely and clearly as it should be.

In presenting this brief study of *' Man in the
Light of Evolution " I am well aware of the dif-
ficulties and hazard of the attempt. Questions
of great complexity must be handled In a few
pages. Many very Important theories must be
neglected. If one would present the subject to
those who have made little or no special study
of zoology. And this attempt is made chiefly
for the benefit of lay readers. The multitude
of trees must not be allowed to hide the forest
— to borrow a German proverb.

I have attempted to mark out a straight, If
somewhat narrow, path through the forest, and
one which leads to some of the most Important

• •

Vll

Preface

viewpoints from which a wide outlook may be
gained. I hope that some may be tempted to
explore more widely by the aid of the brief bib-
liography at the end of the volume. The sub-
ject Is surely worthy of our closest attention and
thought.

I make no apology for emphasizing through-
out the study the Importance of the moral and
religious powers, as well as of social and family
life. These are the most marked and Important
human characters. To leave them In the back-
ground of any study of man Is to present the
play of " Hamlet " with Hamlet left out.

I have viewed animals and men more from
the physiological than ^from the anatomical
standpoint. Much Is said of functions, powers,
actions; less of organs and structure. I know
neither the location nor structure of the organ
of fellow-feeling or hate, of morals or religion,
and of many other mental powers, provided they
have a special center In the brain. A first or
second association area even does not help a
great deal here, though I would be the last to
undervalue Professor Flechslg's great work.
And yet we must talk of these powers.

One who does not believe In the Inheritance of

• • •

vni

Preface

acquired characters may say: Effects of use and
disuse, of habit, are not inherited, and have no
value or effect in evolution. But use and dis-
use— in one word, habit — always accompany a
certain environment, and make life possible or
successful only under certain surroundings or
conditions. Habits and conditions thus modify
the trend and direction of natural selection, and
favor the survival of any form having a congen-
ital, structural variation useful to the possessor
of the habit. To judge from the writings of
the Neo-Darwinlans, congenital variation in a
certain direction may always be relied upon to
occur when needed. It is a very present help in
all times of trouble.

The primitive vertebrate, to use only one Illus-
tration, had been driven from the bottom by
stronger competitors, and was compelled to
maintain a swimming habit. His environment
was totally different from that of the animals
creeping on a sea bottom rich In food but
crowded with competitors of every kind. As
the swimming habit was necessary, natural selec-
tion would repress all tendencies toward an ex-
ternal skeleton as long as it could hinder this
form of locomotion. Its appearance later In

ix

Preface

ganoids does not concern us here. On the bot-
tom the external skeleton would be fostered.
Here, as In most cases, though perhaps not in
all, habit and natural selection work together
toward the same goal. The one can accomplish
what the other may not do. The Neo-Lamarck-
lan recognizes the value of both habit and struc-
ture; the Neo-Darwinian will not deny this
action and tendency of selection.

While writing the book I have been continu-
ally reminded of pleasant moments passed in dis-
cussing these and other questions with pupils of
successive classes. If the book has any value, a
large part of it is due to the stimulus of their
interest. If it can arouse something of the same
Interest, and now and then a healthy opposition
In other minds, I will be more than content.

J. M. T.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

EVOLUTION AND DARWINISM

PAGE

Before Darwin — Domestication; breeding; artificial
selection — Natural selection — Fact and theory —
Racial evolution and individual development —
Progress through experiment — The struggle for
existence • . . . I

CHAPTER n

STAGES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

Physical evolution — ^The single cell — ^The age of diges-
tion and reproduction — ^Worms, and the dawn of
muscular locomotion — Experiments with a skeleton
— Clams — Insects — Fish, and a backbone — Am-
phibia and reptiles; the development of legs — Land
life and air-breathing — Warm blood and intelligence
— Arboreal life; the hand and erect posture —
Order of succession in the development of muscles
and nerve centers 22

xi

Contents

CHAPTER III

FAMILY AND SOCIETY

PAGE

Origin of family life — Society — Selection of families and
larger groups — The reign of custom — Tribal re-
sponsibility and conscience — The clan and progress
— Nations; races; the brotherhood of man —
Progress and degeneration — Man a product of all
the geological ages — Complexity of human structure
— Evolution a series of changes and of successive
attainment of subsidiary and secondary ends . . 41

CHAPTER IV

THE LOGIC OF EVOLUTION

Protoplasm — Cell colonies — Digestion and muscle —
Muscular locomotion and sense organs stimulate
brain — Reversal of law of sequence of function leads
to degeneration — Mental evolution — Sequence of
perceptions — Study of relations — Morals and re-
ligion— Sequence of motives — The human plane of
life — The goal of human development . . . 61

CHAPTER V

THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Survival and progress both essential to fitness — Com-
petitors during the paleozoic age; the mesozoic
age; the cenozoic age — The battle not to the strong
— Dominance and fitness — The spur of necessity —

XU

Contents

PAGE

Fitness and the exercise of nascent powers of high-
est capacity 92

CHAPTER VI

EVOLUTION AND FAITH

Life an experiment — Progress into an untried and un-
certain future — Attention, interest, inspiration, pur-
pose, character — Faith and fitness — Faith and
manhood — Faith and the development of the in-
dividual— The Valley of Humihation . . .115

CHAPTER Vn

RACIAL EXPERIENCE

Experiment and intelligence — Racial experiments — The
verdict of history — Instincts; axioms, convictions —
Convictions, character, power — Contagion of per-
sonality— Knowledge and faith .... 131

CHAPTER VIII

CONFORMITY TO ENVIRONMENT

Plasticity and power of adaptation — Conformity to any
and every environment does not guarantee progress
— Environment studied in the light of its effects and
results — Environment and surroundings — Impor-
tance of a new relation — Improved surroundings no
guarantee of progress — Progress and the problem
of the will — The leaven of a great life . . .163

• • •

Xlll

Contents

CHAPTER IX

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

PAGa

Practical application of the theory of evolution — The
goal of evolution — Inequalities in the social life
of to-day — Distinction between social surround-
ings and social environment — Means of progress;
inherited ideals, education, the school, the press,
the Church — The outlook for the future — Evolu-
tion underneath all conservative — Importance of
the individual 184

Appendix with Charts 210

Bibliography 223

Index 229

MAN IN THE LIGHT OF
EVOLUTION

CHAPTER I

DARWINISM

I ESS than fifty years ago Mr. Darwin pub-
lished the " Origin of Species." But
the Idea of evolution was well known
by Greek and Hindu philosophers who lived
more than two thousand years before. Aris-
tophanes, apparently quoting from some far
older writer, says : " Chaos was and night, and
Erebus black and wide Tartarus. No earth
nor air nor sky was yet, when in the bosom of
vast Erebus (chaotic darkness) winged night
brought forth first of all the egg from which in
after-revolving periods sprang Love, the much
desired, glittering with golden wings. And
Love again, in union with Chaos, produced the
breed of the human race.''

Here the process by which higher forms are

I

Ma7t in the Light of Evoltttion

produced from lower Is a birth, not a creation.
It Is evolution pure and simple. Says Professor
Lewis: " According to the ancient view the pres-
ent world was a growth; It was born, and came
from something antecedent, not merely as a
cause but as Its seed or embryo. Plato's world
was a living being, a natural production." ^

The Idea of origin by birth from some pre-
ceding form, and this is the essential idea of evo-
lution, was perfectly natural and reasonable to
the writers of the Bible, and apparently to all
ancient Oriental thinkers. They speak of the
" generations of the Heavens and the Earth "
as of the generations of the patriarchs. The
writer of the ninetieth psalm says: '* Before the
mountains were born, or ever thou hadst brought
to birth the earth and the world," if we translate
his words literally. Here we have side by side
the thought of a primal creation and of later
evolution. The mind of these ancient thinkers
was broad enough to conceive of both these
processes; we are prone to overemphasize one
to the exclusion of the other.

1 Lewis, Tayler, "Six Days of Creation," Chapter
XXIV.

2

Darwmtsm

Similar views were held by the church fathers.
Augustine speaks frequently of the laws of na-
ture.^ By these he explained the phenomena of
the physical world, not by constant divine inter-
ventions. He distinguishes sharply between the
work of creation and that of formation or de-
velopment. The former was direct and simul-
taneous, the later gradual and progressive, ac-
cording to the laws of nature. He says that
animals and plants were produced, not as they
now appear, but virtually and in germ. All
things were created originally in an elementary
condition and developed and assumed their pres-
ent form subsequently " according to opportun-
ity." Other even more striking passages might
easily be quoted from this old evolutionist.

The earth was to all these men no mere clod
or mass; it pulsated with life, brought forth of
itself, and responded to divine commands or in-
fluences. In all the wheels of nature there was
a true spirit of life, while above was the firma-
ment and the throne.

In the seventeenth century Suarez In Spain
and Milton In England propounded the theory

^ Osborn, H. F., "From the Greeks to Darwin," p. 71.
8 3

Man in the Light of Evolution

of the Immediate creation of distinct species. I
can find no clear statement of the theory before
this time. Hence Mr. Huxley has rightly called
It the MUtonlc hypothesis. In the eighteenth
century It was adopted by Linnaeus and gener-
ally accepted by the scientific world. Early In
the nineteenth century Lamarck, a French natu-
rahst, attempted to prove that new species could
arise from old ones by gradual changes resulting
from the use and disuse of organs. But his
theory was crude and capable of but limited
application. It gained few adherents and little
attention at the time. Conditions were not yet
ripe for the return of the theory of evolution.

Thus Mr. Darwin was far from being the first
to discover the theory of evolution. His great
and difficult w^ork was to put the old metaphysi-
cal theory on a sound scientific basis, and to
prove that evolution was not only attractive and
creditable but reasonable and practicable. He
had to show how and why one form could slowly
and gradually change Into another of higher and
more complex structure, or sink to a lower grade
of life. Our first need Is a simple and clear out-
line of his theory.

There Is hardly a more Interesting chapter In

4

Darwinism

zoology than the history of our domesticated
plants and animals. Many of them, like our
fowls and pigeons, are almost certainly descended
from one original wild species. Yet under do-
mestication there has arisen a great number of
races or breeds so different that, were they wild,
we should not hesitate to refer them to distinct
species or genera. Not only color and form of
feathers, but even the skeleton, as well as the
muscles, have been modified. Mr. Darwin says :
" Breeders habitually speak of an animal's or-
ganization as something quite plastic, which they
can model almost as they please. ... Sir John
Sebright used to say with respect to pigeons that
he would produce any given feather In three
years, but that It would take him six years to
obtain head and beak."

The breeder depends for his success on three
facts. The first Is the law of heredity — like be-
gets like. If the parents are peculiar In some
respect, some of their children will Inherit this
peculiarity enhanced. In others It will be less
marked. The second fact Is the law of varia-
tion. The offspring Is probably never exactly
like either parent, and no two of the descendants
of a single pair are Identical. But the variation

5

Man in the Light of Evolution

in a single generation is usually slight. Only as
these slight variations are accumulated from
year to year, is any marked change or improve-
ment perceptible.

Thirdly, the success of the breeder in accumu-
lating these slight variations depends upon his
skill in selecting those individuals which have
the desired characteristics most marked, and al-
lowing only these to breed. This process of
selection must be kept up for years. But, if
skillfully applied under favorable conditions,
excellent results are almost sure to follow. The
superiority of the Saxon wool was due very
largely to the careful examination and selection
of the sheep by trained experts. The size of
fruits, the speed of the trotting horse, the amount
of milk or cream produced by cows, the number
of eggs laid by fowls, the value, the beauty, and
in some cases the ugliness, of dogs — all these
characteristics have been marvelously increased
by the same process.

The laws of heredity and of variation apply
equally well to domesticated and to wild ani-
mals. Wild animals probably vary somewhat
less than domestic. But even here variations are
more frequent and often more marked than many

6

Darwinism

of us suspect. To cite only one familiar in-
stance: The examination of any bundle of fox
skins on a dealer's counter or in a trapper's pack
will often reveal marked variety in color, fine-
ness, and other respects. Variations occur also
in deep-seated structures — bones, muscles, and
even nerves — as well as in the superficial cover-
ing of the body.

Mr. Darwin had to seek for some force,
process, or tendency in nature which would work
in wild animals a selection somewhat similar to
that practiced by the breeder among domesticated
forms. If he could find this, he had every reason
to believe that their slight variations would grad-
ually accumulate sufficiently to give rise to new
species or genera, or even larger groups. Any
slight incompleteness in the natural process would
only make the accumulation proceed more slow-
ly; it would not arrest it completely. Thus the
central thought of Mr. Darwin's theory is that of
a Natural Selection. This process is the neces-
sary result of the struggle for existence.

All living species tend to increase in geomet-
rical progression. If a pair of birds producing
four eggs should breed only once in a lifetime
and all should survive, the number of indlvid-

7

Man in the Light of Evolution

uals would double in each generation. Frogs
produce several hundred eggs at each spawning ;
fish, thousands or even millions. The insect lays
several hundred eggs. If of all these eggs only
two produce mature individuals, the number of
the individuals in the species will be maintained.
Most species of plants or animals remain about
as common or rare one year as another for long
periods.

Sometimes an insect, like the currant worm or
potato bug, escapes from a territory where food
is limited and enemies abound to a region of
fewer enemies and abundant food. It multiplies
and swarms, a devastating pest. But animals
which feed upon it or parasites which live in it
are also benefited. They increase with equal or
greater rapidity. Finally they become sufficiently
numerous to subdue it or to keep It within
bounds. The great and rapid increase has been
due to surrounding conditions favoring survival
of young, far more than to any increase of repro-
ductive power. If all the young of even the
most slowly reproducing animals could survive,
there would not be standing room for them on
the globe after a few centuries.

Let us suppose that a certain insect produces

8

Darwinism

only one hundred eggs, a number below the aver-
age for this group. The young from only two
of these will probably survive to maturity. If
three can survive there will be fifty per cent more
of the descendants of this Individual than of the
average. If the species is common, some fifty
thousand of the young will compete for survival
in a certain area. But where one survives forty-
nine perish.

If two men picked by lot from the young
people of a town run a race, the winner may
lead by several yards or even rods. If ten run,
the finish will be closer. If one thousand run,
the distance between the first and the second man
will probably be only a few inches. An atom
more of muscle, wind, endurance, or pluck will
often give the prize.

The fifty thousand young or eggs of our in-
sect species are like the runners In the race. Only
one thousand can survive. The finish will be
very close. Some of the young have Inherited
from their ancestors a slight peculiarity, which
gives them a very small advantage. It is think-
able that of these, four out of each hundred
might survive In each generation instead of two.
If this rate could be maintained for four or five

9

Man m the Light of Evolution

years the Individuals possessing this peculiarity
would become very numerous, and the descend-
ants of less favored individuals would be out-
numbered, if the number of survivors in the
whole species remained constant. So great an
advantage would very rarely occur. But it is
evident that the very slightest advantage contin-
ued from year to year would markedly increase
the number of individuals attaining maturity.
Any continued change In conditions will favor
the survival of descendants of forms whose in-
dividual characteristics are best adapted to the
new surroundings. In the long run those best
adapted to their environment will survive and
develop, attain maturity, and hand down their
characteristics to the largest number in the next
generation. The rest will die at various stages
of Immaturity and be prevented from breeding.
It is evident that there Is and must be a uni-
versal process of natural selection corresponding
to the artificial selection of the breeder of domes-
tic animals. This process tends to accumulate
variations from generation to generation. Its
results will probably be far slower and more
gradual than the breeder's artificial selection, but
for the same reason they may be more sure and

lO

Darwinism

permanent. It will result in the " preservation
of favored races in the struggle for life," and in
conformity to environment in the resulting spe-
cies or larger groups. Only the fittest can sur-
vive.

Viewed as a hypothesis, Mr. Darwin's argu-
ment is clear, logical, and irrefutable. Will it
work? Or is it only a plausible conjecture?
Mr. Darwin spent twenty years in applying and
testing his theory before he published a word on
the subject. He made a most careful study of
all the literature. He experimented on pigeons
and seedlings, on anything and everything which
could throw light on the question. He con-
sulted with the wisest and most careful observers
and students. He had a marvelously calm, fair,
judicial mind, devoid of all prejudice. In ac-
cepting evidence he was cautious almost to a
fault.

In 1859 he published *' The Origin of Spe-
cies." He packed the experience and thought of
a lifetime into one small volume. It is terribly
condensed and hard reading. But it is a mar-
velous result of deep and wide study logically
expressed. No one has ever surpassed him in
clearness aii,l fairness of statement of the ob-

II

Man ill the Light of Evolution

jections to his theory. He gives them all due
weight and attention.

The book met a quick and favorable response
from students of science. It was anything but
popular in style and tone, and it is not surprising
that the general community was slow to appre-
hend its true meaning and bearing. It was
often misunderstood, and the theory has fre-
quently been misstated. Long study, much ex-
perience, and great patience were needed for
a proper appreciation and understanding of its
arguments. Misunderstanding resulted in false
inferences. Prejudice was aroused. Discussion
often resulted in more heat than light, and zeal
was often greater than knowledge. Gradually
the misunderstandings were explained, heat
abated, a fair comprehension and appreciation
of the theory followed, and now its main fea-
tures have received almost universal accept-
ance.

It Is impossible and unnecessary to find place
here for the arguments for and proofs of the
theory. They can be found stated clearly and at
length In many books. ^ But the relation of the

1 See Bibliography. ^^
12

Darwinism

theory to our system of classification demands
attention.

The systematic naturalists who had long
, studied the classification of living and extinct

,' animals generally accepted the theory readily be-
cause it gave a clear and satisfactory answer to

I the questions which their work had raised in.-
their minds. The classification of the animal
kingdom had been plotted so as to bring to-
gether like forms and to separate unlike. The
great groups, like classes and orders, had been
based on deep-seated characters, which changed
slowly. The minor subdivisions, genera and spe-
cies, were characterized by more superficial traits
which might easily be modified. It was soon
found that all animals could not be arranged
naturally in one line or series, but that the clas-
sification must take the form of a tree with many
branches.^ It had long been recognized that the
oldest members of each great division were
generalized — that is, they combined characters
which In later forms were found only in sepa-
rate classes or orders. The oldest amphibia

1 See Appendix, Charts; cf. Cope, E. D., "Primary
Factors of Evolution," Chapter II.

13

Man in the Light of Evolution

were much like fishes, and did not bring out
clearly and sharply the amphibian characteristics.
The oldest bird, Archaeopteryx, had the teeth
and long tail of a lizard. The lowest, and
probably the oldest, mammals laid eggs, like
reptiles. Such a generalized or comprehensive
form was placed by common consent at the bot-
tom of its line or branch. Specialized forms,
which brought out more distinctly the charac-
teristics of the group, were placed at the ends
of branches. Finer branchlets and twigs repre-
sented the genera and species.

According to Mr. Darwin's theory this tree
of classification was a genealogical tree, similar
to that which might be made of the members
of any family, with the oldest known ancestor
at the bottom and the living members at the
end of the branches. The relation between suc-
cessive groups along each branch was that of
descent with modification.

Deep-seated characters had become fixed in
some remote ancestor and been handed down to
all his descendants. Superficial traits naturally
characterized the more changeable species. Gen-
eralized forms stood at the base of each branch,
because their descendants were continually be-

14

Darwinism

coming more specialized as they became more
completely adapted to their own special environ-
ments, their limited place and range of condi-
tions. Such a genealogical tree must show the
order of geological occurrence just as a human
genealogical tree must show the succession of
generations in the family.

The theory offered the only reasonable ex-
planation why the tree showed the order of suc-
cession, and something concerning the character,
of embryonic stages. It explained von Baer's
and Agasslz's discovery that higher forms dur-
ing embryonic life passed through stages or con-
ditions of structure which remained permanent
in the adults of older and lower groups on the
same line or branch.

The fowl in its early embryonic life passes
through a stage where it has many of the struc-
tures of a fish, and later another with reptilian
characters. Why is this? The first living be-
ings were minute masses of living substance
or protoplasm, each mass containing a central
spherical body — the nucleus. These single cells
or unicellular animals gradually formed groups
of cells, and from these again, after a long time
and with many intermediate stages, wormlike

15

Man in the Light of Evolution

forms were evolved. Out of the worm the first
fish was developed, and from these primitive am-
phibians and reptiles were evolved. Birds came
from a branch of the reptilian line. These are
only a few of the stages through which birds
were slowly evolved from unicellular animals
through long ages.

The fowl, like every living being, comes from
an egg. The essential part of every egg is a
single cell. A very large part of the yolk of a
bird's egg and all the white is merely food to
support the growing embryo. Out of it the or-
gans must be builded and the energy furnished
for the long embryonic march or journey.

How does the egg cell ever find its way
through this long march? How does it manage
to mold a body, frame a skeleton, stretch the
muscles, spin the marvelous cobweb of the ner-
vous system, and build a brain? If we had not
seen it happen so many times, we would never
believe that a chicken could be hatched out of
such a thing as an egg.

This much would seem to be clear. The only
way in which the single cell of the t^^ can find
its way to, or succeed in building such a body, is
by an inherited tendency or impulse to follow

i6

Darwinism

the same line which all its ancestors have traced
and lengthened from earliest time to the day
when the fully developed fowl appeared. It
must pass successively through vermian, fish,
and reptilian stages. It is not the straightest
line of development, but it is the most natural
and perhaps the only possible. If the evolution
theory be true, it is to be expected that onto-
genesis or the embryonic development of the in-
dividual will recapitulate phylogenesis, the evo-
lution of the species or larger group.

But ontogenesis, or embryonic development,
occupies a few days or months. Phylogenetic,
or racial development, required ages. The em-
bryonic development must be hastened as much
as possible. Stages which can be slurred over
or crowded out will gradually disappear. Short
cuts will be taken wherever possible. The re-
capitulation will not be complete or exact. But
certain stages will reappear with great clearness.

This general parallelism between the develop-
ment of the race and that of the individual has
always been rightly emphasized as one of the
strongest possible arguments for the truth of the
theory. It Is quite inexplicable by any other
theory. The geological succession is a second

17

Man in the Light of Evolution

argument. The facts of geographical distribu-
tion all point in the same direction. Mr. Dar-
win gave a firm scientific basis to the old meta-
physical theory of evolution.

The theory has been considered by some as
harsh and cruel because it is based upon the
struggle for existence. The struggle for exist-
ence, the battle and carnage in nature, is a fact,
explain it how you will. The believer in im-
mediate creation of species had to face the fact
that hosts of carnivorous forms throughout the
animal kingdom preyed upon their weaker fel-
lows. He believed that all life on the globe,
good and bad alike, had been repeatedly com-
pletely exterminated by convulsions of nature.
He had seen eveiywhere proof of extinction of
species independent of these convulsions. The
evolutionist sees good coming from all these
processes. The believer in immediate creation
had no explanation to offer.

Life always has been, and always must be, an
experiment. The animal had to feel its way to
higher structure. At every stage thousands of
experiments had to be tried before the next
higher stage was successfully attained. Most of
the experiments failed or were only partially

i8

Darwinism

successful. Nothing else was to be expected. At
every stage of the march the advancing host
spread out, seeking the right upward road.
Many promising roads led to impassable bar-
riers, or to the Sloughs of Despond or of Con-
tentment. A few blazed the upward way. It
was an expensive process, but it insured final
success. It would be difficult to discover a bet-
ter process under the conditions of the experi-
ment.

The struggle for existence among animals is
severe, but it is not as harsh and cruel as the
struggle for wealth and comfort among men.
I The biological arena is far less cruel than Wall J
I Street. Mr. Darwin uses the phrase in a very
broad and often metaphorical sense. Animals
and plants struggle mostly with their physical
surroundings, cold and heat, rain or drouth,
with enemies and hardships of the most various
kinds.

Young animals starting in life are like a host
of young men going out into the world to seek
their fortunes. Some of these young men fail
at the very start for lack of physical stamina
and endurance, or because utterly devoid of busi-
ness ability. Competition becomes sharp only
3 19

Man in the Light of Evolution

between a comparatively few of the most suc-
cessful. Even here the competition does not
usually take the form of physical violence.

The cases where individuals of the same spe-
cies actually fight to crowd one another out are
few. Competition for food may be severe, but
there is generally enough for all. Few actually
starve except in hard seasons. The fact that
many are born and few survive is evident.
Natural selection is sure. In a sense there is
wholesale competition for life. But we do not
yet clearly know the exact form of this com-
petition, the laws of the great game. Mr. Dar-
win is wisely very cautious in his statements on
this point, and we may well follow his example.

Even this competition is always diminished
by the divergence of species. They are continu-
ally seeking new places and conditions in nature
where the pressure will be less severe.^ They
become accustomed to new kinds of food, dis-
perse from one region into another of different
conditions. Every great group tends to spread,
to occupy larger fields, and to try new experi-

^ Osborn, H. F., "Adaptive Radiation," Amer. Nat., vol,
xxxvi (1902), p. 353.

20

Darwinism

ments. This tends to diminish the competition
between members of the same group, but rather
increases It between different groups, though even
here the competition is less direct and keen.

" Nature is no fairy godmother." Her
laws are stern, and the transgressor pays the
penalty. But this is no excuse for painting her
as more harsh, not to say cruel, than she really is.

CHAPTER II

STAGES IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

WHEN we look at a great mountain, we
notice first its height and shape. We
observe its cliffs and great rock
masses, its summit in the clouds. As we approach
nearer we see that its slopes are covered with
pastures and forests abounding in life. We know
something about the mountain. The geologist
tells us that it is composed of material which
was slowly accumulated at the bottom of some
primeval sea. Age after age contributed to its
bulk. Its strata bear witness to the life of the
different periods of its formation. Gradually it
was raised to the surface, and then lifted or
crowded to more than its present height. It has
been hardened by pressure, plowed and scored
by glaciers, broken by frost, and polished by
wind and rain. Very gradually it has gained its
present form and height from a very humble ori-
gin. Now we begin to understand the mountain.

22

stages in Human Rvohttion

Similarly man is a very complex being with
a history far longer than that of any mountain.
His organs are of very different ages; some very
old, others of quite recent origin. They have
been formed under different conditions and to
meet different emergencies. Could we know
his history, we should understand him far
better. We should appreciate, for instance,
the struggle between the old and the new,
the low and the higher, the brutal and the
spiritual.

It is not necessary to write a complete history
of either his physical or m_ental evolution. But
certain peculiarities of structure in higher ani-
mals point so clearly to earlier and lower stages
for their origin that we may feel fairly certain
that man has passed that way, and we must
glance at a few of them.

Our sketch naturally falls into two portions.
First we must trace the stages of development of
the individual man. The earlier part of this
portion will show the rise of almost purely physi-
cal organs — stom.ach, heart, m-uscles, etc. As we
follow the evolution of the body, we cannot fail
to notice how the appearance of more powerful
and complex and finer muscles, the swifter loco-

23

Man in the Light of Evohttion

motion, and more varied and precise movements,
reacted on the nervous system, and especially
the brain, and stimulated the development and
rule of mind.

But man is a social being. He is born a mem-
ber of a family. He is a citizen of a commu-
nity of some sort — clan or tribe, town or city.
The rise and effects of these two institutions will
form the second topic of our study.^

The earliest living beings of which we have
any knowledge consisted of single cells. We
have seen that a cell is composed of a little mass
of semifluid living substance (protoplasm) sur-
rounding a central, more consistent body, the
nucleus. The protoplasm of these lowest ani-
mals contracts or sends out processes; seizes
food, digests and assimilates it. The dead mat-
ter of the food is vivified in the cells, the con-
stantly recurring miracle of life. It excretes,
breathes, and seems to feel. It performs all the
functions of all the organs of higher animals,
though often in a very crude and rudimentary
fashion. Truly, protoplasm is a " quite peculiar

1 See more detailed study in Tyler, J. M., "The Whence
and the Whither of Man."

24

stages in Hmnan Evolution

juice," as Mephlstopheles said of blood. But
this stage, while exceedingly interesting, is of
little practical importance in our study. We
must hasten on to the second stage. Here the
cells have multiplied greatly, and a certain
amount of division of labor has resulted in dif-
ferences in their structure.

We might call it the coelenterate stage, for
all the animals which clearly and unmistakably
show its type of structure were formerly reck-
oned to this subkingdom. Its typical form is
seen clearly in our little fresh-water hydra and
its allies, less distinctly in the sea anemones, still
more modified in the jellyfishes. The old natu-
ralist called all these animals zoophytes or plant
animals. The chief characteristic of this stage
is that the animal is composed of two layers of
cells arranged in the form of a double-walled
sac. It might be compared to a shopping bag
lined with velvet and covered with silk, but with
lining and covering glued fast together. Most
animals of this type are stationary, but the
primitive ancestor probably moved by means of
a myriad of microscopic oars shaped like eye-
lashes and hence called cilia.

The opening into the sac is the mouth, the

25

Man in the Light of Evolution

cavity Is the stomach or digestive system. A
little mass of cells on the outside of the animal
forms the reproductive organ. Rude muscular
fibrils occur. The beginnings of a nervous sys-
tem are seen in the shape of a cobweb of cells
and fibers encompassing the body between the
two layers.

The coelenterate has only two organs which
are even fairly well developed, those of digestion
and of reproduction. The animal lives for these
two functions. They are absolutely essential.
The digestive system furnishes the material for
growth, for the support and all needs of the
body. Reproduction insures the survival of the
species and the possibility of progress. Appar-
ently very little has been attained. Let us not
despise the day of small things. The absolutely
essential organs have been shaped and tissues
have arisen. There is the promise of better
things.

The third stage is of vast extent, and includes
all animals from worms to the highest apes.
We might call It the animal stage to distinguish
It from the almost vegetative zoophytic stage
which preceded it. We can easily divide It into
several substages, whose members live on very

26

stages in Human Evolution

different planes of life and show very different
degrees of activity.

The first substage is well represented by
worms. These vary greatly in form and struc-
ture. The higher worm is a cylindrical animal,
like the earthworm, moving with one end fore-
most. Some day there will be a head at the
front end. It has developed layers of muscles,
and is using them for locomotion as well as di-
rectly for gaining food. It consists essentially
of two parallel tubes, one within the other.
The outer tube is the muscular wall of the body,
the inner the intestine running straight from the
mouth to the hind end of the body. Between
the intestine and the body wall is a space, the
perivisceral cavity, in which circulatory and ner-
vous and other systems are safely packed away.
This plan of structure was attained only after
many experiments and comparative failures.
But it proved so advantageous that it descended
to and characterized the trunk of all higher
animals.

A muscular fiber is a microscopic engine
which produces energy by the oxidization or
combustion of food material, as coal must be
burned in the fire box of the locomotive to make

27

Man in the Light of Evolution

steam. But the fire box needs an indraft to bring
in air, and a flue to carry off products of com-
bustion. Similarly the muscle requires an ex-
cretory organ like our kidney to remove some
of the waste and a means of gaining oxygen.
Gills soon appear. A muscle contracts only un-
der the stimulus of a nervous impulse. Hence
the nerve cells multiply and gather in groups,
ganglia and cords. The moving anirnal can
make good use of and requires sense organs for
its guidance, to perceive its food, to avoid dan-
ger. These react on the foremost ganglia of the
body. They form a brain. But a true brain
or head was attained only by descendants of
worms. A circulatory system will soon appear
to hurry food and oxygen to all the cells of the
body and to carry off their waste. To build
all these organs, and to unite them in one com-
pact and mobile body, was no easy problem. It
was attained slowly and only after many com-
parative failures.

Worms lifted life to a plane far higher than
that of coelenterates. After their appearance
only muscular and seeing forms could hope to
play any leading part in the world. They de-
veloped weapons of offense and defense. Life

28

stages m Hitman Evolution

became harder, the struggle more severe, com-
petition more marked and harsh. A strong,
tough, agile, alert body was to be developed.
Worms led the way toward this. But they had
only begun to utilize and realize the possibili-
ties of the muscular system. As soon as this and
the visceral organs needed for its support and
service had been fairly started, the worm be-
gan to experiment in building a skeleton. Three
forms of skeleton are possible.

First comes the external skeleton used by mol-
lusks and other animals as a means of protec-
tion. The shells of snails and clams are good
illustrations. Second, there Is the external loco-
motive skeleton, a framework for the attach-
ment of muscles which move the jointed levers
of the legs. This is well illustrated by the horny
covering of insects. It is really, while somewhat
protective, a passive organ of locomotion. In
the lobster and many crabs it becomes so heavy
as to hinder locomotion and to be largely pro-
tective. The third form is the internal skeleton
used originally almost entirely for locomotion.
This is illustrated by our backbone. Ribs and
cranium are protective structures of later origin.
Many vertebrates, turtles and armadillos, have

29

Man in the Light of Evoltttion

a protective skeleton also. Some mollusks re-
duced or cast off the shell. Each form of skele-
ton was an experiment by Itself. Each was tried
with a great variety of modifications. The ex-
periments were extensive and exhaustive. Every
line was made or marred by the skeleton which
it developed.

The only completely successful experiment
proved to be that of vertebrates. Every other
form of skeleton had some fatal defect. The
extreme logical result of molluscan development
is shown by the clam. He developed a bivalve
shell and burrowed in the mud. He thus gained
almost complete protection from his enemies,
abundant food, rapid increase in numbers, and
nearly unchanging surroundings. Having once
adapted himself to the mud, further develop-
ment was entirely useless. But the shell ham-
pered or prevented locomotion, made most of
the senses unnecessary, stopped the development
of muscle and nerve, and made further progress
Impossible. Amid all the changes of the vast
geological periods the clam has slumbered peace-
fully in inexpressible comfort.

The external locomotive skeleton of the insect
favors muscular and nervous development. In-

30

stages in HMman Evolution

sects move swiftly and have good Instincts,
though lacking in intelligence. The skeleton is
exactly suited to the needs of small animals.
Very few of its possessors have attained any-
thing like large size.

The internal skeleton was at first a rod of
cartilage running along the back or near the
dorsal surface of some primitive fish. This was
later replaced by a backbone. The muscles
formed two great masses on its right and left
sides. They propel the body swiftly through the
water by vigorous sweeps of the tail. More fuel
and oxygen were needed, hence the digestive and
respiratory system were improved through vig-
orous exercise. More waste was produced and
the kidneys became more complex to meet the
emergency. The blood flowed more swiftly to
carry oxygen and food to all the organs and to
remove their waste. A powerful sacklike heart
with thick muscular walls arose. Complex eyes
and ears result from the adaptation of the body
to swifter locomotion. The brain enlarged rap-
idly and became far more complex and effective.
There is little or no thinking, but much per-
ception and action. Only the most vigorous,
powerful, alert, and agile can win the prizes of

31

Man in the Light of Evolution

life. Muscular locomotion is the dominating
element in the life of the animal. But this is
pulling the lower visceral organs and spurring
the brain to a far higher stage of development
and efficiency.

The lower stages of life were primitively all
aquatic, though a few worms now live in damp
earth. Some ancient ganoid fish began breath-
ing air directly into a lung, jointed legs replaced
the fins, and the first amphibian emerged on
land. A new mode of locomotion had to be
acquired. The legs were weak, the backbone
incompletely developed. The animal must have
looked helpless and unpromising. Slowly
through a vast succession of generations of am-
phibia and reptiles the legs strengthened suf-
'ficiently to support the body. The writhing
form learned to walk and then to run. The legs
strengthened and lengthened and it ran faster.

More rapid locomotion on the land and in the
air made larger demands on the internal organs.
Heart and lungs enlarged and improved. More
oxygen was gained, more fuel was burned, and
more heat produced by the increased exercise.
The heat radiated less rapidly from the larger
body into the less conducting air. The tem-

32

Stages in HMman Rvohition

perature of the body rose. This Increased the
vigor of every function, but Its effect Is most
marked In the sensitive unstable material of the
brain. The warm-blooded animal, moving
swiftly through changing surroundings, began
to think. I suspect that the dawn of Intelligence
came far earlier, but In birds and mammals It Is
evident and unmistakable.

Our history of the contributions made by
lower and earlier vertebrates to human structure
has been far too brief. Its brevity must not
blind us to the Importance and value of their
attainments. A tough, vigorous, flexible, com-
plex, and adaptable body was being framed, a
body which could endure rigorous hardships and
severe wounds, and which with a few modifica-
tions and additions could respond to all the de-
mands and execute the orders of a thinking
brain.

Such changes and attainments could not be
made In a day. They lasted through the earlier
geological periods, when time was reckoned by
mlllenia or ages rather than by years.

Protozoa were microscopic, worms were small,
the ancestral amphibians and reptiles were prob-
ably smaller than the average of their descend-

Man m the Light of Evolution

ants. This seems to be the rule. But they were
probably larger than their invertebrate prede-
cessors, and were gaining in size. With the in-
crease in size came the increase in length of life.
How early this became marked we have no
means of knowing. But mammals generally live
for several or many years. The hairy or fur-
clad mammal can endure quite marked changes
of temperature. He was pelted and buffeted
with impressions from the outer world. He met
new, oft-recurring, and often trying experiences.
The lesson was repeated day by day, week after
week, and year after year. Nature taught and
educated him by hard experience, and by experi-
ence he became keen and alert. Instinct might
suffice for the short-lived insect, but the mammal
was to be intelligent.

The process of education lasted long, and
progress was probably slow and often discour-
aging. Professor Osborn tells us that a whole
fauna of mammals in early tertiary times became
extinct, apparently because their bodies outgrew
their brains. Food was abundant and dangers
were few for these great beasts. In this primi-
tive Eden of ease and peace, prosperity bred
idiocy. But such easy fortune was not the lot

34

Stages hi Hmnan Evolution

of most mammals. They were taught by hard-
ship and danger and spurred by necessity.

The eadlest mammals were somewhat short-
legged, and brought the heel to the ground when
they walked, as we do now. The brain was still
small compared with that of later forms. But
the respiratory surface of the lining of the lungs
was very large, supplying plenty of oxygen. The
lung capacity is the best test of the power of an
animal, as of the proficiency of a child. The
muscles, though heavy, were powerful. The
animal was still somewhat below medium size.

Most of them seem to have lived on the
ground, but our ancestors took to the trees,
tempted by food or encouraged to climb by
stronger enemies. While they remained small
they could probably run along the branches like
squirrels. But as they increased In size, the hind
legs were used to support and push the body, the
forelegs to grasp and pull. This difference
in use gradually brought about the difference In
structure between hand and foot. The fingers
became longer and freer than the toes, the thumb
more independent and opposable. Thus the ar-
boreal life of our ancestors gave us our hands
and fingers, our means of grasping and of using

4 35

Man in the Light of Evolution

tools. The use of the legs for pushing and of
the arms for pulling accustomed the ape to a
more nearly upright position.^

Our muscular system is composed of parts or
successive additions which are of very different
age and origin. The muscles of our trunk are
inherited from the tubular body wall of worms.
Shoulder and thigh muscles were developed by
fish to move the fins. Arms and legs grew
stronger through a long series of generations of
amphibia and reptiles. Hands and fingers were
developed by arboreal mammals. They mature
in the same order in the human child to-day.
Our muscles grow younger as we pass from the
trunk outward to the fingers or downward to
the toes. The muscles of the neck are very old.
Those of the jaws are younger, those of tongue
and lips and the muscles of expression in our
face are younger still.

Hence physiologists distinguish between cen-
tral muscles of the trunk and peripheral muscles
of the wrist, and especially of the fingers. The
muscles of the arm are central when viewed in

^ See Heineman, T. W., "Psychic and Economic Results
of Man's Physical Uprightness."

36

stages hi Human Evolution

their relation to the hand, but peripheral rela-
tively to the trunk. ^

We usually begin any action or series of move-
ments with central muscles and complete it with
peripheral, so in picking up a pin from the floor
or going to the table for a pencil. Hence cen-
tral muscles have been called fundamental and
peripheral muscles accessory by some writers.
In fundamental movements of central muscles a
little nervous energy suffices to stimulate and
direct a large amount of muscular movement.
In the use of the accessory muscles of the fingers
the opposite is true In both respects.

Our trunk muscles are capable of but few
simple movements, and these neither free nor
precise. Freedom, complexity, and precision of
movement Increases as we pass from trunk to
hand, and culminates In the fingers.

The centers In the brain which control these
muscles show the same succession In age, and
differ correspondingly In structure. A few large
and powerful cells will suffice for the control of
the trunk muscles. Centers controlling the fin-
gers must contain many cells with very complex

^ See Bibliography.

37

Man in the Light of Evolution

connections. As time goes on new centers are
continually arising in the brain. These are
more complex, finer, capable of higher action
and of nobler uses. Slowly and gradually in the
range of actions peculiar to man nervous energy
is playing a larger role, while muscular power,
though important or essential, becomes of sec-
ondary value. The athlete is a man of nerve.
Our weariness and lack of endurance is far more
of the nervous than of the muscular system.

Late in tertiary times primitive man or his
anthropoid ancestor forsook the trees and lived
upon the ground. His legs lengthened to give
a longer stride. His trunk and arms became
relatively shorter. His whole body became
more finely molded and better fitted for higher
ends. The center and main scene of evolution
was shifted from the muscle to the brain, from
the body to the mind. It is hardly correct to
speak of any arrest of the body as far as evolu-
tion is concerned. Muscles may not be increas-
ing in bulk. But brain and mind are reacting
upon bone and muscle and subduing and mold-
ing them to their own mental ends. They are
making the body a fitter expression of the higher
mental life. The body is becoming an expres-

38

stages in Human Evolntion

sion of thought. Muscles of speech and ex-
pression are more effective and really more
powerful than those of back and legs. The
postpliocene or quaternary age is the era of mind.

The lower animal has a very limited range of
environment. It moves but a little distance and
becomes acquainted with but few objects or
forces. The higher animals range over a wide
territory and learn finer shades of difference be-
tween a host of objects. Man's home is the
world or the universe, and he is interested in all
its features. The animal learns the relation be-
tween a few important objects and himself.
Man is interested in the relation of objects to
one another, even when the relation to himself
Is dim and remote.

Finally animals, either consciously or by a
blind Instinct, make some provision for the fu-
ture. Migrations take place or food is stored
up against the approach of winter. These pro-
visions are more numerous than we suspect. But
they generally affect a future almost immediate
or near at hand. Only as man searches far back
Into the past experience or history of his family
or nation does he begin to peer into the remote
future and to prepare for its opportunities and

39

Man in the Light of Evolution

emergencies. Thus in many respects the animal
mind is a crude type or dim prophecy of the
human.

Said Professor Huxley : " Man now stands as
on a mountain top far above the level of his
humble fellows, and transfigured from his grosser
nature by reflecting here and there a ray from
the infinite source of truth. And thoughtful
man, once escaped from the blinding influences
of traditional prejudice, will find in the lowly
stock whence man has sprung the best evidence
of the splendor of his capacities, and will dis-
cern in his long progress through the past a
reasonable ground of faith in his attainment of
a nobler future." ^

The lofty plane of life on which man lives
and moves is the result of his higher intellectual
as well as of his moral and religious instincts,
thoughts, purposes, and powers. His higher
intellectual and his moral powers are evidently
due to the fact that he is a social being living in
some sort of family life. Our first question is:
Are family and society artificial and conscious
human inventions, as it were? This question
will occupy us in the next chapter.

1 Huxley, T. H., "Man's Place in Nature." Chap. 11.

40

CHAPTER III

FAMILY AND SOCIETY

THE lofty plane of life on which man
lives and moves is the result of his
higher intellectual, as well as his moral
and religious instincts, thoughts, purposes, and
powers. His higher intellectual and moral pow-
ers are evidently due to the fact that he is a
social being living in some sort of family life.
Our first question is : Are family and society arti-
ficial and conscious human inventions, as it were?
Or are they rooted deep in his very structure, to
a certain extent necessary results of his constitu-
tion, products of an evolution which was urged
or forced upon him by conditions outside of his
choice or knowledge?

Two sets of forces or streams of tendency
have united to produce these two great human
institutions and to give them their present form.
One of these is at first purely physiological, the
other the result of an instinct or feeling. We

41

Man in the Light of Evolution

must trace their quite distinct origin, and then
we can appreciate their great power when
united.

The amount which any animal can devote to
reproduction is the balance left after the needs
of the body for repair and fuel have been met.
Our muscular and nervous engines consume a
large amount of the food which we can digest.
The balance is very large In the stationary or
sessile animal, smaller in the sluggish, greatly
diminished in the active. It is greater in small
animals than in large ones. Vertebrates are
large and active, and mammals and birds are the
most active of all vertebrates. The evolution
of the muscular system, while increasing the sup-
ply of food, has greatly decreased the balance
left for reproduction.

While the amount which can be devoted to
reproduction has steadily decreased, the amount
required to produce a new individual has In-
creased just as steadily. Every egg must contain
enough nutriment to build and develop an in-
dividual capable of taking and digesting food
and of further growth. To build a sponge or
a hydra requires very little. A worm Is more
expensive. A fish costs even more. The frog's

42

Family and Society

egg may have a diameter ten times as great as
that of a certain fish; It should contain one thou-
sand times as much material. The egg of a bird
contains from one hundred to one thousand times
as much food as a frog's egg.

If the amount of material which the animal
can put Into eggs Is rapidly diminishing, and the
amount required for every egg Is Increasing, the
number of eggs must be lessening rapidly. We
may say roughly that for every egg produced by
a bird, the reptile produces ten, the frog fifty or
more, and fishes from one hundred to ten thou-
sand.

This diminution in the number of eggs, while
unavoidable. Is a very serious danger to the sur-
vival of the species. It greatly diminishes the
chances of favorable variations. If It goes too
far, the number of Individuals In successive gen-
erations win steadily diminish until the species
becomes extinct. The fish can survive even If
a large share of Its eggs are eaten by other ani-
mals; not so the bird or mammal. Every egg
Is of great value. Eggs and young must be
guarded and cared for. Hence the nesting hab-
its of birds and the Intrauterine development of
all mammals except the very lowest are a physlo-

43

Man in the Light of Evolution

logical necessity. Hence many reptiles and some
amphibia and fish have become viviparous, pro-
ducing living young. The young mammal must
be protected, fed, and tended by the mother.
The higher the mammal the longer the period
of dependence of the young. After a time the
male begins to protect and cooperate with the
female, and aids her in gaining food. In many
species of mammals the male takes no such share
in the care of the young, in others they cooperate
during only a small part of the year. Birds of
prey mate for life.

The anthropoid apes have a long period of
pregnancy, and the young have their infancy and
childhood. Here the protection and coopera-
tion of the male is needed continuously. With-
out it the species would probably have become
extinct long ago. Thus a rude form of family
life is an absolute necessity imposed upon the
animal by the higher development of its mus-
cular and nervous systems. The development of
the family from this standpoint has been well
treated by Mr. Fiske and Mr. Drummond.^

1 Fiske, J., "Destiny of Man"; Drummond, H., "Ascent
of Man."

44

Family and Society

If food is very scarce and hard to obtain, the
families will probably scatter and live singly.
But In most cases the separation will not be
complete and permanent. Clusters of families
will form a small clan, and these clans will
gather in tribes. In one way or another social
life is almost sure to follow the rise of the fam-
ily as its original constituent element.

Kropotkin ^ and others have shown that social
life can originate without the family as Its basis
and unit of organization. The fact of a gre-
garious instinct In animals is undoubted. This
instinct is far older than the comparatively mod-
ern family institution. Fish seek their spawn-
ing grounds In vast shoals. Seals and porpoises
are found in groups. Birds flock and mammals
herd. The flock or herd is an Invaluable means
of mutual aid and protection, as Kropotkin has
shown. Many weaker mammals probably owe
their survival to this instinct or habit. It Is very
well marked In monkeys, and generally through-
out the order of primates.

Hence some writers think that human beings
first gathered In hordes of men, women, and

1 Kropotkin, P., "Mutual Aid a Factor in Evolution."

45

Man in the Light of Evolution

children, and that family life was of later ori-
gin. Westermarck ^ has brought very strong
arguments against this view. It is very strange,
when something closely approaching family life
had been attained by anthropoid apes, and prob-
ably characterized our prehuman anthropoid
ancestors, that this most valuable or essential
human institution should have lapsed or been
suppressed during man's early history. The
horde, where still occurring, seems more likely
to be degenerative than primitive.

In all higher stages of civilization we find
family and social life both existing. In some
times and nations more emphasis is laid on the
family, in others more on society. Both insti-
tutions are essential to social health and well-
being. In the most successful and progressive
tribes, especially In our Aryan civilization, a
sound family life has been the basis of society.
Both must be perfected and adjusted In that
higher civilization which is slowly evolving.
We may safely consider both these institutions as
permanent and exceedingly effective elements in
human evolution.

Westermarck, "History of Human Marriage.

46

Family and Society

The advantages of family life are so many
that we have no time to mention more than a
few, and so clear that a long study is unneces-
sary. The children are insured food, shelter,
and protection; healthy growth, and physical
well-being. The child has the advantage of all
the experience of his parents, and of many gen-
erations of his ancestors, as this experience is
handed down by tradition. The use of articu-
late speech and language broadened and clarified
human thought and conception. Most impor-
tant of all, in the close bond of the family mu-
tual competition is replaced by mutual helpful-
ness. A large amount of energy which had been
worse than wasted is now utilized for the com-
mon good.

Natural selection is not prevented by the fam-
ily; probably its effectiveness is little, if any, de-
creased. But the mode and final result of the
process are greatly changed. Always in the
end only healthy individuals can survive. The
better conformed to environment will have a
great advantage. But there will be a selection
of families as well as of individuals. The most
firmly united and best regulated families will
In the end outlast and " outpopulate " Inferior

47

Man in the Light of Evolution

ones. Mutual service in the family begets mu-
tual love and a host of fireside and homespun
virtues. Control, forgetfulness, and sacrifice of
self train and strengthen heart and will. The
fundamental and essential moral and intellectual
training and progress are, and must always be,
the work of the family.

It is impossible for us to appreciate the debt
which we owe to society, for we can no longer
imagine what life would be without it. Of much
of its influence and power we are as unconscious
as of gravitation or of atmospheric pressure.
We must try to imagine life without govern-
ment, laws, or any form of fixed regulations.
Who is to keep peace between squabbling fami-
lies and individuals, not yet powerful or skillful
enough to wage real warfare? Has any man
any rights except what he can maintain for him-
self— Faiistrechtl If there were any rights
could anyone be compelled to respect them?
How is it possible to hold people together long
enough and closely enough so that law and gov-
ernment can arise?

Man's ancestors had been social or gregarious
animals. There was a fellow-feeling, an instinct
to keep together. During this long period of

48

Family and Society

gregarious or social life usages and customs had
arisen. No reason for these was ever asked, but
they were the raw material out of which laws
and Institutions were made, or the germs from
which these blessings sprang.

In the Aryan tribe community of descent, real
or fictitious, was the bond of membership. Evi-
dently the family, whatever its origin or charac-
ter, was a unit or conception of great power.
The clan government must control the family,
as the family controls Its Individual members.
It may be very rude or tyrannical. It must be
strong and firm. Despotism was far better than
anarchy.

The savage has not one tenth of the freedom
which we enjoy. He has very little which he
can call his own. Property and ownership are
modern ideas. His actions are trammeled in a
great variety of ways, which seem to us unneces-
sary and ridiculous. The laws to which he
must render obedience seem often unreasonable.
Above all Is the terrible pressure of usage and
custom. Everything must be done as it always
has been. And this tyranny and despotism were
absolutely necessary to hold men together until
society could gain form and cohesion. It was

49

Man in the Light of Evolution

an essential stage of preparation for the free-
dom which we enjoy.

A second characteristic of primitive society Is
the widespread, If not universal, Idea of tribal
responsibility for the offense of any and every
member. When Achan sinned, all Israel suf-
fered without a murmur. When Agamemnon
had offended the priest of Apollo, the Greeks
died under the arrows of the god. Tribal reli-
gion and morality consisted mainly In observing
a host of customs and ceremonies. It was very
easy to sin against the gods. The very existence
of the tribe depended upon the strictness of Its
discipline. Held together and apart from others
by community of descent, custom, thought, ac-
tion, and religion, the tribe moved on In lock-
step.

Individuals had to learn to live and get on
with one another. The man who could not or
would not conform was outlawed, and outlawry
was worse than quick death. Each man under
such conditions finds that he must do certain
things for others, and that he can claim certain
things from them. If his fellow is in difficulty
or danger he must help and defend him. In
times of scarcity he must share his little hoard

50

Family and Society

of food with others. In time of war he may
prefer to remain at home. He goes. His own
wishes and preferences make Httle difference.
He learns what he can claim and what he
owes. Thus he comes to recognize rights and
duties, though he may never use the words or
frame any conception of their meaning in the
abstract.

Man as a social being is very ready to accept
the estimate placed upon his actions by his fel-
lows. It Is not easy to resist public opinion now.
It must have been almost impossible In that
primitive army which summarily outlawed or
killed the obstinately disobedient. This feeling
tended to develop a conscience in the Individual
answering to the needs, estimates, customs, and
regulations of the community.

The primitive religion was a tribal religion.
The gods felt toward a man just as his neigh-
bors did. God was always on the side of cus-
tom and tribal opinion. A public opinion of this
sort Is irresistible, and a man's conscience and
estimate of himself and of his actions must con-
form to it. This does not explain the origin
of man's conception of right; perhaps it presup-
poses such a conception In some dim form. But,

5 51

Man in the Light of Evolution

given such a dim conception, I believe that
primitive human society gave it its iron grip on
every fiber of man's nature.

This old tribal education, necessary and benef-
icent as it was, had its dangers, as Bagehot has
shown. ^ It was the relentless foe of individual-
ity, originality, and hence of progress. Even
the slightest and most beneficent changes might
call down the anger of the gods. Progress
stopped in many Oriental nations. Everywhere
it had to be exceedingly slow and gradual. Edu-
cation into liberty cannot be accomplished in a
day or generation, otherwise the inestimable
benefits of tribal education will be lost and an-
archy will return.

In Israel the progressive prophet faced the
conservative priest. In Germany, Greece, and
Rome the people seem to have always had a
voice in the government. The crust of custom,
to borrow Bagehot's phrase, had to yield to this
pressure. Individual rights were finally empha-
sized as much as individual duties. This tend-
ency is now so strong that we need to be re-
minded of the warning of the great German

1 Bagehot, W., " Physics and Politics.'

52

Family and Society

thinker who said: "You can never build a
strong and permanent institution or movement
on privileges, but only on duties. Not what
men receive, but what they give, makes them
strong and truly rich." Thus modern govern-
ment and society slowly evolved.

Human social evolution has hardly more than
begun. The great advantage of family life is
that each member contributes what another
lacks, and thus all are benefited by the partner-
ship. Society must realize and utilize to the
full all the possibilities of the individual and the
family. They must enjoy as far as possible
equal and full opportunity to completely develop
their best powers and capacities, and thus to con-
tribute as much as possible to the common wel-
fare.

Every individual and family can enjoy full
freedom of opportunity only in so far as this
does not interfere with the equal rights of
neighbors. The family has succeeded in re-
placing mutual competition by mutual helpful-
ness. Society Is a means of accomplishing the
same result between families and classes. Here
the problem becomes more difficult. The family
is more powerful and harder to control. It far

Man in the Light of Evolution

outlasts the life of the individual. The parent
finds in his children a stronger motive to amass,
concentrate, and hold wealth than in his own in-
dividual ambitions. Hence the socialist often
attacks the family institution as the great source
of injustice and inequality. Still the family is
the basis and bulwark of society. Mutual un-
derstanding and sympathy between classes is
evidently the first step toward mutual help
and support. But progress and change will
be slow.

The social body or community Is at first very
small — a neighborhood, village, or town. All
outsiders are barbarians. It enlarges into clan,
tribe, and nation. As it enlarges, it is in great
danger of losing its unity and solidarity. Classes
or castes, associations, aristocracies, plutocracies,
or hierarchies arise and flourish. It is in danger
of neglecting its unfortunates and derelicts until
they spread disease and decay throughout its
body.

Nations are slowly discovering that war,
whether by tariff or guns, is expensive and bur-
densome. They would gladly do away with it.
They are slowly discovering that the wealth of
any nation enriches instead of impoverishing

54

Family and Society

the rest. The brotherhood of nations is no
more difficult or impossible to-day than was
the union of clans or tribes some thousand
years ago. *

Society does not neglect the physical welfare
of its members, but it is largely a means of men-
tal progress and evolution. Even intellectual
development is less important than moral and
religious. The latter have always accompanied
one another in the evolution of any healthy so-
ciety or civilization. They promote freedom by
inculcating respect for law, and show that " per-
fect liberty is perfect obedience to perfect law."
The only sure and lasting foundations are virtue
and righteousness.

Whatever the future may have in store for
us, these great social or popular movements and
tendencies will never be arrested until some-
thing has been attained far higher and better
than our present conditions, hopes, or dreams.
Evolution will not cease, and it will work toward
higher and grander ends. Its aim will be the
expression and the realization of the highest
ideals and deepest and most complete physical,
mental, moral, and religious welfare of the peo-
ple. We do not know the form or constitution

Man in the Light of Evolution

of the future government. We hear of the
Family of nations and the Brotherhood of man.
It will be all this, and something more. Perhaps
the old prophet had the clearest vision of the
future when he foretold a kingdom of God, a
kingdom of universal righteousness, joy and
peace.

We have seen clearly that the evolution of
man has been by a series of advances from lower
planes of life to higher. The zoophyte lived to
eat and reproduce. The worm crawls, the fish
swims, the reptile has emerged on land, has
gained freer movement and broader life. Mam-
mals point toward social and family life.

Finally man advances through stage after
stage of savagery and barbarism to civilization,
law and order, arts, science, and religion.

We notice that the rise of a new system or
power — skeleton, legs, or brain — seems only
after a time to unfold its great advantages, and
then only does the group attain its full suprem-
acy. Evolution ends In revolution as the group
fully attains the higher plane of life.

In the upward march toward man many
forms drop out at each stage and go little or

56

Family and Society

no farther. Modern clams and snails, crabs and
insects, amphibia and reptiles, are the descend-
ants of such stragglers. Most of the army set-
tles or straggles or turns backward or down-
ward; comparatively few keep up the advance
and finally push on to the next higher stage.
Here again a similar sifting process occurs.

Evolution implies the possibility of progress,
stagnation, or degeneration. Any species or
group of individuals may rise, adapting itself to
a higher plane or habit of life, or it may sink
or degenerate. Stagnation or degeneration is
easier and more common than progress, but usu-
ally results in extinction. The fact of degenera-
tion demands our most careful attention.^

We notice at once and very clearly the great
complexity of human organization. Man is a
product of the ages, and every age has contrib-
uted to his structure and powers. Protozoa
formed our cells. Coelenterates gave us the be-
ginnings of our digestive and reproductive sys-
tems, and the tissues out of which other organs
were to be constructed. Worms, wise master
builders, framed our trunk. Group after group,

1 See Bibliography.

57

Man in the Light of Evolution

through successive stages, added to the muscu-
lar system, strengthening and shaping our legs,
arms, and hands. Only man attained the full,
free, and complete use of the fingers. The place
and role of the muscular system in the evolution
of the race and in the development of the indi-
vidual has never been properly appreciated or
^ emphasized. It is the strategic center of all evo-
\ lution and education up to the last and highest
stage.

But the evolution of this system changes its
direction somewhat from stage to stage. The
old trunk muscles are heavy, fitted only for
crude, rough, hard work. The successive addi-
tions are continually hghter, finer, fitted for
more complex, precise, and higher actions.
More and more nervous energy is required for
their use and control. Muscles of speech and
of facial expression, so characteristic of man, find
their main use in manifesting thought and feel-
ing. Mind has very gradually been mastering
and permeating the nervous system, and through
it the whole body. The final goal of physical
evolution is evidently not the biggest body with
the heaviest muscles, but the one which shall be
the best and most complete expression of the

58

Family and Society

highest and best human mind. First comes the
physical, then the mental and spiritual slowly
gain ascendancy and complete control.

Mentally, as well as physically, man has In-
herited from all ages and stages of life. Appe-
tites are old and deep-seated, rude and very
strong. His senses are keen. Old motives,
like fear or hate, are always threatening revolt
against the higher and younger moral and relig-
ious ruling powders. But slowly, as man at-
tained the human stage, love of beauty and
truth, of right, of fellow-man and of God; obe-
dience to the laws of reason — in one word, the
real human life — rose superior to the appetites
and passions of his old animal ancestors. It has
been a long and fearful struggle. Rex regis
rebellis. The king has always been in rebellion
against the king. The lower always appeals
from and against the higher. Ape and tiger die
hard.

Where so many powers had to be evolved,
they could not all advance equally at one time.
The first organs were those Insuring growth and
survival. These were fundamental. Only when
they had been firmly established could anything
higher be Introduced. But upon this founda-

59

Man in the Light of Evolution

tion of strength a superstructure of beauty,
grace, and fineness could be reared.

Hence the line of evolution Is anything but
straight and direct.^ It must often seem illogi-
cal. First it is directed toward one attainment,
then toward another. Through the struggle for
existence natural selection favors at one time the
development of one power, then of an entirely
different one.

No wonder, then, that our ideas of evolution
become confused. We are not surprised to find
that many writers and keen thinkers have pro-
posed theories of human progress really applica-
ble and adequate only to worms, clams, or rep-
tiles. The story of evolution becomes '' full of
sound and fury, signifying nothing.'*

Thus far our study of animal development has
given us at best only a chronicle of events. Can
we make this chronicle a history by finding that
certain great laws unite all the events and changes
in one grand progressive evolution? This Is the
great question and problem which we must seek
to solve in succeeding chapters.

1 Huxley, T. H., "Evolution of Ethics," last part.

CHAPTER IV

THE LOGIC OF EVOLUTION ^

OUR sketch of the stages of human evo-
lution has given us glimpses of a great
drama like one of Wagner's trilogies.
Scenes shift and different heroes follow one an-
other on the stage. But the story seems discon-
nected. The gaps and breaks are very wide.

This is necessarily the case when we attempt
to give in a few pages the history of the animal
kingdom in all ages. Even if we had unlimited
time and patience for our study, the history
would remain incomplete. Our knowledge is
very limited. But small and incomplete as it is,
it may be valid so far as it goes. I see a great
mountain. I have looked at only one side of it,
perhaps. I may have correct views concerning
that side, even though my knowledge of the
whole mountain is very inadequate.

^ See Appendix Charts V. and VI.

6i

Man in the Light of Evolution

I travel toward the mountain, and am carried
to the top by a railroad. Clouds have settled
and have obscured my view. Yet when I look
down from the summit in the clearer light of
the next morning, I do not need to trace the
whole line of the road in all its turnings to
know that I have passed from a smiling valley
to forests and pastures, thence to bare treeless
rock, and finally over ice and snow. I must have
passed these landscapes successively, for they He
In zones encircling the mountain.

With almost equal certainty I can say that
man in his evolution passed successively through
unicellular, vegetative or coelenterate, wormlike,
and vertebrate stages. These stages stand out
separate and disconnected In our hasty sketch.
Let us see if their succession is not entirely logi-
cal and exactly what we might expect.

We begin with the marvelous living substance
— protoplasm. It digests, breathes, excretes,
feels, adapts Itself to the most varied conditions.
Its most noticeable characteristic Is its power of
adaptation. Its fitsomeness, as Professor Brooks
has emphasized. Whence and how did It arise?
I, at least, have no theory to offer. Gradually
it fashioned the cell, a still more marvelous

62

The Logic of Evohition

structure capable of forming all the organs and
doing the various kinds of work required in our
body. Cells began to unite in groups, and some
of these groups took the form of a double-walled
sack, our zoophytic ancestor. This little animal
had two organs, one for digestion and the other
for reproduction. These are the two essential
functions, which insure the growth and survival
of the individual and the species. Power of
locomotion was small. But a little muscle was
necessary to gain food and to keep the body in
shape. As this was used and exercised it in-
creased in amount.

Then some zoophyte changed Its mode of
locomotion. Instead of depending upon its mi-
croscopic oars (cilia) it used its muscles. It
was a slight change, but It revolutionized animal
structure. To move even a little less slowly and
to seek Its food over a wider area was a great
advantage. From this time on the animal which
developed muscle survived, and gradually re-
placed the form which developed digestion only.
Muscle stimulated the development of respira-
tory, circulatory, and excretory organs. These
were grouped to form the trunk of the body of
higher animals. The exercise stimulated the de-

63

Man in tlie Light of Evolution

velopment of the skeleton, and of something
higher, more complex, and of far greater possi-
bilities— the nervous system. Swifter locomo-
tion, search for food, new surroundings with
their possibilities and dangers, made better sense
organs very profitable.

Muscles and sense organs reacted on the ner-
vous system and lifted it to a higher plane. The
visual eye, capable of seeing images of objects,
the most complex and youngest of all the sense
organs, appeared. From this time on only those
animals which could see could hope to win in
the struggle for life and supremacy.

The front part of the nervous system enlarged
under these stimuli and shaped itself into a brain.

The smaller, lower animals are usually short-
lived. The larger vertebrate lived for years or
decades. The same experiences came to it again
and again, and new emergencies and dangers
often confronted it. Life was a series of experi-
ments for all our ancestors. Mr. Erasmus Dar-
win defined a fool as a man who never tried an
experiment. The experimenting animal became
in time intelligent. Higher mammals, like dog,
fox, elephant, and monkey, are often shrewd.
Wits counted in the struggle as well as muscular

64

The Logic of Evolution

strength and agility. Slowly, but surely, mind
crowded muscle off the throne of the animal
body. The brain reigned supreme. Quaternary
time is the era of mind.

There have been three dynasties in the history
of evolution — first that of digestion and repro-
duction, then that of muscle, and finally that of
mind. Each lower ciynasty needed, stimulated,
and thus ushered in, the reign of the next higher
power, and then became subservient to this.
Every higher power begins its career as the ser-
vant of the lower. The reign and dominance of
the higher power does not destroy or hamper the
development of the lower function. The diges-
tive system attains its highest development not
during its period of supremacy, but in its service
of muscle and brain. The same is true of the
muscles. They are not as powerful in man as
in some lower animals. But they are numerous,
varied, complex, and capable of finer and more
complex movements. There is no " arrest of
the body." It becomes continually finer, better
adapted to higher uses and nobler ends discov-
ered by the thinking brain.

As each higher power was needed for the
complete use and development of the lower, the

6s

Man in the Light of Evolution

sequence of dynasties was logical and natural.
The higher had to arise except where there was
arrest of development. The reign of mind was
the only logical goal of even zoophytic structure
and development, and the worm foreshadowed
the coming of man. The lower structure and
stage is evidently incomplete. It must be esti-
mated and judged in the light of the higher to
which it is a stepping-stone. Any other view
leads to serious error.

But the lower organ or function once firmly
established and supreme in the body does not
readily yield its control and abdicate in favor
of the higher power of greater possibilities.
There is, and must always be, a struggle for
supremacy between the lower and older and the
younger and better. The revolution succeeds
only against strong opposition. Old habits
must be broken and new ones formed. This
is exceedingly difficult for animals and men.
Hence many fail to enthrone the higher power,
never break from the old habit or mode of life,
and remain permanently on the lower plane.

Every function or power holds the throne as
long as it is capable of rapid Improvement, more
rapid and profitable than that of any other sys-

The Logic of Evolution

tern. A digestive system always remains com-
paratively simple. A sack or tube with a few
glands Is all that is needed. The reign of diges-
tion may have been short. Muscle and skeleton
are far more complex, capable of greater vari-
ety in amount, form, structure, and grouping.
Their capacities for improvement are many and
great. The reign of muscle lasted for ages.
The era of mind Is only begun. We know not
what we shall be. But the possibilities of mental
evolution are practically unlimited; they may be
infinite. The era of mind and the reign of its
higher powers, the supremacy of the highest
motives. Is sure. Its dynasty is secure. No
other system In the body can dispute Its place
and right.

Animals and men have tried the experiment of
reversing this logical sequence of ruling func-
tions. Parasites and sessile animals have made
the muscles serve digestion. Men frequently
make mind the servant to the gratification of
lower powers. The experiment has always re-
sulted in degeneration and usually in extinction.

The rule or dominance of functions Is suc-
cessive, but they are all present In the first pro-
tozoan. They are of equal age. The digestive
6 67

Man in the Light of Evolution

system comes to the throne first just because it is
simple, fundamental, and absolutely essential to
life. Muscle follows in the march, more slowly
at first, because more complex and difficult of
development, and having fewer opportunities to
show its usefulness and capability. Later it
overshadows the digestive system. Similarly
brain and mind were developing in the lowest
stages. But it was a most difficult problem to
form a brain. It could not show its power and
capacity until the muscles and all the other or-
gans were sufficiently mature to execute its
decrees.

In tracing the mental evolution of animals we
enter on difficult and dangerous ground. We
know and understand the mental actions of ani-
mals only by comparing them with our own.
Here we may easily mistake. We must use lan-
guage really applicable only to the mind of man
and higher animals concerning beings far down
In the scale of life. Hence we can use the words
knowledge, recognition, perception, motive, and
choice only in an exceedingly broad or even
figurative sense. We use these words only be-
cause there are no other familiar and plain terms
which we can substitute for them.

68

The Logic of Evohttioii

The lowest animals distinguished and were at-
tracted by but a few objects in a very limited
range of surroundings. The world of a proto-
zoan is a drop of water, and he distinguishes
only a few minute particles of food. Worms
come into a vastly wider range of conditions.
They have good sense organs. They smell,
taste, and see. Vibrations In the water make
them aware of changes in surrounding condi-
tions, not only of food to be seized but of dan-
gers to be avoided. The worm has a far wider
as well as more accurate knowledge.

But the study of objects becomes a stepping-
stone to the study of their relations to us and
of one to another.

Higher animals act as if they recognized rela-
tions. The bee associates bright spots, " honey
guides," on the flower with concealed nectar, and
thrusts his proboscis into the opening. Many
animals recognize signs of danger. The hen
clucks at sight of the hawk, and every fowl
seeks shelter. The animal recognizes but a few
of the simplest and closest relations between ob-
jects and Itself. What is neither food nor
enemy may usually be neglected. Yet some ani-
mals are very curious.

69

Man in the Light of Evolution

Man traces the relation between objects and
himself and between objects but distantly and
indirectly related to him. Science is really the
study of the relations of objects and of the laws
of their interaction.

New relations frequently arise, and some of
them are of vast importance. The young are
neither food, enemy, nor exactly friend, to the
mother. But the relationship is very close and
changes both their lives. In family and social
life new relations continually appear which de-
mand clear recognition, and in every one of
which proper behavior must be fixed by custom
or formulated by law and carefully observed.
Man discovers what he must do for his fellow,
and how much he may require of him. Intan-
gible and invisible rights and duties have become
the most important and stubborn facts in human
life. He must recognize them and obey their
laws.

Man, a comparatively weak and defenseless
mammal, " a reed but a thinking reed," has for-
saken his shelter in the trees and lives on the
ground. He is surrounded by vast objects, buf-
feted by powers which he can neither resist nor

70

The Logic of Evolution

understand. The world Is mysterious and fear-
ful, if not awful to him. He is inexperienced in
his new conditions. Life is an experiment, and
the world a field of discovery. Gradually he
becomes aware, or thinks he has become aware,
of something or somebody not human, who will
hurt him if he does certain things, and may help
him if he does others. On account of hard ex-
periences, or for other reasons, he begins to asso-
ciate this being, power, or influence, with certain
objects. Possibly he thinks that certain charms
may protect him from the harm wrought by this
dangerous neighbor. He becomes a fetich wor-
shiper. Still he wonders about this strange in-
visible power which has intruded into his envi-
ronment. He experiments here as elsewhere.
He thinks he discovers somewhat more. The
being seems to have knowledge and will like
himself, or It acts more like certain powers of
nature. He begins to form hazy and dim con-
ceptions concerning It. Religion plays a very
large part In his life, and begins to modify all
his actions. It gives its sanction to his crude
code of morality, promises rewards and vague
but terrible punishments. However we may ex-
plain Its origin, it is a fact that man is a rellg-

71

Man in the Light of Evolution

ious belng.^ If our study of man Is not to be
fatally defective, we must take this fact Into
account and give It due emphasis. It has had
vast power for good and sometimes for evil In
the lives of men and nations. And It, too. Is only
what we might expect as the logical and natural
result of man's life and training.

The study of the development of religion Is
a science by Itself. We cannot follow It here.
From the fetlchism of the savage to the worship
of the one All-Father Is a vast journey. But
slowly, and often painfully and at fearful cost,
the passage has been made by every great man
and nation.

Growth In knowledge has modified the life
and structure of animals and men Indirectly, as it
has furnished new and stronger motives for new
actions and experiments. Survival and prog-

^ Plutarch seems to have been nearer the truth than some
modern observers and students when he wrote: "Pass over
the earth, you may discover cities without walls, without lit-
erature, without monarchs, without palaces and wealth;
where the theater and school are unknown; but no man
ever saw a city without temples and gods, where prayers and
oaths and oracles and sacrifices were not used for obtaining
pardon or averting evil."

72

The Logic of Evolution

ress demand more than mere knowledge of sur-
roundings or environment. Conformity to envi-
ronment is the essential thing. The knowledge
must result in action, the intellect must stir the
will before any real progress can result. Hence
the study of perceptions, of discovery, is prac-
tically of less importance than that of the motives
which have stimulated and determined the line
of action; for the line of action and habits in-
fluences that of selection and survival, and hence
of evolution. Perhaps we ought not to speak
of motives among the lowest animals. But we
may venture to use this expression in spite of the
fact that it implies will and choice. There is
no better familiar word to take its place.

The only motive which the lowest animal can
feel and which can spur him to action is hunger,
and perhaps we ought to add pain. Worms
avoid danger. They act as if they had a dim
feeling of fear.. Fear may be a low and primi-
tive motive, but it is of great importance. Even
the man who cannot fear is either dull or ex-
ceedingly reckless. He certainly is not wise.
Anger and jealousy soon follow.

The social instinct beginning with a mere gre-
garious feeling goes on into love of mates. The

73

Man in the Light of Evolution

older and stronger members of the band or flock
watch and protect the younger. But the great
change from selfish or self-centering motives
to those altruistic feelings which center about
another's welfare comes with the evolution of
family and social life. Mammals and birds pro-
tect their young at the risk or expense of their
lives. In social life a similar feeling Is extended
to our neighbors so that a man may lay down
his life for his friends.

Social life brings with It a series of new mo-
tives. A man must be true to his friends, to his
clan, city, or nation. Friendship, patriotism,
loyalty, honor, duty, become sources of motives
of extraordinary power. They raise man above
thoughts of appetite or of prudential considera-
tion. When these rule the life, and In propor-
tion as these rule, he becomes a hero of Titanic
power.

Last in the series and youngest of all are the
religious motives. Their grandeur is but dimly
perceived and dully felt by the best. Sometimes
a great prophet shows us their power. They
are still struggling In our minds for the clear
recognition and absolute loyalty and complete
obedience which they will some day gain. We

74

The Logic of Evohitioii

cannot even imagine the power which they will
bestow or the height to which they will raise us.

We cannot fail to notice that we have here a
succession of motives of increasing power. Fear
usually overcomes appetite; but anger, and much
more, parental affection, overcomes fear. But
even this emotion is of less efficiency than human
maternal love where the feeling of loyalty and
duty mingles with maternal affection. The
lower motives may blaze out fiercely, but always
more or less fitfully, the higher move toward a
steady purpose befitting human powers and life.

The lower motives are easily satisfied, and
often perish with the using. We remember our
childish anticipations of the holiday dinner, and
our disappointment because appetite failed be-
fore the arrival of the delicacies which we had
most anticipated. And over-indulgence was fol-
lowed by penitential fasting.

But the higher motives grow with every satis-
faction of their cravings. The artist forgets
cold and hunger in the joy of his creative work.
Higher forms of beauty continually lure him to
greater efforts. Professor Huxley used to say
that the passion for original investigation was
harder to break than the craving for intoxicating

75

Man in the Light of Evolution

drink. The more a man knows, the more he
longs for knowledge. The best long most In-
tensely for the highest. While the lower mo-
tives enslave, the higher give the most complete
freedom to the man absorbed In their pursuit.

The line of evolution Is not straight. We
might compare It to an ever-widening ascending
spiral, In which progress, while ever upward. Is
often apparently In almost opposite directions,
as the earth swings toward and away from the
sun In Its elliptical orbit. The final goal Is clear,
but the direction of movement varies from stage
to stage. We may speak of evolution as one
process in reference to Its end; we may speak of
it with equal justice as a series of processes.

Life Is first half vegetable, then more and
more purely animal, finally human. Natural
selection works first for good digestion, then for
tough and powerful muscles, then for shrewd-
ness, finally for righteousness and love. The
spur to action varies from stage to stage, and new
motives arise. Life Is at first largely chemical
or physical. Consciousness and thought seem
hardly more than by-products. Life remains
dependent upon chemical and physical forces
and processes, but all these are directed by a

76

The Logic of Evohition

motive or purpose which has its seat entirely in
the mind. In one word, if we are studying evo-
lution, our views and even our definitions of its
process or processes will vary according to the
animal or stage of life whose evolution we are
watching. A theory which would have been
entirely adequate and satisfactory, when worms
were at the head of the animal kingdom and its
highest product, may be defective and mislead-
ing when applied to the evolution of men into
something higher.

Even if our study of evolution should open
our eyes only to the marvelous possibilities of
life and teach us to wonder at them, it will not
have been in vain. For " Wonder is the mother
of wisdom." We see dimly great promises afar
off. Present human attainm-ents appear small
and poor compared with the glory which is to be.
We are called to higher attainments and uses.

We study history in order that, through our
knowledge of its laws, we may forecast the
future. We rightly believe that tendencies
which have existed and strengthened through
past centuries will continue in force. For this
reason we believe that, whatever the form of
future government may be, it must tend to ex-

77

Man in the Light of Evohttion

press more fully and adequately the will of the
people.

Our study of biological history has shown us
certain laws and tendencies which have been
working through thousands or millions of years,
and which must therefore continue to guide or
urge man toward some far-off goal. We must
believe that progress will still continue accom-
panied by much stagnation and degeneration.
Many will fall out of the upward line of march,
as their animal and anthropoid predecessors have
done in the past. Evolution is no guarantee of
universal progress. But some will press on to
a higher plane of life.

In this higher life the best attainments of all
past generations will be preserved or improved.
The lower vegetative visceral organs will not
deteriorate. They are essential to life, and will
be maintained or improved in the interest of bod-
ily and spiritual health. The muscular system
will still be needed to maintain health and to
realize the plans and commands of the thinking
mind. Finer actions of finer muscles of expres-
sion will play a larger and larger part in the life
of the future. Knowledge will increase. Man
will think not only of how to get a living, but

78

The Logic of Evolution

also and far more how to live. Getting will
become a means of being, not the end in itself
which it often is to-day. Knowledge of some-
thing more important and higher than mere ma-
terial things will be cultivated. The higher
knowledge better used will keep before the mind
stronger motives which will stimulate the exer-
cise of the highest powers, and thus lead to the
largest life.

We see that as animals and men pass from one
stage to another, new and higher powers suc-
cessively dominate life. These powers usually
have arisen from small and weak beginnings in
the service of lower powers. The first business
of animals or men at each stage is to make the
highest power supreme and regal in the organ-
ism; to allow it no longer to be subservient to
anything else, but to make everything else sub-
serve it. This has been the history of the suc-
cessive dynasties, which have characterized suc-
cessive stages of progress and raised life to the
human plane.

The human plane of life and development
must be characterized by the rise to supreme
control of powers and ideals which were far
from being ruling powers in the life of animals

79

Man in the Light of Evolution

or lower men. These ideals must furnish the
strongest and most enduring motives to the high-
est actions. The powers and their exercise must
bring him into the closest touch with, and most
complete conformity to, the highest and best
environment. These dominating powers, ideals,
actions, in one word, life must be completely on
the human plane and worthy of it. The attain-
ment of such powers and ideals, not yet attained
or fully understood or appreciated, is the end,
aim, and business of the present human stage
of evolution. The powers which have raised
man from the animal to the human plane, and
which most sharply distinguish him from ani-
mals, are evidently the moral and religious.
These alone are fitted to man's social and Intel-
lectual plane of life. These, therefore, not
wealth or material prosperity, or even art and
science, furnish the real ends of human prog-
ress. These alone can furnish motives for su-
preme and enduring effort. Only these stimu-
late and exercise the highest powers. Every-
thing else is but a means to these ends, must be
so regarded, and held strictly and sternly in Its
proper place.

Our fathers said that '' Man's chief end Is to

80

The Logic of Evohttion

glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." Criti-
cise the definition as you will, it recognized and
furnished a chief end. The greatest and most
widespread danger is that we shall pursue no
chief end in life, but only a multitude of means.
Life without any chief end worthy of the name
necessarily remains low and weak. It really un-
folds none of its powers. All its energies dissi-
pate like steam from an open vessel. This is
death.

We can make the higher powers subserve the
lower, follow honesty because it Is the best pol-
icy, be or seem religious because it Is respect-
able, serve God with our eyes fixed on the main
chance, and grow cross-eyed thereby. This Is
repeating the experiment of the. parasite or ses-
sile form on a higher plane where the ruin is
more sure and complete. It can have but one
end — degeneration.

** A house divided against Itself cannot
stand." It will not long remain divided. If
pulled by two tendencies. It will follow the one
or the other. It will become all slave or all free.
What Mr. Lincoln saw to be true of the Union
Is equally true of the life of every individual.
He will inevitably follow the higher motive or

8i

Man in the Light of Evolution

ideal and make the necessary effort to rise to the
next higher plane of life, or he will sink to the
lower. There is no middle ground where he can
stand still. There can be no unity in the life
which is half anthropoid and half human.
Halting between two opinions and aims leads
no whither except to crippledom. There can be
freedom in the use of our powers, and an end
to strife and schism in life, only as we reso-
lutely and continuously make the highest su-
preme. Only by this effort and through this
warfare can we win peace. For in this realm
and on this plane peace is won only by conquest,
and is the reward of him that overcometh.

We are now prepared to describe man in the
light of evolution somewhat more clearly. Man
is physically a machine for the manifestation of
energy. The digestive system furnishes the fuel.
The muscular and nervous cells are the furnaces
where the fuel is burned; respiratory and ex-
cretory systems correspond to draft and smoke-
stack. The circulatory system is the means of
conveying fuel and oxygen to the cells and of
removing their waste. Every visceral organ is
indirectly a means of power and efficiency.

The power is manifested through the mus-

82

The Logic of Evohttion

cles. These build roads, write poems, and utter
" winged words." But these muscles are of very
different age, strength, and complexity of ar-
rangement. The manifestation of energy is
stimulated, controlled, and directed by the ner-
vous system. Every display of power takes
place in response to an external stimulus which
affects some sensory organ or structure. It is
made to avoid some danger, to seize some oppor-
tunity, or to meet some emergency. Hence the
need of clear and accurate perception. New
emergencies and opportunities are always arising
and calling for new responses. Life is a series
of experiments demanding the highest intelli-
gence and wisdom.

Man is a social being. Family and social life,
rooted in human structure, have imposed upon
him new relations which he must recognize and
to which he must conform. The family has
trained him to intelligence and unselfishness and
many homely v^irtues. Social life is, or should
be, the school of morals. Man is a religious
being and must recognize his relations and duties
to God as well as to his fellow-men.

Man chooses means and ends consciously and
intelligently. The goal of his effort once chosen,
7 83

Man m the Light of Evolution

the effort Is maintained by the will. The
strength of his purpose and the vigor of his
efforts Is proportional to the depth and Inten-
sity of his feeling or to the power of his motives.
These motives are of very different age and char-
acter. Appetites, prudential considerations, love
of beauty, truth, and goodness, moral and relig-
ious motives, form an ascending scale of value
and power. The highest and strongest motives
characterize the fully developed man and make
him what he is.

Man Is therefore a being of extraordinary
complexity and of innumerable possibilities. He
can rise to heights of wisdom and power of
which we as yet have little conception, or he
can sink lower than any brute. He can press
upward In the line of progress, can stray or
straggle from the line of march, or can stag-
nate or turn back. He has more possibilities of
failure than the lower animal, and the attrac-
tions and allurements to stray from the upward
course are more numerous and more powerful.

Only close attention to the highest aims and
enthusiasm for the highest ends can unify so
complex a federation of powers and direct the
life toward a truly human goal. Otherwise en-

84

The Logic of Evohttion

ergy is dissipated and wasted, and failure Is sure
to follow. Only the highest ends and motives
can call forth the Titanic energy of man's high-
est powers. In so far as he fails of the very
highest, he fails to be a man. To these highest
spiritual powers and ends all lower powers and
ends must be strictly and sternly subordinated.

But conversely the physical and the lower
mental must be developed to the utmost as the
necessary servant and supporter of the higher.
Otherwise, however good and high his goal and
ends, he Is powerless to attain them himself or
to lead and lift others to them. The machine
Is no stronger than Its weakest point — physical,
mental, or moral.

Man's greatest danger Is that of Incomplete
development.^ The goal of evolution Is a com-
plete manhood, where the tough body, clear and
cool mind, warm heart with Its Intense feelings,
and Iron will set on the highest ends are all
combined In one royal life. This alone Is that
wholeness, haleness, health, holiness, salvation
— call It what you will — which characterizes the

^ Clouston, T. S., "Neuroses of Development," London,
1891.

8s

Man in the Light of Evolution

true man of real and full power.^ Evolution
points to a regenerated society composed of such
men and women.

One of the greatest discoveries of modern
science Is the law that the development of the
Individual briefly and very Incompletely reca-
pitulates the evolution of the race or species.-
The law of a logical sequence of stages In human,
physical, and mental evolution, of a succession
of thought and motives, applies to the develop-
ment of the child as well as to the evolution of
the race.

The baby lives In a sort of coelenterate stage
of almost vegetative life. His whole business
seems to be to eat, digest, breathe, and sleep, to
survive and grow. His education consists very
largely In making his physical surroundings as
favorable to bodily health as they possibly can
be. But the baby gives dim promises of some-
thing higher and better. He grasps and handles
and is Interested In objects and persons. He Is

1 Compare Huxley, T. H., "Lay Sermons," New York,
1871, Article III; "A Liberal Education."

2 See Bibliography.

86

The Logic of Evolution

perceiving. He kicks and wriggles; he will soon
walk and run. The young child wishes to be
continually in motion. He cannot sit still long.
The muscular system Is the seat and center of
his development, as it was of his animal ances-
tors through long ages. This muscular exercise
Is lifting all his vital organs, heart, lungs, di-
gestive system, and is giving him the first ele-
ment of power — a tough body. It is tuning up
the nervous system and stimulating the brain.
His capacity for logical thought Is very small,
his moral and religious conceptions are dim and
crude. He Is still In the muscular stage, but
curiosity and wonder and some thought show the
dawn of the era of mind which quickly follows.
The really human powers rise at adolescence,
as President Hall has showed us.^ During this
period of youth and early manhood, boy and
girl struggle out of childhood WMth its concep-
tions and motives into true social, moral, and
religious life. The higher alms, motives, pur-
poses, character, and life must be established
now or never. We must seize the opportunity

1 Hall, G. S., "Adolescence," New York, 1904. See
Bibliography.

87

Mmi ill the Light of Evolution

or it will escape us once for all. It is a'critical
period. The boy may press upward out of the
animal or half-human life into a complete man-
hood. He may partially stagnate in the lower
stage, as clam and reptile have done before him.
He may promise well, but the pressure of early
adult life may hamper and stunt the develop-
ment of all the higher powers. He fails to com-
plete his development. The moral and religious
powers are not crushed out, but they fail to be-
come supreme. He becomes what he and others
call a practical man, a prosperous Philistine,
an anthropoid, but not a man. He may sink
in criminality or bestiality.

The infantile and childish stages are abso-
lutely essential to the development of a complete
manhood. During them are laid the firm and
rude foundations of physical health and vigor
with the accompanying power, courage, hope,
and faith of the athlete. These we must foster
in every way, and at the same time stimulate
but not overtax the nascent mental powers.

Similarly the education of the youth must not
suppress the youthful characteristics. They are
normal, healthy, and essential. The boy and girl
must have their own conceptions and Ideals, not

88

The Logic of Evolution

those of their grandparents. If we attempt to
root up childish or youthful thoughts, purposes,
and ideals, and implant our own in their place,
we have broken the logical sequence of human
development, and only harm can result. At the
same time we must stimulate In every way the
development of the nascent moral and religious
powers, lest they fail to reach their supreme
position in adult life. Any system of education
which does not send the youth out into life with
a powerful impetus toward all that is best and
grandest has failed of its chief end and use.

The chief business of the adult is evidently
the supremacy of these highest powers. Every-
thing else is of secondary importance. Arrest
of development at this point is fatal to the indi-
vidual and to the race. The arrested individual
contributes nothing essential to progress, and a
society in which such individuals lead and con-
trol stagnates and probably degenerates. To
be content with ancestral attainments is fatal.
What was progress for them, is often retro-
gression for us.

Only the complete development and suprem-
acy of these highest powers can unify the life
of the individual and make him a whole and

89

Man in the Light of Evolution

healthy man. Otherwise he dissipates his pow-
ers and fritters away effort In things of no real
significance. He becomes insignificant himself.
Arrest of development and loss of power through
lack of one chief and worthy purpose and end
is a fatal danger of the individual and of society.

Whatever be our theories concerning vital
force or energy, it reminds us of a great master
attempting to bring grand music out of a very
Inadequate instrument.^ It seems to be strug-
gling continually to clothe itself in a more suit-
able body, to express itself In all its strength and
beauty in worthier forms. It rises from mire
and water Into air and sunshine, unfolds one
physical power after another. It unmasks Itself
and behind the physical we see the transcendent
glory of the moral and spiritual. These are the
powers which are now shaping the body and
molding thought and speech to their own high-
est ends. Yet we must take nothing for granted.
Are these promises and visions merely the dreams
of youth? Is what we see afar off solid moun-

^ Compare Cope, E, D., " Primary Factors of Evolution,"
Chapters IX and X.

90

The Logic of Evolution

tain or mere cloud and mist? We must prove
every step thoroughly if we would not fall into
error.

Like begets like always, and still there is
always variation. So far as we can see, the
struggle for life is unending. Natural selection
still works steadily and relentlessly. Still the fit-
test survive. The method of working varies,
and the results of each process are always higher
and larger. This much seems fairly certain.
But we must study these forces or tendencies
carefully in the light of all the facts of human
structure and character before we can have an
adequate theory of human evolution. Other-
wise we may frame a hypothesis whose working
would have doomed man to stagnation in brute-
hood, if not to degeneration and extinction.

CHAPTER V

THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ^

INDIVIDUALS and species are continually
varying. The unfit are weeded out; the
fittest survive. Who are the fittest? Are
there any permanent and essential characteris-
tics of fitness true alike at all stages of develop-
ment? This Is evidently a most Important ques-
tion. Our answer to It will determine largely
our views concerning the whole theory of evolu-
tion.

One or two characteristics of fitness are neces-
sary and fundamental, and evident at the outset.
The fittest form must be progressive. However
great Its past attainments, If It goes no farther,
it will surely be surpassed and left behind by
some other steadily advancing form. But prog-
ress must be continued through a long series of
generations. Hence It must be capable of sur-

1 See Appendix Chart VII.
92

The Survival of the Fittest

vival. Otherwise it can contribute nothing to
the progress of life. But a host of forms at first
sight seem to answer these two requirements.
We must find some means of sifting them still
farther.

The safest line of study would seem to be fur-
nished by geology and paleontology. We will
attempt to catch a glimpse of our globe at vari-
ous stages of its geological evolution, and to see
what forms are competing for the prize of sur-
vival and leadership in the struggle for life.
As we pass from stage to stage we can see
the success or failure of the experiments tried
by the most promising competitors in preceding
stages.

There was life on the globe long before the
beginning of paleozoic time. The '* everlast-
ing hills " have grown old, worn down, disinte-
grated, and almost disappeared since the lower
forms of life arose. But the earliest forms of
life were mostly soft-bodied, and It was Impos-
sible to preserve even traces of them. The rocks
in which they were Imbedded have been worn,
burled, twisted, and often recrystalllzed. The
few remains which have come down to us can
tell us but very little. We catch our first clear

93

Man in the Light of Evolution

glimpse at the beginning of paleozoic time, or
perhaps a little before its beginning. Here our
chronology cannot be definite.

At this time a very large part of the surface
of the globe was covered by a vast primeval
ocean. The continents were hardly outlined.
North America seems to have consisted mainly
of a V-shaped mass of land with its point or
apex near Lake Superior, and its arms stretch-
ing, one toward Labrador and the other toward
Alaska, to the east and west of Hudson's Bay.
The rest of the continent was mostly submerged
beneath a great sea whose surface was broken
by island or island chains. We do not know
how much life there may have been upon the
land. It was probably scanty. Our ancestors
were still in the primeval ocean, the cradle of
all hfe.

Mollusks were well represented. Clams were
already safely ensconced and slumbering in the
mud. Other forms with spiral shells crawled
over the bottom. Cuttlefish, somewhat like our
present squids, but with their bodies protected
by a light shell, swam freely everywhere. They
seem to have lacked the beak of our modern
forms. But they could swallow most of their

94

The Survival of tJic Fittest

competitors whole, so that this lack was no seri-
ous defect.

Crustacea, now represented by crabs and lob-
sters, crept or swam, had jointed legs, and were
protected by a coat of plate-armor.

Swimming in the water above were some ani-
mals, probably about as large as good-sized
earthworms. They had no defensive armor, and
no weapon of offense. They had been driven
from the rich feeding grounds of the bottom by
the crabs and mollusks, and were living on the
minute forms of life which they could sift from
the water. These were the first vertebrates.
There must have been other interesting forms;
there were probably many peculiar and fascinat-
ing worms. But these w^e can pass by. They
have mostly become extinct.

Which of these three competitors is the fittest?
The free-swimming primitive vertebrate seems
to be already distanced in the race. The crab is
a well-protected, moving being, whose jointed
legs promise a higher organization. But the
cuttlefishes have everything their own way.
They are completely protected, and that seems
to count for most under present conditions.
They move fairly well. They have abundance

95

Ma7i in the Light of Evolution

of food, and can reproduce rapidly. They have
possession of all the natural advantages, nine
points of the law; and they have the size and
strength to maintain possession, which should
constitute the tenth.

We are hard-headed, practical men of science,
who know nothing of the future. We judge
by what we see, and by what the past can teach
us. The mollusk must be the fittest. There Is
some hope for the crustacean, but none for the
already distanced and defeated primitive verte-
brate.

We come down Into mesozolc time. The
continents have taken form and shape. The
eastern half of the United States has gradually
emerged from the ocean. When the surface of
the land was but very little above tide level,
great forests of ferns and club mosses flourished,
sank below the water level, were covered with
sand and mud, and changed Into our coal beds.
On these great marshes amphibia have appeared.
They had developed from ganoid fishes. In
mesozolc time the land has risen higher. There
are still great jungles or marshes covered with
a tropical vegetation. Dryer uplands are begin-
ning to appear.

96

The Survival of the Fittest

The moUusks are surviving abundantly, but
have made very little progress. Crustacea, or
some ancestor of the Crustacea, have given birth
to insects. But these small, short-lived forms,
governed by instinct, are no match for their
larger competitors, which have started along the
road which leads to warm blood, long life, and
Intelligence. These latter are all descendants of
the poor primitive vertebrate which seemed al-
ready distanced In the race at the beginning of
paleozoic time.

In the jungles, where food Is most abundant,
we see reptiles of every form and kind. Some
stalk on two legs; others walk or run on four,
much like our present herbivorous cattle.
Others wade or swim in the great lakes. Some
fly with batlike wings. In the sea great lizards
flourish. Many of these are large and powerful,
some of them swift and agile. They have heavy
jaws and strong teeth. Many or most are mail-
clad. No other form can join battle with them.
Birds are flying through the air, though still per-
haps half reptilian In form and appearance. We
find a few small mammals, no one of them a
match for even the weaker reptiles.

Once more, which is the fittest? We must

97

Mmi m the Light of Evoltttiofi

judge by what we can see. Later forms have
not arrived to tell us the answer to our riddle.
The reptile seems the most promising form. But
the bird fulfills certain conditions better. The
whole process of evolution up to this time has
tended to the production of muscular forms of
swift locomotion. The bird is a high-pressure
engine of hot blood and marvelous swiftness,
of keen sense organs, and no mean brain. The
bird is a far higher and finer form than the rep-
tile. What chance has the plodding mammal
about as large and as dangerous as a rat or a
rabbit?

We are in tertiary or cenozoic time. The great
reptiles have disappeared, only the inferior have
survived. Birds, like precocious children, have
not fulfilled the promise of their youth. The
prize will surely fall to some mammal. There
are splendid carnivora, cats or tigers, with pow-
erful bodies and long saber-like eye-teeth. The
herbivorous horses and deer have developed
long slim legs, and seek safety in flight. The
rodents, our rats, rabbits, and squirrels, have
taken refuge in holes or have gone into the
trees. In the trees we see also lemurs, halfway
between a squirrel and a monkey in appearance.

98

The Sttrvival of the Fittest

They are, or their descendants will be, " our
furry, arboreal ancestors, with pointed ears."
Will they ever come down from the trees, and
give battle to the tiger? In quaternary time the
descendant of the lemur reigns unchallenged and
supreme. Even the magnificently molded cat,
light and lithe, quick and powerful, keen of eye
and scent, and by no means dull of brain, cannot
stand against trap and gun.

It is a strange story. Our few Illustrations
could be multiplied indefinitely. If we have pic-
tured to ourselves the struggle for existence as
a mere battle between brutes, where the fittest
was always the strongest and largest, we have
erred completely. As Mr. Huxley has said of
social and ethical progress: ''It repudiates the
gladiatorial theory of the struggle for exist-
ence." ^ In fact the race is never to the swift
nor the battle to the strong. There must be
some explanation for so strange and unexpected,
yet constant, outcome of the struggle. One ex-
planation is evident and of great practical Impor-
tance.

In paleozoic times vertebrates, mollusks, and

^ Huxley, T. H., *' Evolution and Ethics."

8 99

Mafi in the Light of Evoltttion

Crustacea were all experimenting with the skele-
ton. The vertebrate developed an internal loco-
motive skeleton of little use for protection. The
mollusk had gained an external, purely protec-
tive skeleton or shell. The crustacean followed
the safer middle course. Its skeleton was mostly
for locomotion, but somewhat for protection.

The external skeleton was easy to build. The
cells of the skin of many marine forms secrete
carbonate of lime or horn. The covering was
likely to vary because external. Every form
having a little larger and more effective pro-
tective skeleton gained thereby a very tangible
and immediate advantage and was fostered by
natural selection. The evolution of such an or-
gan goes on very rapidly. The main groups of
mollusks, with their most Important characters,
had all appeared in early paleozoic time.

An internal skeleton, an organ of locomotion,
was far more difficult to build. New tissues, car-
tilage or gristle, and finally bone, had to be
formed. The deep-seated organ, being less ex-
posed to varying conditions, varied less. Very
slight variations would probably give less advan-
tage in the struggle, and hence were more slowly
accumulated through natural selection. For all

lOO

The Survival of the Fittest

these reasons the molluscan skeleton was prac-
tically complete, conferring all its great advan-
tages, before the vertebrate skeleton was more
than begun. The mollusk had attained very tan-
gible results while the vertebrate was scarcely
more than a bundle of possibilities.

The protective shell of the mollusk hindered
locomotion, and thus hampered the development
of muscle and nerve. It kept the body short
and unfit for rapid movement. But muscle and
nerve were the two tissues capable of great com-
plexity and high development. They develop
through their use in locomotion. The external
shell, having few possibilities in itself, and de-
stroying those of other organs, was fatal to any
high development of the molluscan type. The
evolution of mollusks went on very rapidly at
first, and then ceased almost completely. There
was abundant variation within somewhat narrow
limits, there was easy and sure survival, but there
was little progress anywhere. The clam is the
logical goal of such an experiment.

The vertebrate skeleton, comparatively sim-
ple at first, was constantly improved and addi-
tions were made to it. But, only when it had
attained a certain size and strength, could it

lOI

Man ill the Light of Evolution

show Its vast advantages over the molluscan
shell. Every improvement in this skeleton in-
creased speed of locomotion, stimulated nerve,
sense organs, and brain, exercised the muscles,
and thus led on to higher and higher realiza-
tions and to new possibilities. It was like a mine
in which the ore, poor at the surface, grows
richer with increasing depth. The vertebrate
was sure to be outclassed at first, and equally
sure to win in the end.

The experiment of using an external locomo-
tive skeleton culminated in insects. It was suited
only for small forms, ^ and thus led to shortness
of life, to instinct rather than intelligence. Such
a skeleton has far greater possibilities than the
shell of mollusks. But its possibilities, especially
along the line of development of brain, are nec-
essarily limited. The highest attainments could
not be reached by any such experiment. Now
that we can see the whole of the experiment,
these results, hardly to be foreseen, have become
perfectly clear.

The molluscan line ended in the slough of con-

^ Compare Lotze, H., " Microcosmus," vol. i, Book IV,
Chapter IV, "Man-Brute."

I02,

The Survival of the Fittest

tentment, that of Crustacea before an impassable
barrier, an unscalable cliff. The path of verte-
brates, steep and difficult, led ever upward.

The change from water to land brought with
It many difficulties and disadvantages. Motion,
so easy in the water, was hard under the new
conditions. The crawling, helpless amphibian
seems a poor creature compared with the darting
fish. But life in the air was furnishing more
oxygen, was preventing the loss of heat, and was
thus raising the temperature of the blood, was
leading to a higher and freer life. But at first
the disadvantages of the change were more ap-
parent than the gains.

The immediate use of mammalian structure
was to insure survival by saving eggs or young.
Its grand final advantage was family life and
the social life which was based upon this. The
marked advantages came late.

Hand and brain are exceedingly complex or-
gans, and are correspondingly slow in their de-
velopment. It takes time for them to attain and
prove their real value. They have vast capaci-
ties, but these are realized to only a very small
extent in their earlier stages. All these struc-
tures of higher mammals, while useful from the

103

Man in the Light of Evolution

start, point forward to the higher mental and
moral powers of a distant future.

But very few vertebrates attained these higher
stages and powers. The fish stayed in the water,
and not a few amphibians have returned to the
life of their fish ancestors. Reptiles remained
cold-blooded.

The bird developed a very high temperature
of body, marvelous locomotive power, and the
keenest sense organs. But in brain it has re-
mained far inferior to the plodding mammal.
Perhaps its power of flight kept it largely out of
reach of its enemies. The hunted mammal be-
came wary and shrewd.

The highest development of the brain was ap-
parently correlated with the origin and use of
the hand and fingers, and the hand was the re-
sult of arboreal life. But most mammals re-
mained on the ground, and thus cut themselves
off from the possibility of attaining the very
highest stage.

It is evident that we must distinguish very
sharply between fitness and dominance. The
dominant forms, like paleozoic mollusks and
mesozoic reptiles, are those which are reaping
to the full the benefits of the use of some power

104

The Survival of the Fittest

already attained, at the expense or to the neglect
of the development of some higher power of
greater capacity. They have gained present
prosperity at the expense of all possibility of fu-
ture progress. Such prosperity and dominance
must be brief. They are like certain unwise in-
vestors who lose their whole capital in the effort
to gain a high rate of interest. Such a policy
must end In bankruptcy and beggary. The mol-
lusk sleeping in his shell is sure to be surpassed
by the form which is investing all its energy of
development in some organ of higher possibili-
ties and capacities. The hulking brute of a rep-
tile will In time yield place to the brainier mam-
mal. But, if we focus our attention upon the
present alone and close our eyes to the future,
the dominant form will almost certainly appear
to be the fittest, although Its doom is sure and
downfall near.

The fittest is the form which keeps up and Im-
proves all the attainments of its ancestors, but
steadily exercises and develops the organ of
highest capacities and possibilities. But such
complex organs or institutions are and must be
of slow growth. The seed is planted by one
generation, and fostered with much pains and

105

Mmi in the Light of Evolutioit

labor by descendants. The real and full harvest
is reaped only at a far later time. The develop-
ment of the higher power or possibility involves
necessarily a distinct and often considerable loss
or renunciation of present advantage. He who
will save, cannot spend lavishly or freely. He
who will win the race must undergo training and
deny himself certain pleasures. This is evi-
dently unavoidable. It is equally clear that the
vertebrate was sure for a time to be overshad-
owed by the mollusk, and to be driven from the
surroundings where life was easiest. The mam-
mal had to be outclassed by the reptile, and the
arboreal form by the carnivore. It could not
well have been otherwise.

Why, then, did any of our ancestors choose
a path which sacrificed present advantage or
comfort to future attainment? They did not
choose at all. Every one of them followed the
line of least resistance for him. The primitive
vertebrate kept swimming because those who
went to the bottom were eaten up by Crustacea or
moUusks. The swimming habit occasioned the
development of an internal skeleton and made
an external skeleton impossible until a much
later time.

io6

The Survival of iJie Fittest

The mammals who kept on laying eggs lost
so many young that nearly all of them have be-
come extinct. Birds and reptiles hunted the de-
fenseless mammal until they taught him to be-
come agile and wary. Carnlvora developed.
Life became very unsafe for all Inhabitants of
the ground. Some sought safety In flight, some
in holes In the ground. Our ancestors were slow
of foot, and could not or would not dig; they
had to climb. Very probably they had some In-
nate aptitude In this direction. But, morally
speaking, the carnlvora " boosted " them Into
the trees by eating up all those who remained on
the ground.

Nature's system of education Is very simple.
She puts the animal under conditions where It
must die or form the habit which will Insure the
exercise of the highest powers and the develop-
ment of the highest organs. Many fail and die.
Some at least form the right habits and attain
the next higher stage. Here again the same
process Is repeated.

Such a system of education Is severe and un-
sparing. Just when our ancestors were begin-
ning to reap and enjoy the advantages of muscle,
she urged them on to develop a skeleton. They

107

Mail in the Light of Evolution

were content and well fed In the water, but they
were crowded out on land. When they were
beginning to fully enjoy life on the ground, they
were driven to a new mode of life In the trees.
She treated them much as Poor Joe In " Bleak
House " complained that Detective Bucket
treated him : " He always kept a-chivying of me,
and a-telling me to move on."

The chivying process seems necessary. When
a group of animals has remained for a time un-
der conditions where struggle and effort are
unnecessary, further development seems to be-
come Impossible for them. Apparently for this
reason, through lack of the spur of necessity,
groups have straggled and fallen out of the
march, and stopped all along the line of ad-
vance. Life seems like wet plaster. As long as
you stir it vigorously, you can mold it as you
will. Set it down for a moment, and It hardens
Into a useless mass.

This pressure of adversity is needed not only
to prevent the individuals of any group from
straying into tempting bypaths and to hem them
In to the line of progress. It is essential to the
complete development of the individual. It has
been well said that the surroundings which are

io8

The Survival of the Fittest

most favorable to progress are those which offer
the greatest number and variety of stimuli which
will continually call into action all the powers
of the individual. A life of ease means lack of
stimuli, and hence the full development of but
few powers. Powder and efficiency come only
through vigorous exercise, and strength through
struggle. The obstacles may be so great that it
is almost or quite impossible to overcome them.
But development can come only through the con-
tinual testing and training of the growing power
and through compelling it to accomplish to-day
what was impossible a year ago. The spur of
necessity is the beneficent as well as the essential
element in the education of races and individ-
uals, of animals and men.^

But why did not some ancient cat develop
muscle, tooth, and claw as long as these were
highly profitable, and then proceed to put its
energy into the development of a thinking brain?
No cat ever did this, otherwise you and I would
probably have not been here. Nature seems to
say to every group of animals: " Try whatever

1 See Orr, H. B., "A Theory of Development and Hered-
ity," p. 248. Wallace, A. R., "Darwinism," close of book.

109

Man in the Light of Evolutio7i

experiment you will, along any line whatsoever.
But when you have begun, you must follow that
line to its end. There is to be no turning back."
An illiterate but wise minister once said that the
most important text in the whole Bible was:
" They got going, and they couldn't stop."

Yet nature's severity is really kindness. She
is continually spurring her favorites to a higher
and keener enjoyment. Rest is not inactivity.
Idleness is unendurable to the healthy. Exercise
of a normal kind and degree of any organ al-
ways brings pleasure. The higher the power ex-
ercised, the higher the joy. This is one reason
why the motives peculiar to each higher plane of
life supersede and dominate those of the lower.
They lead to the exercise of a power giving
keener enjoyment.

Our study of fitness leads us to the same con-
clusions as that of the logic of evolution. Life
is ever advancing from plane to plane. It pro-
gresses by the rise of higher and higher powers
which only slowly gain supreme control in the
body. The higher power is at first feeble, and
seems of comparatively small profit. So muscle
in zoophytes, brain in early vertebrates, morals
in earlier centuries or millennia of human history,

no

The Survival of the Fittest

and religion to a large extent to-day. But this
nascent power must be developed at all cost, if
the form is to pass from any lower stage of life
to the next higher. Making the most of those
powers only which are already firmly established
or ruling in the body leads to temporary domi-
nance, but to final degeneration or extinction.

The progressive animal or man must cultivate
steadily the powers which have raised him from
the next lower stage. He ought to cultivate
these by some higher exercise or in some wor-
thier form than ever his ancestors have done, if
he is to progress. The powers which most clearly
distinguish man from the lower animals, which
have made him what he is, are evidently moral
and religious. But there is evidently an almost
endless series of planes of moral and religious
life. The progressive portion of the human
race can never be content with the moral stand-
ards or religious visions and attainments of its
near or remote human ancestors. It must press
on to higher standards and attainments. This
is merely a truism. But a truism is usually a
truth which we have forgotten or neglected.
If this statement be accepted, other conclusions
and results necessarily follow. Some of these

III

Man in the Light of Evolution

are of great practical Importance, and we must
give them our careful attention.

Socrates is being entertained at a banquet in
the house of Gorgias. The conversation turns
first on rhetoric, then on justice, and finally on
life. Callicles has exhorted Socrates to practice
the art of dealing with realities, and that which
shall gain him a reputation for common sense;
and to emulate, not the men who spend their
time in probing insignificant questions concerning
truth and justice, but rather those who possess
means and reputation and all the other good
things of life. He has assured Socrates that the
end of all his work will be sentence in the courts
and death by the vote of his fellow-citizens. One
after another Socrates silences all his opponents,
and ends the discussion with a statement of his
own belief.

" So, bidding farewell to those things which
most men count honors, and looking onward to
the truth, I shall earnestly endeavor to grow as
far as may be In goodness and thus live, and
thus, when the time comes, die. . . . Beyond all
else a man must take heed not to seem but to be
good in public and private. . . . The best way
of life Is to practice justice and every other vir-

112

The Survival of the Fittest

tue, and so to live and so to die. This way then
we will follow, and we will call upon all other
men to do the same; not that way which you be-
lieve in and call upon me to follow; for that
way, Callicles, is worthless."

It is only the old story in a new form. Calli-
cles's philosophy is reptilian. Socrates, looking
away from the immediate and tangible, is fol-
lowing in the line unconsciously trodden by all
his progressive ancestors throughout the ages.
The old law of fitness is unchangeable and irre-
versible. Man must focus his attention and will
on the development of the powers of unlimited
capacity and possibilty. Otherwise he will surely
degenerate. He must be willing to renounce
certain present advantages. It is merely what
all his ancestors have done before him. He
must face the ridicule of the molluscan philoso-
phers. There is much of the philosophy of the
clam abroad in the world to-day, though its
original source is usually unknown or unrecog-
nized. The goal of evolution lies far in the
future, distant, and often dim. We must keep
our eyes fixed steadily upon it or we shall surely
stray. There are many paths which seem right
in men's eyes whose end is death.

113

Man in the Light of Evolution

By what power or virtue does a man renounce
certain real and desirable present advantages
and struggle toward a far-off goal which is only
dimly discernible, and so distant that he can
never reach it? This vital question will demand
our attention in the next chapter.

CHAPTER VI

EVOLUTION AND FAITH

OVER the doorway of Professor Haeck-
el's lecture room In Jena stands the
motto: Impavidi progrediamiir (" Let
us go forward without fear"). Every upward
step in evolution has been, and always must be,
an experiment concerning whose success more
or less doubt is inevitable. Would muscles or
larger digestive organs pay better in primitive
worms? Was the internal skeleton of the primi-
tive vertebrate or the flexible mail-coat of crab
and insect the wiser Investment? Only time
could tell. The problem had to be solved by
experiment. But the experiment lasted through
ages, and the solution was long delayed.

But long and patient waiting and delay in the
solution of the problem are not the only or the
greatest objection and difficulty which the fittest
have to face. It Is evident that they cannot hope
to reap during their lifetime any large share of
9 115

Man in the Light of Evolution

the results of their fitness. These are reserved
for their descendants. All the disadvantages,
hardships, and losses of their experiment become
apparent quickly. The gains and advantages
are mostly In a far-off future. This also Is In-
evitable. The fittest have developed only
through the hard training and testing of all
their powers. They are always graduated from
the school of adversity with Its hard and healthy
stimuli. Meanwhile, the dominant form is
easily reaping a full harvest of present, evident,
and tangible gain. His descendants long after-
wards pay the penalty of his mistakes. But he
and his contemporaries will live to see only the
advantages. Past experience reviewed by hu-
man intelligence casts light on the path of future
progress. But the goal of attainment toward
which we must march lies In a distant future
always dim and uncertain.

Says Professor James: *' In all ages the man
whose determinations are swayed by reference
to the most distant end has been held to possess
the highest Intelligence. The tramp who lives
from hour to hour; the Bohemian whose engage-
ments are from day to day; the bachelor who
builds for a single life; the father who acts for

ii6

Evohition and Faith

another generation ; the patriot who thinks of a
whole community and many generations; and
finally the philosopher and saint whose cares are
for humanity and eternity — these range them-
selves in an unbroken hierarchy." ^

But Professor James suggests, if he does not.
emphasize, a second series of equal importance.
Man is a social being living in families and com-
munities. These larger units also, through their
effects upon their members, are tested, and fos-
tered or destroyed, by the process of natural se-
lection. There is an increasing tendency, as we
have seen, to diminish competition and to In-
crease mutual aid by the combination of smaller
into larger groups. The man who works for the
establishment and betterment of these larger
units is putting his efforts in line with the trend
of evolution.

Hence we may say that the intelligence of a
man is measured not only by the distance of his
ends and goal, but also by the size of the social
unit whose good he serves. The selfish individ-
ual, thinking only of himself; the father who
cares only for his family; the good neighbor;

1 James, W., "Psychology," New York, 1893, p. loi.

117

Man in the Light of Evolution

the faithful citizen in the smaller or larger com-
munity; the patriot who seeks the welfare of the
nation ; and the philanthropist to whom nothing
human is foreign, and who seeks the good of
all mankind — all these form a hierarchy of
broader sympathy and love, and of ever widen-
ing influence. The broader the field of one's
efforts, the larger the group for which one
works, the more distant the goal. Only patriot
and philanthropist really have immortality.
The two series or hierarchies are in general par-
allel or converging. A man of high rank in
the one will hold a similar position in the other
also. These laws of human history are really
one aspect of a grander law of biology, of
which human history is only the last volume or
chapter.

Animals and men have always followed one
of two lines of action and life. Dominant forms
have utilized to the utmost powers and structures
already largely attained by their ancestors, whose
supreme usefulness as ends has culminated and
is declining, and which offer the largest imme-
diate return. They have lived for present
conditions and surroundings, have conformed
completely to these. They have gained present

ii8

Rvohition and Faith

prosperity at the cost of future progress and
survival. For, when conditions change, as they
surely will, the dominant form pays the penalty
of extreme adaptation and over-specialization.^
The dominant human form is almost necessarily
selfish. Selfishness and sin are the supreme blun-
ders and follies.

The fittest have developed the power of great-
est capacities and largest possibilities. They
have always kept open the door to future prog-
ress. Toward this they press. They have as-
sured future success and the supremacy of their
descendants at the loss of many v^ery real ad-
vantages and in the face of difficulties and
hardships. Their experiment must always seem
doomed to failure in the eyes of the superficial
observer. Arguments in its favor must sound
unpractical and quixotic. Future generations
demonstrate their wisdom and true success.

We have seen that the fittest animals followed
the upward path through no choice or superior
intelligence, but only under severe pressure.
They were shut up to it, and crowded into it.

1 Cope, E. D., "Primary Factors," p. 172. "Law of the
Unspecialized."

119

Man in the Light of Evolution

It was practically the only path left open to
them.

Man must follow a very similar path, but In
his struggle to realize his possibilities he must
act consciously and of set purpose. The possi-
bilities are grand and Inspiring. Evolution Is
full of promise to every thoughtful man. The
fulfillment of the promise belongs to a future
whose distance and breadth measures the wis-
dom of his choice.

Every stage In the evolution of man has been
useful In proportion to the value of the contribu-
tion which It could make In progress. Coelen-
terates contributed a stomach ; worms and lower
vertebrates, sense organs and muscles which
made possible stronger and quicker and finally
more precise movements. Each stage aided ac-
cording to Its ability in building the brain.
Higher mammals laid the foundation for the
human family and society. Each stage has its
own place and work which It alone can do.
Each successive contribution, proportioned to
the powers of the stage which made It, was
larger, higher, finer, more complex, required a
longer time for Its realization, reached farther
into the future, and gave vague promise of some-

120

Evolution and Faith

thing still better to come. This made each suc-
cessive experiment more difficult and hazardous,
as well as more beneficent.

Present man must make some still grander
contribution to human evolution, one propor-
tioned to his powers and stage of life, along
lines largely unattained by any animal, and far
beyond the understanding of primitive man.
Intelligence must develop ; but it must be an in-
telligence which gives a clearer vision and knowl-
edge of social, moral, and religious truth and
law, and which will furnish ideals and motives
for progress along these lines. Intelligence or
education which merely increases comfort and
ease and removes obstacles, but does not inspire
and strengthen men to face new difficulties and
hardships, to win new battles, and to attain a
higher, broader, and more serviceable life, must
end in degeneration. Knowledge will increase.
But it must be a knowledge worthy of the human
plane of life, furnishing motives worthy of hu-
man beings, and thus aiding man slowly and pa-
tiently to realize his highest possibilities.

The fittest must take the risk of making the
highest ideals, aims, purposes, and powers su-
preme in life, and sternly subjugate all lower

121

Man in the Light of Evolution

aims and powers to be means to these higher and
worthier ends. The experiment extends into a
distant future, and others reap the rewards of
their efforts. They can only hope. Yet they
must beware of rushing blindly after every hope
and promise held out by visionaries. Their con-
fidence must have a foundation in past experience
and progress.

They catch a glimpse of some great human
good not yet attained. A higher moral tone in
the life of individual, family, or society; better
conditions and larger opportunities for their less
fortunate fellows ; a purer and nobler church or
state; in one word, some betterment of human
life — is greatly needed and worthy of all their
efforts. But Is it possible, practicable, attain-
able?

The promise is anything but clear and precise.
They can as yet describe it to others only in gen-
eral and vague terms. Attention, thought, and
hard study must be focused on these vague
promises until they acquire a definite meaning.
Thus to fix the attention for months and years
requires a firm purpose and a stout heart and
will.

While they are gazing into the future, present

122

Evolution and Faith

advantages are slipping from their grasp. Soc-
rates has to " bid farewell to what men count
honors," and Agassiz, In his pursuit of science,
" has no time to make money." Callicles is con-
tinually exhorting them not to waste their time
and powers on Insignificant questions, but to
think of something practical.

Still they persist In their thought and study,
and slowly the promise gains definite form and
content in their minds. The vision of a higher
life and better age dawns clear before their eyes.
It thrills and inspires them. They look forward
to its speedy and full realization with eager an-
ticipation. They choose it as the reward of all
their efforts. They will take joy and hardship,
good and evil of the quest with " frolic wel-
come." They are young and strong, and life
Is long.

But the goal Is far more distant than they
have thought; obstacles hinder or block their
progress. They have to contend against active
opposition and passive Inertia, against unwill-
ingness to think, Indifference and moral paralysis
of friends, and against keenness and vigor of
opponents.

They find that attainment of the goal and

123

Man in the Light of Evolution

realization of the vision are not for them. They
can make only a small attainment and slight
contribution not unmixed with evil. Their chief
reward is the strength and joy which spring
from struggle. Conscious of their powers they
know well the rewards which they are letting
slip though within easy reach. They know and
feel the strength of these temptations. The fit-
test must be men and women of unconquerable
purpose and iron will. Behind this purpose and
will there must be deep and intense feeling born
of attention, thought, and long study, mingled
with broad sympathy and strong scientific, con-
structive imagination.

The fittest have been well described in the
closing words of Professor Huxley's remarkable
lecture on Evolution and Ethics.

" We have long since emerged from the
heroic childhood of our race, when good and evil
could be met with the same ' frolic welcome ' ;
the attempts to escape from evil, whether Indian
or Greek, have ended in flight from the battle-
field; it remains to us to throw aside the youth-
ful overconfidence and the no less youthful dis-
couragement of nonage. We are grov/n men,
and must play the man

124

Evolution and Faith

* strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield,'

cherishing the good that falls in our way, and
bearing the evil in and around us, with stout
hearts set on diminishing it. So far we all may
strive in one faith toward one hope :

* It may be that the gulfs will wash us down.
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

but something ere the end.

Some work of noble note may yet be done.' "

A briefer and more profound description of
the fittest was written by a great thinker almost
two thousand years ago. He had pondered on
the history of his nation, and especially of its
greatest leaders. He marshals a glorious array
of great souls. There are patriarchs and
prophets, berserkers and statesmen, men of dif-
ferent times and civilizations, leaders in war and
in peace, differing altogether in wealth, social
position, mental traits and endowments — all
heroes. Beneath all these vast differences he
finds one essential, fundamental agreement, the
common root of all their forms of greatness.
He states it as follows:

'' All these died in faith, not having received

125

Man m the Light of Evolution

the promises, but having seen them afar off, and
were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth." Through this faith " out of
weakness they were made strong, and waxed val-
iant in light."

Everyone saw a promise, everyone had his
own vision, no two exactly the same. Everyone
saw it at first dimly and afar, but kept looking.
He was not superstitious or credulous, but never
indifferent. After patient, careful attention he
became persuaded. The promise, which was so
dim and vague to others, had become clear and
cogent to him. He usually felt that he was the
last and least fitted of all to realize it; but, if
no one else would, he must. He gave up all for
its attainment, accomplished great things, but
died before its realization.

Faith is not acceptance of outgrown and out-
worn superstitions. It is far more than belief;
more even than the working hypothesis of a
great soul. It demands and includes strength
not only of intellect, but of heart and will. A
tough, vigorous body is almost a prime requisite
for its existence and endurance. It exercises all
the powers of the whole man. It is an exceed-

126

Evohition and Faith

ingly virile virtue, and tests and measures man-
hood. A truly great man is characterized by a
great faith. A man of strong faith is a strong
man through and through. A man of weak or
little faith has a weak spot somewhere or Is weak
throughout. Only faith can ever lead a for-
lorn hope, for to the faithful the hope Is never
forlorn.

Above all, while those who are content with
present and temporary dominance may walk by
sight, the fittest must walk by faith fearlessly
into the future. Without faith progress is im-
possible, and evolution becomes but another
word for stagnation and degeneration which fits
only for ultimate extinction.

There are three critical periods in the devel-
opment of every individual. Childhood is the
time when home and school must develop the
strong, tough body, and insure physical health.
Youth continues the physical development, main-
tains and increases vigor, and adds the vision
of high ideals. It is the period of the rise of
the truly human powers. We have seen Its criti-
cal importance. The centers and sources of edu-
cation are the home, the school, and the church.

127

Man in the Light of Evolution

Young man and maid have united to form a
family, and with high hopes and ideals go for-
ward without fear. The cares of life thicken.
The father has to earn and provide house and
Kvelihood, the young mother must make a home
and care for the household. Actual life is very
different from their expectation. It seems like
a monotonous and humdrum round instead of a
swift advance. The goal of their hopes is far
away, and seems to recede. Progress is very
slow. Young manhood is the period which fur-
nishes the most ardent pessimists and many of
our reformers. They are learning that the most
useful thing in life is the ability, not to fly or
to run without wearying, but to '' walk and not
faint." This is the critical question: Will they
keep on walking when they can no longer run,
or will they faint? Their wills are being trained
to endure and overcome — the hardest and most
important lesson of life. But the glory of the
struggle is hid from them; what they see is
mainly the rough back of the pattern which they
weave.

Whether they will hold out depends prima-
rily not on their wealth, learning, or present suc-
cess, but on the persistence of their faith. If

128

Evolution and Faith

faith fails, all is lost. Here home and school
can help no longer. Only the church remains as
the center of this highest education in life. They
need instruction. They need far more hope,
courage, power, inspiration, the true interpreta-
tion of the riddles of life and the world, the
meaning and value of their training, mutual aid
and support, the encouragement of hopeful el-
ders, the inspiration and contagion of the life of
great souls of all ages. They must form the
habit of viewing the commonest things of com-
mon life from the standpoint of the distant goal
and end, and thus to become intelligent.

When Pilgrim had been refreshed and in-
structed in the Interpreter's House and had set
out for the Delectable Mountains, he straight-
way descended into the Valley of Humiliation.
Here the distant view was lost, and clouds and
mist settled down; he found pitfall and snare,
bog and mire, battle and wounds. He was hard
put to it. Christiana passed that way later, and
is told by Greatheart that that valley is " as
fruitful a place as any the crow flies over."
Happy the man or woman who has a Greatheart
for a guide, and Hopeful, Valiant-for-truth, and
old Honest for companions through that valley.

129

Man in the Light of Evolution

Through it they must all surely go, if they will
reach the mount of attained vision.

But once more we must examine carefully the
foundation of reason or experience on which the
persuasion of faith rests. Once again we must
ask: Does the man who fixes his eyes and stakes
his life on an experiment based on a social,
moral, or religious promise, build on something
secure, or on unreliable dreams and groundless
hopes? This question will occupy our attention
in the next chapter.

CHAPTER VII

RACIAL EXPERIENCE

THE fittest are evidently those who de-
vote their energy and effort primarily

to the development of the highest pow-
ers of greatest capacity and promise. The an-
cestral attainments are neither suppressed nor
neglected. Digestion and muscular power,
shrewdness and practical wisdom, all are kept
at their best, but always subordinated to the
service of the still higher powxr or faculty not
yet fully enthroned and supreme in the race or
the individual. The fittest hold fast to the best
in the past, but, being progressive, look toward
and into the future. Without such men and
women evolution is impossible and stagnation
sure.

Faith is at least nothing less than the work-
ing hypothesis of the life of a great man. The
greater the man, the higher and farther removed
the goal of his life and efforts, the more unat-

10 131

Man m the Light of Evoltttion

tamable his Ideal and the grander his faith.
He cannot seize and utilize all the possibilities
of the present and the future; he must give up
some very real and tangible present advantages
if he will " look onward to the truth." Is such
faith unscientific and unreasonable, or has it some
sure foundation — as sure, perhaps, as that of our
knowledge? This is the vital question which
confronts us.

Experience is the best teacher. " The burnt
child dreads the fire." The child in his plays Is
experimenting with himself and with the world
— with life. Thus he grows In strength and
knowledge. Family life gives him the benefit of
the experience of his ancestors. History records
for him the experience of past generations.

Through experiment and observation we
learn many facts which seem to us almost In-
credible. The chemist tells me that water is
composed of two volumes of hydrogen and one
of oxygen; that of these gases one burns read-
ily and the other supports combustion. I know
that water quenches fire. He tells me that quarts
of gas are compressed or united In a few drops
of water. I refuse to believe him. He pro-
ceeds before my eyes to unite the gases into

132

Racial Experience

water, and to break up water into the gases. I
am convinced of the truth of his statement.
Similarly I grow wise in life by trying experi-
ments and by watching the experiments of others.

Some one tells me that a carp or crow will
live to be one hundred years old. This state-
ment can be proved or disproved by experiment.
But it will take a long time. The man who starts
the experiment will not live to see it finished.
Many or most important experiments affecting
human life and happiness require more than one
generation for their completion.

Many experiments which affect social life de-
mand the cooperation of many men through
long periods. Is slavery right or wrong, benefi-
cent or maleficent in modern civilization? We
are not asking now whether in prehistoric times
it was better than putting captives to death.
The question was settled by the clash of civi-
lizations, by experiment more than by argument.
The free civilization outpopulated and outgrew
its rival. It cost thousands of lives and millions
of money to settle that question. But the solu-
tion will stand. The experiment has been tried
many times under varied conditions. We do not
need to try it again.

133

Man 171 the Light of Evolution

This much seems clear. Certain, even very
metaphysical, statements have a direct influence
on our lives and change them for good or evil.
Whether Galvanism was good or bad, it could
" set up a line of battle." So could Moham-
medanism. Moral and religious creeds have
molded men's lives and habits. This is Indis-
putable. Even Mr. Haeckel freely grants that
our religious creeds have done much harm.
They seriously affect life, and are anything but
negligible quantities.

If the system of thought molds men Into con-
formity with environment, they will survive, and
the creed will endure and develop with them.
Even nations superior to them in physical power
or in martial discipline and prowess may be
won over to accept It from them. If the
creed or theory molds men Into conformity with
environment, It must be because It corresponds
to or embodies objective reality In at least a very
fair degree; It must be In the main an approach
toward truth. If not truth itself. If the creed
or theory leads to nonconformity to environ-
ment, the race w^Ill perish sooner or later and Its
creed be forgotten. Thus moral and religious
creeds and systems are slowly tested and verified

134

Racial Experience

or disproved by actual racial experiments. The
results are recorded and handed down as the
verdict of history.

You may say that natural selection is not as
effective in man as in lower animals. There the
fittest survives. But fit and unfit men survive
alike. The unfit individual keeps alive the unfit
creed or system. Thus the means of verification
which apply to animal appetites lose their effi-
ciency when applied to human beliefs. This
may be true to a certain extent. But while in
individuals and families natural selection acts
somewhat more slowly, it is not at all certain
that it acts any less surely. But a system or
mode of thought characterizes nations and races
even more really than individuals. And the com-
petition and struggle for existence between rival
races and civilizations, even when silent for a
long time, is w^aged even more relentlessly than
the battle between rival carnivora. Here natu-
ral selection works as relentlessly as ever, and the
fittest civilization characterized by modes of
thought best conformed to environment, and
therefore nearest the truth, is bound to survive
and to impress its creed on future generations.

This does not mean that " whatever is, is

135

Man in the Light of Evolution

right." But whatever has persisted and strength-
ened through past ages, whatever has stood the
storm and stress of time since man arose on the
globe, whatever has survived in widely different
races and civilizations and under widely differ-
ing conditions — this, as it seems to me, has been
sufficiently tested. It has been verified by the
grand experiment of life, and has won the ver-
dict of history. It must survive.

Conceptions of God and duty, of loyalty and
fidelity, of heroism and unselfishness, have in
one form of clothing or another come down the
ages of human history. Wherever man has
tried the experiment of life and survived, much
more if he has at the same time advanced, these
conceptions have held their ground and grown
and improved, and have strongly molded life and
character. In some form or other they are prac-
tically universal. The religious systems of sav-
ages are hard to discover; they are not talked
of before strangers. We easily misunderstand
them. But we are continually discovering them
where their existence has been denied. Man is
a religious being, explain it how you will. A
second fact Is that these moral and religious con-
ceptions are the mental furnishings or characters

136

Racial Experience

which most sharply distinguish man, and have
raised him above the unmoral and irreligious
lower animal. They, not an opposable thumb or
ounces of brain, are the real human character-
istics. It is certainly reasonable to expect that
they will dominate progressive man in the future
as they have raised him to his present condition.

In our study of the origin of family and social
life we have seen that these conceptions of duty
and unselfishness are rooted in and sprang from
mammalian structure. May we not say that In
a sense they have become Incarnate in the human
brain? Let us look into this question a little
closer.

The young bee does not need to be taught
how to build a cell ; he inherits the tendency and
most of the necessary knowledge. The same is
true of a host of other instincts. The shepherd
dog and the bird dog brought up in the house
apart from birds and sheep went, the one after
the sheep and the other after birds, as soon as
turned loose in the fields. The stimulus of the
appropriate object was all that was necessary to
rouse the slumbering inherited Instinct In the
brain.

Instinct Is inherited, but Intelligence Is the rc-

137

Malt in the Light of Evolutioji

suit of experience, observation, and thought of
the individual. But the capacity for intelligence
is inherited. Some men are born with great and
some with limited capacities. These tendencies
and capacities will be modified to a certain ex-
tent by surrounding conditions. But we shall
not go far astray if we consider them to be mainly
the result of heredity.

These inborn capacities vary not only In
amount but also In quality. Some men, w^e say,
are born mathematicians, linguists, artists, or in-
ventors. We mean that they have large capaci-
ties along these special lines. The whole of the
political or theological creed of some men seems
to have been Inherited. They were born Re-
publicans or Presbyterians, and no earthly power
can change these tendencies.

Certain tendencies or modes of thought be-
come so marked In a community or nation that
they are recognized as racial characters. Thus
the Jewish race has been characterized by its
capacities along the lines of business and relig-
ion. It has never been especially artistic. The
Greeks were aesthetic, but did not make a great
success of morals or religion. We speak of the
canny Scotchman and the shrewd Yankee. We

138

Racial Experience

may easily mistake in our characterization, but
we recognize that different races have different
Inherited capacities and tendencies.

The fixedness of a tendency is roughly pro-
portional to the length of time during which it
has characterized the race. One well-fixed tend-
ency will modify to a large extent all our modes
of thought and our views on all questions. It
gives us the standpoint from which all prob-
lems are vlew^ed and studied.

But early environment aids the fixedness and
spread of these tendencies and habits of thought.
The young child Is exceedingly imitative, and
almost as open to suggestion as the hypnotized
patient. The mother, busied and burdened by
cares of home and household, regrets that she
cannot do more to educate her children. She
forgets that her Industry, fidelity, cheerfulness,
poise and steadiness, hope, courage, faith, rever-
ence, calmness, kindliness, and courtesy are all
reproducing themselves in their minds and
hearts. The child, left to nurses, acquires the
virtues of a faithful servant or the vices of a
hireling. What the child learns from books by
application and mental effort is the smallest part
of his acquisitions. He absorbs almost or quite

139

Man in the Light of Evolution

unconsciously. He has learned to talk by imi-
tating his elders. He acquires at the same time
their peculiarities of dialect, idioms, pronuncia-
tion, and inflection. These acquisitions crystal-
lize in habits of speech.

In later life he becomes conscious that some
of them are bad. He avoids the unfortunate
habit or idiom, and is on his guard against it.
But as soon as he relaxes his vigilance and be-
comes his real self, he will surely return to it.
Not only habits of speech and action, but prefer-
ences and aversions, prejudices and superstitions,
aesthetic and moral standards, and even religious
tendencies, arise and grow and take form as the
result of surrounding conditions, he knows not
how. But these habits of thought, speech, and
action soon become fixed and unchangeable, and
fashion his whole life. They have become so
deeply rooted that he believes that he has in-
herited them. He cannot imagine himself with-
out them. They are an inheritance, but not in-
nate. He was not born with them; they are the
result of early environment.

The best-nurtured family of children has
gained thus an " out-populating " power, to
borrow Dr. BushnelFs expression. He says:

140

Racial Experience

'' Qualities of education, habit, feeling, and
character have a tendency alv/ays to grow in by
long continuance, and become thoroughly inbred
in the stock. . . . That which was inculcated
by practice passes into a tendency, and descends
as a natural gift or endowment. ... A race of
slaves becomes a physiologically servile race.
And so it is in part that civilization descends
from one generation to another. The civiliza-
tion is in great part inbred civility.

*' The populating power of any race or stock
is increased according to the degree of personal
and religious character to which it has attained.
Good principles and habits, intellectual culture,
domestic virtue, industry, order, law, faith — all
these go immediately to enhance the rate and
capacity of population. They make a race pow-
erful, not in the mere military sense, but in one
that, by century-long reaches of populating
force, lives down silently any mere martial com-
petitor. Any people that Is physiologically ad-
vanced in culture, though it be only in a degree,
beyond another which Is mingled with it on
strictly equal terms Is sure to live down and
finally to live out its Inferior. Nothing can save
the inferior race but a ready and pliant assimi-

141

Man in the Light of Evolution

lation." These are only scant extracts from the
remarkable essay published almost fifty years
ago.i

Thus in many ways these grand conceptions
of duty, fidelity, heroism, and unselfishness tend
to become more and more deeply ingrained in
the life and structure of the individual and of
society, and to spread and gain a universal
sway. Because of our deep confidence in these
truths and their practically universal acceptance
in some form and to a greater or less extent,
some have compared them to axioms.

*' At the end of every demonstration," says
Mr. Fiske, " we must reach an axiom for the
truth of which our only test is the inconceiva-
bility of its negation." But why cannot I con-
ceive of the negation of an axiom? Says Mr.
Fiske again : " Our minds being that which in-
tercourse with environment has made them
(both their own intercourse and that of ancestral
minds), it follows that our indestructible beliefs
must be the registry of that intercourse, must be
necessarily true, not because they are independ-

1 See Bushnell, H., "Christian Nurture," Chapter VIII,
pp. 202, 207.

142

Racial Experiejice

ent of experience, but because they are the only
complete unqualified expression of It." ^

I believe that a straight line Is the shortest
path between two points. I cannot demonstrate
this, if you wish to deny It. But I cannot con-
ceive of the contrary or negation of the state-
ment. One good and sufficient explanation of
this fact Is that the Invariable experience of all
my ancestors from fish, or even worm, upward
has been that It was shorter to go straight across
than around. If any animals persisted In going
around, they failed to " get there " and did not
survive. This may not be the only explanation.
Experience may not be the sole source of knowl-
edge. But It Is one source, and the experience
of the ages becomes impressed upon the very
structure of the brain.

To be axiomatic a truth must be accepted by
everybody except the insane and the Incapable.
They are not bound to accept anything, and are
in this sense exceedingly liberal and broad-
minded. Indeed, some men have such broad
minds that they can hold at the same time con-
flicting and mutually destructive views. The

^ See Fiske, J., "Cosmic Philosophy," pp. 59, 65.

Man ill the Light of Evolution

existence of a God and the claims of duty are
considered by some as axiomatic. This they can
hardly be, for they are not acknowledged by
some capable, thoughtful, and apparently sane
men. They may be in a fair way to become
axiomatic, and future man may thus regard
them.

We have seen how the life of the primitive
tribe educated men to ideas of right, duty, hero-
ism, and God. For, in the struggle for exist-
ence between tribes, that one survived which
had these instincts, if I may so call them, most
deeply rooted and strongly developed, or which
most readily accepted them from others and
made them their own. Human experience,
therefore, through long ages, in all times and
places, under the most varying conditions, has
tested them and proven their value and truth.
They have become a part of the furnishing
of the human mind. They always will and
must be reckoned with, whether we will or not.
We may neglect them or banish them to the
most remote corners of our minds, we may
try to forget them. But they stay with us to
curse if we refuse or neglect to call them in
to bless.

144

Racial Experience

Of course these conceptions are not present
full-blown In the mind of the child. Put hydro-
gen and oxygen together In a receiver. There
Is no water there, but pass a spark through and
there will be. The molecules of the gas will leap
together In liquid drops. Where are the leaves,
branches, and acorns In the germ of an oak?
Keep the germ under proper conditions and en-
vironment win call all these forth In due order

m

and season.

So In the brain of the child the combinations
are all prepared, and the stimulus of a proper
environment will call forth the conceptions. In
the embryo the rods and cones of the retina of
the eye are all formed In complete darkness, as
also the nerve paths along which the vibrations
called forth by the light as yet unknown will
travel to form Images In the brain. The child
opens Its eyes and sees the world, though dimly
and partially at first. No Images reach the
brain, only vibrations pass along the optic nerve.
It required thousands of years for the worm to
develop an eye capable of forming an Image and
a brain capable of translating the vibrations of
the nerve. The Infant learns all this In a few
hours or days. If he needs to learn It at all.

145

Man in the Light of Evolution

Its brain has already been prepared to respond
to the stimuli of the light vibrations by form-
ing an image in the mind.

Something in the very structure of the child's
brain leads him to accept the grand generaliza-
tion that like causes will produce like effects long
before he knows anything about cause or effect
in the abstract. He does not need to burn his
fingers more than once or twice to learn to
always let hot things alone.

When in all times and places men awaken to
some conception of some kind of right and duty
and of God, when all these conceptions, how-
ever different in many respects, always agree in
certain fundamental characteristics, is not the
presence of a certain mental structure, waiting
to be awakened by the touch of something real
in environment, the most natural explanation of
so grand and surprising a fact?

But our religious beliefs, and our moral be-
liefs in only a less degree, will become axiomatic
only in a very distant future, if ever. It never
suits my inclination or my interest to deny an
axiom of mathematics. Why should I ever care
to do so? But, unfortunately, it frequently suits
my inclination and sometimes my immediate

146

Racial Experience

interest to forget or stifle or fail to hear the
claims of God and duty. They are often un-
conventional and inconvenient articles of mental
furniture. We may prefer to think or talk of
them as little as possible.

These sometimes inconvenient and disagree-
able conceptions which are not axiomatic, but
which are so interwoven with the fibers and
stuff of my brain that I cannot tear them out,
are what I will call convictions. They are In-
herited results of racial experience. They have
stood the test of life, and have won the favor-
able verdict of biological history. They have
made man what he is. If we are to progress
they must dominate our minds. If our civiliza-
tion survives It will be because It Is the most
adequate and complete expression of these con-
ceptions. They are our most priceless heritage.

Wealth and social Institutions are Instruments
for their use and spread. Intellect and learning
tell us how their ruling motives may best find
expression and how their ends may be attained.
They alone can give any unity to the life which
they must permeate. Without them the energies
of life dissipate like steam from an open vessel.
They never fail us. When in the storms of life
11 147

Man in the Light of Evolution

everything else — fortune, friends, opinions, and
beliefs — has gone adrift, they remain. We lose
them only with our lives, if even then.

When these are supreme, men and civiliza-
tions are at their best. Think of the Jews under
the Maccabees, of Holland under WilHam the
Silent, of England under Cromwell, of Bohemia
under Ziska. In every case the leader incarnated
the convictions which stirred and inspired his
followers. Great social and political move-
ments owe their strength to the fact that they
appeal to the convictions of the people. They
may, or may not, appeal to their present inter-
ests. The statesman takes this into account \
while the politician is busy counting or buying ^
votes. Whoever said that a statesman was
only a dead politician must have been a staunch
Universalist. But the thought adds to our long-
ing for more statesmen.

The successful orator is he who can appeal to
these convictions. Mr. Everett was a great or-
ator, and his oration at Gettysburg was no mean
effort. How many of us remember what he said ?
Mr. Lincoln added a few words. He spoke
out of the full heart of a great patriot, and ap-
pealed to the deepest convictions of every citizen

148

Racial Experience

of the land. No one can forget that he spoke
or what he said.

What was the source of Mr. Wendell Phil-
lips's power. Not his logic, for he had none.
Much was due to his silvery voice and marvel-
ous dignity and grace of bearing. He owed
more to his classic culture, to the purity and
clearness of his style, to his power of calm and
withering sarcasm. These helped with the coun-
try people to whom he loved to speak.

But others had these powers in only less de-
gree. He spoke straight to the convictions and
hearts of the folk, and they arose and followed
him. The man who can thus speak does not
need to drag or compel them. They are eager
to follow. ! He " speaks with authority, and not
as the scribes."

We say of a great poem or other piece of
literature that it is universal. We mean that
it embodies the experience of all times and
places. It appeals to our common store of con-
victions.

Teaching is not the addition or superposition
by the teacher of a new thought or conception
or bit of knowledge on top of the old ones
formerly possessed by the pupil. For if the

149

Man m the Light of Evolution

thought is Imposed from without it will probably
be and remain " new cloth on an old garment."
It remains a patch, something foreign. The
new thought must be a growth, stimulated, in-
deed, by the teacher, if it is to form any real
part of the pupil's mind and life.

Learned and often far-seeing men frequently
fail of influence in the community just because
they strive by sheer weight of learning or
argument or by dialectic skill to force a new
thought upon the minds of their fellows. They
try to make them see something which they have
never seen before. They fail ignominiously.
People object, very wrongly undoubtedly, but
universally and naturally, to be conquered by
weight of argument or skill in logic. The new
truth does not fit in well with the conceptions
already in possession of their minds. Even if
lodged in the mind as a persuasion, It remains
foreign and bears little fruit. ^

Socrates had a far more excellent way.
When he would open men's minds to a new
thought or truth or their eyes to a grander vl-

1 Cf. Stevenson, R. L., " Familiar Studies, Walt Whit-
man," Chapter I, close.

150

Racial Experience

slon, he never tried to impress this upon them
as something new and strange. He led them to
see that the new thought or vision was really
Included In what they already knew, or a nat-
ural outgrowth from the old. If the hearer was
honest, the new truth was heartily welcomed, be-
came an Integral part of his thought, and modi-
fied all his modes of seeing and thinking. The
man whose life and work Is based upon these
convictions which have crystallized out of ra-
cial experience can afford to be tolerant. Intol-
erance characterizes the opinionated man, not
the man of strong convictions. Indeed, the two
are totally unlike. Our strong man sees that at
the bottom of every great social or political
movement there always has been and always
must be some grand truth, with however much
error It may be mixed. He knows that the sup-
porters of the new doctrine must hold the same
fundamental convictions with himself. He sus-
pects that the new party has arisen because his
own has forgotten or neglected some Important
truth or aspect of truth. He may be a staunch
Republican, and yet refuse to believe that all
Democrats and Socialists are knaves or liars.
He may be and ought to be very intolerant of

151

Man in the Light of Evoltttion

error, and yet very tolerant toward his fallible
neighbors. He sets himself to find out what is
the new or forgotten truth which the opposing
party is emphasizing. When by careful anal-
ysis and study he has found it, he works with
patient wisdom to embody it in the views of his
fellows.

He hears continually that some new heresy is
undermining men's confidence in all the old
arguments for great truths; that men will soon
cease to hold the old truth; that religion and
morality, church and society, are all going to the
dogs together. He recognizes that the con-
victions on which religion and society rest are
the result of racial experience, and that they are
indefinitely older than the arguments by which
they are now supposed to be supported. The
arguments may change or disappear without
affecting one particle of the strength or truth of
the conviction. " Nothing," says Balfour, *' so
quickly waxes old as apologetics, unless, perhaps,
it be criticism." ^

Our man of convictions sprung from the ex-
perience of the ages sees a wave of insanity pass

1 Balfour, A. J., ** Foundations of Belief," p. 226.

152

Racial Experietice

over the country. People seem to be going mad,
and to be forgetting all wisdom or decency.
He knows that the old racial convictions have
outlasted many a similar storm. Other things —
prosperity, credit, fortunes, theories, opinions,
and beliefs — may be wrecked or vanish, but
these old fundamental convictions will regain
their supremacy; from these all else will arise
anew In fairer form. He can be hopeful when
others despair. Time and he are two.

He Is patient and does not make haste. He
does not hope to revolutionize the world to-day
or to-morrow. He would not If he could.
Time and he are more than two, for environ-
ment with all Its forces Is on his side. " The
stars In their courses fight for him." He does
not wish to Implant his own beliefs full grown
In the minds of his neighbors, but rather that
they should develop their own. He prefers to
sow the seed and let It spring. He rejoices In
the blade and growing ear, and knows that the
full corn will come In Its own time. If wise, he
does not attempt to force the growth, while he
encourages and fosters It with every means In
his power. He can afford to wait.

Finally, a man who has strong convictions and

Man in the Light of Evolution

thus a clear vision of the ends of hfe, who works
toward these ends patiently, steadily, without
haste and without discouragement, is in a fair
way to become exceedingly wise. He never
doubts that life is well worth living, and worthy
of his best, strongest, and most enduring efforts.
He says with the poet :

" This world's no blot for us
Nor blank. It means intensely and means good."

All his powers — physical, mental, and moral —
are called into action as means to the accom-
plishment of his great ends.

He finds very soon that, while the end remains
ever the same, conditions are ever shifting, and
demanding new means or modes of meeting
them. He skillfully adapts the new means to
the old ends.

The pilot makes for the same harbor a hun-
dred or more times. Harbor and channel, light-
house and buoys, remain the same. But wind,
tide, and current shift continually, and he must
set sail and rudder accordingly. Now he comes
in on a straight course with rapid progress.
Again he has to beat against wind and tide; his
progress is slow and his course tortuous. But

154

Racial Experience

he is all the time making for the same point.
Every turn of the helm and swing of the sails
has Its reason and proves his skill. Sometimes
he creeps in the mist by dead reckoning, not hav-
ing seen sun nor star for many a day. But
through it all he keeps his sails set and his rud-
der true.

Only the motives which spring from these
racial convictions are worthy of and adequate
to the vast powers of the human mind. Roused
by these and steadily held to his purpose, man
becomes a being of Titanic power. He cannot
flinch In the fight or weary in the race. He
*' fights a good fight and finishes the course."

Everyone of us has met some such men and
women. They are stout-hearted, cheery, hope-
ful, wise, calm, patient, and heroic, with Iron In
their blood, granite in their souls, and sunshine
on their faces. The old prophet had such in
mind when he said:

" A man shall be as a hiding place from the
wind and a covert from the tempest; as rivers
of water In a dry place, as the shadow of a great
rock in a weary land."

Such people are the '^ shadow of a great rock,"
and when we are weary, baffled, defeated, and

155

Man in the Light of Evolution

disheartened, when all day long we have been
fighting In the mist, how good It Is to rest In
their shade ! Their words may be few, their
" speech rude, and their bodily presence con-
temptible." But we feel their strength. We
lean against them for a little time, and we go
away refreshed, strong, hopeful, courageous.
Virtue has gone out of them and Into us. This
is no theory, but a statement of universal ex-
perience.

There is no contaglum in the world like that
of a strong personality. We would not resist
it if we could. We would give anything to be
infected. Everywhere such men and women
carry strength and courage to others. One such
man Infects a whole community or race, molds
a civilization, and changes the course of history.
For this reason history is summed up In the lives
of heroes.

If we have failed to realize this we may well
read our history all over again from the story
of Gideon and his three hundred to that of
Socrates in Athens, of Napoleon at LodI, and
of Sheridan at Winchester. Such men are not
merely beacon lights, they are makers of history.

The same principle applies In literature. At

156

Racial Experience

the end of a hard day's work we drop in on
neighbor Snagsby — provided that Mrs. S. Is
away from home — or make our very best bow
to that gracious lady Miss Esther Summerson, or
sit awhile with Colonel Newcome, or keep
Twelfth Night with dear old Sir Toby, or wan-
der far afield with some more respected Shake-
spearean character. After a time the Irritations
of the day are forgotten. A feeling steals over
us, wx know not whence, why, or how, that life
is not half bad, and that It Is worth while to be
decent and even courteous.

The men and women who have this strength
and carry this contagium may be rich or poor,
learned or unlearned. Intellectual or possessed
mainly of what we call common sense. They
are not limited to any walk of life. Great mate-
rial prosperity does not generally breed a great
crop of this kind of character. They have gen-
erally come out of much tribulation. You can-
not raise heroes in bandboxes, or make a Damas-
cus or a ^' true Jerusalem " blade without ham-
mering. If we will but search for them, we can
find them in all times and circumstances. If
we do not find them, the fault is in us. Where-
ever they occur, they are always leaders, though

157

Man in the Light of Evolution

they may not suspect It. They are the real kings
and queens. Their power for good is inestima-
ble. The great advantage of social life, as a
means of conformity to environment, is the me-
dium which it furnishes to conduct the power of
such men and women.

Man's last effort to conform, the struggle for
existence in its highest and most real form, is the
life and death grapple between good and evil.
Here good and evil, right and wrong, truth and
falsehood, come face to face. Life is more than
a game of chess ^ or chance. It is a battle, in
which every one must take part; he must fight
or die.

The real kings are, as a rule, on the side of
truth and aid its triumph. One essential of such
leadership as we have been studying is the power
to inspire confidence in the king. A suspicion
of selfish aims in the leader breaks the bonds
and rouses revolt. The hero must be self-forget-
ful. This is one reason for hero-worship and
for the hero's magnetic power. But evil is es-
sentially selfish, and can hold the throne only as
long as it can deceive.

^ Huxley, T. H., "Lay Sermons/* p. 31.

158

Racial Experience

These kings " live forever." Dynasties and
empires disappear, but Socrates and Plato, Lu-
ther and Huss, Cromwell and Lincoln, rule an
ever-widening empire of ever more loyal sub-
jects. Society will have leaders. Men may set
up whatever form of government they will, they
are always searching for a king.

This is no sign of weakness or credulity.
Man's desire for leadership is only another
proof of the vast future which he knows is be-
fore him, and into which he desires to be led.
The wiser a man is, the more he desires to be
taught; the nobler he Is, the more whole-souled
is the homage which he pays to the noblest. Is
it a sign of weakness or Ignorance in students
of adult age to flock to some great university
to hear the wisdom and catch the inspiration of
the master mind? When Jackson fell, Lee ex-
claimed, " I have lost my right arm." Was
Jackson any the less for being the right arm
to deal, as only he could, the crushing blows
planned by the great strategist?

These men and women are the salt which
keeps society sweet, and the leaven which raises
It. They form a real though unrecognized
hierarchy. Some stand in high positions, while

159

Man in the Light of Evolution

others do the same work in lower places and
more limited spheres. England did not think or
care much about Sergeant What-is-name, but the
sergeant made history.

" Though he drilled a black man white, though he made a

mummy fight,
He will still continue Sergeant What-is-name —
Private, Corporal, Color-Sergeant, and Instructor —
But the everlasting miracle's the same." ^

This Is the everlasting miracle of life worked
unconsciously but continually by these loyal fol-
lowers of the convictions founded on racial ex-
perience.

There can be no surer form of knowledge
than that which has crystallized out of racial
experience during past ages. But while rooted
In the past, it looks largely toward the future
for its triumphs and rewards. Faith In the fu-
ture is no less sure or reasonable than our knowl-
edge of many present things. But the present
looms large before every eye. The future must
be somewhat or considerably less distinct. " We

^ Kipling, R,, "Pharaoh and the Sergeant," McClures
Magazine, 1897, vol. ix, p. 925.

160

Racial Experience

cannot see, much less feel quite assured of, the
*' upper side of the pattern." The future event
and far-off goal remains visible only to him who
fixes his attention and gazes upon It. It requires
an effort to prevent ourselves from becoming
nearsighted. There Is In faith an element of
win which Is lacking In knowledge; It Is the more
virile virtue of the leader and pioneer. But we
must carefully notice the place where the will
comes In. Not In the glimpse of the far-off
promise, nor In the persuasion of Its reality and
certainty. These rest on racial experience and
are almost Instinctive. But the will Is needed to
hold the attention and thought fixed upon that
of which we have become persuaded until we
can follow and realize It.

Knowledge Is continually improving and In-
creasing. Theories of to-day are swallowed up
to-morrow in some broader generalization or
law or wider or deeper view. Outgrown the-
ories are as stale and unprofitable as supersti-
tions. This must be true as knowledge broadens
and deepens. But the far-off goal on which the
eye of faith is fixed neither shifts nor changes.
Every step toward it Is a permanent gain, and
need never be retraced. Every advance makes

i6i

Man in the Light of Evolution

the goal clearer, more distinct, and more attrac-
tive, and thus increases knowledge and strength-
ens faith. Neither knowledge nor faith can
safely say to the other: " I have no need of
thee." Each has its own place, and the two
supplement each other. It must be so In any
case Involving progress Into the future.

CHAPTER VIII

CONFORMITY TO ENVIRONMENT

THE most remarkable characteristic of
the living substance is its adaptability.

It does a great variety of work under
the most varying conditions. The simplest one-
celled plants and animals live in fresh water and
salt, of all degrees of purity or foulness, of
varying temperature, impregnated with differ-
ent substances. The bacteria go almost every-
where.

Similarly the complex higher animal is contin-
ually becoming adapted to new conditions, and
varies accordingly. No sooner does a form be-
come well established than it begins to attempt,
as it were, to adapt itself to live under all possi-
ble surroundings. The primitive reptile crept on
the ground. Its descendants adapted themselves
to live in marsh, jungle, upland, lake, river, and
sea. Some flew in the air. They lived on very
different kinds of food. This tendency toward

12 163

Mmi in tJie Light of Evolution

" adaptive radiation," ^ or divergence in all di-
rections, mitigates the severity of competition
within the species or group, opens new doors for
survival, and gives the possibility of progress or
degeneration. It enables the weaker form to
discover a harbor of refuge and here survive, as
it could nowhere else. Fresh water and the deep
sea have always been the refuge of defeated
forms.

This tendency has its dangerous side. The
animal is continually tempted to forsake the up-
ward line of march, and to seek some easier or
more attractive path. Alluring side paths are
very numerous and always open. Every new at-
tainment of the animal gives it the opportunity
for new experiments and adaptations. Every
stage Is a center from which forms radiate in all
directions seeking surer survival or easier life.

But usually only one path, one set of habits,
adaptation to only one group of surroundings,
leads to progress and fitness. All others lead to
stagnation or degeneration. Temporary sur-

^ Osbom, H. F., "Adaptive Radiation," Amer. Nat., vol.
xxxvi, 1902, p. 353. See also articles in vols, xxxvii and
xxxviii.

164

Confonnity to Environment

vival Is after all comparatively easy, but prog-
ress Is the difficult matter. Food Is usually
abundant, enemies can be avoided or foiled In
many ways. Progress seems usually to have oc-
curred only or mainly under the spur of necessity.
The great danger seems to be that the animal
will develop some structure which Is temporarily
advantageous, but which will in time make fur-
ther progress impossible. We have seen that
this was evidently the mistake of mollusks and
Insects, and at the same time of all forms which
are represented by the side branches of our gene-
alogical tree. All promised well at first. Many
attained survival to a greater or less extent. But
no one of these attained permanent progress.
This was reserved for forms In the middle as-
cending stem of the tree, the line leading straight
upward to man.

The great problem for animals and man seems
to be not how to get a living, but how to live
so as to Insure advance ; not so much to seek out
new, easy, and promising radiating lines of live-
lihood as avoiding these to follow the one up-
ward path. Even extinction is in many cases the
result of so complete conformity to conditions
which arc transitory that, when these change, the

i6s

Matt in the Light of Evolution

animal finds itself in time ill-adapted to the
changed surroundings and disappears.

Thus even conformity to environment cannot
guarantee permanent survival of a form, much
less can it guarantee progress. The mollusk and
many sadly degenerate parasitic forms are ad-
mirably conformed to their environment. Con-
formity to environment is one condition of sur-
vival and hence to the possibility of progress,
but it can guarantee neither. The highest and
most complex forms find exact and complete
conformity far more difficult, more new possi-
bilities open before them; hence they have suf-
fered even wider extermination than the lower.

Evidently if clam, parasite, and man have all
conformed to environment, if the most degen-
erate and the most progressive forms agree in
this respect, then they must have conformed to
very different environments by very different
habits and modes of life. The environment to
which we conform is just as important as our
conformity to it.

How can we judge of anything so complex
and ill-defined as environment except by noticing
the result of conformity to it? Environment
stands to the animal in a relation somewhat

i66

Confoymity to Enviroujnctit

similar to that of the seal to the wax. The
Impression on the wax Is often far more legible
than the monogram engraved on the seal. We
may put this fact In another form. Environ-
ment Is really a great host of forces and tend-
encies pressing and crowding, luring and draw-
ing, the animal from all sides. But the animal
cannot at any one time yield In all directions.
All these forces unite In one grand resultant,
urging the animal In a certain direction. Simi-
larly gravitation, wind, tide, eddy, and current,
all unite to drive a sailboat along a steady course.
When we study the Impression which environ-
ment has made upon animals, or the resultant
of Its forces as shown by the directions In which
they have been urged, we notice that the Impres-
sion and resultant have continually changed as
they advanced from stage to stage of develop-
ment. During the zoophytic stage the chief
business of our ancestors was to develop good
digestion, worms had to develop muscles, early
vertebrates a backbone, mammals a brain.
Judged by Its Impression or resultant, environ-
ment appears successively as a power making for
good digestion, then for muscular power and
quickness of movement, then for shrewdness.

167

Man m the Light of Evolution

Finally, as we have seen, in human history it un-
masks itself and appears as a power making for
righteousness and unselfishness.

All animals live in one world. But in a very
true sense fish, barnacle, and protozoan, all liv-
ing side by side in the water, still live in different
worlds. Higher forms pry deeper and lift them-
selves higher and thus come into relation with
elements which pass over the lower form with-
out affecting it. The development of the visual
eye, the passage from blindness to sight, revo-
lutionized the animal kingdom. Directly or in-
directly it brought the animal under a host of
new conditions and emergencies. It changed
the environment of the animal, and the seeing
animal became a most important element in the
environment of all his neighbors. The life of
the animal kingdom is a series of experiments,
and every experiment results in the discovery of
something before unknown or unrecognized
which now becomes a part of environment. Up
to this time the unrecognized element may or
may not have impressed itself upon the animal.
The animal kingdom seems at first to drift like
a raft on the current. Later it raises sail; it
has given to an old force a new hold upon

i68

Con/onmfy to Environment

itself. It adds a rudder or steering oar, and
now every swing of the rudder changes the re-
sultant of the forces of wind and tide.

It seems evident that all surviving animals
conform to environment, and that those which
conform to the highest or best environment
progress. Conversely environment is that to
which all living beings conform. It includes all
those objects, forces, tendencies, which have any
effect or bearing upon life. But any force which
could not touch or in any way affect the life of
an animal would form no part of its environ-
ment. Music could form no part of the envi-
ronment of a totally deaf world of animals.
Only in so far as an object directly or indirectly
comes into the range of our experience and af-
fects our life can it be said to really form any
part of our environment.

Our surroundings include all the objects and
forces of the universe; our environment, how-
ever broad, is limited. We cannot come into
close relations with all objects and beings. With
some our relation is very close, with others it
is remote and slight. Some forces and objects
move us powerfully, others very feebly or not
at all. The former play an important part in

169

Man in the Light of Evolution

our environment, the latter a very subordinate
one, if any. Captain KIdd's treasures He burled
beneath my doorstep. As long as I have no
suspicion of their existence, they form a part of
my surroundings only, not of my environment.
I suspect their nearness and begin to search half-
heartedly or earnestly. They modify my habits
of life somewhat or considerably. They are a
part of my environment. Some day I discover
them. Overjoyed at my suddenly acquired and
unearned wealth, I Indulge In every form of
luxury and dissipation. They have changed my
whole life, and have become the dominating ele-
ment In my environment. The same object at
different times varies greatly In Its importance
in my environment, according to my own moods
and Its nearness or remoteness. We might per-
haps say that its effect varies Inversely as the
square or some higher power of the distance.

Girl and boy have lived in the same town.
They become acquainted, interested, attached,
engaged. What new thing has caused a new
heaven and earth to spring up around the newly
engaged pair? Only a new relationship; this
alone has changed. One new relation has trans-
figured their lives.

170

Conformity to Rnvlronmcnt

The content of the books may form an in-
significant part of the environment of the page
or other attendant in the library. Another man
may have but few books and Httle time for
these, and yet he may hve in them. One man
is lifted, thrilled, and strengthened by music,
paintings, the beauty of smiling valleys, of
cloud and sunsets, or the grandeur of the moun-
tains; another is but little affected by any or all
of these. They may form the surroundings of
both; only he who can feel their beauty makes
them a part of his environment.

Two men read a page of poetry or of science.
One is inspired by that " splendor of truth ''
which was Plato's definition of beauty; the other
is scarcely moved at all. The passage is really
as foreign to him as if written in an unknown
tongue. It is no part of his environment. No
man can be a hero to his valet, if heroism is
foreign to the valet's environment.

Hence from the same surroundings men may
go " down to Gehenna or up to the throne,"
each going from his own environment to his own
place. And from totally different surroundings
similar characters may dev^elop. Environment
is evidently that part of our surroundings with

171

Malt in the Light of Evolution

which we form some relationship, and the close-
ness of the relationship determines how large
a part each object shall play in it. Surroundings
are the material from which we select a very
small part out of which to frame our environ-
ment. To this environment once chosen, framed,
and accepted, we will surely conform. Sur-
roundings therefore, as has been said, spell op-
portunity, but environment spells doom.

If this be true, it follows that improvement
of surroundings is no guarantee of improved
environment. Improved surroundings mean re-
moval of obstacles to progress and greater oppor-
tunity. If the individual is already intent upon
making the very best possible use of his sur-
roundings, this is all that is necessary. If he
does not care for better things or will make no
resolute effort to attain them, if he is not mak-
ing at least fair use of that which he has, farther
opportunities will benefit him little.

All the treasures of art, science, and religion
are wasted on the man who does not care to
think about them, or who allows his mind to
become so occupied with other things that he
has no time to notice them. Wealth, learning,
and mental discipline are all opportunities which

172

Conformity to Enviromneut

may be used for good or to pander to evil.
Even the grandest moral and religious truths,
carefully and thoroughly learned, may lie in the
mind neglected and unheeded. They form no
part of our environment until embraced and as-
similated, just as food is of no use even in the
stomach until it has been digested and absorbed.
Indeed, too much of It may give rise to indi-
gestion and dyspepsia. There are many dys-
peptic souls, wealthy men who are not generous,
learned men who are not wise, and moralists
who are Immoral.

Increased or better opportunities are good as
far as they go. They do not reach the real
seat of the difficulty. This lies In the will and
purpose. To treat the intellect for weakness of
the will is as wise as to prescribe external appli-
cations for a disease of the blood. It is treating
the symptom Instead of the disease.

This fact has been clearly recognized by all
great thinkers. Plato said that many men must
be Improved before they could be educated.
Another equally great thinker has said, " The
law Is weak." Even knowledge of law and vi-
sion of truth are not enough. It Is not enough
to see and be persuaded of the promise. It must

173

Man in the Light of Evolution

be embraced. Hence what is first needed, what
is fundamental in all reform or education, is
usually not more instruction in knowledge but
more inspiration, not argument but uplift, not
more information but a higher purpose and a
stronger will set on right. Evolution leaves us
still face to face with the old baffling problem,
how to change and improve the will.

We noticed in our study of the evolution of
the animal kingdom that at every stage a large
part of the group refused to go farther, and
either strayed from the upward path or stag-
nated and degenerated. This is what we might
well expect. Nature surrounded the progressive
form by stronger competitors which drove it
into and along the right way. The primitive
vertebrate was compelled to swim by mollusk
and crab ; the mammal was hunted into shrewd-
ness and agility; the arboreal mammal was com-
pelled to climb. The fittest arose not from
choice so much as from compulsion.

Once and again in human history the same
compulsion has been necessary and has proved
effective. Our ancestors were nomads, perhaps,
on the plains of Asia. They had to become
agriculturahsts, cultivators of the soil, if any

174

Co7iformity to Environment

higher stage of civilization was to be attained.
Wallace has well said that nomads become agri-
culturalists only when and as they are starved
into tilling the soil. What arguments or elo-
quence will you use with the nomad to persuade
him to make this change in life? He knows
by long experience the pleasures of ease and
freedom, he has seen the long hours of hard
labor of the husbandman. The advantages and
pleasures of a higher civilization appeal but
feebly to him, he has never felt or experienced
them. He feels no higher needs. His present
situation is good enough.

The problem seems to have been solved in a
very simple manner. Our ancestors migrated
from the open steppe into forest-clad Europe.
Pasturage became very scarce. Open land was
limited. They must cultivate it or starve.
Many starved. Some learned to till the soil.
The spur of necessity is the best teacher.

This compulsory process is wasteful and ex-
pensive. It requires a very large body of un-
progressive police to occupy and guard every
side path, and thus compel a " remnant " to fol-
low the right one. But in the case of man it is
usually impracticable. For, when compelled to

175

Man in the Light of Evolution

live under the very best surroundings, and com-
pulsion can go no farther, the man frames a
good or bad environment, according to his char-
acter and choice.

To a certain extent, and far more than most
of us suspect, we are still held to a certain stand-
ard of morality or decency by the pressure of the
opinion of our friends and neighbors. Remove
any man or body of men to a distant land; let
them feel sure that their actions and modes of
life will remain unknown at home; many will
surely sink from the lack of the sustaining in-
fluence of home and friends. But this process
can raise men only to its average standard; it
can hardly insure progress. Something higher
and stronger is needed.

The problem of human evolution is clear.
We must persuade and inspire men and women
to press on to the next higher plane of hfe; to
yield, if necessary, a certain amount of present
advantage for the sake of greater future benefits
for themselves and far more for their children ;
to repay to future generations the debt of honor
imposed upon us by the benefits which we have
reaped from the labors of our ancestors. The
ascent must be made by the steady and habitual

176

Conformity to Environment

exercise of our highest powers. The moral and
reHgious life must form a larger part of our
thought and interest as well as of our life. They
must be made a business. For as a man think-
eth in his heart, and on the plane of what most
occupies his thought, so he is.

The attainment of a higher plane through the
exercise of higher powers demands a change of
habits of thought as well as action. Such changes
of habit are never easy, they are more difficult
every year of life, as old lines of thought and
action become more fixed and easy; in time
change becomes practically impossible. More-
over, the arguments and inducements to remain
on the lower plane are many and plausible. In-
ertia and present habit are sufficient to fetter
many. The present holds them by custom and
by hereditary tenure. Present advantages are
numerous and clear. They are close to us in
our surroundings, and crowd naturally and easily
into the first place in our environment. Pro-
vision for present material needs and against
similar future dangers and emergencies is a
daily duty. It easily becomes the chief end and
effort of life, and absorbs all our thought and
energy.

177

Man in the Light of Evolution

The present and tangible are very real to us.
The enjoyments which they offer have been tested
and found excellent again and again in past ex-
perience. Imagination continually represents
them before us. Over against these the advan-
tages of future attainments of untried powers
seem dim and unreal. They cannot be appre-
ciated until the experiment of exercising them
has been thoroughly tried. The first attempts
made in the face of old habits and at the loss
of present ease and comfort, are likely to pro-
duce friction, discomfort, and vexation. Then
life is an experiment and the future is always
uncertain. The goal is far off and unattainable.
Our highest possibilities can be realized to only
a small extent. May we not hope that, after all,
evolution will bring survival and progress to all
alike, fit and unfit, without our effort? Is it
worth while to struggle? Many very "prac-
tical " people say, " Decidedly it is not worth
while."

" We have had enough of action and of motion we.

«

Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind
In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined
On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind.

178

Con/onnify to Environment

Surely, surely, slumber is more sweet than toil, the shore
Than labor in the deep mid-ocean, wind and wave, and oar,
Oh, rest ye, brother mariners, we will not wander more."

Moreover, the mere wish to attain, the dream
of it, the thought that wc will some day arouse
ourselves, are all alike useless and dangerous.
Even half-hearted efforts are not enough. Says
Carlyle of Burns:

*' It was clear to Burns that he had talent
enough to make a fortune, could he but rightly
have willed this; It was clear also that he willed
something far different, and therefore could not
make one. Unhappy It was that he had not the
power to choose the one and reject the other,
but must halt forever between two opinions, two
objects; making hampered advancement toward
either. But it is so with many men; we ' long
for the merchandise, yet would fain keep the
price ' — and so stand chaffering with fate. In
vexatious altercation, till the night come and
our fair Is over! "

But Locke, Milton, and others had " two
things which Burns wanted, both which, It seems
to us, are Indispensable for such men. They
had a true religious principle of morals, and a
single, not a double, aim in their activity. . . .

13 179

Man m the Light of Evolution

They willed one thing to which all other things
were subordinated and made subservient, and
therefore they accomplished It. The wedge
will rend rocks, but its edge must be sharp and
single; If It be double, the wedge Is bruised In
pieces, and will rend nothing."

This is so clearly a truism of success every-
where In life that It needs no further proof or
Illustration. Yet It should be emphasized espe-
cially of the rule of right and duty In the heart.
For these will accept no divided allegiance. If
they cannot rule supreme they abdicate and for-
sake their former kingdom and home.

To persuade men to such loyalty, and thus to
hold them to the only path of permanent prog-
ress, is no easy matter. The Individual must
establish the closest relation, and conform to
and live amid, these Invisible and intangible
realities. Motives must be presented which will
appeal to the cool judgment of the intellect, but
which will go far deeper. Through the intel-
lectual Interest they must reach the heart and
arouse the glow of feeling, which alone can
stimulate the will, and thus permeate and mold
the whole being and life. Only thus can con-
formity be assured.

i8o

Conformity to Ejivironinent

We are too much afraid of the feelings and
of any appeal to them. Yet our feelings are in
general as correct as our opinions. President
Hall has well said that opinion is individual but
feeling is racial, something larger and deeper
than opinion. " Out of the heart are the issues
of life." When Bunyan will find a hero strong
and brave enough to kill Giant Despair, he sends
out Greatheart. Swelled head would make but
a poor showing in that battle.

A deep thinker has well said: " If we are
wise we shall never Ignore the great fact that
men are not lifted from a lower to a higher
plane of life through processes of the under-
standing, or through any enlightenment or en-
largement of the intellectual powers. Men are
not perhaps In anything, certainly In the com-
prehensive conduct of their life, governed by
their understandings. I do not now try to ex-
plain the fact; I only state it as within the sight
of all. The controlling motives in human con-
duct do not spring from the Intellectual side of
human nature. We do not love as a process of
Inference, nor hate as a logical deduction. That
which Is all clear to the Intellect may be any-
thing but cogent to the heart and to the will.

i8i

Man in the Light of Evolution

" The only motive which can move a will is
either a will itself or something into which a will
enters. It is not a thought but only a sentiment,
a deed, or a person by which we become truly
inspired. It is not the intellect, but the heart
and the will, through which and by which we
are controlled. It is not the precepts of life,
but life itself, by which alone we are begotten
and born unto life." ^

Wisdom comes from the vision and study of
great thoughts; life is kindled by the vision and
thought of great lives and great deeds. *' Where
there is no vision the people perish."

Our study of environment has led us to the
same conclusion as our study of racial experi-
ence. The leavening power in the world, that
which draws to the selection and framing of
the best environment, out of whatsoever sur-
roundings, is the dynamic compelling power of
a great life based on moral and religious con-
victions.

We have found this to be the central thought
of history, a heroic soul infecting a community,
race, or nation. It is the central thought of all

^ Seelye, J. H., "Christian Missions," p. 144.

182

Coftfonnity to Environment

effectual education, the young and Impressible
exposed and brought close to the contaglum of
a powerful life, not to a mere walking encyclo-
pedia of learning. It Is the central thought of
Christianity, no mere doctrine, creed, or law, but
a grand life so perfectly conformed to the un-
changeable and eternal that all the power of
the universe Is on Its side.

Is It the central thought of evolution In a
grander and deeper sense than we have ventured
to suggest ? On the vaulted celling of the SIstlne
Chapel In Rome, Michael Angelo painted his
vision of the creation of man. A magnificent
half-recumbent human figure is rising as If just
awakened from sleep or unconsciousness, and Is
stretching out Its hand to reach the hand of
God held out to meet It. It Is a strange con-
ception of creation, but. If you wish to call It a
picture of human evolution — God reaching
down and life struggling up until the two can
clasp hands — many facts of science would find
their most adequate ultimate explanation In such
a view.

CHAPTER IX

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

WE have completed our hasty sketch of
human evolution. We have traced
its course and briefly analyzed the
chief factors and processes involved in the long
and slow upward progress. But our aim has
been practical rather than academic. We have
studied evolution mainly in order to discover
what light it can throw on present problems. It
seems necessary, therefore, before we close, to
attempt to apply the results of our theory to
present conditions and needs.

This venture involves much repetition as well
as risk. Every upward step has been of the
nature of an experiment, whose results could not
be foretold. Every modification of habit, struc-
ture, or institution demands that we retain all
that we can of the good in the old with as much
added progress as is possible or safe. Progress
has been by steps, not by leaps or bounds.

184

Social Environment

All our present Institutions are a mixture of
old and new. We must not sacrifice the good
that was In the old, neither must we allow it to
hamper the development of the germ of some-
thing better Involved In It. Racial and social
experiments are necessarily compromises; time
must test their wisdom and value.

Conservative and radical students of present
conditions arrive at very different conclusions.
The laws of biological history may be clear, but
their application to Individual cases is very dif-
ficult. Even the charge to the jury Is tinged by
the constitution of the judge. Our practical
application must be a mixture of more or less
safe scientific Inferences with personal opinion
or prejudice.

Stick as close to fact and truth as we can,
error will slip In. There will be much room for
difference of opinion. The reader must use
freely his own critical judgment. The value of
our conclusions must be largely in their sug-
gestlveness. If they can lead the reader to adopt
the standpoint of the evolutionist as the best
from which to judge and estimate present social
experiments, they will have served a useful pur-
pose. If we can gain a surer confidence in some

185

Man in the Light of Evolution

ancient, and now somewhat unfashionable,
means and institutions, it may do no harm. If
at the end we have discovered nothing startling
or new, our search may not have been fruitless.
For truism is often only another name for im-
portant truth which we may have always known,
but which we have neglected or forgotten, and
of which we need to be reminded.

The goal of human evolution seems to be a
race of vigorous, healthy, whole, well-balanced
men and women. Such men and women will
be healthy physically with well-grown and fully
developed strong and tough bodies. Good
digestion will furnish abundant material for
growth and repair and fuel for the use of our
muscular and nervous systems. Clean and pure,
well-oxygenated blood driven by a stout heart
will stimulate instead of clogging the action of
every organ. Tough muscles, adequately exer-
cised, will insure health, power, and efficiency.
A calm, steady, nervous system will give econ-
omy of effort, grace and efficiency, and strength
of action. Physical vigor will be accompanied
by many most important virtues — hopefulness,
cheerfulness, courage, confidence, endurance,
steadfastness, and many others.

i86

Social Eiivironuicjit

The Intellect will perceive clearly the real
ends of life, will furnish the vision of ideals
worthy of complete devotion, and will discern
means adequate to the attainment of high ends.
This clearer vision will stir deep feeling and
emotion. Feeling and devotion will stimulate
an iron will set on the reign of truth and
right.

The lives of these people will be completely
dominated by convictions of right and duty born
of ages of racial experience. They will be large,
deep, beneficent, like *' rivers of water " or the
" shadow of a great rock," as we have already
seen.

Such men and women, and only such, will be
conformed to all that is great and worthy in
their surroundings, to the unseen and eternal,
to all that Is divine In this grand world, and will
thus have been " transformed by the renewing
of their minds." They will have clasped hands
and joined purpose and will with the God in
whom the religious experiments and experiences
of ages have compelled or drawn them to be-
lieve. They will cast in their efforts with the
tide of events sweeping on to something still
higher and better. They will progress faster

187

Man in the Light of Evolution

than we, their success will be sure. Evolution
gathers momentum in its course.

We have found that man's share and work
in the process of evolution is the higher develop-
ment and complete supremacy of the moral and
religious powers, just as it was the business of
the worm to develop viscera, and of the lower
vertebrates to add new muscles and motor nerve
centers. Wealth, learning, and civilization are
Important chiefly as they contribute to this end.
Failure to make the highest supreme is degen-
eration and means extinction.

But as we look out on this whirl of social life
we are puzzled and become confused. It Is too
near us to allow of any perspective in our view
or picture. We wonder whither it is moving,
or whether it has any meaning or goal. We are
confident that there is progress as well as degen-
eration. But whether the progress Is In America
or China we are not quite sure. Society Is not
the same In any two states, cities, or towns. In-
deed, every Individual may be said to have his
own society or social circle, apparently inde-
pendent of his state or clime and of the govern-
ment or social usages under which he lives.

Society tends to become more complex and

i88

Social Environniciit

varied, and hence more difficult to analyze or
understand. The " primitive simplicity " Is
gone. In races living In savagery or barbarism
all the members seem to be much alike In work
and pursuit, In aim and purpose, In material and
mental possessions. All Is monotonous. This
may or may not be quite true. But In our social
life to-day there are vast differences In material,
physical, moral, and religious endowments; In
handicraft, trade, profession; in station and
rank; in wealth, learning, and power.

These great Inequalities seize our attention
and occupy our minds. Thoughtful writers em-
phasize their unfairness or Injustice, and plead
eloquently for equality of opportunity at least.
They compare the poverty and straitened life
of great masses with the wealth and luxury of
the few. But doctors of sociology still disagree
as to whether accumulation of great wealth by
a few Individuals Is harmful or beneficent to so-
ciety. We all recognize that anything like equal-
ity of wealth must be the attainment of a far
distant future. Most of us readily recognize
that society wnll not be greatly improved by
those who wait for perfect conditions to aid
them to make perfect men. Some have already

189

Man in the Light of Evolution

discovered that " a man's life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things which he pos-
sesseth." Perhaps, if every one of us would
recognize his responsibility for other posses-
sions beside wealth, and his duty to give freely
of the best which he has abundantly of any
kind — whether money, learning, wisdom, cour-
age, hope, health, cheer, and comfort of any
sort — the inequality might be made a very
real and positive rather than a very doubtful
blessing.

Here, as in the last chapter, we have to draw
a very sharp distinction between social surround-
ings and social environment. If we can discover
the nature and elements of a man's social envi-
ronment, we know whither he is tending and
what he will become, for it determines his char-
acter and doom. It is of far greater immediate
importance than physical environment, for It
molds directly his moral and religious develop-
ment. But some or many institutions and tend-
encies affect us indirectly and slightly; they are
hardly more than surroundings which spell op-
portunity to be used or neglected as we will.
A man maybe the slave of democracy, free under
tyranny, poor but making many rich, a boor in

190

Social Environment

broadcloth, or a nobleman in homespun. Here
especially environment Is almost altogether a
matter of relations, the product of choice and
selection. When a man chooses or accepts his
friends or heroes, he Is framing the largest
part of his social environment, whatever be his
state or city, the form of government under
which he lives, or the rank or station which he
adorns or disgraces. Improvement in these
latter respects may Increase opportunity or re-
move hindrances or obstacles. But the char-
acter of his environment, wx repeat, depends
ultimately on the choice or selection of the
Individual.

We are led to consider society as a bundle of
possibilities of good and evil, of which one will
realize the best, another the worst. It Is like
a mass of the most varied building materials —
one builds a royal palace, another a hovel and
lives squalid and vulgar all his days.

Yet here again as elsewhere some of our
surroundings press closely upon us. It is almost
Impossible to prevent them from becoming a
large part of our environment, especially during
our earlier years when we are most easily im-
pressed. Others invite and allure us repeatedly

191

Man in the Light of Evolution

and Importunately. We need only accept them
and allow them to make or mar us. Other ele-
ments remain always remote.

It seems, therefore, the wisest course to seek
in man's constitution and surroundings those ele-
ments, objects, tendencies, or institutions which
lie very close to him, and which, wisely and ade-
quately used, will most surely urge or allure
him to frame the best social environment from
material which Is everywhere freely at his dis-
posal. But If we are to rely on these for the
improvement or regeneration of a race or com-
munity, they must be already to some extent
In our possession; we cannot wait for Ideal
means or for the conditions of a remote future.
They must have been tried and found useful
through centuries or millennia of racial experi-
ence, and thus guarantee a fair prospect of suc-
cess. They must be adequate to man's highest
needs and work, to the furtherance of his moral
and religious development, his chief duty and
glory.

First among the means or Incentives of prog-
ress are man's inheritances from a long series
of progressive, aspiring ancestors. Our young
men and maidens see visions, perhaps dim and

192

Social Environment

indistinct, strange mixtures of the real and pos-
sible and the impossible, of the priceless and the
worthless, but of marvelous power and efficiency.
Says Stevenson of man : " Poor soul, here for so
little, cast among so many hardships, filled with
desires so incommensurate and so inconsistent,
savagely surrounded, savagely descended, irreme-
diably condemned to prey upon his fellow lives ;
who should have blamed him had he been of a
piece with his destiny? To touch the heart of
his mystery, we find in him one thought strange
to the point of lunacy; the thought of duty; the
thought of something owing to himself, to his
neighbor, to his God; an ideal of decency to
which he would rise, if it were possible; a limit
of shame, below which if it be possible, he will
not stoop. ^

We may clarify the vision, oftentimes we can
raise the ideal. But some ideal, and the highest
possible, must remain implanted in the mind.
" Where there Is no vision the people perish."
This vision and Ideal seems hardly other than
a composite of the inherited racial convictions
so omnipresent, so Imperious, which strengthen

1 Cf. Stevenson, R. L., "Pulvis et umbra.

Man in the -Light of Evolution

as life goes on, unless smothered and forgotten
through our neglect.

Over against this priceless inheritance, for
every one of us is born to a kingdom, stands
education in the broadest sense of the word,
including all means of stimulating growth and
development. Nature is the great educator, and
framed her bill of compulsory education long
before man arrived on the globe. Life and ex-
perience are the great teachers, and the world
is the school of this grand system from which
we are never graduated. School and college are
only human devices, artificial institutions, to
make good the deficiencies of, and to prepare
the child and youth for, this grander training.
Says Professor Huxley: "That man, I think, has
had a liberal education who has been so trained
in youth that his body is the willing servant of
his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the
work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of;
whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with
all its parts of equal strength and in smooth
working order, ready, like a steam engine, to
be turned to any kind of work, and spin the
gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the
mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge

194

Social Environment

of the great and fundamental truths of Nature
and of the laws of her operations; one who, no
stunted ascetic, Is full of life and fire, but whose
passions are trained to come to heel by a vigor-
ous will, the servant of a tender conscience; who
has learned to love all beauty, whether of Na-
ture or of art, to hate all vlleness, and to re-
spect others as himself. Such a man, and no
other, I conceive, has had a liberal education,
for he Is as completely as a man can be In har-
mony with Nature." Every reader will remem-
ber this " Address on Education " In which Pro-
fessor Huxley compares life to a game of chess,
and defines education as learning the laws and
moves of the game.^

In this grand system of education the home
plays a leading part. We hear that the family
Is disintegrating through frequent div^orces, and
that home training Is poor and Inadequate com-
pared with that of a century ago. We freely
admit that divorce Is far too common, and that
most fathers and some mothers are too much
occupied with the business of winning wealth

1 See Huxley, T. H., " Lay Sermons, Addresses, and
Reviews," New York, 187 1.

14 195

Man m tJie Light of Evolution

and fame or social distinction to pay much at-
tention to anything so unimportant as the needs
and possibilities of their children. The children
in the large families of our ancestors educated
one another to an extent which we can hardly
appreciate. The only child Is a " vanity and
vexation of spirit." But the evolutionist can
comfort himself with the thought that the di-
vorced pair and the only child are necessary
Incidents in the beneficent process of natural
selection. Such abortive families leave few de-
scendants to cumber the ground. These excep-
tions only prove the rule that the great mass of
the people live healthily In happy homes, where
sturdy morality and mutual helpfulness prevail,
and where children grow up in an atmosphere
of love, kindliness, and mutual forbearance, if
not of courtesy. The power of early environ-
ment, of a mother's love, cheerfulness, courtesy,
calmness, courage, hopefulness, and other vir-
tues, cannot be overestimated. It Is second only
to heredity, with which we sometimes confuse it.
The third great power for progress is the
school. This Is a comparatively new institution.
It always faces shifting conditions and new prob-
lems as new needs arise and as family training

196

Social Environment

proves more or less adequate. Here we have
still much to learn. We seem sometimes to have
forgotten that the aim of school and college is
not primarily learning, but the development of
strong, efficient, well-balanced men and women,
who can bear the burdens and do the work of
their own place in life, and meet the emergencies
of a complex civilization.

The chief business of the lower grades is, or
should be, to promote healthy physical growth.
The body of the young boy and girl demands
more care and attention than the mind. Pul-
monary, rather than cerebral, capacity is the
best promise of future usefulness. Playground,
garden, and gymnasium can help more than desk
and recitation. Both are needed, but the physi-
cal is first, afterwards that which is mental and
spiritual.

Our high schools are fast becoming people's
colleges where all are introduced to the best and
most inspiring in art, literature, science, in mor-
als and religion. Skill in handicraft is receiving
some of the honor and attention due to it.
Schools and colleges are fast escaping from the
thralldom of a mere academic learning, whose
value was usually proportional to its remoteness

197

Man in the Light of Evolution

from human interests, occupations, and life.
We are learning that courses of study and text-
books are of less importance than the standpoint
and personality of the teacher. Mathematics
can be made to teem with vitality; biology is the
science of life or of death; the " winged words "
of Plato and ^schylus may be used as sources
of inspiration or as subjects for textual criticism
or archaeological exhumations. In my child-
hood Milton's " Paradise Lost " seemed to be
valued chiefly as a text-book for parsing and
analysis.

In the end, that school or college is best ful-
filling its purpose which best maintains and de-
velops the physical, mental, moral, and religious
health and vigor of its members, which culti-
vates the highest ideal, deepens feeling, strength-
ens will and purpose, and inspires to the fullest
and highest life. The use of education as a
means of racial progress is better understood
to-day than ever before.

The press is far younger than even the school.
Our taste for literature Is still unformed and un-
developed, often decidedly perverted. The best
and most life-giving books often form no real
part of our environment. They do not furnish

198

Social Envirotunenf

sufficient relaxation and amusement. Plato and
Shakespeare demand that we take them seri-
ously. They refuse to play the part of the clown
in the circus. We do not quite understand
Shakespeare's fools, but have a dim suspicion
that they are laughing at us. The best books
from the evolutionist's standpoint are not neces-
sarily those of most elegant diction or startling
phrases. They are not necessarily the most ex-
hausting or complete catalogue of scientific facts
or the finest dissections of normal or diseased
personality. They are true to life, as we say.
They teem with the highest vitality. Their
characters remain with us as friends and close
companions and infect us with strength and
courage. They not merely amuse or instruct,
they build up and vivify.

Judged from this standpoint, no volume or
library has such value as the Bible. Only a
book of extraordinary vitality could have occa-
sioned or survived the misunderstandings, mis-
use, and abuse of friends and foes which this
book has suffered. It is a record or picture of
the experience, feelings, and life of strong men
and women facing and overcoming doubt and
fear, hardship and pain, temptation and trial,

199

Man in the Light of Evoltttion

as we must do to-day. It teems with life and
vigor, courage, hope and faith, from cover to
cover. It is written, sometimes in tears and
blood, by an " apostolic succession of great
souls," who saw things as they were and are and
must be. It is militant and triumphant, yet with
the peace and calm of an incoming tide. No
wonder that that stout agnostic. Professor Hux-
ley, pleaded for its use as an instrument of
popular education, and believed that " the hu-
man race is not yet, possibly may never be, in
a position to dispense with it." ^

Just at present we are so busy discussing ques-
tions of text and authorship, dates and historical
setting, inerrancy and fallibility, and I know not
what other important questions — and they are
of vast importance — that we can give little heed
or thought to the vital content. But this stage,
I believe, will prove to be a " temporarily useful
eccentricity rather than a definitively triumphant
position," to borrow a phrase from Professor
James. Sensible common people and minds not
debauched by learning, ignorance, or conceit.

1 See Huxley, T. H., "Some Controverted Questions,'
New York, 1873, pp. 38, 40, 72.

200

Social Euviyojnncnf

will not long be content to neglect this master-
piece of literature.

The unique value of the Bible is that, while
its scope is exceedingly broad and covers all de-
partments of life, its chief subject Is moral and
religious evolution, the pivotal or strategic cen-
ter of human progress. It is a text-book of the
highest biology, a record of actual experiments
and experiences of men who were by nature and
training experts and geniuses In this line. Hence
Ignorance of this classic Is even more culpable
than would be the confession of an evolutionist
that he never found time or bothered himself to
read Darwin's " Origin of Species."

But If man's role and business In the drama
of evolution is and must be moral and religious
development and progress, it Is evident that
there must be some institution which shall make
this progress its chief aim and purpose. This
Is evidently the place of the Church viewed from
the evolutionist's standpoint. Such an institu-
tion Is all the more necessary in human education
because men and women leave school and col-
lege just as they are entering the most trying
and critical years of life. These Institutions,
as we have seen, accompany us as far as the

20I

Man in the Light of Evolution

Interpreter's House. The Church should be the
Greatheart to guide us on our lonely journey
through the Valley of Humiliation and up to the
clear vision of the Delectable Mountains, that
heart and faith fail not along the weary road.

This is the chief end and purpose which must
always dominate and permeate the Church's
thought, work, and life. This does not mean
that the institutional Church is necessarily an
eccentricity. The Church may and must take up
any line of work needed for human progress and
welfare until some special institution can make
a study of the need and satisfy it in the best and
most adequate way. In many of our villages
and smaller towns the Church is and should be
the center of civic and social as well as of re-
ligious life. But when apostles leave the word
and message of God to serve tables, there seems
to be a misdirection of energy.

The Church is the army of Jehovah, Lord of
Hosts, a disciplined army of hardy, heroic souls,
each soldier aiding his fellow. Its orders are
always '^ Forwards ! " A purely defensive cam-
paign is a lost campaign. It joins battle fiercely
and fearlessly with every form of sin and mis-
ery, without counting odds or cost. Respon-

202

Social Enviyonuiciit

siblllty, duty, not privilege, is the foundation
stone of its character. It appeals not to the
sluggard or weakling, but to the heroic and
stout-hearted. Its motto is : " Be strong and of
a very good courage." Its members touch
shoulders and keep step with the great and good,
the true and faithful, of all ages.

"Part of the host has crossed the flood
And part is crossing now."

But it is all one army inspired by grand tradi-
tions and fired by a still grander hope.

Several very interesting studies have lately
been made of the psychology of the crowd and
the behavior of mobs. They emphasize the fact
that the crowd is likely to be swayed by feeling
or swept by primitive instincts. While here and
there the possible benefits of such feeling and
action are acknowledged, they are rarely em-
phasized. The crowd is usually condemned as
the enemy of cool judgment. Now cool judg-
ment is invaluable and should reign supreme and
alone in the laborator)^, study, or council. But
when the time for action has arrived, feeling
has its place and Is also essential. No one con-
demns the feeling which comes from touching

203

Man in the Light of Evolution

elbows and bursts out in a cheer along the line
of battle. We hold mass meetings to stir patri-
otic feeling. Some learned and thoughtful men
seem to have forgotten that cool judgment is
not the whole of life or the intellect the only
faculty. That " blind giant," the will, must also
be counted. Action is at least of equal impor-
tance with thought. If we do not feel or care,
we certainly will not act vigorously.

Some of us, too, in our zeal for progress seem
to have forgotten that all our heritage from the
past is not bad. This is a sad rehabilitation of
the theory of total depravity. The primitive
may still be good in essence. Even our benighted
ancestors, upon whom we look down with such
royal conceit, discovered some things worth re-
membering, and often lived very vigorous and
worthy lives.

In patriotism, religion, and philanthropy, in-
tellectual perception alone is not enough. Feel-
ing and will are essential for life and action.
Otherwise a militant and triumphant faith, in
the best sense of the word, degenerates into a
dead system of philosophy, which merely cum-
bers the ground and exhales germs of senile
paralysis. When we have attained a reasonable

204

Social Environuient

ground of confidence in our conclusions a stir
of feeling or tingling of the blood is normal
and not to be deprecated. It opens new reser-
voirs of energy, increases our endurance, and
stirs all our powers. This is only one of many
arguments for social worship stirring feeling,
vivifying ideals, reviving half-forgotten convic-
tions, and rousing every power to fruitful action.

Patriotism, philanthropy, and religion, serv-
ice of country, man, and God, draw man's
thoughts to the high, distant, and grand aims
worthy of his powers. They lift him above the
thought of self and the petty interests of the
hour. They are distinctively human exercises
and activities. They alone can call out his vast
stores of energy and make him the Titan he can
and should be. Without them he degenerates.

These are but a few of the means and forces
which make for progress. As we hastily review
them, we cannot but feel encouragement and hope
and a deeper sense of responsibility. The possi-
bilities within reach are indefinitely greater than
our attainments. They gather power through
generations, and were never so great as now.

Material wealth has never increased so rap-
idly as during the preceding fifty years. Yet we

205

Man in the Light of Evolution

hear of business panics arising from lack of con-
fidence. There is no real lack of money, but
it is all hoarded, locked up by timid men in
safety-deposit vaults. Hence business suffers de-
pression. Morally and religiously we seem to
be in such a period of panic or depression caused
by uncertainty and lack of confidence. We hesi-
tate and "let I dare not wait upon I would."
A timidity amounting often to cowardice cramps
and fetters us. We are afraid of we know not
what. Each holds back instead of encouraging
his neighbor. " Volo^ non possum " is not the
motto and watchword of progress. Some day
we will regain confidence, laugh at our fears, be
ashamed of our former timidity and hesitation,
and resolutely push forward.

Our sketch of evolution has brought to light
no new means of progress, no radical cure-all
for human weakness and troubles. We rely
mainly on old institutions and tendencies. The
new is always contained in the old, or is the old
transformed and glorified. The Gospel fulfills
instead of abrogating the law. Those who
loudly proclaim that the institutions which have
served man in the past and which have largely
made him what he is are now antiquated and

206

Social Enviro7uncnt

worthless and should be swept away to give place
to something entirely new, have forgotten the
power of the generalized and primitive. They
would " throw away the baby with the bath
water," to borrow a very homely German adage.
Evolution is sometimes radical, but underneath
all It Is always conservative as well. The good
of the past thoroughly tested by long experience
must be preserved, but it must be modified con-
tinually to meet changing conditions. Any great
Institution Is like an army which must continu-
ally adapt Its tactics, arms, and organization to
new modes of warfare, and continually change
front for attack or defense. Fulfillment not de-
struction Is the watchword of the wise leader.

The evolutionist has a useful standpoint from
which to observe and judge human society and
institutions. That social order Is the best which
" fits as many as possible to survive." Any in-
stitution Is valuable just In proportion to Its fit-
ness and adequacy to enlarge and deepen man's
life, and to Increase his strength, vigor, power,
courage, and efl'iclency. The fitness and ade-
quacy are tested by actual experiment. We have
a firm ground of confidence In the old, while we
feel our way toward the new and still better.

207

Man in the Light of Evolution

But, unless our study has been fatally wrong
and defective, it is evident that the social envi-
ronment of every individual contains just as
many of these means and elements of progress
as he accepts and adopts, and to the extent to
which he makes use of them. No government
or institution can frame an environment and
force it upon the individual. Hence the greatest
movements have generally started and gathered
power in small circles. The hope of Israel lay,
not in the army of Saul, but with David and his
companions in the Cave of Adullam. The voice
which was to move the world came, as Dr. Mar-
tineau has said, from an upper chamber in Jeru-
salem. When Athenian schools of philosophy
had sunk in senility, a Jew was writing letters to
a few common people of Corinth and Ephesus
U^hlch were to be read through millennia. A
carpenter, working through a dozen fishermen,
conquered Rome and revolutionized the world.

We might venture to call it a law of history
that the improvement of environment or sur-
roundings starts with a life. This life spreads
by contagion from man to man, and thus society
is leavened. Hence we return to our starting
point that we frame our best environment by liv-

208

Social EiiviyojDuejit

ing with the best men and women of our own
time and other times by actual association and
by the study of history and fiction, and by reso-
lutely and continually drawing from our asso-
ciates the best there is in them, and contributing
only the best in us. By this habit we also etiec-
tually aid others to Improve their environment.

There Is much truth in the " strong man "
theory of history. But the greatest and wisest
cannot make history If their people are Immune
to the contagion of their life and power. Soc-
rates kindled Plato and Aristotle, and through
them enlightened Europe. But neither Socrates
nor Paul could raise and revive degenerate
Athens. We need and have great leaders, but
a host of Sergeant Whatisnames is equally neces-
sary to pass on the contagion.

Hence, In last analysis, if society Is not what
it should be, the fault lies ultimately, not with
government. Institutions, or conditions, but with
you and me. We can make a social circle of
our own as and what we will. And the best
social conditions and Institutions will be barren
and temporary if we do not cheerfully accept
and vigorously promote them.

APPENDIX

Chart I shows the great divisions of the ani-
mal kingdom into subkingdoms or phyla, and
their subdivisions Into classes. These are here
presented in artificial tabular arrangement.
After each class stands the name of one of its
most common or familiar representatives.

The classification of vertebrates might well
have been carried farther. The subdivisions of
the fishes which Interest us are the orders of
sharks and ganoids. The latter order is illus-
trated by the sturgeons and gar pikes. The only
amphibia which concern us are the very oldest,
the extinct Stegocephala. The ancient and ex-
tinct theromorphous reptiles were probably the
ancestors of mammals. Among mammals the
duckbill and Echidna are the last surviving egg-
laying forms. The marsupials are represented
by the kangaroo and other Australian forms.
Above these stand the placental mammals, in
which the embryo Is nourished by the placenta,
which absorbs nutriment and oxygen from the

2IO

Appendix

wall of the uterus of the mother. Of this sub-
class, Placentalla, several orders interest us: i.
Cetacea (whales) very early assumed an aquatic
life. 2. Rodents are represented by rabbits,
squirrels, woodchucks, rats, and mice. 3. Un-
gulates Include horses, cows, sheep, deer, ele-
phants, rhinoceros, and others, a very large and
flourishing order. 4. Carnlvora. Examples:
dogs, wolves, foxes, cats, weasels, bears, and
hyenas. 5. Lemurs, now found mostly In
Madagascar, were the ancestors of the next or-
der. 6. Primates Include monkeys and apes.
At the head of the latter stand the so-called an-
thropoid apes, the gibbons, orang, chimpanzee,
and gorilla. Probably no one of these recent
forms represents the ancestor of man.

Chart II shows the great groups of the animal
kingdom arranged In the form of a genealogical
tree.

Chart III shows more fully the genealogical
tree of vertebrates. Pithecanthropus Is the form
between apes and man discovered by DuBois In
Java. For further account of this remarkable
form se5 Nature^ vol. II, 1895, p. 291 ; vol. llil,
pp. 116, 296; Amer, Joiirn. Sci., vol. Ixlx, 1895,
p. 144. For similar and better charts see Cope,
15 211

Mmt in the Light of Evolution

*' Primary Factors of Evolution," chap, ii, pp.
74-171.

Chart IV shows the succession In geological
appearance of the principal forms of animals.
The time of first appearance Is marked by a
cross opposite the geological period and under
the name of the group of animals. Our knowl-
edge of the first geological appearance of the
different orders of placental mammals Is very
defective. All the principal orders are repre-
sented In the Eocene period, and must have origi-
nated earlier, as remains of mammals have been
found in triassic rocks. The primitive amphibia
v/ere the Stegocephala. The earliest reptiles
were probably much like the recent Hatterla.
The Theromorpha were probably the ancestors
of mammals. Archasopteryx was the earliest
bird, with teeth and long tall.^

Chart V aims to show the successive origin of
organs.^ Their period of most rapid develop-
ment Is marked by a double cross. A single
cross marks slower Improvement. — means a
decline In relative Importance owing to the rise

^ Compare Jordan and Kellogg: "Evolution of Animal
Life," p. 297; Metcalf, "Organic Evolution," p. 105.

212

Appendix

of sonie other organ. The period or place of
the first appearance of an organ can be deter-
mined fairly accurately. Concerning its period
of most rapid development there is room for
much difference of opinion. Here the chart loses
in accuracy what it gains in definiteness. Only
substantial and general correctness can be claimed
for Charts V and VI.

Chart VI is largely physiological, showing the
rise of functions to dominance or supremacy in
the animal body.

Chart VII accompanies Chapter V. It shows
the principal competitors at each period of geo-
logical history, and their descent from the ap-
parently defeated form of the preceding period.

CHART I.

The Animal Kingdom and Its Largest Subdivisions.

Sub KING-

DOMS OR

Prominent Characters.

Classes.

Example.

Phyla.

I. Protozoa.

One Cell.

Rhizopoda.

Amoeba.

No tissues.

Infusoria.

Paramoecium.

•

s

o

II. Sponges.

Pores. Framework of
spicules or horn-fibers.

Bathing
Sponge.

■T3

c

III. Coelen-

Radiate. Primitive stom-

Hydrozoa.

Hydra.

terata.

ach or Archenteron,

Actinozoa.
Scyphozoa.

Sea-anemone.
Jellyfish.

C
<

Muscular body wall. No

IV. Worms.

skeleton (?) or jointed

Earthworm.

appendages.

•

V. Echino-

Apparently radiate.

Starfish.

derms.

Hard spinous covering

Sea urchin.

VI. Arthro-

External locomotive

Crustacea.
Arachnoidea.

Crabs.
Spiders.

poda.

skeleton. Legs.

Myriapoda.
Hexapoda.

Thousand-legs
Insects.

214

CHART I— (Continued)

SUBKING-

DOMS OR

Prominent Characters.

Classes.

Example.

Phyla.

Acephala.

Clams.

Vn. Mol-

External, protective

Gasteropoda.

Snails.

lusca.

shell.

Cephalopoda.
Fish.

Squids.

Shark.
Sturgeon.
Perch and

£

Cod.

o

-a

c

Amphibians.

Newt.

^

Salamander.

Frog.

"c

<

Vni. Ver-

Backbone.

Reptiles.

Lizards.

tebrata.

Birds.

Mammals.

Snakes.
Turtles.

Crow\ Hawk-
Duck-bill.
Kangaroo.
Rabbit.
Dog and Cat.
Deer. Horse.
Ape.
Man.

215

f

f

Maa

Marsupial mammals

t

Reptiles

Moll

usca

Sponges

Placental mammals

Egg-laying mammals

Amphibia

Arthropoda

Coelenterata

Protozoa

Chart II. Genealogical Tree of the Animal Kingdom.

2l6

Extinct
Reptiles

a

.J

H

a.

Carnivora

Man

Pithecanthropus
Primates

Lemurs

Ungulates

Rodents

Whales (?) o,

Frogs "^

Salamanders

Bony Fishes
(Cod)

Sturgeons, etc.

Sharks

Amphioxus

Chart III. Genealogical Tree of Vertebrates.

217

CHART IV — Geological Succession

CO

a

Periods.

•
V)

B

u

o
+

in
+

• p— <

O

C

O
+

4
>^

c
o
FQ

1
+

1

,6

Oh

a
<

B

;-!
Cm

+

•
Vi

O
i-i

+

1

1
1

t

+

o

B
o

h
+

+

a;
c

CO
+

D-

<

+

CO

S

o

+

lA

S

C

<L)
(J

0)

P^

+ r

1

i

+

C
o

O
P^

+

?
?

•

i

o
"S

<A

u

+

?
?

b£

c
+

U5

■i->

OS

+

r

•

•

'o

N

o
c
<u

U

Recent.
Pleistocene

and
Pliocene.
Miocene.
Oligocene.
Eocene.

+

o
O

Cretaceous.

Jurassic.

Triassic.

•

o
'o

N

Permian.
Carboniferous.
Devonian.
Silurian.

•

c

<

2l8

Mental
Powers.

Sense
Perception.

-

*•

>*

Intelligence.

<<

Moral
and
Religious.

"uiajs^s snoAja^

+ -^--4-+ +

Breathe by
Means of —

Surface
of
Body.

it

or Gills.

Gills.

Gills and
Lungs.

Lungs. + +

it
it

it

» + + + +
+ + + +

•IU9JSXS XJOJ9J3X3; * 4. _|. _j_ _j_

0

U
w

■SJ9§UT^

•pu^H

•: :

•s(ii.iv
pu-B s89"x

* xxx^

•:5iunjx

_l_

•9ATpnpoad9"^

— t- ri-.

* + + ■

•iu9}sXs 9ATJS9S1Q

* ^ ^ + +~-'^

W
CO

0
N
0

s

Coelenterata

Worms

15

0
£

<

Lower Mammals.. .

Arboreal M

Prim. Man

V
N

>

CJ

Geolog.

Period

of

Appear-
ance.

r^<

<

15

Oh

Mes.
Mes.
Cen..?

c

U

0^

219

CHART VI— Sequence of

Stages.

Most Im-
portant
Part of
Brain.

Organ
Ap-
proaching
Culmina-
tion.

Most
Rapidly
Advanc-
ing
Organ.

Dominant
Func-
tion.

Protozoa.

Digestive

Coelenterata.

and
Repro-
ductive.

Repro-
duction.

Worm.

Repro-
ductive.

((

Fish.

Mid-
brain.

Cerebel-
lum.

Diges-
tive.

Muscles.

Locomo-
tion.

Amphibia.

n

<(

<(

Reptile.

Cerebrum ?

((

(<

Lower Mam-
mal.

Cerebrum

and
Cortex.

Muscle.

Muscle.
Brain }

<(

Arboreal
Mammal.

Cortex.

Brain.
Hand.

<<

Primitive Man.

Associa-
tion areas
of

it

Mental.

Civilized Man.

Cortex.

t(

((

220

Functions or Powers

Dominant

Mental or

Nervous

Action.

Sequence
of Per-
ceptions.

Sequence

of
Motives.

Environ-
ment
Makes
for—

New Attain-
ments or
Contributions.

Touch

and
Smell.

Hunger.

The cell.

«

tt

Diges-
tion and

Digestive and
reproductive
organs.

Reflex.

Sight.

It

Repro-
duction.

Vital organs,
Trunk mus-
cles.

Reflex ?
Instinct.

<<

Hunger.
Fear 1
Anger ?

Strength

Backbone ?

Jaws.

Brain.

Backbone ?

ft

Smell.

((

and

Jointed Legs.

n

it

((

activity.

Lungs.
Cerebral
cortex.

Intelli-
gence ?

Smell.
Sight. I
Hearing.

The above
and other
pruden-
tial

<<

and
Shrewd-

Placental
Development.

Intelli-
gence.

J

Consid-
erations.

ness.

Hand.

«

€i

(<

<<

Personality.

Reason.

Reason.

Truth

and

Right.

Righte-
ousness.

221

Man

Worms
Chart VII. The Survival of the Fittest.

222

BIBLIOGRAPHY

General Evolution

Conn, H. W. "The Method of Evolution," New York,

1900.
Cope, E. D. "Origin of the Fittest," New York, 1887.

"Primary Factors of Evolution," Chicago, 1896.

Darwin, C. "Origin of Species"; various editions.

"Animals and Plants under Domestication," New

York, 1868.

Gray, A. "Darwiniana," New York, 1877.
Haeckel, E. "History of Creation," London, 1876.

" Systematische Phylogenie," Berlin, 1895.

Jordan, D. S., and Kellogg, V. L. "Evolution and

Animal Life," New York, 1907.
Metcalf, M. M. "Organic Evolution," New York, 1904.
Morgan, T. H. "Evolution and Adaptation," New York,

1903.
Osborn, H. F. "From the Greeks to Darwin," New '^'ork,

1894.
Romanes, G, J. "Darwin and After Darwin," Chicago,

1892.
Wallace, A. R. " Darwinism," New York, 1889.

Human Evolution

Darwin, C. "The Descent of Man," New York, 1872.
Drummond, H. "Ascent of Man," New ^'ork, 1894.

223

Man in the Light of Evolution

FisKE, J. "The Destiny of Man," Boston, 1884.
Haeckel, E. "The Evolution of Man," New York, 1892.
Heineman, T. W. "Psychic and Economic Results of

Man's Physical Uprightness," Pasadena, Cal., 1906.
Huxley, T. H. "Man's Place in Nature," New York,

1894.

"Evolution and Ethics," New York, 1894.

Kropotkin, p. "Mutual Aid, a Factor in Evolution,"

New York, 1903.
LoTZE, H. "Microcosmus," New York, 1885.
Tyler, J. M. " The Whence and the Whither of Man."

New York, 1896.
See also, Jordan and Kellogg's "Evolution and Animal

Life," Chap. xxi.

Family and Society

Bagehot, W. " Physics and Politics," New York, 1873.
GiDDiNGS, F. W. " Principles of Sociology," New York,
1896.

"Elements of Sociology," New York, 1898.

Howard, G. E. "History of Matrimonial Institutions,"

Bibliography, Chicago, 1904.
Lubbock, J. "Origin of Civilization," New York, 1871.
McLennan, J. F. "The Patriarchal Theory," London,

1885.

"Studies in Ancient History," London, 1886.

"Primitive Marriage," London, 1865.

Morgan, L. H. "Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity,"

Washington, 1871. Smithsonian Contributions.

"Ancient Society," New York, 1877.

224

Bibliograpliy

Westermarck, E. "A History of Human Marriage,"
London, 1901.

Animal Intelligence and Instinct

Morgan, L. "Animal Life and Intelligence," 1891.

"Habit and Instinct," 1896.

Romanes, G. J. "Animal Intelligence," New York, 1884.

Fundamental and Accessory Muscles and Nerve

Centers

BuRK, F. "From Fundamental to Accessory in the Devel-
opment of the Nervous System," Fed. Sem., vi, i, p. 345.

Hartwell, E. M. "Physical Training," Report of Com.
of Education of U. S., 1903, i, p. 724.

Mercier, C. "The Nervous System and the Mind," New
York, 1888.

Ross, J. "Diseases of the Nervous System," Philadelphia,
1886.

Tyler, J. M. "Growth and Education," pp. 30-48, Bos-
ton, 1907.

Recapitulation

Baldwin, J. M. "Mental Development," New '^'ork,

1897, Chap. i.
Guillet, C. "Recapitulation and Education," Pedagog.

Seminary, vii, p. 397.
Morgan, T. H. "Education and Adaptation," New ^'ork,

1903, Chap. iii.
Sedgwick, A. "Law of Development Known as von

Baer's Law," Quart. Jourti. Mic. Scienn', xxxvi, p. 35,

225

Man in the Light of Evolution

Adolescence

BuRNHAM, W. H. "The Study of Adolescence," Ped. Sem.,
i, 1891, p. 196.

CoE, G. H. "The Spiritual Life," New York, 1900.

Hall, G. S. "Adolescence," New York, 1904.

"Youth," New York, 1906.

Lancaster, E. G. " Psychology and Pedagogy of Adoles-
cence," Ped. Sem., v, 1897, p. 61.

Starbuck, E. D. "The Psychology of Religion," New
York, 1900.

Geographical Distribution

Heilprin, a. "Geographical and Geological Distribution

of Animals," New York, 1887.
Lydekker, R. "Geographical Distribution of Mammals,"

Cambridge, 1896.
Wallace, A. R., and Dyer, T. T. "Distribution of Life,"

New York, 1885.
See also, Jordan and Kellogg's "Evolution and Animal

Life," Chaps, xiv and viii.

Degeneration

Lankester, R. "Degeneration," London, 1880.

VAN Beneden, E. "Animal Parasites and Messmates,"

New York, 1889.
Wilson, A. "Degeneration," Pop. Sci. Mo., xix, 1881, p.

382.
See also, Jordan and Kellogg's "Evolution and Animal

Life," Chap. xvii.

226

Bibliography

Religion

Caird, E. "Evolution of Religion," Glasgow, 1893.
FisKE, J. "Through Nature to God," Boston.
Lubbock, J. "Origin of Civilization," New York, 1871.
Pfleiderer, O. "Philosophy of Religion," Lecture IV

New York, 1894.
TiELE, C. P. "Elements of the Science of Religion," New

York, 1897.
For an excellent and well-classified journal bibliography of

evolution, see Jordan and Kellogg's "Evolution and

Animal Life."

16

INDEX

Adolescence, 87.
Adversity, 108, 116.
Aid, mutual, 45.
Animals,

Cenozoic, 98.

Mesozoic, 96.

Paleozoic, 94.
Arboreal life, 35.
Augustine, St., 3.

Bible, The, 2, 199.
BusHNELL, H., 140.

Carlyle, T., 179.
Childhood, 87.
Church, 201.
Classification, 13.
Coelenterates, 25, 57.
Conformity to environment,

163.
Convictions, 147.

Darv^'inism, i, 11.
Degeneration, 57, 67, 80,
III, 164.

Development, incomplete,

85, 89.
Divergence, 20, 164.

Dynasties in evolution, 65.

Education, 87, 127, 183, 194.

natural, 107.
Eggs, number of, 7, 43.
Embryology, 16.
Environment, 166.

conformity to, 163.

early, 139, 196.

social, 184.

surroundings and, 169,
190.
Evolution, goal of, 186.

mental, 68,

oriental theories of, I.
Experiment, life an, 18, 64,
133, 166.

Faith, 115, 125, 160.
Family, origin of, 41.
Feeling, importance of, 181,
203.

229

Index

FiSKE, J., 142.

Fitness, 105, 121, 164.

Fitness and dominance, 104,
118.

Fittest, survival of, 9, 92.

Functions, sequence of rul-
ing, 64.

Gladiatorial theory, vi, 99.

Home, 195.

Huxley, T., 40, 124, 193.

Ideals, 192.
Insects, 30, 102.

James, W., 116.

Land, life on, 32, 103.
Length of life and intel-
ligence, 34.
Lewis, T., 2.
Locomotion and brain, 64.

Mammals, 34, 43, 98, 103.

Arboreal, 35.

Cenozoic, 98.
Man, stages in evolution of,

22, 38,59, 79, 120, 176,
186.
description of, 82, 1 86.
Miltonic hypothesis, 4.

Mind, evolution of, 68.
Mollusks, 29, loi.
Morals, 49, 80.
primitive, 49.
Motives, sequence of, 59, 73.
Muscle, 27, 36, 58, 87.

Ontogenesis and phylogene-
sis, 17, 86,

OSBORN, H., 34.

Personality, contagion of,

156.
Plato, 112, 150, 173.
Plutarch, 72.
Progress, 79, in, 164, 174.
Progress and opportunity,

172.
Protoplasm, 24, 62.

Racial experience, 131.
Radiation, adaptive, 164.
Relations, importance of, 70,

172.
Religion, 51, 70, 80, 89, in,

136, 146, 176, 201.
Reproduction, 42.
Reptiles, 97.

School, 196.
Seelye, J., 181.

230

Index

Selection, natural, 7, 47, 135,

Size and length of life, 34,
102.

Size and intelligence, 64.

Skeleton, 29, 100.

Society, primitive, 48.

Socrates, 112, 150.

Stevenson, R., 193.

Struggle for existence, 7, 19.

Surroundings and environ-
ment, 169, 190.

Survival, 165.

of fittest, 7, 92, 135.

Valley of Humiliation, 128,

201.
Verdict of history, 134.
Vertebrates, 29, 100.

Worms, 26, 57.

Zoophytes, 25, 57.

(1)

THE END

SPENCER'S SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY,

lltnOf cloth^ $2.00 per volume.
JVBfV EDITION OF

First Principles.

By Herbert Spencer. New and revised (sixth) edition of the
first volume of the author's Synthetic Philosophy.

This fundamental and most important work has been changed in
substance and in form to a considerable extent, and largely rewritten
and wholly reset. It is now forty years since the author began the
" First Principles," and its presentation in this definitive form, with
the author's last revisions, is an event of peculiar interest and conse-
quence. While experience has not caused him to recede from the gen-
eral principles set forth, he has made some important changes in the sub-
stance and form. His amendments of matter and manner are now final.

The contents of the several volumes of the series are as follows :

1. First Principles. I. The Unknowable. II. The Knowable.

2. The Principles of Biology. Vol. i. I. The r3ata of Biology.

II. The Inductions of Biology. III. The Evolution of Life.

3. The Principles of Biology. Vol. 2. IV. Morphological Devel-

opment. V. Physiological Development. VI. Laws of Mul-
tiplication.

4. The Principles of Psychologj-. Vol. i. I. The Data of

Psychology. II. The Inductions of Psychology. III. General
Synthesis. IV. Special Synthesis. V. Physical Synthesis,

5. The Principles of Psychology. Vol. 2. VI. Special Analysis.

VII. General Analysis. VI 11. Congruities. IX. Corollaries.

6. The Principles of Sociology. Vol. i. I. The Data of Soci-

ology. II. The Inductions of Sociology. III. The Domestic
Relations.

7. The Principles of Sociology. Vol. 2. IV. Ceremonial Insti-

tutions. V. Political Institutions.

8. The Principles of Sociology. Vol. 3. VI. Ecclesia.stical In-

stitutions. VII. Professional Institutions. VIII. Industrial
Institutions.

9. The Principles of Ethics. Vol. i. I. The Data of Ethics.

II. The Inductions of Ethics. III. The Ethics of Individual
Life.
10. The Principles of Ethics. Vol. 2. IV. The Ethics of Social
Life : Justice. V The Ethics of Social Life : Negative Benefi-
cence. VI. The Ethics of Social Life : Positive Beneficence.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK

''AN AMAZING BOOK/'

The Interpretation of Life,

in which is shown the relation of Modern Culture
to Christian Science. By Gerhardt C. Mars,
B.D., Ph.D. Royal octavo, 800 pages. $3.00 net
($3.24 postpaid).

In reviewing what it calls "an amazing book," the
New York Times says : "It is the first — in point of fact,
it is the only — interpretation and defense of Christian Sci-
ence ever made by a philosopher."

" It is, on the whole, the broadest, most thoughtful and
truest interpretation of life that has yet appeared, and
certainly the most important book of the Twentieth Cen-
tury."— The Arena.

" The Interpretation of Life " is a book for all people
interested in the deeper problems of life, whether they
are scientists or members of orthodox churches or serious
thinkers of their own thoughts.

" The book has an independent worth of its own and
cannot but be invigorating and suggestive to every open-
minded man and woman." — St. Louis Post- Dispatch.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

SQENCE, RELIGION, EDUCATION.

Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations
to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex,
Crime, Religion, and Education.

By G. Stanley Hall, Ph.D., LL.D. Two vols., royal
8vo, gilt top. Cloth, $7.50 net.

This work is the result of many years of study and teaching. It is
the first attempt in any language to bring together all the best that has
been ascertained about the critical period of life which begins with
puberty in the early teens and ends with maturity in the middle twenties,
and it is made by the one man whose experience and ability pre-emi-
nently qualify him for such a task. 1 he work includes a nummary of
the author's conclusions after twenty-five years of teaching and study
upon some of the most important themes in Philosophy, Psychology,
Religion, and Education.

The nature of the adolescent period is the best guide to education
from the upper grades of the grammar school through the high school
and college. Throughout, the statement of scientific facts is followed
systematically by a consideration of their application to education, pe-
nology, and other phases of life.

Juvenile diseases and crime have each special chapters. The changes
of each sense during this period are taken up. The study of normal
psychic life is introduced by a chapter describing both typical and excep-
tional adolescents, drawn from biography, literature, lives of the saints,
and other sources.

The practical applications of some of the conclusions of the scientific
part are found in separate chapters on the education of girls, coeduca-
tion and its relations to marriage, fecundity, and family life, as seen by
statistics in American colleges, with a sketch of an ideal education for
girls.

Another chapter treats with some detail and criticism the various
kinds and tj'pes of organization for adolescents from plays and games to
the Y. M. C. A., Epworth League, and other associations devised for
the young.

The problem of the High School, its chief topics and methods, is
considered from the standpoint of adolescence, and some very important
modifications are urged. It closes with the general consideration of the
relations of a higher to a lower civilization from this standpoint.

D . A P P L E T O N AND COMPANY', NEW YORK.

POPULAR SCIENCE.

Evolution and Animal Life.

By David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., M.D., and
Vernon Lyman Kellogg, M.S. Illustrated. Cloth,
2.50 net.

This is a simple yet comprehensive summary of present-
day knowledge of the great subject of animal evolution.
It is an elementary discussion of facts, processes and
theories relating to the life and education of animals. The
information contained in this book is conveyed with the
maximum of charm and clarity, making the somewhat
awesome subject of evolution as interesting as romance.
The knowledge of the factors and phenomena of organic
evolution are presented in a condensed and fascinating way
for the general reader.

The work not only embodies the theories and teachings
of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall and Spencer, but Post-
Darwinian conception of humanity and the genealogy of
man.

"This is the most satisfactory treatment of evolution that
teachers and students can find. Those whose school days ended
before evolution was universally taught need something reliable,
clear, and interesting upon the subject, and this book furnishes all
this. There is no better authority on the subject in this country,
probably, than President Jordan of Stanford University. No other
university president has the ear of the public more completely than
has he, and from no other could a treatise on this subject come
with the same appropriateness. The science is reliable, the literary
style attractive, and the spirit reverent." — Jotirnal of Education.

D. APPLETON and company, new YORK.

WORKS OF THOMAS H. HUXLEY.

A Manual of the Anatomy of Vertebrated

Animals. Illustrated $2. 50

A Manual of the Anatomy of Invertebrated

Animals. Illustrated ..... 2.50

American Addresses 1.25

Physiography 2.50

The Crayfish 1.75

Collected Essays. New complete edition, with

revisions, in nine volumes. Per volume . , 1.25

On the Origin of Species; or, The Causes

of the Phenomena of Nature . i.oo

Lay Sermons 1.75

Controverted Questions 2.00

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

BOOKS BY CHARLES DARWIN, LL.D,, RR.S.

Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The

Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. From
sixth and last London edition. 2 vols. i2mo. Cloth, $4,00.

Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Many
Illustrations. A new edition. i2mo. Cloth, $3.00.

A Naturalist's Voyage around the World. Journal of Researches
into the Natural History and Geology of Countries visited during
the Voyage of H. M. S. " Beagle." Maps and 100 Views, chiefly
from sketches, by R. T. Pritchett. 8vo. Cloth, I5.00. Also
popular edition. i2mo. Cloth, $2.00.

The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Based on
Observations made during the Voyage of the " Beagle." Charts
and Illustrations, i2mo. Cloth, $2.00.

Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands and Parts of
South America visited during the Voyage of the " Beagle." Maps
and Illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, $2.50.

Emotional Expressions of Man and the Lower Animals.

i2mo. Cloth, $3.50.

The Variations of Animals and Plants under Domestication.
Preface by Prof. Asa Gray, 2 vols. Illustrations, Cloth, $5.00.

Insectivorous Plants. i2mo. Cloth, $2.00.

Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants. Illustrations.
i2mo. Cloth, $1.25.

The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilized
by Insects. Revised edition. Illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, $1.75.

The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilization in the Vegetable
Kingdom. i2mo. Cloth. $2.00-

Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the same Species.

Illustrations, i2mo. Cloth, ^1.50.

The Power of Movement in Plants. Assisted by Francis
Darwin, Illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, $2.00.

The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of
Worms, with Observations on their Habits. Illustrations.
i2mo. Cloth, $1.50.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

'^A SUBJECT GREAT AND FASCINATING."
Degeneration.

By Professor Max Nordau. Translated from
the second edition of the German work. Svo.
Cloth, $3.50.

** A powerful, trenchant, savage attack on all the leading literary
and artistic idols of the time by a man of great intellectual power, im-
mense range of knowledge, and the possessor of a lucid style rare among
German writers, and becoming rarer everywhere, owing to the very
influences which Nordau attacks with such unsparing energy, such eager
hatred." — London Chronicle.

" Let us say at once that the English-reading public should be
grateful for an English rendering of Max Nordau's polemic. It will
provide society with a subject that may last as long ab the present Gov-
ernment. . . . We read the pages without finding one dull, sometimes
in reluctant agreement, sometimes with amused contempt, sometimes with
angry indignation." — London Saturday Review.

** Herr Nordau's book fills a void, not merely in the systems of
Lombroso, as he says, but in all existing systems of English and American
criticism with which we are acquainted. It is not literary criticism
pure and simple, though it is not lacking in literary qualities of a high
order, but it is something which has long been needed, for of literary
criticism, so called, good, bad, and indifferent, there is always an
abundance ; but it is scientific criticism — the penetration to and the
interpretation of the spirit within the letter, the apprehension of motives
as well as means, and the comprehension of temporal effects as well as
final results, its explanation, classification, and largely condemnation,
for it is not a healthy condition which he has studied, but its absence,
its loss ; it is degeneration. . . . lie has written a great book, which
every thoughtful lover of art and literature and every serious student
of sociology and morality should read carefully and ponder slowly and
wisely." — Richard Henry Stoddard in the Mail and Express.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. NEW YORK.

BY EMINENT SQENTISTS.

Foot-Notes to Evolution.

A Series of Popular Addresses on the Evolution of Life. By
David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., President of Leland Stanford Junioi
University. i2mo. Cloth, $i.75-

This book is a popular review of the evolution philosophy of to-day, con-.
sidered more especially in its biological aspects. The essential unity of al]
organisms, both plant and animal, the fact that progress in life consists solely
of adaptation to environment, and the relation of heredity and degeneration to
the evolutional scheme, are among the points of special interest.

Outlines of the Earth's History.

By Prof. N. S. Shaler, of Harvard University. Illustrated. i2mo.
Cloth, $1.75.

The object of this book is to provide the beginner in the study of the earth'i
history with a general account of those actions which can be readily understood
and which will afford him clear understanding as to the nature of the processes
which have made this and other celestial spheres.

The Psychology of Suggestion.

A Research into the Subconscious Nature of Man and Society. By
Boris Sidis, M.A., Ph.D., Associate in Psychology at the Pathological
Institute of the New York State Hospitals. With an Introduction by
Prof. William James, of Harvard University. Cloth, $1.75.

The book is an original investigation into the nature of suggestion and into
the subconscious mechanism of the human mind. The subconscious nature of
man's psychic life is closely examined, and a theory of the constitution and
activity of the mind is worked out. The theory of the subconscious is used to
elucidate many important pathological phenomena of individual and social
Hfe, Mental epidemics are traced to their source, and their causes and nature
of operation are examined and explained.

Evolutional Ethics and Animal Psychology.

By E. P. Evans. Cloth, $1.75.

Contents.— The Ethics of Tribal Society. Religious Belief as a Basis of
Moral Obligation. Ethical Relations of Man to Beast. Metempsychosis.
Mind in Man and Brute. Progress and Perfectibility in the Lower Animals.
Ideation in Animals and Men. Speech as a Barrier between Man and Beast.
The .(Esthetic Sense and Religious Sentiment in Animads. Bibliography.
Index.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

SPENCER'S MISCELLANEOUS WORXS.

Social Statics.

New and revised edition, including " The Man versus The State."
A series of essays on political tendencies, heretofore published sep-
arately. i2mo, 420 pages. Cloth, $2.00.

" Mr. Spencer has thoroughly studied the issues which are behind the
social and political life of our own time, not exactly those issues which are dis-
cussed in Parliament or in Conj^ress, but the principles of all modern govern-
ment, which are slowly changing in response to the broader industrial and
general development of human experience. One will obtain no suggestions
out of his book for guiding a political party or carrying a point in economics,
hut he will find the principles of sociology, as thuy pertain to the whole of life,
better stated in these pages than he can find them expressed anywhere else.
It is in this sense that this work is important and fresh and vitalizing. It goes
constantly to the foundation of things." — Boston Herald.

Facts and Comments.

Uniform edition. i2mo. Cloth, $1.20 net; postage 12 cents
additional.

From the analytical brain of a philosopher of the greatness of Herbert
Spencer — a greatness that has extended over more than two generations — the
subjects treated in this, his last volume, assume a commanding importance.
Such topics as "Americanisms," "Presence of Mind," "The Corruption of
Music," " Estimates of Men," "State Education," etc., are invested with a life
and actuality only possible under his stimulating treatment.

Various Fragments.

i2mo. Cloth, $1-25.

Along with a considerable variety of other matter, these " Fragments"
include a number of replies to criticisms, among which will be found some of
the best specimens of Mr. Spencer's controversial writings, notably his letter to
the London Athenceum on Professor Huxley's famous address on Evolutionary
Ethics. His views on copyright, national and international, "Social Evolu-
tion and Social Duty," and "Anglo-American Arbitration," also form a part
of the contents.

Education : Intellectual, Moral, and Physical.

i2mo. Cloth, $1.25.

Contents. — What Knowledge is of most Worth ? Intellectual Educa-
tion. Moral Education. Physical Education.

D . A P P L E T O N AND COMPANY, N I-. W \ O K K

A STUDY IN PSYCHOLOGY.

Genius and Degeneration.

By Dr. William Hirsch. With a Preface by
Prof. Dr. E. Mendel. Translated from the second
edition of the German work. Large 8vo, uniform
with Nordau's " Degeneration." Cloth, $3.50.

Dr. Hirsch's acute and suggestive study of modern
tendencies was begun before '* Degeneration " was published,
with the purpose of presenting entirely opposite deductions
and conclusions. The appearance of Dr. Nordau's famous
book, with its criticisms upon Dr. Hirsch's position, enabled
the latter to extend the scope of his work, which becomes a
scientific answer to Dr. Nordau, although this was not its
specific purpose originally. Dr. Nordau has startled the
reading world by his cry of "Degeneration"; Dr. Hirsch
opposes his conclusions by demonstrating the difference
between ** Genius " and " Degeneration," and analyzing the
social, literary, and artistic manifestations of the day dis-
passionately and with a wealth of suggestive illustrations.

"The first intelligent, rational, and scientific study of a great subject.
... In the development of his argument Dr. Hirsch frequently finds it
necessary to attack the positions assumed by Nordau and Lombroso, his
two leading adversaries. . . . Only calm and sober reason endure. Dr.
Hirsch possesses that calmness and sobriety. His work will find a per-
manent place among the authorities of science." — A^ezv York Herald.

" Dr. Hirsch's researches are intended to bring the reader to the
conviction that ' no psychological meaning can be attached to the word
genius.' . . . While all men of genius have common traits, they are not
traits characteristic of genius ; they are such as are possessed by other men,
and more or less by all men. . . . Dr. Hirsch believes that most of the
great men, both of art and science, were misunderstood by their contem-
poraries, and were only appreciated after they were dead."

— Miss J. L. Gilder in the Sunday World.

" ' Genius and Degeneration ' ought to be read by every man and
woman who professes to keep in touch with modern thought. It is deeply
interesting and so full of information that by intellectual readers it will
be seized upon with avidity." — Btiffalo Commercial.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.

Date

Due

Library Bureau Cat. no. 1137

, ■ ■.*";■.

I ":\ ■:•■'■'.

;i !