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Title: The master of destiny
A biography of the brain
Author: Frederick Tilney
Author of introduction, etc.: Austen Fox Riggs
Release date: May 23, 2026 [eBook #78733]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1930
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78733
Credits: Sean (@parchmentglow), chenzw, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER OF DESTINY ***
THE MASTER OF DESTINY
BOOKS BY
FREDERICK TILNEY
THE BRAIN FROM APE TO MAN
IN COLLABORATION WITH
HENRY ALSOP RILEY
THE FORM AND FUNCTIONS OF THE
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
THE MASTER OF DESTINY
A BIOGRAPHY
OF THE BRAIN
BY FREDERICK
TILNEY, M.D.
WITH A FOREWORD
BY AUSTEN FOX
RIGGS, M.D.
[Illustration]
DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, INC.
GARDEN CITY MCMXXX NEW YORK
[Illustration]
COPYRIGHT, 1929, 1930
BY FREDERICK TILNEY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS
GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
FIRST EDITION
FOREWORD
Race after race of man has appeared on this earth, lasted but a short
span of time, and then met disaster and extinction. Our modern race is
of this series. We have reason to believe that it differs in quality
from its forerunners chiefly in its cerebral endowment. That its
progress from animalhood to civilization is due to this endowment, is
not questioned, for its victory over environment, its ascendency over
all other animals is plainly due to its superior brain power.
How did this race originate? Like all the other races preceding it? Or
by some aberrant, instantaneous freak of creation? How did it acquire
its characteristic brain? As the bird its wings, as the elephant its
trunk, as the camel its hump, or by a divine act of separate and
special creation? Those who maintain the quarrel over man’s origin are
not those who have familiarized themselves with the history of the
world and its creatures; they are not the astronomers, the geologists,
the biologists, the anthropologists or the archeologists. They are
clearly those who prefer believing to thinking, the traditionalists,
good men mayhap but not necessarily wise. In the earlier days of
science (it is only four or five hundred years old), its devoted
labourers were persecuted by Church and State. They had to give
respectful attention to criticism or else perish by fire and sword.
But, as we have advanced slowly from religious persecution and the
auto-da-fé to mere intolerant and wordy remonstrance, the scientist
has paid but scant attention to these quarrels. He feels that as they
are not of his making, neither are they his concern. Perhaps he is
not quite right there. To be sure, he is criticized, not wisely but
too well, and for the most part not quite fairly. We have criticized
him for an assumed lack of reverence, but even more for his obvious
indifference to our criticism. This has justice in it for, though his
indifference to criticism may be excused, the ignorance upon which
this criticism is founded should be his first concern, for the man
of science is the teacher and ignorance is his very opportunity.
Heretofore, however, he has seen his opportunity too narrowly, for he
has been content to teach only the few embryo scientists apprenticed to
his own particular field. He has not, until very lately, realized that
his hard-won knowledge is far more needed and therefore far more owed
to those who are most ignorant of it, in short, to the great mass of
men and women outside the scientific world.
“You are irreligious,” said his critics. “You have been weighed
and found wanting in that devotional attitude we find essential to
humanity. You do not even listen to our reproaches. You are irreverent!”
For the most part, there has been no answer. The men of science have
been strangely preoccupied with their own business of finding out
all they can of their fellow man, of his nature, his origin, his
difficulties, his dangers, and of his predictable future, all in the
faith that such knowledge will ultimately benefit mankind.
Now at length one of them has made rejoinder to these protests.
He admits that he has been preoccupied, especially so in the past
twenty years, with laborious but fascinating research into just these
questions so vitally concerning his fellow man. He admits that he had
not thought his scientific gleanings would interest any but scientists,
but he denies irreverence and insists that neither he nor any other
who spends his life in studying man and his place in nature could lack
reverence. He cannot find himself entirely in accord with any of the
eleven surviving religions which guide the lives of many men to-day.
The twelve extinct religions of the past also leave him unsatisfied.
Nevertheless he worships devoutly, though in a temple transcending in
significance and beauty any wrought by the hand of man. His devotion is
no mere lip service expressive of the self-protective instinct, but one
that takes form in labour. In spite of disappointment and hardship, he
has persevered through years in that labour, with the single object of
gaining a deeper understanding of man and his place in nature.
It is now our turn to admit error and ask if we may not share in the
fruits of his research--even though our understanding has thus far been
alien to his field of labour, even though our path has not led us to
his temple, even though we have not been aware of his devotion. We
urge him to speak to us, not as to scientists, but as to his fellow
creatures, fellow citizens and fellow sufferers. We urge him to speak
to us plainly, believing that whatsoever has value in human knowledge
may be simply told.
With some hesitation he has consented. He has chosen to speak to us
of the brain, as the most direct approach to the comprehension of the
nature of man. He points out that this master organ of life holds the
secret of human success, that its function is human progress, its
neglect human disaster.
The immensity of the retrospect of his story will create in us the
wholesome effect called humility. The prospect he pictures is fraught
with the terror of what may happen, but it also holds forth inspiration
to courage and is golden with hope. No man can follow this account
without being inspired by a vision of the dawning of a new era of
progress, not an era of greater possessions but of better use of those
already possessed; of better relations between peoples and races; and
being sobered by a realization that this hope lies in developing still
further the efficiency of the master organ of destiny, through training
and education.
The scientist speaks. He tells what he has seen and heard and read
through the long pilgrimage of years, searching for the truth, and
he gives us the fruit of these labours, simply and accurately. But
scientific accuracy and matters of fact are only his raw material. They
are woven into the fabric of a true story, vibrant with adventure,
warmed by the love and reverence of the humanitarian, and illumined by
the prophetic imagination of a poet.
This tale of man’s emergence is fascinating, inspiring, stimulating,
but when it brings us to the climax of the present it becomes a
challenge. We are faced by an awful question. Shall the glorious race
of modern man sink into oblivion, as all the preceding races have sunk,
or may he save himself from chaotic ruin? If he is to be spared for
further progress to greater heights of happiness, he must take heed
of his own history, he must value his forebrain as his master organ
and set himself diligently to develop its powers more fully than ever
before. To this end he must discard the last bit of fundamentalism,
and the false security of all superstition; he must learn to depend
courageously on his own power to understand and control himself; he
must give up superhuman sanctions for evils that his intelligence has
long since discarded. Knowledge must replace superstition--else the
embattled hosts of the world will again be at their bloody work of
extinction, praying to the same god, using the same old prayers. It is
only by increasing the scope of his forebrain through self-knowledge,
training, and education that man can save himself from the old pitfalls
from which neither the old nor the new religions have heretofore saved
him. It is only thus, through understanding, that he can ever hope
to make full use of the forces of growth and change which we call
evolution. But our scientist gives us reason to hope that through
intelligence, itself a product of evolution, man may yet not only
escape destruction by these forces but may even go far toward gaining
a mastery over them which will insure the progress of his race toward
planes of usefulness and happiness as yet undreamed of.
It is indeed time that we think of ourselves as men in the making
and cease to consider ourselves as gods and the lords of a finished
creation.
AUSTEN FOX RIGGS.
Stockbridge, Massachusetts,
October, 1929.
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD v
CHAPTER
I. PRIMITIVE ANCESTORS 1
Origin and Early Days of the Brain
II. ANCESTORS BEFORE THE APES 24
The Brain from Fish to Man
III. MAN IN THE MAKING 51
Human Progress from Prehistoric to Modern Times
IV. EDEN OR EVOLUTION 85
Genesis and the Origin of Species
V. BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY BEGINNINGS OF MAN 107
Influences of Forest and Plain on Brain Development
VI. DAWN OF THE PRIMATE BRAIN 129
The Lowest of the Monkey Kind
VII. ON THE WAY UPWARD 152
Brains of the Old World Monkeys
VIII. MANLIKE TENDENCIES 168
Brains of Gibbon and Orang-Outang
IX. HUMAN IN MINIATURE 186
The Brain of the Chimpanzee
X. ALMOST HUMAN 212
The Brain of the Gorilla
XI. HUMAN AT LAST 239
The Brain of Prehistoric Man
XII. IMPLEMENTS OF HUMAN SUCCESS 267
How the Hand, Foot, and Brain Led the Way to Humanity
XIII. ESTIMATES AND VALUES 301
Assets and Liabilities of the Human Brain
XIV. THE FINAL TEST OF THE BRAIN 330
World Coöperation and Recivilization
THE MASTER OF DESTINY
CHAPTER I
PRIMITIVE ANCESTORS
ORIGIN AND EARLY DAYS OF THE BRAIN
Since every well-arranged biography should start at the beginning, we
may first inquire into the origin of the brain. The early history of
such an important organ must be closely interwoven with the genesis of
man. If man were the result of a separate creative miracle, so also was
his brain.
But we are not obliged to accept this view which attributes the
universe and all living things to creative miracles. There is another
and equally reasonable possibility. We may, for example, assume that
man and all else came into existence by that process of continuous
change and progressive development called evolution. We have excellent
grounds for accepting such an assumption. Astronomy, geology, biology,
chemistry, and all of the sciences relating to mankind have revealed
the essential facts. Any other interpretation must disregard or
repudiate this convincing record. With such a record as this to guide
us we may turn our attention to the origin of the brain.
_Earliest Forms of Animal Life_
The inception of life on our planet was simple in the extreme. The
earliest animals, although well organized, possessed no special organs
in the strict sense. In the beginning there was nothing which could be
specifically called a stomach or a heart, a lung or a kidney. Certainly
there was nothing even remotely resembling a brain. The business of
living was transacted within a single cell. This cell was so small
that it could not be seen by the naked eye. Each of these cells was
sufficient unto itself. Each played its own separate part with a simple
programme of existence. Each was required to get its own food, to carry
on its own chemical activities of digestion and elimination. Finally,
after it had been successful in this remarkable process, it was called
upon to produce offspring, to perpetuate its species. This last act
was the crown and climax of its life, for in this way it conferred a
material immortality upon its kind.
The amœba, among living animals, is a good example of this simple
life. It is wholly intent upon carrying on within itself the earliest
traditions of existence. All of its life is conducted within a
single microscopic cell, which is at once its office and workshop.
It has nothing in its make-up that could in the ordinary sense be
called an organ. In such amœban animals as these there seems to be
nothing progressive, nothing to suggest the possibilities of further
advancement. Each amœba might, if such a thing were possible, look back
over a long line of ancestors exactly like itself. In looking forward
it might see no great possibility of progress. Perhaps it might reach
the more specialized conditions of its present-day relatives with
contractile threads in their substance and vibrating hairs by which to
move themselves about. At best the outlook of the amœba for progress
was restricted within very narrow limits.
_Familiar Animals of Earliest Type_
Certain events in the long history of these little animals have
acquired much human interest. At times some of these simple lives
become strikingly dramatic. Their monotonous existence is changed
and they pass through certain exciting phases. Such a drama is often
enacted when certain amœbæ gain entrance into the body of another
animal and there become parasites. The other animal may be some
huge beast or even man himself. One unpretentious amœba (_Amœba
histolytica_), if it gains entrance into the intestinal tract of man,
may cause amœbic dysentery and abscess of the liver. Another single
cell animal (_Trypanosome Gambiense_) living in the blood of certain
cattle is often conveyed by the tsetse fly to human blood where it
produces the fatal disease known as “African sleeping sickness.”
This small animal claims hundreds of thousands of victims a year. In
tropical Africa its devastations go on unchecked over an area of more
than a million square miles. In this region sleeping sickness kills
as many persons as all other diseases combined. From five to seventy
per cent. of the inhabitants in different localities are stricken.
Cattle, horses, and other domestic animals cannot be kept because of
this disease. On this account, and also because the area in which
the sickness rages is extremely fertile, it has been said that the
conquering of this malignant protozoan would be equivalent to the
discovery of a new continent.
Even better known are the several acts in the cycle of the _plasmodium
malaria_. This protozoan animal is often borne by the Anopheles
mosquito and injected into the blood of man. Then follows the familiar
series of pathological events consisting of chill, fever, and sweat,
called malaria. In certain respects it seems like retributive justice
when this animal is injected into the body of man to cure the effects
produced by another microörganism. The other organism is the spirochæte
which causes syphilis. It often produces changes which destroy the
human brain in consequence of a disease known as paresis. Many other
protozoan animals are parasites, but in the main they live and have
lived simple, unobtrusive lives.
Notwithstanding their apparent simplicity of structure and action,
these minute animals, like all other things, have been subject to
the influence of continuous change. They have responded to this
influence in different ways. In many instances, through generations of
reproduction, they have effected combinations and recombinations of
their essential constituents out of which have emerged modifications of
their original structure. Often these changes have proved progressive
and contributed to more complex modes of living. Often they have been
regressive or non-progressive. It was the progressive modifications in
these earliest animals that were of utmost importance to the origin of
the brain. This organ was not yet in sight, but adaptations working
toward it were soon to appear.
_Critical Changes in Animal Existence_
In the course of time certain critical changes took place in the
lowly scheme of animal existence. These were distinctly progressive
changes. Some of the single-cell animals began to live in colonies.
Circumstances thus conferred upon them a community life. They began to
exist in close contact with others like themselves and were compelled
to forego their simple, independent habits. They were, in fact,
actually joined to each other by rather slender bonds of their own
vital substance--protoplasm. This was an epochal stride forward. It
was the first step which led to progress. In some instances it brought
about entirely new relations between these animals and the world in
which they lived. Now, since these small cells were grouped together as
colonies, each individual cell lost much of its own independence. Its
interests became, in some degree at least, the interests of the group.
If, as a single cell by itself, it had been thoroughly self-contained,
now it was necessary for it to follow the needs and inclinations of
its neighbours. It was forced to observe the conventions and habits
of its colony. This condition of affairs exists in what are known as
the colonized protozoans. In addition to the advantages of community
life there was another and far more important reason why this new kind
of existence was a critical step. It introduced for the first time
the principle of differentiation or class distinction. A division of
labour was thus made possible. Some of the cells in each group were
forced to take up positions on the outer surface of the colony. Others
occupied places inside of the group. This arrangement immediately
created a distinction between “outer cells” and “inner cells.” It was
destined to have far-reaching consequences because it established a
difference in the responsibilities of two great classes. The outer
cells made an immediate and direct contact with the world. They were
nearest to the water, to the light, and to all of the outer chemical
substances necessary for living. They were like guards and outposts
about a camp, defending the colony from adverse influences. They might
be likened to the first line of battle in the aggressive struggles for
life, acting as foragers and procurers of food. The rôle of the inner
cells was different. Their contacts with the world were more indirect
and established largely through the outer cells. Their offices were
especially confined to the inner workings of the colony. They became
the germ cells whose function it was to insure the immortality of the
species. This arrangement was a momentous advance in the direction of
progress. It was particularly momentous because it laid the foundations
upon which all of the great developments in the animal world were to
be built. In a certain way, it was also a prophecy, for it foretold
the coming of animals that were to follow the protozoans. These
newcomers, the metazoans (animals which came after the first forms of
animal life), were to possess a body with outer cells engaged chiefly
in the efforts of life, while the inner cells would be particularly
concerned with the essence of living, such, for example, as digestion,
assimilation, and circulation.
This remarkable process of class distinction among cells developed new
and useful methods in living. It brought about a division of labour in
the business of life. Different parts of the animal now had different
obligations to fulfil. Some parts served to move the body about, some
were employed in digesting food, some in eliminating waste, some in
breathing and circulation, some in reproduction. In the end, this
division of labour resulted in the formation of a body made up of many
different organs, each having its own particular responsibilities.
We may find an excellent example of the very earliest stages of this
division of labour in Volvox, one of the colony-forming protozoans.
Most of the colonized cells of this minute animal are on the outside,
forming a hollow sphere. These cells are equipped with minute hairs
or flagellæ which, by their constant motion, keep the animal rolling
around in the water like a hollow rubber ball. In this manner it seeks
and finds its food, and thus also it may escape when threatened. But
all of the cells of Volvox are not on the outside. A number of them are
tucked away from the actual surface of the animal. These are the sex
cells to which is entrusted the important duty of reproduction.
_Early Influences at Work to Form the Brain_
Even by this time in the history of the earth, although animal life had
been developing for millions of years, there was no sign of anything
like a brain. The forces, however, which would eventually bring such
an organ into existence were already at work. Perhaps from this great
distance it may be difficult to recognize the exact nature of these
forces as they began to act at this particular stage of life. They were
present nevertheless, faintly discernible like the first streaks of
dawn which precede the sunrise. This figure of speech may seem to imply
that in the end the brain was the actual sun destined to rise above
the horizon of animal life and ultimately to dominate all progressive
achievement. The rest of this biography must prove whether this is an
extravagant figure or not. One important influence behind those forces
that eventually produced the brain stands out clearly. It seems to have
been the direct result of that class distinction among cells which
caused such effectual division of labour. With this subtle influence at
work it required one further critical step to set in motion the events
which were to end in the formation of a brain. This step was taken
when the sponges (_Poriphara_), the simplest of metazoan animals, came
into existence. They differed from the protozoans, even the colonized
protozoans, because their bodies were more complexly organized.
The individual cells forming them had lost most of their separate
independence. All of these cells were now incorporated in a single
living individual, and each cell was subordinate to the interests of
the whole.
Cell distinction had become still more important because of the
increase in size of these animals. The outer cells now formed a
covering or skin called the “ectoderm.” The inner cells constituted
the wall of a cavity, which might be likened to the lining of the
stomach. The lining is called the “entoderm.” Many minute openings
or pores in the outer covering established communication by means of
small canals with the inner cavity of the animal. Through these pores
water is inhaled and carries with it particles of food into the inner
chambers. These particles are absorbed, and the water is then exhaled
through a larger opening called the “osculum.”
It was at this critical point that a decisive factor leading to the
formation of the brain made its appearance. Some of the deep cells
around the pores and outlets of the sponge formed “muscles.” In many
respects this was a new device, and the sponges become especially
interesting because of this innovation in animal life. The innovation
itself resulted in a special machine for producing motion; namely, the
muscle cell. Such muscle cells in the sponge are extremely simple. They
form rings around the pores and the outlets which, by contracting,
regulate the flow of water through the animal. But such muscle action
as this is extremely important because if the water in the sponge
contains an abundance of food particles, muscular contraction prevents
too rapid outflow. This slowing of the ex-current stream, among other
things, allows more time for absorption and digestion. The muscles in
different parts of the sponge act independently. Each one is, so to
speak, a free agent, occupying its position at its own particular pore
or outlet. If, however, it became necessary for all of these muscles
to contract at the same instant in a concerted effort, let us say, to
make the sponge move, there would be no mechanism to assure harmony
of action. The muscle cells at each outlet would react according to
their own inclinations--some relaxing, others contracting. Confusion
of action could scarcely fail to result. The sponge, however, does
not need to move about in order to get its food. Being stationary, it
obtains its nourishment by sucking the water through its pores, and by
regulating the flow the muscle cells do all that is required of them.
_A New Motor Device_
Simple as is this muscular equipment, it possesses great possibilities
for further development. It clearly indicates how such mechanisms for
producing motion might be expanded to create all of the surprising
varieties of motors which in time enabled animals to move about over
the earth, in the water, and through the air. It is true that the
simple strands of muscle in the sponge are far from powerful; but when
a number of muscular strands are collected together they may take form
in such muscles as the biceps of the arm, the great extensors of the
leg, or those covering the entire body.
The presence of the muscle cells created the need for a nervous
system to control and regulate their activities. In order to act
together muscles require a supervisor. The first important step in
this direction was taken when certain simple animals like hydras
and sea anemones (_Metridium_) made their appearance. These animals
are equipped with muscles in several parts of their bodies. Some of
them, unlike the sponges, have the power to move about a little,
crawling slowly like snails. They are also capable of moving their
many tentacles, and thus are able to reach out and grasp food. All of
these movements call for the action of the many different muscles. The
sea anemone has thirteen different sets of such muscles, the exact
coöperation of which requires the closest harmony of action. Each part
must be mutually adjusted to the others. It must act in the right
rhythm and with the proper force. Such delicate adjustment as this
could not be left to chance. It needed an adjuster and regulator. It
required also a system of communication between the cells in order
that each might sense how the others were acting during any given
interval of time. In consequence of these requirements many cells were
specialized as timers, signallers, and dispatchers. They acted like
independent telephone stations, each serving separate districts; such,
for example, as the individual tentacles of hydra or of sea anemones.
These separate stations were known as nerve cells. _In them the first
elements needed for the origin of the brain made their appearance._ At
first they were scattered and had limited communication by means of
slender strands, the nerve fibres. There was as yet no central operator
for receiving and routing their messages which were transmitted rather
diffusely by a loose nerve net.
_Foundation Stones of the Brain_
In spite of this apparent simplicity, these nerve cells were the
foundation stones of the brain. Scattered as they were, they lacked
that unity of action which is the real secret of nerve power. A more
constructive plan for utilizing their capacity was requisite at this
stage. Such a plan was eventually forthcoming. It was exactly what
might have been expected in the progressive development of any good
business concern; namely, consolidation. In effect, it was a merger
uniting the separate nerve units into one centralized system. How
this merger was brought about may be recognized in such animals as
the jellyfish (_Cœlenterates_). In them the body equipment consists
of an outside layer called the “exumbrella,” and an inner layer, the
“subumbrella.” In the latter the older arrangement of the nerve cells
as scattered, more or less independent stations still persists. These
stations form a net of communication on the under surface of the
animal. But where the subumbrella joins the exumbrella, making the rim
of the jellyfish, the nerve fibres and the nerve cells form a nervous
ring entirely surrounding the animal. This is the first time in the
history of animal life that an actual central nervous system makes
its appearance. This ring of nerve fibres and cells acts as a central
receiving and dispatching station. It is a central office for receiving
information from the outside world and a dispatcher for sending
orders to different portions of the animal so that all parts may
coöperate harmoniously. Certain special organs develop along the rim
of the jellyfish, whose functions have some bearing upon the sense of
direction. These structures are known as the marginal sense organs or
“lithocysts.” They are in direct communication with the central nervous
system. Certain other sense organs are also present in the form of red
or black specks of pigment at the bases of the tentacles; they are the
“ocelli,” which are sensitive to light and are, in fact, the simplest
form of eyes. Thus, in such low forms of animal life as the jellyfish,
the first signs of special sense organs made their appearance, and the
nervous elements were for the first time organized to form a central
governing mechanism for the animal.
_Nerve Concentration in Forming the Head_
Following the merger of the scattered nerve cells to form a central
system, the process of developing a brain had opportunity to advance
along another new line. The circular nervous system of the jellyfish
passed through many modifications as it adapted itself to the form
of different types of lowly animals. The great impulse thus imparted
toward the formation of the brain veered off in numerous directions
until a new and decisive change occurred in the arrangement of the
muscles. At this juncture certain animals appeared whose bodies were
much elongated and slender. Their muscles were arranged in straight
rows, one behind the other. Such an arrangement had definite advantages
for transportation, and these advantages were utilized by such animals
as the flat worms (_Platyhelminthes_). Many of the nerve cells and
fibres became concentrated in the head end of these animals. This head
region in a general way took the lead in directing the activities of
motion and transportation. It also had centralized in and about it
many of the most important structures of life. The animal at this
critical stage now possessed a head and a body. In the broadest sense
the development of such a head may be likened to the creation of a
definite executive office within which was established a supreme organ
to preside over the rest of the body.
Further concentration of nerve cells in the head of the animal was the
next step in this constructive process. This advance added materially
to the centralization of nerve power, which was the keynote in the
formation and growth of the brain.
If this process of successive upbuilding seems mysterious and almost
miraculous, especially from its feeble beginnings in a single cell,
it is scarcely more remarkable than the commonplace miracle that has
resulted in the development and birth of every newly created animal
since the dawn of time. The offspring of each species--fish or fowl,
beast or man--has its beginning in a single cell. It passes through
stages of cell colonization, of class distinction among cells, and of
specialization of organs for the various functions of life.
In the main, these two processes have run parallel in their programmes
of construction--the beginning and development of life on our planet,
the beginning and growth of every new life created. Summarized thus
briefly, these successive stages necessary to bring the brain into
existence may appear unimpressive. But when we consider that each
forward step required ages for its achievement, we may appreciate that
this was indeed a marvel of progress. From nerve cell to brain is a few
short words in print; but it required millions of years for the slow
advances to attain even the humble level of the flat worms.
_Development of Better Brains_
With the head at length in its proper place and the most simple
kind of brain installed within it, vast horizons of life still lay
ahead. Better mechanisms were needed for a more successful struggle
with existence. More capable motors were required for more efficient
locomotion. These improvements came after the passage of long intervals
of time. By degrees more highly developed animals, such as bees, ants,
beetles, or other insects, lobsters, crayfish, and shrimp, began to
appear. Their brains were much better organized than those of the lowly
worms. The special senses of sight, smell, and taste became highly
important, while the central organ which presided over all activities
acquired a remarkable complexity in its structure.
How much these animals gained from their better brain power is clearly
seen in their behaviour. The achievements of ants and bees and beetles,
as well as many other insects, have long been a matter of wonder, a
theme of interest and fascination. If we credit these animals with
highly capable brains, it is their just due. One detail in their
organization, however, became a serious handicap to them in their
further development. The passageway from the mouth to the stomach ran
directly through the centre of the brain. If the brain grew extensively
it would encroach upon the gullet, ultimately shutting off the only
channel for food. This embarrassment actually overtook many insects
like the mosquito. Here the brain became large. The tube connecting
the mouth and the stomach was thus reduced to a fine calibre, and
the animal was forced to depend upon the highly concentrated fluid
diet obtained by sucking blood. Coarser forms of food could not pass
the œsophageal ring which the brain forms about the gullet. Thus the
stomach and the brain came into serious competition with each other.
If the brain grew larger the stomach would be deprived of food. In
consequence, this situation created a dangerous hazard to life.
_Advent of Backboned Animals_
In addition to this stomach-brain dilemma, animals such as the insects
suffered from another handicap because of the outer skeleton which
protected their bodies. This skeleton was in the form of a more or
less rigid shell, as in the lobster, crab, or crayfish. It was to
overcome the effects of such handicaps, according to some authorities,
that the great race of backboned animals came into existence. In any
event, such animals seem to have circumvented the difficulty of having
a brain which surrounded the gullet. They also overcame the necessity
of carrying a heavy shell about on the outside of their bodies. An
inner skeleton did away with this embarrassment. It is not altogether
clear how or when this transition took place. Many students of this
matter believe that the basis for this change is to be found in the
starfish group of lower animals (_Echinoderms_). Others maintain
that the change began with some creature not unlike the horseshoe
crab (_Limulus_). It is also believed that the animals which served
as the intermediate forms for this advance were the ostracoderms, a
group which has long since become extinct. They are known to us only
through fossil preservations. They possessed, however, so many fishlike
features that they may well have served as the forerunners of the
earliest animals with backbones. Whatever else is in doubt, one detail
of this transition is definite. The brain, already well developed in
certain lower creatures, now received a fuller opportunity to advance
along more advantageous lines. The first gains of this kind are seen in
the fish. Judged by outward appearances the object of such new brain
development was to provide a more efficient regulator for a new and
more efficient kind of animal. The fish, in one particular at least,
showed higher specialization. It was built for speed in locomotion.
The shape of its body, the arrangement of its muscles, the position
of its fins, the design of its head, and the form of its tail gave it
many advantages over lower animals. Equally important were the special
organs by which it sensed the world. The fish possessed powerful and
remarkably constructed eyes. It had most delicate organs for smell,
and an effective apparatus for taste. In fact, all of the senses of
the body were now so thoroughly organized that each one of them had
its own special department in the brain. According to this new type of
administrative organization, an endbrain, an interbrain, a midbrain,
and a hindbrain were established for distinct departmental purposes.
In spite of this better arrangement, there were still decided
limitations in the brain. The most serious of these deficiencies lay
in the mechanism regulating the energy turnover. The fish had little
power to withhold its reactions. Its impressions from the outside world
produced almost immediate responses. Such rapid reactions precluded the
wide range of acts which characterizes more deliberate behaviour.
The brain machinery for the most ample kind of living was not yet
present at this stage of animal development. It did begin to make
its appearance, however, when certain of the fish assumed partial
adjustment to life on land. These adventurous pioneers managed to
crawl out of the muddy waters at times when there was a lack of
oxygen or when the supply of food was insufficient. They set on foot
those progressive changes that gave rise to fore and hind limbs in
such amphibians as the frogs. When these latter animals made their
appearance nearly all of the fundamental problems of the vertebrate
brain had been solved. Nevertheless, there was still the need of
certain expansions in brain power and these, in some part, were
supplied during the age of reptiles.
As yet, however, that handicap of almost instantaneous reaction which
seriously limited the life of fish had not been entirely overcome by
the amphibian or by the reptile. These animals still lacked the brain
mechanisms needed for the deliberate and varied actions of the most
efficient life. They had not yet altogether escaped from the ancient
tyranny of automatic or reflex reaction.
At length the mammals, throughout the different periods of their long
progressive age, introduced the final detail of brain perfection. The
secret of this perfecting detail was the addition of a new mechanism to
the brain never possessed by animals before this time. The great and
new areas of the cerebral hemispheres now came slowly into existence.
With them developed new and greater capacities for action together with
far more effective adjustments to life.
_Vast Ages of Animal Life_
All of these developments reach back a great distance in time, so
great that it is difficult to calculate its exact duration. According
to modern estimates the first animals came into existence about
1,000,000,000 years ago in the Proterozoic period. This period was
followed by the Palæozoic, which began approximately 300,000,000 years
ago, and is known as the Age of Fish. Then came the remarkable Age of
Reptiles, beginning about 200,000,000 years ago, followed by the Age of
Mammals, which commenced in the neighbourhood of 65,000,000 years ago.
The present Age of Man has had a short duration, extending back only
about 1,000,000 years.
Two methods have been depended upon in determining these figures and
the age of the earth. The first is based upon the rate of deposit and
upbuilding of sedimentary rocks. The estimated period required for the
development of each rock layer has provided a time-table for the age of
the different strata of the earth’s crust. The second method calculates
the rate at which common salt is extracted from the land and deposited
in the oceans. Imprints of fossil animals upon the several rock layers
also reveal the age of different strata. The discovery of radium
afforded the latest gauge for estimating geologic time. The physicists
now tell us that former calculations have been far too modest and
that we must go back still further to reach the actual beginnings
of our earth. Their “radioactive clock” indicates that the earth is
1,600,000,000 years old.
During all this vast interval there has been a succession of great
changes in the earth and its waters. Continents have risen above sea
level, to be submerged again. Great inundations of continental oceans
have swept inward and made vastly different land divisions from those
which exist to-day. North America has been more or less widely flooded
by great oceans at least fifteen times. Other continents have been
similarly inundated. Mountain ranges have risen and crumbled away by
erosion. In point of geologic time most of the present mountains are
relatively young. The oldest of these is the Appalachian range which
was formed during the Permian period approximately 230,000,000 years
ago. The Rocky Mountains appeared at the close of the Cretaceous,
100,000,000 years ago, while the Swiss Alps are of much later
development, having been formed at the close of the Miocene about
15,000,000 years ago. Even the Himalayas are relatively young when
compared with the earth’s antiquity. They had not taken on their full
gigantic proportions until the close of the Eocene about 45,000,000
years ago.
According to many authorities, great continental land connections
once existed between Africa and what is now part of South America.
This connecting continent disappeared beneath the ocean long ago. So
also did the land connection between Asia and North America in the
region of the Bering Sea. An important land connection existed between
England and the Continent, across what is now the English Channel, in
Pliocene times. It was present, therefore, at some time within the last
6,000,000 years. Immense inland seas have drained off or evaporated and
left in their places great desert spaces, like the Bad Lands of the
West.
_The Long Upward March Toward Humanity_
While these changes were in process marked alterations in climate
affected the surface of the earth. Glacial ice caps descended from
the poles, later to recede and leave the earth invested in tropical
warmth. Time and again these changes recurred. The crust of the earth,
chilled by intense refrigeration for protracted ages, grew warm again
for equally long periods when tropical vegetation crept up toward
the poles. These changes in vegetation have been accompanied by many
changes in the animal inhabitants of the globe. Species of animals
in profusion have come into existence only to follow the path which
led to extinction. In many cases the forms of life began simply and
progressed by graded stages to greater structural complexity. Man is an
outstanding example of this rule. He began in much simpler form than
that in which he now exists. This relative simplicity is particularly
true of his brain.
Thus, as if descending a long stairway, we may pass by the successive
terraces of the earth’s history toward the beginnings of geologic
time. The expanse of this time is difficult to conceive. From the
inception of animal life in the long Proterozoic Age, throughout the
ages of Fish, Reptiles, and Mammals, man’s brain was in the making.
Irresistible forces molded the various stages of its progress. Species,
genera, families, and even entire orders of animals came into existence
and disappeared as wastage in a great experiment. Yet, through all
vicissitudes of time and change, the long upward march toward humanity
held its place. Ultimately it became the dominant feature in creation.
The advent of man introduced a new era. It remains to be seen whither
the forces moving in this Age of Man will take us. They may be leading
to extinction. The way to such a termination is clearly open to our
race. On the other hand, the brain has made man what he is and may
save him for better things. Its interesting pioneer ancestry, although
extremely remote, has left a well-established record. The history of
its development through the process of evolution in the backboned
animals is still more interesting.
CHAPTER II
ANCESTORS BEFORE THE APES
THE BRAIN FROM FISH TO MAN
_Practical Significance of Evolution_
There are many who still harbour resentment against the ape, especially
in explaining man’s origin. As a result, hostilities often flare up
against evolution. It cannot be denied that the unattractive ape is
at the root of these reactions. He is the bar sinister and the real
stumbling block in the evolutionary theory. He is also, to many people
at least, the entire gist of it. That we are descended from monkeys is
rather generally accepted as the meaning of evolution. This view, at
best, is a superficial explanation of what evolution really means. No
scientist to-day believes that any one of the living apes is ancestral
to man. These animals belong to families totally divergent from the
human family. They have ascended well up into the trees. Here doubtless
they will remain, quite as unconcerned in human origin as they are
innocent of participation in it. Our interest in evolution should not
centre upon the ape kind. The line of our ancestry reaches far back of
them through millions of years. We were in the making long before there
were any apes on earth. They, in their tree life, merely afforded the
last finishing touches which shaped our course toward humanity. If we
wish to acknowledge our hereditary indebtedness properly, we would be
compelled to recognize in our family tree that highly important line of
mammals which first introduced the custom of arboreal living. Back of
them are still older lines which deserve equal ancestral credit. Here
are found those animals without the existence of which we should never
have arrived. Among these is the vast assortment of reptiles, together
with mammal-like reptilians which appeared in the Age of Reptiles. All
of these reptilian forms were in their turn indebted for existence to
earlier amphibians and fish, their progenitors during the long Age of
Fish. Thus the true line of evolutionary descent leads us from fish
to man. Not until we appreciate the meaning of this long vertebrate
lineage through all its various phases does the vital significance of
evolution become clear. If we view it in this way it is possible to
sense the irresistible force that has carried animal life onward and
upward through the ages from the earliest times. This force may still
carry us onward. In its broader applications such a viewpoint should
make an urgent appeal for thoughtful consideration. It offers many
suggestions concerning further advances and readjustments in human
behaviour.
_Evidence of Evolution in Our Bodies_
The brain is one of the best witnesses testifying to this long
evolutionary development of man. It contains convincing evidence of
this process in three striking particulars. First, it gives numerous
signs indicating its primitive origin from the lowest of the
vertebrates, the fish. Second, it bears identifying marks of intimate
association with animals of its own class, the mammals. Third, it
has a large number of details in its special mechanisms possessed in
common with all of the primate order, to which man belongs together
with the lemurs, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes. This evidence is not
circumstantial. It is direct and unimpeachable. It leaves no point in
the line of man’s long descent to be decided by inference. It embodies
factors which led, step by step, to the upbuilding of the human brain.
Other tissues and organs of the body tell the same story of slow,
steady progress upward, from some low and simple phase of life, through
many graded stages of improvement until the human form at length came
in sight.
The blood has been an especially positive witness concerning this
progressive development. Tests with many different kinds of animals
show that the blood of man is much nearer to that of the great apes
than to the lower Old World monkeys. The relation between the human
blood and that of the New World monkeys is still more remote. In
general, these blood tests are among the most convincing proofs of
evolution.
The bony system of the body is another decisive witness. The skeleton
of the fore and hind limbs sheds much light on the changing adjustments
which have been made in the motor apparatus. The use of the limbs as
fins, paddles, wings, hoofs, paws, claws, hands, or feet, indicates
the broad family relations and kinship of various animals. The size and
shape of the skull and the character of the teeth reveal the manner in
which this evolutionary process has passed through its several stages.
The muscular system, the system for eliminating waste products of
the body, the heart and the lungs, all afford important evidence of
vertebrate kinship and evolution. The increase in the complexity of the
breathing apparatus, from the early gill stages of the fish to the lung
of the mammal, through all its many intermediate phases, discloses with
astonishing clearness the course of this progress.
_The Embryo as a Witness_
Testimony from another source also stands undisputed. This
corroboration comes from the manner in which all vertebrates are
conceived and formed. The witness in this case is the embryo, which in
all animals begins in the same way. Embryonic existence starts from a
single cell. It holds true to the earliest beginnings of animal life
that first appeared in a single cell such as the amœba. In the higher
animals this cell is called the ovum. From it, after fertilization,
two cells are derived, then four, then eight, then sixteen, until it
has an appearance closely resembling some of the colonized protozoan
animals. Here again, even in man, is seen that decisive stage in which
a critical cellular distinction is made between outside and inside
cells. From this time specializing progress in the growing individual
goes forward. Each new phase repeats in a general way a stage of
development previously attained in the evolution of life. All embryos
of vertebrate animals pass through such phases. The fish embryo carries
the process up to the stage characterized by those improvements which
developed during the Age of Fish. The amphibian embryo takes the
process one step farther. It adds new features essential to living
on land. Embryos of reptiles and of birds introduce the progressive
advancements peculiar to their kinds. The mammal embryo takes the
final step, prior to which it passes successively through the several
phases of the lower grades of life. The human embryo follows the
mammalian plan and puts the finishing touches of development upon what
the mammal has gained from all the stages below it. Fish, amphibians,
reptiles--all have their beginning in a single cell. Regardless of the
differences in body form, in mode of life, and in behaviour, all are
cast in a mold of development based on a common design. Thus, while the
blood, the bony system, the muscles, the teeth, the eliminating system,
the heart, and the lungs tell the story of progressive development, the
embryo gives a summary of this process by disclosing the general plan
which underlies the manner in which every backboned animal is formed.
The brain contains a comprehensive record of this progress. There are
reasons why this is the case. Brain influences pervade and dominate all
other systems. This organ is the great transformer of energy, which so
assembles other parts in operation that the body as a whole becomes
a smoothly acting machine. It receives sensory impressions from its
environment. It controls the reactions incited by these impressions.
In this dual capacity the brain has been especially sensitive to
those influences of change and adjustment, of action, reaction, and
interaction that have affected animal life during its long existence.
It has responded to these changes and has retained the impression
of such responses. In many cases it has been structurally improved.
Gradually it became capable of sensing the world more effectively. It
acquired the capacity to react on a broader scale. Developing along
certain progressive lines it has served to transform impressions
received from the senses in such a way as to produce an increasingly
more effective turnover of nervous energy. For this reason it is
necessary for us to estimate the value of such senses as were utilized
in this way. Without going too extensively into detail, it may be said
that, with extremely few exceptions, vertebrate animals possess four
chief varieties of sense. Each of these supplies the brain with stimuli
necessary to its proper reaction.
_Value of Our Senses_
First, chemical sense, through special organs for smell and taste,
conveys information concerning certain chemical conditions in the
surroundings. The sense of smell derives its impressions from gaseous
or volatile substances which, among other things, may create a pleasant
or a disagreeable odour important in selecting food. The sense of taste
gathers its information from substances in solution. It depends upon
acid, sweet, bitter, salty, or other similar stimuli. The primitive
headquarters for taste are in the hindbrain, while the endbrain serves
in this capacity for the sense of smell.
Second, body sense furnishes information concerning what transpires
within the body, as in the heart and lungs, in the stomach and
intestines, and in other special organs. It also supplies equally
important information concerning what contraction is occurring in the
muscles, how the bones are being moved, what postures the different
parts are assuming, and how the body as a whole is being balanced.
Third, contact sense makes known what is going on immediately outside
the body. It depends upon many things which touch the body surfaces,
such as the touch and pressure of a handclasp, the temperature of
water upon the hand, the vibration of a heavy vehicle running over the
ground. Body and contact senses had their original headquarters in the
midbrain and interbrain.
Fourth, distance sense supplies information concerning objects in the
world outside of the body more or less remote from it. The information
which this sense brings is news from abroad. It is gathered by the
sense of sight and the sense of hearing. Sight, in a way, is touch at a
distance. When an animal sees its enemy a long way off it, so to speak,
touches this enemy with its eyes and thus gives the brain the needed
information while there is yet time for escape. Sight depends upon
light waves, and hearing upon sound waves. By such means these two
highly specialized agents of distance sense gather their information.
The central offices of sight and hearing were at first situated in the
midbrain.
All impressions obtained from these senses were and still are the raw
materials utilized in the energy turnover produced by the brain.
Improvement was not always the result of the great struggle for
adjustment. There were many ups and downs, many trials, many failures.
Yet a certain insistent tendency toward progress was constantly in
evidence. By means not entirely clear, this tendency ultimately
succeeded in finding some way to become effective. It appears to
have exerted its influence by selecting definite parts of the animal
machinery for emphasis or repression.
Often some highly selective improvement was developed in the brain to
meet special conditions. Such is the expansion in the bird’s brain by
which the sense of sight is greatly amplified. This special increase
makes it possible for the bird to see its prey from great distances in
the air, as the hawk sees the fish in the water, or the vulture detects
the presence of carrion by its keen eyesight. The sense of smell in
birds is much less developed than vision.
In scenting animals, like the dog, the fox, and the cat, selective
improvement has affected the sense of smell. In a few instances the
addition of a relatively new sense was the means by which improvement
manifested itself. Such an addition is seen in that transition when
fish life first began to assume the characters of living upon land. At
that juncture the sense of hearing was added in some amphibious animals
belonging to the same class as the frog. These and other methods for
getting a better supply of raw materials through the senses contributed
to progressive development in the brain.
_The Sense Combiner_
Still more effective was the improvement which came as a new mechanism.
It provided a special apparatus that may for convenience be called the
“sense combiner.” The office of this mechanism was to assemble sense
impressions in the brain, to make composite pictures of sight, hearing,
taste, smell, and all other senses. This sense combiner served also
as an effective depository for impressions already received. It held
them in readiness for use as a background of experience that would be
needed for new or subsequent situations. At a glance it is evident that
the brain having the best sense combiner would outstrip all others
in its efficiency and output. In the earliest vertebrates this new
mechanism did not acquire a centralized headquarters. Its operations
were controlled from several scattered stations in the brain. Obviously
such division of responsibility could not be considered an efficient
method of control. Centralization was needed, and certain stages in
the development of the brain from fish to man illustrate how this
improvement was gradually brought about.
The first or fish stage, as might be expected, expresses the beginning
of this process of improvement in simplest terms. There are many who
do not credit the fish with such a thing as a brain. These animals,
however, are equipped with an effective organ of this kind. Its
efficiency is not high according to human standards, yet, as we shall
presently see, it has many characteristics of the human organ and
reacts to similar stimuli.
In the fish brain there are nearly all of the working departments
found in man. Much variation exists even among fish. Some of them have
very simple brains. This is true of the earliest forms, but the more
advanced types acquired brains thoroughly efficient for the special
complexities of existence in which they had to live. The several
departments in these brains are adjusted to their requirements. The
sense of smell in the fish is particularly well developed. It has
certain limitations, however, due to the fact that it must depend
upon substances borne by the water. The department of this sense,
nevertheless, occupies the major portion of what in these descriptions
will be called the endbrain. The sense of taste is also well organized
in fish. In certain of them, like the catfish, it has received special
emphasis, because in addition to taste organs in the mouth there are
organs of this kind scattered over the entire body from head to tail.
The primitive central office of the sense of taste in fish is located
in the hindbrain. Body sense is highly developed because most of the
fishes are able to control their muscles and joints in an amazing way
as they dart about in the water. Balancing of the body in swimming is
another important problem in the locomotion of the fish. It is solved
by means of certain highly specialized water levels (semicircular
canals). The body sense department occupies the interbrain. The sense
of sight in most fish is fairly well advanced, although it has distinct
limitations. Being placed on the side of the head, each eye acts more
or less independently of the other, and the fish, so to speak, gets a
two-eyed picture of its surroundings. It will subsequently become clear
that one of the most important events in the progress of the brain has
been the development of that kind of vision in which both eyes receive
the impression of an object at the same time. Then again, the medium
in which the fish lives is in many respects less favourable for the
passage of light rays than the air. The retina of the fish’s eye which
first receives the light rays also indicates a relative simplicity in
the organization of vision. For these and other reasons the fish’s
sense of sight cannot be as effective as in the higher forms of life.
This sense department is located in the midbrain.
_Starting with the Fish_
The fish stage in the development of the brain shows a striking
deficiency in its lack of provision for a sense of hearing. Strictly
speaking, fish have no ears. It is believed that the ability to hear
which the human being possesses is denied to them. In still another
respect, however, a more obvious deficiency makes itself apparent.
The brain is poorly equipped in mechanisms that could specifically
be called sense combiners. Some slight degree of combination between
the senses does take place, but this at best is meagre and simple.
Consequently the brain’s output, that is to say, its productive
turnover, is limited. It confines itself to those reaction patterns
with which we are familiar in the habits and behaviour of fish. The
limitations by which these patterns are restricted are evident in the
fact that the animal’s entire life programme is carried on largely
under water. If an attempt were made to estimate the capabilities of
the fish as a machine compared with other animals, it would almost
certainly receive a low rating. The justification of this low estimate
is obvious. The reasons for it are twofold: first, the relatively low
degree of development in each of the sense departments including the
lack in one department (sense of hearing); second, the poorly developed
sense combiner.
Professor Gregory has devoted much time in the American Museum of
Natural History to the study of the progressive stages from fish to
man, and especially to those changes which appear in the head. He has
shown that in this fish stage the animal at first had no lower jaw and
no teeth. Its mouth served as a sucking organ, which thus obtained food
in the form of minute organisms and small particles of organic matter.
Certain new patterns were introduced with the appearance of primitive
sharks. These animals had a lower jaw impregnated with lime salts,
thus made effective for supporting many successive rows of formidable
teeth. Such sharks also had well-developed gills. Certain lobe-finned
fishes of a somewhat later period (_Crossopterygian_) began to live in
streams and swamps. By means of their peculiar fins they were able to
crawl over the surface of the land, and thus they were the forerunners
of the next more completely air-breathing stage determined by the
appearance of the amphibians.
_The Beginning of Life on Land_
The second or amphibian stage came after those steps had been taken
which led certain modified forms of fish life to attempt a partial
adjustment to living on land and to breathing air. True amphibians
then made their appearance. Animals called tetrapods, or four-footed
creatures, were the result of this change. They were the forerunners of
all higher animals. By the slow conversion of their fins and paddles
into legs they acquired a new kind of transportation machinery. With
the aid of these four legs the animal could now hop about on land and
also swim in the water much as do the frogs. Such a transformation
had a profound effect upon the entire body, which became greatly
shortened and in many instances no longer possessed a tail (except in
the polliwog stage). The head also changed. New devices were necessary
for the purposes of air-breathing, which replaced the old method of
getting oxygen out of the water. One of the most important changes,
however, was the addition of the new sense of hearing. The amphibians,
living partly on land, were now able to receive useful information by
means of air waves. The advent of this new sense was destined to have
momentous effects upon the further development of the brain. Each of
the several sense departments is well represented in the frog. The
sense of smell is highly organized. It contains some improvements over
the fish for the reason that the animal is now able to scent odours
borne by the air. The sense of taste shows little if any improvement.
Compared with many of the fish it has actually receded. Body sense is
well provided for and shows certain refinements due to the fact that
it has taken on the new responsibility of sensing four legs. It also
has the duty of supervising what is going on in the muscular machine
when the animal performs its new kind of motion, hopping about over
the ground, leaping into the water, or using the new frog-method of
swimming. The department of the sense of sight shows some improvements
when contrasted with that of the fish. The frog is able to adjust its
vision both to air and water. While on land it is able to see many
things that never come into the range of the fish’s field of vision.
Some of the frogs even go so far as to have what is called a third
eye in the middle of the forehead. This organ, however, is but poorly
developed and serves more for light perception than for actual seeing.
The introduction of the sense of hearing, by establishing certain
innovations in the frog brain, provides an advantage over the fish. It
is, however, in furthering the development of the sense combiner that
the frog’s brain shows its most distinctive advance. The two great
hemispheres are now clearly outlined. The endbrain, in consequence of
land-living and air-breathing, has taken an important step forward. In
all further advances this part will bear the chief burdens of progress
and improvement.
The frog and his kind represent a machine that in many respects is
not much better organized than the fish. But amphibians did serve to
introduce advantages that were utilized in new adjustments to life;
such, for example, as living on land, breathing air, getting about on
four legs, and being able to hear. Besides this, the way was now opened
for a better type of sense combiner. There was promise, if not actual
profit, in these new amphibian endowments. Professor Gregory has shown
that among the most important changes in the amphibian head were those
which ultimately led to the formation of the ear. The skin in this
region was already beginning to act as a tympanic member or eardrum.
_Epoch of Giant Reptiles_
The third or reptile stage witnessed that critical advance that came
with the fully established habit of living on land. The amphibians,
both those which retained and those which lost the tail, took the
first somewhat hesitating steps in this direction. They were, however,
essential predecessors to the next higher order, the reptiles, which
upon their arrival stepped out boldly. During the remarkable Mesozoic
period these reptiles covered the earth with their dominating and
often hideous presence. No period compares with this one for the
awe-inspiring inhabitants that peopled the world. It was then that
the gigantic dinosaurs were the overlords of creation. Some of these
monstrous creatures were composed of many tons of flesh and bone. They
became the most terrific fighting machines ever produced by nature.
Even the tail, which had disappeared in many of the amphibians, became
prominent as part of the offensive equipment in these reptile monsters.
Gigantic size was an outstanding structural feature. But these huge
dimensions carried their own penalties. They were extremely hazardous
and destined to bring catastrophe. Even if some of the great reptiles
might have been thoroughly efficient fighting machines, they lacked
the essential advantages of progressive brains and brain power. In
this respect they had improved but little. That tremendous monster
_Tyrannosaurus rex_, the most destructive engine ever created, had a
body weighing many tons, with a brain of less than a pound.
The prolific Mesozoic reptiles inhabited the land and infested the
waters of the earth, its oceans and inland seas, its lakes and rivers.
They also for the first time attempted to realize the advantages
of another mode of life. Having adjusted their weird bodies to
the water and to the land, they next took to the air. Late in the
Permian or Triassic times (150,000,000 years ago) some lizard-like
reptiles, partially biped in habit and distantly related to the great
two-legged dinosaurs, assumed habits of life adapted in part to the
trees. Specialization of their fore limbs led to wing-like structures
for purposes of volplaning to the ground. Such modified fore limbs
eventually acquired the character of wings, and thus, according to
some authorities, the most ancient of known birds had their origin in
the Age of Reptiles. Many students of this subject believe that bird
life may have begun at an even earlier period.
More conservative and also far less conspicuous was another tendency
which developed in this reptilian age. For a long time it remained most
unpretentious. The spectacular development of huge animals for land and
sea held the centre of the stage. Mere size, however, is not always
sufficient for success and progress. In any event, a certain number
of relatively small reptiles began to show changes along entirely
different lines. At first it was difficult to discern the signs of
progress in them. Slowly, however, significant modifications came about
in two important details: First, in the readjustment of the fore and
hind legs, so that acting together they began to lift the body of the
animal clear off the ground. The second great change was an alteration
in the teeth, which were gradually specialized until they assumed the
characters recognized in those later animals known as mammals. These
two new traits, developed by relatively inconspicuous reptiles, led in
time to animals that became the actual forerunners of the mammals. They
are known as the pro-mammalian reptiles (_Cynodont_, _Theriodont_).
_Reptile Forerunners of the Mammals_
It is probable that while these momentous changes were in process an
equally important modification had begun. This change affected the
blood. It caused the blood cells to become smaller and at the same
time better conveyers of oxygen. These cells also began to lose their
nuclei. As a result, certain animals passed from a cold-blooded,
scaly reptilian condition to that of the warm-blooded, hair-covered
mammal. The constant warm temperature of the blood in these mammalian
forerunners must have been a decisive influence favouring the further
development of the brain.
In many respects the reptilian brain is inferior to that of the
mammals. All of its sense departments are fairly well represented.
The senses of smell and taste have made slight advances over the
amphibian stage. Body and contact senses have perhaps gained some
slight advantage over the previous period. In sight and hearing there
were some improvements. Collectively the reptilian mechanisms for
managing impressions obtained through the senses are considerably
better than those of such animals as the amphibious frog. At least one
of the reptiles (_Sphenodon_) developed a third eye in the middle of
the forehead. This is not, however, a highly efficient visual organ.
The sense combiner in the reptile also shows some advantage, although
in the main the reptilians appear to have acquired little more of
practical value, except greater speed and more power, than their
predecessors, the amphibians.
Even when reptile development took that bent which led to the
appearance of birds, the brain received but a slight benefit from this
adjustment to the air. Selective progress in the bird’s brain is
unquestionably found in that marked expansion involving the department
of sight. Body sense also expanded to meet the requirements of sensing
and balancing the body in flight. But to offset these advances both
the sense of smell and the sense of taste have undergone considerable
recession. Adaptive progress here, as in many other instances,
emphasized one department with some apparent loss of advantage in other
parts. Consequently the sense combiner, which ultimately produces
the most effective combinations of sense impressions, has shown no
conspicuous advantage among the birds.
_Disappearance of the Great Reptiles_
The reptile stage of life, especially in its most imposing phases,
witnessed but little advance in the progressive development of the
brain. During this period all of the great departments of brain
structure, such as the endbrain, the interbrain, the midbrain, and
the hindbrain, were retained and somewhat expanded. But that highly
important mechanism that was finally to act as the superbrain,
technically known as the neopallium (new outer coating of the brain,
the cortex), had not yet been acquired. It may be in part for this
reason that, as the Mesozoic period advanced, catastrophe was rapidly
overtaking many of the great reptilian groups. Of the eighteen orders
of reptiles that once filled the world, all but five were mysteriously
swept into oblivion. Why they passed is not yet clear. It may have
been due to great changes in the surface and climate of the earth
at different times. It may have been that the gigantic size of these
reptiles made the struggle for existence too severe or the food
supply too precarious. Whatever the cause, they all seem to have
paid the penalty of excessive specialization. The five orders which
have survived these destructive catastrophes include the snakes, the
crocodiles, the lizards, the turtles, and the lizard-like tuateras of
New Zealand.
Notwithstanding this wholesale destruction, there was a priceless
heritage handed down from the Age of Reptiles. This heirloom was the
beginning of the warm-blooded mammal, which slowly developed from
the humble pro-mammalian reptiles. It endowed the animals that were
to rule the next great period of the earth’s history with power to
get about on four feet, with increased ability to withstand great
changes of climate, with added capacities in preparing their food for
digestion. This last advantage depended upon a new kind of teeth which
the mammals inherited from their immediate reptilian ancestors. All of
the teeth possessed by primitive reptiles were fang-like (laniary),
used for seizing their prey or tearing their food. These reptiles
had no grinding teeth, and this condition left the responsibility of
digestion to the stomach and other organs. In most of the mammals
digestion begins in the mouth with actual mastication. The early
pro-mammalian reptiles (_Cynodonts_) were equipped with grinding teeth,
and their dental apparatus, as in all mammals, included incisors,
canines, pre-molars, and molars. Teeth such as these were important
items in the legacy received by the mammals from their ancestors, the
pro-mammalian reptiles.
_When the Warm-blooded Mammal Appeared_
In the fourth or mammalian stage, life entered upon the Age of Mammals
with all of these new endowments. Almost at once it began to show
signs of progress. It was in the brain that this progress became most
apparent. A new mechanism long in the making now came into existence.
This new structure may be rightly called the superbrain (neopallium),
since it soon proved to be the most decisive step yet taken in the
development of the sense combiner and in the further expansion of all
the senses. At first it did not make its appearance in any preëminent
manner. It came as an outer covering over the ancient parts of the
endbrain. Within it, however, were possibilities of expansion such
as were possessed by no other part of the brain. Ultimately it added
about twelve billion cells to be used in many different kinds of
brain activity. This addition was especially characterized by the
orderly arrangement of the cells, layer upon layer, almost as if each
successive layer imparted some new capacity for the management of life.
In its fully developed form this structure constitutes the cortex of
the hemispheres, and with its fibre connections makes up as much as
eighty per cent. of the entire brain.
It could hardly be expected, even after the first arrival of the
mammals, that this new brain addition would at once attain its
fullest development. In fact, the first attempts along this line were
feeble. A new and great production of weird mammals was in process.
It might almost seem as if the imposing shadows of the previous Age
of Reptiles still hung over these early mammalian experiments. Huge,
ungainly proportions were still the fashion. In many instances the
primitive mammals themselves developed gigantic and awkward bodies.
They were strange, unsightly beasts as we know them now from their
fossilized skeletons and from reconstructions of them. Were it
possible to reassemble them, what a sensation they would create in
our modern world. Even the best efforts of our foremost showmen would
be ineffective to describe those strange monsters of most unfamiliar
appearance, with their peculiar armours, their long unsightly horns and
tusks, their strange hoofs and claws. The mammoth, the mastodon, the
amblypod, the titanothere, the creodont, the sabre-toothed tiger, and
many others would be among them to excite wonder.
_The Paths to Extinction and Progress_
But all of these have passed, in part at least, because, like the
dinosaurs, they possessed inferior or unprogressive brains. Indeed,
many of the earliest mammals had brains that in some particulars
resembled those of the reptiles. They grew in size and power until they
became repulsive brutes, although their brains improved but little.
In many of them the superbrain developed only in a small way. It was
notable not for its size but for the position it occupied above more
ancient structures. In their struggle for life these huge beasts seemed
to be unable to adjust themselves to changing environment; so probably
when the conditions became too severe, not having the capacity to adapt
themselves, they failed to survive. Many orders of these animals became
extinct in the early part of the Age of Mammals (Oligocene and Eocene,
thirty million to sixty-five million years ago). Others, showing more
progressive tendencies, continued to advance, and their descendants
have come down into modern times. One striking difference between these
progressive and unprogressive mammals was certainly in the brain.
Wherever this organ remained primitive, wherever the superbrain was
only feebly developed, the fate of extinction seems to have been a
foregone conclusion. Such animals soon reached the end of their line.
But wherever the superbrain expanded, there the signs of progress were
unmistakable. One extremely important factor in the survival of most
of the mammals alive to-day was the progressive development in the
most recently acquired portion of the brain. Great practical results
were brought about by its expansion in the administration of brain
power. It produced, so to speak, the final consolidation of all the
sense departments under one roof. Reactions connected with the sense
of smell and of taste, which had so long depended upon the primitive
endbrain, marked this structure as the most advantageous location
for centralization. Whatever may have been the influences that
established this preference, here the departments of body and contact
senses, of sight and hearing, were finally organized. The effects of
this consolidation were immediately felt by the endbrain. It at once
became a superbrain in the truest sense. Rapid expansions in the actual
size of the hemispheres were the first signs of this new development.
Then came the process of convolution and folding to obtain more brain
room, and this for the same reason was followed by still more complex
convoluting. These advantages especially favoured contact sense, the
expansion of which was largely due to the fact that the mammal body
was now covered with a highly sensitive skin equipped with hair. Such
a skin was a new sensory device by which finer impressions of touch
might be conveyed to the brain. In this manner the animal was able to
form more complete judgments concerning objects with which it came
in contact. Little by little, these judgments of touch became more
critical and discriminating. A great range of understanding of the
world through touch sense was made available. One critical impression
of touch was added to another until complex judgments in this sense
were constructed. Similar expansions in the powers of vision, hearing,
and body sense led to their localization in this new part of the
brain. Their most effective activity soon required still further
extension, which ultimately, by the development of the frontal lobe,
made provision for the highest faculties. The mammals have thus shown
their progressive tendency in the acquisition of an efficient sense
combiner. Through their better sense capacities they have been able
to understand their surroundings more thoroughly than lower animals.
Consequently their energy turnover in the brain has resulted in a
better output by means of which they have made more ample adjustments
to life. All of this they have been able to accomplish because they
possessed a mechanism of incalculable value, the superbrain. Yet the
mammals have not in all cases utilized this mechanism to its full
extent. Its advantages have been applied in different ways and for
different purposes. In some instances they have been utilized for the
special adjustments of the hoofed animals, or in the hunting craft of
the great meat-eaters, or in that furtiveness of the moles, which seek
their protection by burrowing in the ground. The advantages of the
superbrain were applied to many other diverse specializations, such as
the adjustments of bats for flying, or of beavers, seals, whales, and
porpoises for living in the water.
_The Superior Brain of Mammals_
The mammalian brain has made possible a wide range of behaviour and
adjustment. This range exceeds that of the fish, amphibian, reptile, or
bird. Concerning the increased capacity of the mammals as a class there
seems to be no doubt. But this greater power of adaptability is also
true of every mammal. The differences in this respect between the lower
mammals, like the rat, the opossum, or the sloth, when compared with
the bird, the snake, the frog, or even the fish, may not be striking.
But when we contrast the actions and capabilities of such mammals as
dogs, horses, elephants, or any of the cat family with those of the
bird or snake the vast differences speak for themselves. A dog, for
example, has by comparison with lower vertebrates a greatly increased
capacity for getting on in life. He is capable of adapting himself to
many complications incident to his associations with man. He has a much
more ample repertoire of performances. He is capable of learning many
intricate accomplishments. In general, such learning is also true of
most of the higher mammals; it is particularly true of those having a
highly developed superbrain. Even aquatic mammals like the seals show a
remarkable degree of adaptability. They are among the most interesting
of trained performers. A casual glance is sufficient to reveal what an
excellent superbrain they possess. Elephants, in spite of their huge
proportions and awkwardness, are capable of remarkable adjustments.
Their brains are also highly developed.
Yet, however decisive the mammalian superiority in brain power may be
over the lower vertebrates, most of the mammals are held down by many
handicaps, restrictions, and limitations. They all possess a capacity
for broad adjustments to strictly limited conditions. For life in the
water, in the air, upon the plains, underground, or in the forest,
they may be well adapted. But the specializations of their own bodies
hold them to their specifically restricted adjustments. With trunk and
head, with hoof and paw, with wing and flipper, they may do the things
which these implements make possible. Here their opportunities cease.
In this way even the progressive mammals are confronted by serious
obstacles. These mammalian obstacles were difficult to overcome. Some
of the mammals, however, became specialized for a more varied kind
of life. They manifested a strong tendency to live chiefly in the
trees. This fact influenced their further adjustments profoundly. It
opened the way for new specializations in their limbs. It gave a new
direction to progress, which finally called upon the brain for its
supreme development. These important tree-living animals are the monkey
kind and the manlike apes. All of the events in adjustment preceding
this great epoch might be likened diagrammatically to a succession of
plateaus. Each plateau, beginning with that of the fish, then rising
to the level of the amphibians, of the reptiles, and finally of the
mammals, contributed some important elements to progress. From these at
length came the upper level of the apes, that plateau destined to give
rise to many varieties of primates, and also to afford those footholds
essential to the further upward climb of man.
CHAPTER III
MAN IN THE MAKING
HUMAN PROGRESS FROM PREHISTORIC TO MODERN TIMES
_Arrival of Man_
Long before man appeared upon the scene the brain had passed through
certain preliminary grades. Its basic patterns had been perfected. Its
most important mechanisms had been improved. All manner of animals
inhabited the earth in those preparatory days--fishes, amphibians,
reptiles, birds, and mammals of many varieties. They were the stepping
stones of progress. When at length the first members of our family
arrived their brains were barely human, and they themselves were crude
human beings. There was a certain triumph in their advent, however, for
at last there were men. The Age of Man which they inaugurated was to
differ from all preceding ages in the products of human achievement.
This great inaugural event, however, made no particular stir in nature.
Its beginnings were insignificant and humble, just as the brain of
these earliest men was a far less imposing organ than that possessed
by modern people. It was still a crude brain, unrefined in many of its
structural details and small in its capacity. Hundreds of thousands
of years were still necessary for such a brain to attain its highest
efficiency.
To most of us who are accustomed to count time as the hours between
breakfast and dinner, or, at the most, as the proverbial threescore
years and ten, these long periods sound fabulous and fantastic. In
contemplating the past our vision usually stops short at the beginning
of history, about five or six thousand years ago. Such a focus is
unfortunately nearsighted. It leaves us insensitive to the much longer
prehistoric period. Through all this unrecorded time man struggled
upward to achieve those successes which at length established the Age
of the Frontal Lobe.
Much evidence of this great prehistoric period is now available.
Examined carefully and without prejudice it reveals what man must have
been when his human journey first started. It tells us much of how he
lived and acted; also by what means he succeeded in lifting himself up
step by step from his lowly beginnings.
_The Duration of Human Existence_
It is natural that our first inquiry should be concerning the length
of time during which the human race has inhabited the earth. The
exact figures, as might be expected, are a matter of much dispute
and difference of opinion. All authorities, however, agree that the
several stages of human progress must have required a remarkably long
period. None of the modern estimations of this period is less than
five hundred thousand years. Many calculations, such as those of Sir
Arthur Keith, far exceed this figure and place the origin of man as far
back as a million years or more. The beginnings of the human species
are usually attributed to the early part of the Pleistocene, or the
late part of the Pliocene. Keith, however, believes this does not
permit of sufficient time for that development which produced all of
the effects evidenced in the known features of modern man, as well as
those of certain extinct varieties that have long since passed from
the human stage. Concluding his famous work, the _Antiquity of Man_,
Keith expresses the opinion that “There is not a single fact known to
me which makes the existence of the human form in the Miocene period
an impossibility.” This view would set the origin of man back to an
astonishingly remote period in the neighbourhood of twelve or fifteen
million years ago.
Professor Osborn has recently revised his original estimations
concerning the beginning of the human race. He now attributes the rise
of man to a time one and a half million years ago.
In all his races, both living and extinct, man constitutes the sixth
family in the primate suborder, _Anthropoidea_ (manlike). This family
is known as the _Hominidæ_ (men of all types). The progenitors of the
human family split off from a common primate stock at some time early
in the Oligocene. At this critical juncture, probably twenty-five
million years ago, two great branches of the suborder parted company.
Thenceforth they developed independently of each other. The first
branch from this common stem gave rise to human races. From the
second branch arose the great modern anthropoid apes, including the
orang-outang, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla. The vast difference
that exists between man and all other living creatures is evident in
the complexity of human affairs. In size and form of body there are
many notable resemblances between man and the apes, particularly the
great apes. But here the similarity ends abruptly. Man has created a
new world, which he strives to control both by laws of his own making
and by subjugating more or less completely all other creatures to his
will. His races to-day throughout the world are collectively known as
the species _Homo sapiens_ (man of wisdom). This species comprises the
African, the Australian, the Mongolian, and the European varieties of
mankind.
_Four Extinct Races of Men_
Study of human fossils and ancient implements has revealed the former
existence of at least four prehistoric races of man. These races took
their parts in the human drama and then, in consequence of factors
not altogether clear, became extinct. It is not surprising that man’s
obscure prehistoric beginnings are all but lost in the great geological
ages which lie behind his recorded history. There can be small wonder
that such insignificant traces of his remains have yet been brought to
light. The search for these remains has been in progress for little
more than a century. Doubtless when this exploration becomes more
extensive, also when more people are engaged in its organization, a
considerable collection of relics revealing man’s primitive stages will
be discovered. Nothing more than a meagre record could be expected
because so little effort was originally made to preserve the remains
of the earliest prehistoric men. In those long-distant days the bodies
of the dead were either disposed of by burning, or merely cast out to
be devoured by beasts and birds of prey.
The principal criteria for estimating the antiquity of human remains
are four in number. First, the age in geological time of the strata
within which the remains are found. Second, the fossil remains of
the animals associated with the fossil remains of man, whether these
be of still living forms, or entirely extinct species. Third, the
human artifacts, that is, implements, ornaments, and other objects
produced by human hands, found with the remains. Fourth, the structural
characteristics as to skull and other parts of the skeleton, which
distinguish these fossil men from living races.
Quite as important as the fossilized bodily remains of prehistoric man
are those ancient works of human hands that have been slowly collected
as a result of untiring search and scientific industry. It is now
possible to classify this great body of evidence. Besides revealing
the actual presence on earth of prehistoric man, this classification
clearly demonstrates the occurrence of certain cultural stages prior to
the historic period. The extinct races of men already brought to light
appear to vary considerably from the modern man; so much so, in fact,
that a question has been raised concerning the wisdom of creating for
each of them a new genus within the human family. One reason for this
distinction is that no one of the extinct races may properly be called
the ancestor of living man. Some arrangement in the chronological order
of man’s appearance on earth is desirable. The exact period of each
extinct race cannot be given. But within certain broad limits we are
able to assign each prehistoric man to his proper time and place.
_Javan Ape Man_
Probably the oldest, most primitive of extinct races is the ape man
of Java (_Pithecanthropus erectus_). This ape man belonged to what is
called the Trinil race, which, according to Keith, originated more than
one million years ago. The ape man, although definitely human in type,
had many simian qualities. He was also so similar to man as to justify
the view that he represents some transitional stage in human evolution.
He possessed a head and a face not unlike those of an ape, but his
brain was nearly twice the size of the brain of any simian including
the largest of the great apes, the gorilla. It was this transcendent
advantage that lifted him above all of the anthropoids and assured him
an unassailable place as a member of the human family.
The fossil remains of the ape man were discovered in 1891 by a Dutch
army surgeon. Dr. Eugen Du Bois made the discovery on the Bengawan
River in central Java where he had been excavating in the hope of
finding pre-human fossils. He actually did find a number of mammalian
bones, including a single upper molar tooth, which he regarded as
those of a new species of ape. On carefully clearing away the rock
and gravel at this site on the bank of the river, the top of a skull
came to view about a yard from the spot where the tooth had been found.
Further excavation brought to light a second molar tooth and a left
thigh bone. Both of these were about fifteen yards from the place where
the skull had been discovered. These scattered parts were carefully
studied by Du Bois, who, in 1894, published a description of a new
animal--_Pithecanthropus erectus_ (_Pithecus_, ape; _Anthropus_, man).
The entire term was meant to signify an upright standing ape man. The
word “_erectus_” refers to the thigh bone concerning which Du Bois
observes:
We must therefore conclude that the femur [thigh bone] of
_pithecanthropus_ was designed for the same mechanical functions as
that of man; the two articulations [upper and lower joint surfaces]
and the mechanical axis correspond so exactly to the same parts in
man that the law of perfect harmony between form and function of a
bone will necessitate the conclusion that this fossil creature had
the same upright posture as man, and likewise walked on two legs....
From this it necessarily follows that the creature had the free use
of the upper extremities--now superfluous for walking--and that
these last [the arms and hands] were no doubt already far advanced
in the line of differentiation, which developed them in mankind
into tools and organs of touch.... From a study of the femur and
the skull, it follows with certainty that this fossil cannot be
classified as a simian ... and as with the skull so with the femur
the differences that separate _pithecanthropus_ from man are less
than those distinguishing it from the highest anthropoid [great
ape].... Although far advanced in the course of differentiation this
Pleistocene [Age of Man] form had not yet attained to the human type.
_Pithecanthropus erectus_ is the transition form between man and the
anthropoids which the laws of evolution teach us must have existed;
he is the ancestor of man.
More extended study of the brain of this ancient fossil creature shows
that he was in reality human. This man did, however, retain so much
that was ape-like in his make-up that it is difficult to agree with Du
Bois in his view that _pithecanthropus_ was a direct human ancestor.
He was, of course, able to walk upon both feet much like his modern
successors. It also seems probable that in stature this primitive man
was not greatly inferior to the human races of the present. It is
likely that he employed his hands in the use of weapons and certain
crude implements. It also seems probable that he depended upon very
primitive means for protecting himself against the numerous enemies
that beset his path and lay in wait about his camping places. His time
doubtless was fully taken up by the arduous task of gaining sustenance
for himself. So busy was he in these obligatory pursuits that he had
little opportunity for developing industries or cultural activities.
This human creature with his ape-like appearance was closely related
to many beast-like contemporaries in the animal kingdom. He managed to
hold his position among them only by a narrow margin of superiority.
His ascendancy was derived from a dawning ingenuity, which enabled
him to equalize the struggle by the cunning of his hand. He took
advantage of primitive shrewdness and contrivance to outwit his natural
antagonists that far excelled him in power and speed.
However manlike _pithecanthropus_ may have been in respect to the
posture of his body and the general character of his locomotion, it is
certain that he was much below any of the known races of man in his
brain power. His face and head each bore a closer resemblance to the
ape than to man. His brain indicates that he had probably acquired some
mode of speech, primitive no doubt, yet sufficient for the purposes
of simple human communication. It is likewise probable that he lived
in tribes and, being gregarious, had learned some of the advantages
accruing from community life. He may have had some crude notion at
least of the division of labour and its compensations in sharing the
results.
_Dawn Man of England_
From certain flints, which seem to have many features indicating their
use as instruments, Professor Osborn believes that there were primitive
men living in England at a time earlier even than that assigned to the
ape man of Java. These prehistoric people are called “Subcrag Dawn
men.” It is his opinion that they made use of certain flint instruments
called “rostro-carinates.” Dr. Osborn, believing that these primitive
people are close to the beginning of the human race, places their
origin in the Pliocene, 1,300,000 years ago. In consequence of the
discovery of certain somewhat different flint instruments, he is of
the opinion also that the Subcrag men were followed at a little later
period by the Foxhall Dawn men (antiquity about 1,200,000 years).
Disputes about these early prehistoric Englishmen arise from the
fact that no actual human remains of them have yet been found. This,
fortunately, is not the case with the now famous English Dawn man of
Piltdown, attributed by Professor Osborn and other authorities to the
last part of the Pliocene (a little over a million years ago). Piltdown
is a town in the weald of Sussex not many miles from the English
Channel, between two branches of the Ouse River. To the east of it is
the plateau of Kent upon which have been found many flints of earliest
prehistoric times. It was at Piltdown that the most famous of English
Dawn men was discovered by Mr. Charles Dawson. The fossilized remnants
consisted of a number of fragments of this extinct man’s skull. Because
of the fragmentary condition of this fossil, it was necessary to give
each piece its proper relation to the head in order to reconstruct
the skull. A reconstruction of the Piltdown skull was first presented
to the Geological Society of London, in December, 1912, by Sir A.
Smith-Woodward of the British Museum, and its discoverer, Mr. Charles
Dawson. The announcement of this remarkable discovery deeply stirred
the interest of scientific circles. An unknown phase of the early
human existence was about to be revealed. The reconstructed skull as
pieced together impressed all who saw it as a strange blend of ape and
man. It seemed that the missing link for which the early followers of
Darwin had ardently searched was at length forthcoming. But whether
this was the long sought-for missing link or not, the Piltdown strata
in Sussex told of a race of human beings who inhabited England long
before history had made its feeblest beginnings. Dr. Smith-Woodward
believed that the Piltdown fossil dated back to the early part of
the Pleistocene period, but Sir Arthur Keith and Professor Osborn
now advocate an antiquity far more remote going back to some portion
of the Pliocene. Although it is impossible to be more exact in these
estimations of prehistoric time, it is clear that a very primitive
race of men lived in England long before Cæsar’s invasions; in fact,
ages before the ancient Britons claimed the land that was to produce
many of the most brilliant lights of history. By some the Piltdown man
is regarded as the direct ancestor of modern races; by others he is
held to be an independent branch of the human family of quite unknown
affiliations.
_Neanderthal Man_
Some time early in the Pleistocene, variously estimated from 800,000 to
900,000 years ago, another race of man made its appearance in Europe.
This was the Heidelberg race (_Homo Heidelbergensis_). These people
manifested many traits distinctly more human than the ape man. It is
believed from the implements found in the neighbourhood of his fossil
remains that the Heidelberg man made use of crude implements both of
wood and stone. This man, although he became extinct before human
progress had made great advances, appears to have been the ancestor
of the Neanderthal race (_Homo Neanderthalensis_). This latter is the
third race of prehistoric men recognized up to the present time. Much
more than all others who had gone before him, Neanderthal man has left
traces of himself. Many of these relics are the stone implements that
he employed. From these implements it is evident that the organization
of his life had made long strides in the direction of his more modern
successors. His advances in industry and in cultural development laid
the foundation for all the stages that progressively evolved as the
human race rose through the Old Stone Age. Yet the fate of Neanderthal
man was not unlike that of other prehistoric men. In time he also
became extinct. His disappearance occurred about fifty thousand years
ago, when a fourth and even greater race of primitive men came into
Europe. These were the Cromagnons. After they had completely replaced
the Neanderthals they flourished for a long time, in the end to be
replaced by the races of Neolithic men which continued dominant up to
the time when man gained mastery over the metals.
It seems clear, then, that the earliest human beings began as simple,
nomadic hunters. After the passage of great intervals of time and
an actual succession of races, men acquired the crude essentials of
manufacture and then gradually, as in the Cromagnon period, developed
the dexterity and æsthetic sense of the artist. Finally, in the New
Stone Age, they learned the practices of agriculture.
The past of prehistoric man has been subdivided into periods
characterized by the presence of implements employed in his several
activities. In general, these periods bear the name of French stations
or towns near which the discoveries of the implements have been made.
French archæologists have so successfully devoted themselves to the
efforts of classifying the flint implements that they have established
a chronological order in the development of human progress during the
long periods of man’s prehistoric existence.
_The Old Stone Age_
Man’s first great epoch on earth was the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic,
900,000 years ago). In this era, which began at some time in the first
interglacial period, the only implements were devised from flint or
stones of other kind, from wood, carved ivory, and bone. The Old Stone
Age was followed by the Neolithic (New Stone Age), which began in
postglacial times and rapidly led up to the thresholds of history,
through the Bronze and Iron ages.
Long before the Old Stone Age it is probable that man was at work in
the slow development of industries that later were to assume great
importance. Hunting was the great incentive out of which all of
his early industries were evolved. Little is known of his cultural
development, although it seems fairly clear that the Subcrag Dawn
men used certain implements called rostro-carinates, while the Dawn
men of Foxhall and Piltdown employed very primitive implements known
as eoliths. These were so crude in appearance that they are looked
upon by many as merely accidental forms. With such simple and limited
instruments, man’s struggle for existence in these earliest days must
have been most severe. Even at the time when the Old Stone Age began,
the primitive flint implements manifested considerable development.
For example, in the Pre-Chellean cultural stage (beginning 700,000
years ago), the chase is represented almost exclusively by a simple
flint knife. This knife, although extremely crude, in conjunction with
other equally crude combinations of stone and stick, gave man a slight
balance of power over other animals inhabiting the field and forest as
his competitors. His simple equipment furnished the means to gain his
daily food, and to establish that footing by which he rose step by step.
War in this period was not among man’s highly organized pastimes.
He appears to have had no implements for warlike pursuits. He had,
however, invented certain instruments for industrial and domestic
purposes, such as a flint scraper, a planing tool, a drill, and a stone
hammer. Nothing among his primitive equipments appears to have answered
the purposes of art or artistic production.
In this early Pre-Chellean period, man was a vagrant hunter. He
lived without the protection of habitation and was thus exposed to
the devastations of the great meat-eating animals that followed his
wanderings. He had not acquired sufficient constructive ingenuity to
protect himself against these dreaded marauders. They stalked him in
his marches by day and lay in wait on the outer edges of his camps
to find him an easy prey when he slept at night. The less fortunate
members of his tribes were within easy reach of these night prowlers
that waited only for darkness to help them in the capture of their
human quarry. Man’s slow imagination required ages to show him that he
held in his own hands the power to subjugate the beasts of prey. For a
long time he struggled on this low level of intelligence. He lived a
hand-to-mouth existence, passing his days like other animals, getting
his food supply as he dared, and protecting himself as best he could.
Doubtless some critical occurrence like the discovery of fire and its
uses may have furnished a new incentive for his advance. Some great
change in climate with increasing cold may have stimulated him to more
vigorous exertion, may have forced him to become a more persistent
hunter of animals, both for their meat and the warmth to be had from
their protecting skins. Long winter seasons when game was scarce may
also have taught the wisdom of storing his supply of provisions and
thus aroused in his imagination some conception of the advantages in
thought for the future. Living along with him was an imposing host
of other mammals. Among them were the lion, the wolf, the cave bear,
the deer, and the wild boar. Over the plains roamed the Etruscan
rhinoceros, the Mosbach horse, and the ancient elephant. Following
this game he wandered from station to station, always living near the
course of the great rivers, but showing little tendency to establish a
permanent abode. A restless migrant, he was moved by the dictates of
the seasons almost as instinctively as the migratory birds and beasts.
He had not learned the secrets which later enabled him to stand
against the severe vicissitudes of climate. The idea which gave him
that self-assurance to stake out his own claim, to assert his right to
his own angle of earth, was still in embryonic state.
_Neanderthal Progress_
The foundations of that possessive sense destined to become the chief
characteristic of the human race and at length the ruling passion of
humanity had as yet been laid down only in their simplest form. It
was Neanderthal man who introduced the first real advances over this
primitive level of life. In the Chellean cultural period (500,000
years ago), even more in the Acheulean period (400,000 years ago),
his race developed rapidly. His progress is shown by a great increase
and considerable refinement in all of the small implements which he
employed.
He now developed a chisel or adze-like tool for shaping his wooden
implements. He made flint points to form darts and spear heads to
aid him in the chase. But for all these advances, it was not until
Neanderthal man passed into his wonderful Mousterian stage of culture,
about 300,000 years ago, that the human race took a most decisive step
forward. This step was in every sense critical and epoch-making. It
may also be looked upon as a highly profitable step. The effects of it
have made themselves felt with increasing force upon all the subsequent
development of the human race. It was a new departure that, taken so
long ago, actually led the Neanderthal man to the threshold of an
idea in many ways quite original. Ultimately the expansion of this
idea was to become one of the keystones of all social organization. It
may indeed be regarded as the fundamental principle in the upbuilding
of human society. This notable step forward gave the Mousterian man
the first real conception of property holding. It implanted in his
mind that germ out of which grew the rights of possession. This was an
idea which was handed down by him as an heirloom to all the remainder
of his race, and to all other races of mankind. The conception of
property holding developed from the fact that the Neanderthal man in
Mousterian times became a cave dweller. He sought shelter from the
elements in these rude dwellings fashioned by nature. Why he had not
availed himself of these shelters long before is not difficult to
understand. The caves which he might have found to his liking were
already inhabited by dangerous tenants, such as the cave lion, the
leopard, the hyena, the wolf, the great cave bear, and perhaps even
the dread Machærodus or sabre-toothed tiger. All of these were his
natural enemies. For the most part they had been successful enemies.
Man had scarcely dared to dispute the right of way with them, far
less the right of possession. Through all his long periods of upward
progress, he had not yet learned the means by which he could contend
with these beasts of prey on anything like an equal footing. They took
from him at will and his retaliation at best was feeble. They, rather
than he, were the real masters of the situation. This state of affairs
was bound to continue until some critical discovery revealed a new
instrument whose deadliness placed in human hands a supremacy over
these creatures. Some strategy, some modification of the old flint
instruments, perhaps some new combination of them with fire, at length
gave Neanderthal man the needed advantage and then he drove the hostile
beasts out of the caves. In time he established there his own dwelling
places, and there proclaimed his inalienable right of possession. Such
a hazardous undertaking undoubtedly required a hardy courage and an
unwavering persistency. Yet a hard-fought contest of this kind could
not fail to have a marked influence on the final outcome. Once man had
gained the right of ownership, all of the struggles incident to it
served to emphasize his final sense of possession. This triumph did
much to stimulate human desire for gain. It seems fairly clear that
from it arose the incentives of conquest. Since Mousterian times man
has expended much of his energy in exploiting this new advantage. He
has made laws to justify and regulate it. The rights of possession
have had a dominating influence over all of his economic and political
organizations. Most of his moral code has been built up around these
rights. States and empires have been founded upon them, while the
governing principle in the life of the individual has been the right to
have and to hold. In a word, this newly expanded sense of possession
started by Neanderthal man has become an essential element in all the
achievements of mankind. It has no less been the cause of much woe and
maladjustment in the race.
_Mousterian Success and Character_
It is difficult to estimate the importance of this contribution to the
development of human progress. We may at least give Mousterian man due
credit for establishing this new assertiveness. He likewise deserves
recognition because this achievement was an outstanding milestone on
the road toward higher humanity. For this reason it is worthy of a
special commemorative date. As chronicled by Professor Osborn, this
memorable occurrence, the beginning of cave dwelling, took place about
300,000 years ago. In more senses than one it was a red-letter day for
humanity. It was especially a red-letter day because of the recurring
bloodshed of innumerable wars destined to arise out of the lust and
greed inspired by this expanded sense of possession. This, however, is
the most unfavourable aspect of the Mousterian’s new idea. He himself
should not be made to appear too black on this score. He was actually a
considerable personage and introduced many other new ways of looking at
life that have been highly advantageous to us all.
Living in dark caves as he did, especially in the long bleak winters,
as the glacial periods crept down upon him, he must have found much
of mystery in those dim recesses to stimulate his imagination. It is
probable that he became a believer in occult forces of nature, and
perhaps even developed a system of magic. These suppositions become
more probable from the fact that he, for the first time in human
experience, established the custom of burying the dead. The men who
lived before him belonged to what may be called the pre-burial period.
This fact unquestionably accounts in part for the scanty human remains
before Mousterian times. The Neanderthal Mousterian not only buried his
dead but he developed an elaborate burial ceremony. The general nature
of this ceremony is shown by the position of the body and of the limbs
as they were found folded and flexed in the fossilized remains of these
men of the Old Stone Age. With certain primitive people this is still
the custom. Even in the case of some of the ancient Egyptian kings
many personal belongings were buried with the dead. Favourite weapons
of the chase, useful implements of one kind or another, ornaments and
other trinkets presumably dear to the departed ones, have been found
with the skeletons in these Neanderthal sepulchres. Special attention
was given to prevent pressure upon or crushing of the head by means
of placing large flat stones upon either side of it. There are some
indications that even as far back as the Old Stone Age man, as part
of his burial service, deposited certain articles of food beside the
body of the departed. All of these facts clearly reveal that as long
ago as 300,000 years man had acquired his first religious ideas. There
is every suggestion about these burial ceremonies that the Mousterian
cave man believed in another life after death. He appears to have had
a strong conviction that the body was but a temporary container of
some intangible spirit that in its time passed on into another world.
It seems probable that he also believed in the return of the departed
spirit to its earthly habitations, else why did he place food in the
sepulchres? In his crude way of thinking he seems to have had certain
well-fixed ideas of the pursuits and occupations in the life hereafter.
For this reason he left a useful collection of weapons and other
implements close at hand, ready for the spirit that had left the body.
The Mousterian idea of immortality may have been simple, but there is
no doubt that it existed. Whether there was a belief in God or not is
difficult to discern. It is probable, however, that the Mousterian,
like all other primitive people, did have some conception of a supreme
being, and that he had thus laid the foundations of religion.
It is for these reasons that the cave-dwelling Mousterian man
especially deserves our attention. The features of his face and the
character of his body as reconstructed by scientists make him appear
to be a particularly formidable human being. Everything about him
indicates that he was powerful and aggressive. In a word, he was
a splendid fighting machine with heavy, protruding lower jaw, low
beetling brow, thick and short neck, long and heavy-muscled arms,
short, powerful legs slightly bent at the knees. He was a fierce
and dangerous antagonist; one, from all we know of his history, as
courageous as he was powerful. It is probable that in consequence
of his cave dwelling he had begun to live in fairly large organized
communities. Such life as this had many influences upon his social
activities. It developed his use of language. It stimulated his
interest in industries other than those of the chase. It caused
expansion in his imagination, leading to the establishment of racial
tradition. It produced the spirit of individual competition as well
as the pursuits of tribal rivalry. War up to this time seems to
have been limited very largely to individual encounters. Now for
the first time differences of opinion and controversies between one
community and another were most likely settled by group combat. Here,
therefore, were laid the foundations of war that was to prove one
of the most irresistible and costly of all human indulgences. The
self-assertiveness, which must have resulted from the cave man’s
realization that he had finally gained the upper hand in many details
over the natural world, caused him to change his attitude. Instead
of being a fugitive, he now became a conqueror. It was this positive
self-feeling that gave rise to most of his more expansive ideas. The
multiplication of these ideas easily led him on into the realm of fancy
and brought him many illusory interpretations concerning the workings
of nature.
During the Mousterian period Neanderthal man did not make many material
changes in the implements used before his time. In some instances
there was a distinct improvement of the old ideas; in others there was
a distinct decline or even suppression of some of the most effective
instruments. The cave man’s aims, however, were considerably modified
by his new mode of life. His sheltered existence lessened his physical
powers to resist disease. The making of clothing from the skins of
animals also grew out of this more sheltered type of life. In the end
it produced a people less accustomed to the elements than those earlier
and hardier races that had lived in the open. The effects of this need
for clothing made themselves felt not only in the industry of producing
garments but quite as much in the production of implements necessary
for such work. Cave dwelling permitted disease and imperfect hygiene to
go their full length in producing inroads upon this great Mousterian
race. The ravages of infection and contagion had better opportunity to
exert their baneful influences. These and other insidious factors were
secretly at work. In course of time the Mousterian culture began to
show signs of a steady deterioration. For some mysterious reason these
men of the Old Stone Age slowly began to lose ground. The prominence
held by the Neanderthal race during lower Palæolithic times was
distinctly on the wane as this period approached its end.
_Cromagnon Ascendancy_
Finally a profound change came over the inhabitants of western
Europe. For some as yet unknown reason the Neanderthal race entirely
disappeared from the earth. Its place, however, was taken by another
and a greater people, the Cromagnons. Without question this was a
replacement of a lower race by one of much higher development. The
Neanderthal was on a distinctly lower plane than any now existing
human type. The Cromagnon ranks high among the races of mankind in
intellectual attainment and in known capacities for production.
He belongs to the species _Homo sapiens_, that same species of man
which has made modern history. He held sway during the last part of
the Old Stone Age, appearing in Europe about fifty thousand years
ago. Like those races which had gone before him, he passed through
many interesting phases of culture and growth. All of these were
characterized by the development of stone implements, thus making him
still a man of the Old Stone Age. He added many new attainments as a
result of new human capacities. He stands out particularly as the first
artist of mankind, and sets a mark as one of the most splendid examples
of humanity both for his superb physical appearance and for his
remarkable mental qualities. But he, too, like all others who preceded
him, was destined to decline and then to disappear.
The Cromagnon is interesting to us because he was the probable
conqueror of the great Neanderthal race. What secret power he had
to achieve this conquest, to subdue and destroy these fierce cave
dwellers, is still unknown. It may have been that he brought with him
some new implements for warfare, such as the bow and arrow, and that
he had many other advantages of this kind. In any event, he showed
no quarter to the Neanderthals, whom he seems to have destroyed
completely. He did not even follow the custom of many conquerors,
of intermarrying with the women of the conquered race. No generally
admitted sign of Neanderthal features or characters persists among the
race of men after the last Mousterian days. Beyond question it was
the increased brain power of the Cromagnons which gave them their real
advantages. This opinion is based on the appearance of the large brain
case of this race and the development of the almost modern forehead
and forebrain. In the main, our admiration for the ancient Cromagnon
people depends upon something entirely different from their powers
of conquest. They may have been great as warriors, but they were far
greater as artists. This is the aspect of their lives that interests
and influences us most.
The Cromagnons were a race that developed somewhere in Asia and
migrated westward into Europe. They came in contact with the
Neanderthals and probably destroyed them. They had no ancestral
connections of any kind with this other race. They possessed a brain
capable of more complex ideas, greater comprehension, more reasoning
powers, a wider, more facile imagination. Still more they were endowed
with a highly artistic sense and were capable of advanced education.
Their society was differentiated along the line of capacity and talent
for work. Their artistic productions as shown in the mural decorations
of their caves were so excellent as to place them among the truly great
achievements of mankind. In the pursuits of industry and domestic life,
the Cromagnons added little in the way of innovation. They adapted and
perfected what the Mousterians had previously used. They did introduce,
however, what no other people had ever employed; namely, tools and
implements for sculpture and engraving. These tools in the main were
small and delicate instruments made of flint. Among these was a fine
drill, an engraver, an etcher, a carving chisel, a mortar, a hammer
stone, and a polisher.
_Cromagnon Cultural Periods_
The Cromagnon, like the Neanderthal, passed through certain cultural
phases. Each of these periods lasted many thousands of years and
each of them was much longer than the Christian Era. The first of
these cultural steps was the Aurignacian period, in which the great
awakening of artistic enthusiasm occurred. The peak of artistic
devotion, however, came in the Solutrean period, which was the acme
of achievement in the flint industry. Decline set in during the next,
the Magdalenian period, which brought the closing stage of Cromagnon
culture. And then in the Azilian period the last survivors of the
greatest race in the Old Stone Age, grown old in their industries and
feeble in their art, saw the setting of the Cromagnon sun and the
passing of their kind into the darkness. Many changes came about in
Cromagnon industries, due to the influences of trade invasions and new
inventions, but in their art these people showed one continuous and
sustained development.
The impressive feature about Cromagnon art, especially in the
Aurignacian period, is the absence of that period of infantilism and
crudity almost always observed in the artistic development of primitive
races. The Cromagnon first reveals his artistic effort in a state of
sturdy youth. His art passed directly into a relatively mature stage.
Its treasures preserved in the art galleries of the ancient caves,
comprising remarkable drawings, sculptures, and paintings, fully
warrant the title of “Palæolithic Greeks” conferred upon the Cromagnon.
Indeed, they resemble the Greek and Egyptian artists in many ways.
Like them, the Cromagnon resorted to painting his reliefs whether they
were of the bison, the horse, the deer, or the great mammoths. The
relative simplicity of his technical skill depended upon the employment
of fewest possible lines and boldest of strokes. To his accuracy of
reproduction and his simplicity of style he imparted a third great
quality. This added artistic element, which has made his art live in
a class well up to the standards of later periods, was a feeling of
motion, particularly of locomotion. With this he vividly endowed the
animals carved upon the walls of his cavern, upon bone or ivory.
_Motives of Cromagnon Art_
It is clear that the Cromagnons were cave dwellers like the
Neanderthals, but they also depended largely upon the chase for their
living. Why, then, did they in the dark recesses of their caverns
resort to these remarkable artistic activities? These efforts could
scarcely be meaningless diversions. They must have been more than
pastimes, for hours not devoted to the hunt or combat. Such arduous
pursuits as these surely had some serious and pertinent object in
their lives. Many explanations have been offered for the remarkable
outburst of artistic enthusiasm in Cromagnon times. The one most
generally accepted is that the art of these people was a part of their
hunting magic. In the history of primitive races it has repeatedly
occurred that drawing and design have a special significance in the
actual maintenance of life. For example, the Australians draw pictures
of animals they use for food. Sitting on the ground about these
pictures, they perform certain ceremonies which they believe will
insure a plentiful supply of the food they need. The American Indians
are in the habit of carving images of animals. They also draw the
signs representing rain. In the presence of these emblems they make
incantations and believe that by this means they will secure abundant
harvest and complete success in their hunting expeditions. Images and
pictures act as a sort of magic talisman by means of which to exercise
an influence over those animals which serve for food.
But we do not need to go back into the pre-history of the Old Stone
Age, or to the superstitions of people still in a primitive stage. Not
so long ago the picture of a man was supposed to represent his spirit,
and the possessor of such a picture could exert a magic power over his
person. Only a few centuries ago learned judges condemned to death men
and women on the evidence that they possessed images or pictures of
people they were accused of bewitching. Until quite recently there were
certain sorcerers and magicians in Sicily who for a price would destroy
a hated enemy by the simple executionary method of sticking pins into a
wax image of this undesirable person.
It seems to require no further explanation to understand the pictorial
efforts of the Australian natives and American Indians. Like them,
the Cromagnons drew for the most part the animals which they employed
for food. This may not in all respects be a satisfactory answer to
the question: Why did man of the Old Stone Age resort to art? It is,
however, a good working theory. It shows a real motive for his efforts
in this direction. To his mind, all of his works of art assured him
some peculiar magical control over the animal life that was necessary
for his living and well-being.
_Men of the New Stone Age_
The fate of the Cromagnon race was no exception to what had gone before
or what would follow many times thereafter. Race after race, nation
after nation, rose and became master, declined and passed into final
extinction. As the day of Cromagnon ascendancy waned a new race invaded
western Europe. The Old Stone Age came to its end approximately ten
thousand years ago with the advent of the more vigorous Neolithic (New
Stone Age) man. He developed a great innovation in manufacturing his
implements, making his instruments better and more useful by polishing
the stone. Neolithic man was far more practical and thoroughly
utilitarian than his predecessors in the Old Stone Age. He introduced
many economic advantages and substituted the benefits of applied
science for the delusions of magic and sorcery. The man of the New
Stone Age, unlike his Cromagnon predecessor, did not alone pray for
his crops. He tilled the soil and planted seed. Perhaps he believed
in a magic ritual for his hunting expeditions, but to make his food
supply as secure as possible, he domesticated many animals that he
liked to eat. He was unwilling to depend solely upon hunting magic and
art sorcery. He had discovered the true magic of agriculture and sought
to control nature by the toil of his hands rather than by mysterious
incantations and pictorial art. As a farmer and a cattle raiser he
required a permanent home, and in consequence the New Stone Age gave a
fresh impulse to the upbuilding of man’s possessive sense. Neolithic
man became a land holder, and this advance was a long, provocative step
in the direction of modern humanity. Because of it man had to learn
new ways and means of defending his claim and of asserting his right.
Very quickly this new assertiveness led to the more sanguinary ages
of Bronze and Iron with their effective equipments for offense and
defense. Its influences finally reached historical times. Ultimately
these more aggressive tendencies created all of the armed camps that we
are pleased to call civilization, ancient, mediæval, and modern.
At the close of the New Stone Age all of the direct ancestors of modern
European races were established in Europe. During the Bronze Age man
rapidly learned those new capacities which enabled him to make a
permanent record of himself, and thus he entered upon his real historic
period. Some authorities set the beginning of this period only so far
back as the beginning of the Egyptian calendar. In round numbers this
is five or six thousand years ago.
The dawn of history was followed by a procession of great events which
began in the early Egyptian dynasties. The development of Pharaonic
art and culture, the regal splendours of Babylonia and Chaldea, the
incomparable achievements of Greece and Rome, followed in rapid
succession. Each of these civilizations in its turn contributed to the
development of the race. Then came the long eclipse of the Dark Ages in
mediæval times, and at length the brilliant light of the Renaissance,
the illuminating influences of which have been carried forward in that
steady progress of material accomplishments characteristic of modern
times.
A brief review of man’s progress in his prehistoric existence shows the
following races in his advancement, known by fossil remains:
1. Ape man of Java (_Pithecanthropus erectus_). Professor Osborn
prefers to consider him the Dawn man of Trinil. Probable antiquity
about one million years. Probably employed crude stone implements and
was a nomadic hunter. Had a poorly developed human brain; nothing
known of his cultural development. Chief contributions to human
progress: human frontal lobe, human speech, and a complete erect
posture.
2. Dawn man of Piltdown, England (_Eoanthropus dawsoni_). Antiquity
over a million years, probably employed crude instruments known
as eoliths and thus belonged to the Dawn Stone Age. Had a fairly
well-developed human brain. Was a migrant hunter. Nothing known
concerning his cultural development. Chief contribution to human
progress: further development of the brain.
3. Heidelberg man of Germany (_Paleoanthropus_). Antiquity about
800,000 years. Fairly well-developed human brain and frontal lobe.
Probably employed crude stone implements. Little known of his
cultural phases. Chief contribution to human progress: first man of
the Old Stone Age and probable progenitor of the Neanderthal race.
4. Neanderthal man (_Homo primogenius_). Probable antiquity 600,000
years. A well-developed human brain and frontal lobe. Made and
improved many flint implements. Hunter and cave dweller. Had definite
cultural periods known as the Chellean, Acheulean, and Mousterian.
Chief contributions to human progress: established idea of permanent
abode, became dominant over other animals of the earth, introduced
human burial, laid the foundations of religion. Founder of human
assertiveness and supremacy.
5. Cromagnon man (_Homo sapiens_). Probable antiquity 50,000 years.
Well-developed human brain and frontal lobe of modern type. Hunter
and artist, employed somewhat refined flint implements of the Old
Stone Age. Had definite cultural periods known as the Aurignacian,
Solutrean, Magdalenian, and Azilian. Chief contribution to human
progress: the conqueror of Neanderthal man; the world’s first great
artist. The founder and introducer of art.
6. Neolithic man (_Homo sapiens_). Probable antiquity 10,000 years.
Human brain and frontal lobe of modern type. Employed polished flint
implements of a highly developed kind. Was a hunter, herdsman,
and farmer. Chief contributions to human progress: introduction
of agriculture, culinary art, domestication of animals; also
establishment of more permanent abode.
7. Bronze and Iron Age men (_Homo sapiens_). Probable antiquity 7,000
years. Human brain and frontal lobe of modern type. Used implements
made of bronze and iron. Chief contribution to human progress:
introduction of the metals for human utility.
In addition to these prehistoric races of men, certain other early
members of our family have been recognized in the latter part of the
Pliocene and early part of the Pleistocene. These races include the
Subcrag and the Foxhall Dawn men who appear to have employed the
rostro-carinate flints. Still another race was the Cromerians, who made
and used the giant flints found embedded in the cliffs of Cromer.
Prehistoric man is thus gradually emerging from his long obscurity.
His skeletal form is known from more than 350 specimens of his fossil
remains. In Java, in central Asia, in Rhodesia, central Africa, in
Gibraltar, in the Island of Jersey, in France, in Germany, in England,
in Austria, and in Galilee, Palestine, these remains have been found.
All phases of man’s early existence are important to our modern thought
and development. As the curtain of the past is lifted to reveal the
long, prehistoric vista of human existence, it is possible to sense the
vast distance that man has come since his journey began. It is also
possible to see how he has made his way and why he has progressed. From
its earliest appearance on earth the race has grown in humanity as the
brain expanded. In man’s first struggles brain power endowed him with a
capacity to develop and to hand down certain cultural activities. The
earliest instruments that he fashioned gave rise to an uninterrupted
stream of human achievements which has passed on as the main current
of culture and knowledge. It was this capacity for progressive and
racial learning that distinguished the human brain. Estimated by his
accomplishments, it seems necessary to assume the existence in man of
some special power different from all other living creatures. This
distinguishing endowment is variously called the soul, the psyche, the
spirit of man, or human genius. Its name may be immaterial, but its
source is the secret of our supremacy. If we acquired this power as the
divine gift of a creative miracle, that is one thing. If we earned it
through a long and tedious process of evolution, that is even a more
promising and an altogether different thing.
CHAPTER IV
EDEN OR EVOLUTION
GENESIS AND THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
_Early Beliefs in Creation_
Although we may entirely reject the evidence of man’s presence on
earth long before the dawn of history, even so there still remains a
perplexing question that must be answered. What was man’s origin? It
is surprising how many people have attempted to solve this troublesome
problem. It seems to be one of the first questions that primitive man
tried to answer for himself when he began his earliest speculations.
He was naturally anxious to know who made the land and the water and
the sky and all that is in them. He was especially interested, when he
thought about such things, in deciding how he came to be what he was
himself. And so, from earliest times, beliefs concerning the beginning
of things have sprung up all over the world. They constitute a mass of
speculation, which is called cosmogony (beliefs or theories about the
creation of the universe). Only a few races or tribes of mankind have
failed to indulge in speculations leading to such beliefs. Appearing as
they do in the infancy or early life of a race, these beliefs must be
the fruit of the primitive human mind. In peoples who have failed to
progress and have always remained primitive, such beliefs, like many
other traits and customs, continue for generations almost unchanged.
Sometimes they become an important part of the religion of the race. If
they are looked upon less seriously they form themes for folklore.
This searching question about man’s origin has always been present and
is, in fact, still with us. In times gone by, when man was primitive,
or at least more primitive than he is to-day, he tried to answer the
question as best he could. He was hampered by lack of facts because
his knowledge and understanding of his own surroundings were limited.
His racial experience in the world had yet been too brief for him to
do more than see the great generalities of nature. At best he could
merely surmise the truth of the universe. He had neither the training,
the methods, nor the instruments necessary to disclose the intimate
details upon which reasonable theories might be based. Being so largely
destitute of facts, he relied upon intuition or drew heavily upon his
imagination. It is a matter of wonder that his beliefs often took such
noble form.
Not infrequently a common central theme runs through the beliefs of
primitive people, even though they may belong to different races and
are separated from each other by long distances. Such, for example, is
the belief in the manlike appearance of the Supreme Being held by the
Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and many other ancient civilizations. Early
ideas concerning _creation_ illustrate this common or central theme
still more vividly. Doubtless the conception of creation has its
supreme expression in the opening chapters of Genesis in the Hebrew
Testament. But other primitive people had exactly the same ideas about
creation and the origin of man. This way of solving the problem must
have been one of the inherent tendencies of the human mind in its
earliest beginnings. Isolated peoples in far-distant parts of the earth
could not have shared such similar ideas as a result of racial contacts
or propinquity. Time and distance set them widely apart. The similarity
might be ascribed to traditions handed down from a common stock. In
any event, an identical theme runs through the creation story of many
different peoples. The most effective record of this theme is given in
Genesis, especially in the first chapter, the King James version of
which is accepted by many as the highest literary mark ever set by the
English language. It is of particular interest for us to follow the
sequence of events in this incomparable chapter which depicts creation
with such grandeur that it may well be called inspired.
_Early Accounts of Creation_
According to this record, creation proceeded as a succession of
separate miracles. First came the miracle creating heaven and earth,
then the creation of light, of the firmament, of the earth set apart
from the waters, of vegetation upon the earth, of the sun, moon,
and stars, of fish and fowl, of beasts and cattle and all creeping
things, of man and woman together in the image and likeness of the
Creator. The second chapter of Genesis repeats the story of creation,
but this time in a minor key, with certain striking differences and
discrepancies. The grandeur of the original description and its
sublime intuition are missing. The master mind which conceived it has
obviously been replaced by one at once much more naïve and manifesting
a thoroughly parochial interest in the affairs and frailties of
humankind. This second narration largely reverses the original order
given to creation. By it man is created before all other animals and
woman last of all. This account produces man from the dust of the
ground, into which the Creator breathes the breath of life and gives
him a living soul, while the rib taken from man is used to create
woman. The discrepancies in the two accounts are obvious at once. To
explain them the second chapter is attributed to a very early writer
(Jehovistic document). The first chapter is ascribed to a much later
writing (Priestly document) made during the Hebrew captivity in Egypt.
Earlier than this Biblical record was the Babylonian idea of creation.
These people also conceived that man was molded out of clay. According
to the Babylonian version of creation, the god Bel cut off his own
head, and the other gods, catching the flowing blood, mixed it with
the dust of the earth, and from this bloody paste molded the forms of
men. The Babylonians believed that men were wise because their mortal
clay was thus tempered with divine blood. According to the Egyptians,
the father of the gods molded men out of clay on his potter’s wheel.
A Greek explanation of man’s origin contains the same idea, in that
Prometheus is said to have molded the first men out of clay at Panopeus
in Phocis. These naïve conceptions about the origin of mankind,
common to the Hebrew, the Babylonian, the Egyptian, and the Greek,
were doubtless handed down to these ancient civilized people by their
savage or barbarous forefathers. Legends of creation of exactly this
kind are current among savages and barbarians of the present day. It
is particularly interesting to note the different forms in which this
story has made its appearance in many distant places of the earth.
_Creation Beliefs of Barbarous People_
The Australian blacks, near Melbourne, held that the Creator cut
large sheets of bark with his big knife. He placed on one of these a
mass of clay and prepared it with his knife until it had the proper
consistency. Then he set a portion of the clay on another piece of
bark and fashioned it in human form, making first the legs and then
the trunk and arms and finally the head. Having finished his molding,
he took stringy bark from the eucalyptus tree, made hair of it, and
attached it to the heads of his models. When all was finished he blew
his breath into the mouths and noses and navels of these clay men until
they rose and spoke as full-grown human beings.
In New Zealand the Maoris believed that a certain god took red
riverside clay, kneaded it with his own blood into a likeness of
himself, with eyes, legs, and arms exactly similar to his own. When
this model was finished he breathed into it the breath of life through
its mouth and nostrils, with the result that the clay man at once came
to life and sneezed.
Among the Tahiti there is a tradition that the first man and woman were
made by the chief god, who created them out of red earth. In Netherland
Island, one of the Ellice Islands, a great deity is supposed to have
made models of man and woman out of the earth and brought them to life
by lifting them up. Similar in general conception is the tradition of
creation among the Pelew Islanders who believe that certain of their
deities made man and woman out of clay by kneading it with the blood
of various animals. This feature is a new detail and somewhat of a
departure from the general story. It shows, moreover, the interest
which these primitive people had in explaining the different behaviour
of their fellow men. Thus they believed that the characters of these
first men as well as their descendants were due to the characteristic
traits of the animal whose blood was mingled with the clay. Men, for
instance, who had rats’ blood in their clay were thieves. Those who had
serpents’ blood were sneaks and informers. Those who were vitalized by
cocks’ blood were brave and daring.
According to a Melanesian legend in one of the Banks Islands, the great
hero Qat molded men from red clay taken from the marshy riverside. At
first he made men and pigs to appear alike, but subsequently he forced
the pigs to go upon all fours and caused men to walk upright. This
distinction indicates man’s early recognition of the subtle meanings of
the erect posture. Qat also constructed a female out of flexible twigs.
Finally she smiled at him, and by this unfailing sign of feminine
allurement he immediately recognized her as the first woman.
Inhabitants of the Kei Islands believe that their ancestors were
fashioned out of clay by the supreme god who breathed the breath of
life into the clay models. The Dyaks of British Borneo claim that the
first man was made by two birds. After several failures in attempting
to hew him out of rock they at length molded him out of damp clay and
infused into his veins the red gum of the Kumpang tree. When they
called him he answered, and they gave him a name which in the Dyak
tongue means “molded earth.”
In India also the same kind of legend explains man’s origin. The Kumis
who inhabit the hill tracts in eastern India believe that a powerful
god made the world and the trees and the creeping things first. After
this he made a man and a woman, shaping their bodies from clay. When
he had finished his work a great snake came while the god was sleeping
and devoured the two images. This occurred several times, so that the
deity was much perplexed. Feeling that after his day’s work he needed
a good night’s sleep, it was impossible for him to sit up to protect
his handiwork. At length he conceived the plan of making a dog out of
clay before he created his next models of man and woman. This device
solved the problem in a satisfactory manner. The god was now able to
sleep in peace after his hard work of modelling human beings, since the
dog, watching over them, would bark and frighten away the destructive
serpent. To this day the Kumis believe this is the reason why dogs howl
when a man is dying.
Africa has similar legends about the creation of mankind. Many of the
natives on the White Nile believe that men were modelled out of clay.
They even go so far as to explain the different complexions of various
races by the differently coloured clay out of which they are molded.
Their great creator, wandering about the world, found pure white earth
or sand and from this he fashioned the white man. Returning to Egypt he
molded red and brown men from the mud of the Nile. Finally, coming upon
black earth far in the depths of Africa, he created black men.
The story of man’s creation out of clay also occurs in America among
the Eskimos and the Indians from Alaska to Paraguay. Many of the
Eskimos have the belief that a certain spirit made a man of clay. Then
having set him upon the shore to dry he breathed into him and gave him
life. Certain Indians of California conceive of an all-powerful being
who created man out of a deposit of clay which he found on the shores
of a lake. From this clay he made both male and female, and the Indians
of the present day are descended from this original clay man and woman.
The Mayas in Central America believe that their gods first made men out
of clay, but that these clay models lacked vitality because they were
dissolved by water. Then the gods created man out of the wood of one
tree and the woman from the sap of another. Unfortunately these human
beings could neither move nor propagate their kind, and for this reason
the gods caused a shower of pitch to produce a flood, which destroyed
this wooden race. A few of them survived, however, and from them are
descended the small monkeys. The Maya gods at last created four perfect
men out of yellow and white maize, and, wishing to confer the greatest
boon, while these four perfect beings slept, four women were created
for them.
_Primitive Ideas Foreshadowing Evolution_
It is interesting also to find that all savage people did not believe
in the legend that ascribed the origin of man to clay models or to
effigies made by some supreme being. Many primitive races appear to
have preferred the theory of evolution to this other idea of creation.
In any event, even if they did not fully recognize the nature of their
belief, their idea was that man evolved from some lower form of animal
life. The particular form of animal from which this evolution started
varied considerably with the local colour, with the character and with
the opportunities of different people.
Some California Indians believe that they are descended from coyotes.
In their early stages of evolution all members of their tribe walked on
all fours. Slowly they acquired some of the features of human beings,
one toe or one finger at a time. Then came an eye or an ear, until at
length these animals grew to be perfect human beings by losing their
tails. This loss, which was regarded as deplorable, came from the habit
of sitting upright.
The Iroquois, belonging to one important clan, hold that they are the
descendants of mud turtles that formerly inhabited a certain large
pool in their territories. The Choctaw Indians believe that they
were descended from crayfish, while throughout the Osage Indians it
is generally understood that their ancestors were a male snail and a
female beaver. A great flood carried the snail down the Missouri River,
leaving him upon a bank, where the sun ripened him into a man. In time
he met and married a beaver maid, and these two were the ancestors of
the Osages. The Delaware Indians call the rattlesnake their grandfather
and would on no account destroy one of these serpents.
Certain Indians of Peru claim to be descended from the puma or American
lion, and this animal is worshipped as their god. Some natives of East
Africa look upon the hyena as one of their ancestors. The death of this
animal is mourned by the whole people with great funereal ceremony. On
the Gold Coast of West Africa certain tribes believe that they were
descended from the horse mackerel.
Natives of Borneo think that the first man and woman were born from a
tree which had become fertilized by a creeping vine that waved to and
fro in the wind. Some of the primitive inhabitants in the northeastern
extremity of Celebes believe that they are descended from apes and
that the parent stock of these animals still inhabits the woods. The
aborigines of western Australia considered that their ancestors were
swans, ducks, or various other kinds of water birds, which were later
transformed into men.
All of these illustrations of the creation idea among primitive people
show that man has held at least two widely different views about his
own origin. One of these is the idea of separate miraculous creation;
the other corresponds to or foreshadows the theory of evolution. In
accordance with the view of separate creation, a god or a tribal hero
was the great creator who fashioned the first members of the race
in their present form. According to the other view, man was evolved
from lower forms of animals, or even from vegetable life. These two
viewpoints of man’s origin still divide the peoples of the world. It
is probably true, as Sir James Frazer has said, that “by weighing one
consensus against the other, with Genesis in the one scale and the
Origin of Species in the other, it might be found, when the scales
were finally trimmed, that the balance hung even between creation and
evolution.”
The development of the evolutionary theory among civilized people has a
long history. This theory has already passed through many interesting
phases. Doubtless other equally interesting phases lie before it. At
present there are many who still believe that Darwin was the originator
of the evolutionary idea. This belief is in no sense true. The origin
of the doctrine long antedates Darwin’s time. It may be traced back to
the age when the human race first began to think clearly. Like many
other things of high cultural value, it had its earliest recognizable
beginnings in the Greek period--in those days when man sought to gain
an intelligent understanding of himself and the world in which he lived.
_Growth of the Evolutionary Theory_
The basic conception of evolution is as old as Empedocles (450 B. C.).
Aristotle (384-322 B. C.) was the originator of the theory of animal
descent, which he formulated with remarkable clearness. A strong
inhibiting influence fell upon this conception of life as a result of
mediæval scholasticism. This influence restrained further developments
until the subject was again reopened in the Eighteenth Century. The
works of Leibnitz and Buffon (1707-1788) reawakened interest in this
problem. Modern constructive efforts to formulate the theory of
evolution did not begin, however, until the early Nineteenth Century.
By a strange coincidence, the real founding of this theory occurred in
the year of Darwin’s birth, 1809. Up to this time, with few exceptions,
it was thought that man’s body was the result of special creation. Some
savage people, as we have seen, have believed that man was derived from
lower animals. But this belief was only a fantastic forerunner of the
evolutionary concept. The birthplace of the theory was in Paris. It
may appear strange that such a doctrine did not originate in the great
schools of learning, and that it first saw the light in the quiet,
out-of-the-way location of the Museum of Natural History. The names
of three scientific immortals are associated with this revolutionary
conception of the animal kingdom. All three of these distinguished men
lived at the same time, worked together at the same place, and together
profoundly influenced our modern views of man’s place in nature.
The most noted of this famous trio in his own day was Cuvier
(1769-1832). He was a professor of comparative anatomy and though only
forty years of age was accumulating the material for his epoch-making
work, _Ossements Fossiles_. This work was to show conclusively that the
great ages of time, filled with multitudes of strange, extinct animals,
had passed over the earth before the dawn of our modern era. Cuvier
believed that each group of these extinct animals represented a series
of separate creations. It was doubtless his energetic and brilliant
insistence upon this point that denied to the French nation the first
place of distinction in advancing the theory of evolution. Although
he held vigorously to the old creative interpretation of life, Cuvier
was in a sense an unconscious promoter of the evolutionary idea. His
recognition of a succession of epochs in the earth’s history and in
the animal inhabitants of the globe was an important step toward the
modern theory. Besides this, his keen powers of observation had enabled
him to discern one of the chief principles underlying evolution. This
principle is known as the law of “correlation of parts.” In consequence
of this law there is a definite relation of one part of the body to
another, as well as a combination of these parts in the habits of the
animal. Thus, horns belong with hoofs, and hoofs are associated with
complicated grinding teeth, which latter in their turn are possessed by
animals having complex stomachs and feeding on plants.
The second great pioneer in the discovery of life’s true origin was
somewhat younger than Cuvier. This was Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. He
was intent upon seeking the common plan upon which all animals with
backbones were built. In this way he was laying the foundations of that
broad conception of life which holds that all living things have a
common descent.
The third of these great French contemporaries was more obscure
than either of his associates in the Museum. In his own period the
public heard and knew little of him. He was a retiring person, but
an indefatigable student. As time passes it is he who stands as the
towering figure of this famous trio. In 1809, when he was already
sixty-five years of age, he made his remarkable contribution to
knowledge. His careful studies of nearly fifty years were then
published in two small volumes entitled _Philosophie Zoologique_. This
was a milestone in human progress. In consequence of this work alone
the name of Jean Baptiste Pierre Lamarck will stand as one of the most
eminent figures of science. From his long and laborious researches he
had reached the conclusion that all living creatures were the outgrowth
of a common tree of life. In this treatise of his there appears the
first clear declaration that man has been evolved from some anthropoid
ancestor like the chimpanzee, and that man’s erect posture has been
derived from one which was ape-like.
_The Lamarckian and Darwinian Theories_
The Lamarckian theory of evolution holds that progress takes place by
the imperceptible transformation of one species into another through
the efforts of the organism to adapt itself to new conditions. It also
maintains that, by inheritance, the changes thus produced are handed on
from one generation to the next. These changes may be slight, almost
insensible variations produced by the use or disuse of certain parts
and organs. Through their accumulated effects they are capable of
transforming one species into another. The following quotation from
Lamarck’s _Philosophie Zoologique_ (Vol. 1, p. 349) furnishes some of
the more important details in the concept by which he explains the
evolution of man:
Indeed, if any race of primates (quadrumanes) whatsoever,
particularly the more highly evolved of them, were to lose, either
from force of circumstances or any other cause, the aptitude for tree
climbing and of grasping the branches with their feet, as with their
hands, for security of grip, and if the individuals of this race,
for a series of generations, be obliged to use their feet only in
walking, and cease using their hands as feet; then there is no doubt,
from the evidence produced in the foregoing chapters, that these apes
would finally be transformed into man (bimanes) and that the great
toe would no longer be separated from the other toes like a thumb,
the feet merely serving the purposes of progression.
Despite the fact that Lamarck was a pioneer he did not, in so far as
the evolution of man is concerned, induce a single anatomist of his
own time or of a succeeding generation to follow in his footsteps.
In this respect his great work remained strangely ineffective. The
more persuasive introduction of the evolutionary theory was made by
an illustrious English naturalist, Charles Darwin. After a somewhat
mediocre university career, for which he received the degree of
Bachelor of Arts, Darwin devoted himself to the natural sciences. In
his early manhood he spent five years on the famous barque _Beagle_
in which he made a trip around the globe. Twenty-three years later
(1859) he published his renowned _Origin of Species_, which proved to
be one of the most revolutionary books ever written. In an educational
sense, Darwin was far more fortunate than Lamarck. Almost at once he
obtained the ear of the public and started the theory of evolution
on its strenuous course around the world. Twelve years later (1871)
he published his second monumental book, _The Descent of Man_, which
proved to be the most telling step in our modern knowledge of man’s
evolution. These two great books set forth the Darwinian theory. Like
Lamarck, Darwin believed that progress from lower to higher forms of
animal life took place as a result of insensible variations. These
variations were due to what Darwin and one of his contemporaries,
Alfred Russell Wallace, called natural selection. This factor was the
prime and sufficient cause of evolution. Through its operations new
species arose by the selective action of external conditions upon
individual variations. Natural selection, as a law, implies the effects
of those forces which separate living creatures into two groups--those
which survive and those which, being ill equipped to make the struggle
for existence, perish. The selective effects of external conditions
on an organism or its parts operate in such a way that individual
variations or peculiarities of advantage are perpetuated in the race
and thus give rise to the survival of the fittest. Darwin in his
_Descent of Man_ makes clear his opinion of the manner in which natural
selection has operated in human evolution:
As soon as some ancient member (elsewhere defined as some species
of anthropoid like the chimpanzee) in the great series of the
primates came to be less arboreal, owing to a change in its manner of
procuring subsistence, or to a change in the surrounding conditions,
its habitual manner of progression would have been modified and
thus it would be rendered more strictly quadrupedal or bipedal....
Man alone has become a biped and we can, I think, partly see how he
has come to assume his erect attitude which forms one of his most
conspicuous characters.... As the progenitors of man became more
and more erect and their hands and arms more and more modified for
prehension and other purposes, with their feet and legs at the same
time transformed for firm support and progression, endless other
changes in structure would have become necessary. The pelvis would
have to be broadened, the spine peculiarly curved, and the head fixed
in an altered position, all which changes have been attained by man.
It is very difficult to decide how far these modifications are the
result of _natural selection_ and how far of the _inherited effects_
of the increased use of certain parts or of the action of one part on
another. No doubt these means often coöperate.
Comparing the explanations given by Lamarck and by Darwin it is
clear at once that they have much in common. Both suppose that man
was evolved from a chimpanzee-like anthropoid. Both agree that the
transformation had been initiated by a change from an arboreal to a
terrestrial mode of existence. Both believe that the results of habit
or of function acquired by one generation may be inherited by the next
generation. Darwin made certain important additions to this theory.
He applied the law of natural selection--the tendency of successful
individuals to survive and prosper. He also recognized the effects of
sexual tendencies and perceived that there was a law of correlation of
parts. By this latter mechanism a number of structures were modified at
the same time to suit some particular function of the body.
Since Darwin’s time, although the general principle involved in the
theory of evolution has been accepted by scientists everywhere,
there has been much discussion concerning specific details of the
evolutionary process. Simultaneously with the conviction that evolution
was a fact in the animal life there arose an eager desire to discover
its underlying causes. Many students of the problem have arrived at
independent explanations of their own. To some the theory of Lamarck
has been considered satisfactory; to others Darwin’s interpretation
is most convincing. Such differences of opinion as do exist among
those who have seriously pursued this matter centre primarily upon the
causes of evolution. For this reason a number of different theories are
recognized to-day. It is probable that these theories do not represent
all of the differing shades of opinion concerning this subject at
present. They may be said, however, to express the high points of
difference. Their chief interest lies in the fact that they indicate
the degree of energy and determination devoted to the solution of
this problem. Recent students of the Darwinian theory have modified
and extended it in such a way as to make the law of natural selection
entirely sufficient to explain evolution. Such students, with Weismann
the most prominent among them, deny the inheritance of acquired
characters. This view is known as the neo-Darwinian theory.
Lamarck’s original conception was also modified and became the basis of
the neo-Lamarckian theory. This view recognized all of Lamarck’s ideas,
including insensible variation, use and disuse of parts, and hereditary
transmission. But it added to these causative factors certain
influences of consciousness and the will, thus introducing an internal
and psychological principle in the evolutionary process. In America
this newer view of Lamarck’s conception has been vigorously upheld by
many naturalists (Cope and Hyatt) who attempted to explain evolution
according to the fundamental laws of growth plus the inherited effects
of use and disuse.
Explanations such as these seem to lose sight of many influences acting
upon animal life from without and along certain determinate lines.
These influences were highly specific in their character and embraced
definite chemical and physical factors. Their effects were concentrated
upon limited organic areas, such, for example, as the eye, but they
spread to correlated organs like the brain, the muscles, and the bones,
all of which are functionally continuous with the visual apparatus of
vertebrates. Such a spread of modifying influences from a determinate
focus like the eye throughout the entire body caused a widespread
tendency to variation and thus afforded the opportunity for progressive
development. This explanation is known as the Orthogenetic Theory
(Eimer, 1897).
Still more recently the pendulum has swung away from this extremely
materialistic viewpoint in what is called the Creative Theory of
Evolution (Henri Bergson, 1907). According to this explanation the
variations that bring about evolution from lower to higher forms of
life require some good genius to preserve and collect the effects in
the interest of progress. This presiding genius working from within
is the original impetus of life, the _élan vitale_, or vital impetus
(entelechy), which like some internal perfecting agency passes from
one generation of germs to the next and through the developed organism
bridges the interval between generations.
Philosophy, with its conception of an internal creative power common
to all life and biology, pinning its faith to physicochemical factors,
have vied with each other in bringing to light the causes of evolution.
Among the latest explanations is the Energy Theory (Henry Fairfield
Osborn, 1918). This interpretation holds that the life of every animal
is due to the action, reaction, and interaction of four types of
energy. The first type arises from chemical elements and compounds
surrounding the animal (inorganic environment). The second is the
energy derived from the body substance of the developing organism
(protoplasm and body chromatin, the chief substance in the nucleus
of body cells). The third source of energy is from the sex cells,
especially those parts of them which contain the hereditary elements
(hereditary chromatin). The fourth type of energy comes from the
living matter surrounding the animal (life environment). Selection and
adaptation are constantly at work upon the reactions of these four
types of energy. Divergence in the form of different animals depends
upon adaptations to special conditions of life as seen, for example,
in the whales and the meat-eaters. Altogether there are twelve major
environments for living, like the plain, the forest, the air, the sea,
which require special adaptations. All life has tended to radiate out
into such habitat zones, and the four types of energy represented by
each living creature have been adjusted to a particular environment.
This spreading out of life into many different zones of existence is a
recognized principle in natural selection (law of adaptive radiation.
Osborn).
The most recent interpretation is that offered by the Emergent
Theory of Evolution (C. Lloyd Morgan, 1928). Evolution, according to
this explanation, is the name given to the plan of sequence in all
natural events. Orderly sequence presents from time to time something
genuinely new. In the physical world emergence is exemplified by the
advent of each new kind of atom, each new kind of molecule, each new
form of life. Emergence is not the mere addition to or subtraction
from existing properties. It is the appearance of something new and
unpredictable from the combination of properties already in existence.
A true emergence of this kind is produced by the combination of carbon
and sulphur out of which the gaseous carbon bisulphide arises. This gas
is totally different from either sulphur or carbon, its two combining
ingredients. It is something genuinely new and hence an emergent. This
principle affects all spheres of life in such a manner that it is
possible for new characters, new structures, new activities to appear
as emergents from preëxisting elements. Variations and progressive
development may be thus explained as the result of orderly sequence.
In spite of the differences in opinion among scientists concerning
the evolutionary process, there is an almost unanimous agreement with
regard to the correctness of the general theory of evolution and the
principle underlying it. To attempt a critical estimation of these
several theories would be futile and far removed from our present
purpose. Doubtless each one of them contains some portion of the truth.
It is, however, their large number that is of striking significance,
inasmuch as these theories indicate a widespread, profound, and growing
interest concerning evolution among intelligent people. Whatever their
minor differences, such theories demonstrate a determined effort in the
search for truth and manifest tendencies in thinking which cannot fail
eventually to reshape the intellectual outlook of mankind.
CHAPTER V
BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY BEGINNINGS OF MAN
INFLUENCES OF FOREST AND PLAIN ON BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
The place of man’s origin is a matter of little significance if he came
into being by a creative miracle. Any one of a hundred natal sites,
chosen for reasons of local pride or racial prestige, might have served
the purpose. Eden undoubtedly was most colourful, but otherwise it had
no exceptional advantages. Once created and upon his feet, man had the
world before him to conquer and possess. Such was the beginning and end
of his story.
If, on the other hand, the human race came through evolution from lower
forms of animals, then man’s homeland is of utmost significance. It
must have exercised a strong influence not only upon his origin but
also upon all his life and progressive development.
_Africa, Europe, or Asia_
Some students of this subject have regarded Africa as the most likely
birthplace of man. According to this view the human form first appeared
as certain Nilotic negroes. From this homeland man spread throughout
the world. On the other hand, the accumulating fossil evidence of man’s
existence seems to be strongly in favour of western Europe as a centre
of human dispersal. Professor Osborn points out that between the years
1823 and 1925 there were discovered in this part of the world alone no
less than 116 individuals belonging to the Old Stone Age or to the Dawn
Stone Age. Two of these were members of the Piltdown race. Fossils of
forty other individuals belong to the Neanderthal race. Seventy-four
are accredited to the Cromagnon and other races that lived in late
Stone Age times. Remains of 236 individuals belonging to races that
lived between the end of the Old Stone Age and the beginning of the New
Stone Age were also found. These fossil men, in all 352 individuals,
have been discovered within the last hundred years. During the same
period, a little more than a century, only one human fossil has been
found in the entire continent of Asia, one in the Holy Land, and two
in Africa. Such a great preponderance in numbers clearly favours
Europe as the home of primitive man. Africa, Asia, and those parts of
Oceania formerly connected with the Asiatic continent, have borne no
such abundant evidence of man’s early presence. Both the northern and
southern continents of the New World have revealed nothing as yet that
may be accepted as representing man in his early prehistoric period.
This survey of the globe seems to limit the first appearance of man to
European regions. In this connection it should be borne in mind that
the various countries of Europe have been carefully explored in the
search for early human fossils, while in other parts of the world the
search is little more than just begun.
Northern Asia has also been regarded as likely to contain the site of
man’s birthplace. This has been the view of certain French authorities
who consider the Eskimos as the most ancient northerly race of mankind.
From this homeland there was a progressive southward migration of
primitive tribes under the influence of the severe conditions imposed
by northern glaciation. More recently attention is being directed to
central Asia as the birthplace of man. This locality was suggested long
ago by the great American scientist, Joseph Leidy, and this viewpoint
has been supported by Professor Osborn. Dr. Matthews in considering
the matter of climate and evolution discussed the origin and migratory
history of man. He believes that Asia was the centre of dispersal
for human migrations, which were among the last of great migratory
movements of animals in the history of the world. It is his opinion
that most scientists to-day would place this centre in or about the
Great Plateau of central Asia. In this region, now barren and very
sparsely inhabited, are probably the remains of civilizations more
ancient than any yet recorded. Immediately around this region and lying
upon its borders are the territories of the earliest civilizations
known to man. Chaldea, Asia Minor, and Egypt lie to the west, India to
the south, China to the east. From this central region came successive
migrations, which overflowed into Europe during prehistoric, classical,
and mediæval times. The history of India shows that similar invasions
poured down upon it from the north. Toward the east, invasions in
successive waves entered the Chinese Empire and North America by way
of Alaska, spreading southward over the two continents of the New World.
_The Top of the World_
Since his recent visit to Mongolia, Professor Osborn is strengthened in
his conviction that central Asia will prove the homeland not only of
man but of all the greater forms of mammal life. Here, he believes, in
the Gobi Desert, were the ideal surroundings for the early development
of Dawn men who were the direct ancestors of the human race. His
belief in this part of the world as the birthplace of man depends
upon certain characters in the terrain which are essential to racial
development, concerning which he reasons as follows: Man’s earliest
existence was mainly in the open either along river bottoms and river
drifts or on uplands and plateaus. Such a life developed the finest
physical qualities of the race. The earliest man could not have been a
forest-living animal. Such parts of the human race as lived in forested
lands have either been exceedingly slow in their development or have
gone backward. Thus, the South American Indians, living in the forests,
are much behind those who live in the open. Of the latter, those who
live in the uplands are further advanced than those who lived in the
river drifts. An alert, progressive race cannot develop in a forest,
and it would be impossible for such country to serve as the centre of
human radiation. Higher types of men do not develop in a lowland river
bottom country, because food is plentiful and vegetation luxurious. It
is upon the plateaus and the high uplands that life is most exacting
and calls for exertions which are most beneficial for development.
Mongolia was probably a region forested only in part, certainly not
a country of dense forests. It was a most favourable upland country
throughout the entire Age of Mammals. Here the conditions of life
were apparently ideal, and since all other indications point to Asia
as the place of man’s origin, Professor Osborn looks to Mongolia and
Tibet, which he calls the top of the world, as the most favourable
centre offered by nature for the birthplace of man. Here he has hopes
of finding our remote human ancestors. He is, however, guarded in this
view, which he feels must be treated merely as an opinion. It is not
yet a theory, but is, however, an opinion sufficiently sound to warrant
further extensive investigation. In consequence, several great Asiatic
expeditions have been sent out by the American Museum of Natural
History into the Gobi Desert. Under the leadership of Dr. Roy Chapman
Andrews this exploration was undertaken in the search for fossil men.
One of the explorers, Dr. Nels C. Nelson, soon made the remarkable
discovery that in the wide expanse of this ancient desert there had
lived, ages ago, certain people whom he called “dune dwellers of the
Gobi.” His discovery included a great collection of flint implements
of the Mousterian type, closely resembling those found in the cavern
of Le Moustier in France, and thus belonging to the Old Stone Age.
These newly discovered implements reveal the existence of man at a
much earlier period in the Gobi Desert than the Mousterian period in
Europe. Indications of an earlier Stone industry were also found in
Mongolia. Some of these ancient implements show that long ago there
were probably men living in this part of the world who belonged to the
Dawn Stone Age.
The latest evidence in favour of Asia as the home of primitive man
was supplied by a surprising fossil discovery made by Turville-Petre
(August, 1925). This new find consists of a skull of Neanderthal type,
discovered in Palestine and known as the “Galilee skull.” The rapidly
accumulating discoveries of the past three years sustain Professor
Osborn’s view that central Asia is the homeland of the human race.
He concludes that “while the anthropoid apes were luxuriating in the
forest and lowlands of Asia and Europe, the Dawn men were rising in the
invigorating atmosphere of the relatively dry plateaus of central Asia.”
_Home Surroundings Necessary to Human Evolution_
If, as a result of evolution, man took origin from lower animals,
these must of necessity have been mammals nearly like himself. They
must have borne and nursed their young as he did. Mammals other than
the primates differ so much from man that they could scarcely stand
in the direct line of his origin. How different from him are all of
the great races of hoofed animals, including the great varieties of
cattle, horses, deer, camels, giraffes, and elephants. All of these
are highly specialized and seem at once to exclude themselves even
as remote relatives of man. So it is also with the pawed animals, the
great families of dogs, cats, rats, and hares. These are definitely
quadrupeds, clearly designed to meet the issues of life upon four
legs. They fail to disclose anything resembling a near approach to
man, either in form of body or mental capacity. The winged animals
like the bats, strange specializations of the mammal kind, bear little
resemblance to the human form and offer a poor beginning from which
such a form might start. The swimming mammals, like seals, whales, and
porpoises, also exclude themselves from direct connection with the line
of man’s ancestry. In fact, all mammals must be put to one side in
considering this question, except a single remarkable group. The apes
and their kind alone bear an undeniable semblance to men both in body
and in behaviour. Many of their parts are similar to the human, such
as their hands and feet, fingers and toes all equipped with nails, as
well as their thumbs which may be held against each finger in turn.
The apes have acquired a more or less erect posture. Some of them,
called manlike apes (anthropoids), possess so many characteristics
in common with man that they alone of all animals might be regarded
as connected with the direct line of origin. If this relationship be
true, then the nature and location of man’s original homeland is of
profound significance. Wherever this place may be, it should bring into
combination two distinctly different types of home surroundings. It
should provide this combination in order that the apes might supply the
last long step by means of which man has ascended into humanity. These
two different but essential types of abode are:
1. Home surroundings favourable for ape life.
2. Home surroundings favourable to human life.
A third condition must bring these two elements into final combination.
These specialized surroundings must be relatively near together, so
that transition from one to the other may readily take place. Does
Mongolia and particularly the Gobi Desert fulfil all of these three
conditions?
According to Professor Osborn’s theory, the uplands and plateaus are
the most favourable places for human development. Such being the case,
we must also agree, then, that the forests are equally essential to
the life of apes. Only a few of these animals have adjusted themselves
to life outside of wooded country. Living in the trees, therefore,
is the existence that favours the life of the subhuman primates
(lemurs, monkeys, and apes). The forest provides the home surroundings
favourable for ape life, just as the plains afford those conditions
favourable to human life. Does such proximity of these two essentials
exist in the region of the Gobi Desert? Mongolia is not a densely
wooded country. It is a territory forested only in parts. In this light
it does not seem to be an ideal locality for the final transition from
ape to man. To explain this defect, Professor Osborn at present holds
that man in evolving had but a brief and very distant phase of tree
life. He believes that the quadrumanous arboreal stage was extremely
remote in geologic time. It was never a profound or exclusive mode
of life. There are those, on the other hand, who firmly maintain that
in this ape to man transition a long intermediate period of tree
living was necessary in order to bring about those changes in the
primate stock which laid the foundations for human existence. This
life in the trees was essential to determine the erect posture of man,
to free his hands ultimately for purposes other than locomotion; in
fact, to free them so that they might become the chief incentives in
the further development of the human brain. Even from this viewpoint,
Mongolia may still be considered the homeland of mankind. The forested
lands throughout its extent and upon its borders might well serve as
adequate surroundings for the development of life during that critical
intermediate phase when the first ancestors of men had parted company
with the apes and had at length become humans.
With many animals there has been a strong tendency to take refuge in
the trees. The chief object of this tendency was to make life more
secure either by escaping danger or by obtaining food. But with the
coming of the ape kind this arboreal habit took a somewhat new turn. It
furnished the early members of the monkey kind a permanent abode. Such
a change to a more or less fixed dwelling in the trees produced marked
modifications in the animals themselves. It created a new type of home
and developed a new kind of thoroughfare over highways in the tree
tops. In order to acquire a proper equipment for such transportation,
both fore and hind paws became grasping organs. In consequence these
animals developed four hands. They gradually gave up the older pattern
of paw and claw, and by developing a new instrument connected with
the arms and legs they acquired a supreme facility for grasping the
branches of the trees. The tail also, in some cases, acquired similar
grasping powers. Thus, as the trees became the home and the highways of
these animals, their four grasping hands and their grasping tails gave
them a mastery over the forest which they used to their own peculiar
advantages.
The forest background of their lives played an important rôle in the
molding of their behaviour. The perpetual semidarkness of their home
surroundings exerted a subtle influence upon them. It might be that
the forest in which they lived stood on the edge of a wide plain with
a clear opening from which to look into the farther distances outside.
Undoubtedly there must have been an alluring temptation in the green
plains and their inviting freedom. Yet for these tree-living animals to
venture into this open space was a hazardous undertaking. There were
many dangers lurking in the plain and over it. Fierce creatures of
every kind were there. Reptiles, mammals, and birds, all of them beasts
of prey, were lying in wait for just such an adventuresome excursion.
So for the time at least, and until they were better prepared to cope
with the enemies outside, the semidarkness was safer, even though the
view were limited and many interesting things were left unexplored.
_Effects of Tree Life_
The lemurs were probably the first of these new tree-living animals.
Their bodies were still slender and furry, their heads long and
fox-like, their eyes widely separated, and their tails long and bushy.
But in their hands and in their feet they showed the real beginning of
fingers and toes. This stage marks the transition from some lower form
of mammal to the primates (lemurs, monkeys, apes, and man). It was a
profound change, and in it the new order of primates had its origin.
The steps preceding this important one we shall consider subsequently.
But with this advance there began a period of tree living which
influenced all of these animals as they and their successors passed
through their many stages upward. The little animal known as Tarsius,
perhaps even more than the lemurs, shows the effects of these new
influences caused by tree-living habits. The monkeys of South America
reveal the manner in which the next step forward was taken. The effects
of it appear in the shape of the head, in the almost human expression
of the face, in the closer relation of the eyes to each other, and
in the shape of the nose and the position of the mouth. All of these
features prophesy the coming of the still more manlike apes. Above
everything else, these South American monkeys are conspicuous in the
history of development because of their almost human hands, and also
because of their hand-like feet. Most of the members of this group
acquired prehensile or grasping tails. With the appearance of the Old
World monkeys, this tail began to wane in importance. It lost all of
its grasping power and was reduced to much the same condition as in
other animals not of the monkey tribe. Some of the Old World apes, such
as the gibbons, developed the ability to stand and walk upright. In
addition to this erect posture these apes had passed through another
phase that brought them nearer to man. They had lost their tails.
This had come about, doubtless, from their habit of sitting upright.
The erect posture of the gibbons, however, was most important as a
forerunner of further developments in the great manlike apes, the
orang-outang, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla. These animals had grown
so large that for most of them living in the trees was a matter of
some inconvenience. It was necessary for them to come to the ground
at times, because they found it difficult to swing from tree to tree
like the smaller monkeys. Of the great manlike apes, the orang-outang
still adheres rather closely to the forest. The chimpanzee, which
has developed even greater cleverness in climbing, seeks the ground
oftener. He has learned to walk upon all fours, using the knuckles
of his hands as a support in this act. Like the orang-outang, he can
stand up quite erect and walk like a man. Finally the gorilla, the
largest of the manlike apes, often attains the size of nearly four
hundred pounds in adult life, and standing erect may reach the height
of nearly six feet. He also is able to walk upright. But the influences
of tree living are so strong even with the gorilla that he has not
yet made a good adjustment for life upon the ground. If it were not
for the prodigious strength in his great arms it would be difficult
for him to take to the trees, and he thus shows a betwixt and between
specialization, not entirely suitable for the ground and too large for
security among the trees.
All of the manlike apes are capable of standing and walking in the
upright posture, but in this posture they are awkward and inefficient.
Their awkwardness is due to the fact that the foot in all three of
them retains many characters of a hand. None of them has a good foot
for effective heel and toe walking on the ground. Yet in spite of the
handicaps in their poor feet, in spite also of their long, ungainly
arms, these apes are able to venture beyond the limits of their forest
home. Some of them live in the plains or on the mountain sides. By
their great strength they are equipped to cope with many of the dreaded
enemies outside of the forest. The orang-outang seems to have no
natural enemies because of its own great offensive power. Only two of
the larger reptiles presume even to attack it--the crocodile and the
python. According to the natives of Borneo, the orang always succeeds
in killing the crocodile through main strength by standing upon its
back and opening its jaws until he is able to tear out its throat.
It is reported that if attacked by the python, the orang seizes the
reptile with both hands, squeezing it with such force and biting it
so ferociously that the outcome of the combat is soon decided in
favour of the anthropoid. The gorilla also has conquered most of its
antagonists in the animal world, and is regarded as the most powerful
and the most dangerous brute enemy of man. All of these apes have
acquired a certain freedom in using their hands, which are thus made
available for acts of self-defense and even for a considerable degree
of exploring their surroundings.
Progress in the direction of mankind had its beginning when the
tree-living tendency of the apes began to recede. The recession of
such tree life paved the way for those first indecisive but promising
steps which took the great apes out of their ancient forest homes into
the inviting plain. Finally with the complete passing of tree life
there began that long and adventurous journey which was to lead over
every sea and into every land, until no region of the earth remained
for further conquest, until the full development of the hand and the
upright posture had more and more bent the forces of nature to the
designs of the races of man.
_Stages in Developing the Erect Posture_
The advances made toward mankind through the intermediate stepping
stones of the great apes and smaller monkey kind may be traced through
successive stages of tree life up to the time when the fully erect
posture became an accomplished fact. These stages have been recognized
as a result of exhaustive studies made by Professors Gregory and
Morton. They consist of gradual changes which finally gave rise to the
human foot. This structure permitted man at length to stand upright and
thus gave him the free use of his hands for constructive purposes.
The first stage came in the Eocene (beginning of the Age of Mammals,
about 65,000,000 years ago). At this time certain four-footed
land-living animals began to live in the trees. This arboreal life had
profound effects upon the fore and hind paws. In order to climb among
the branches a clinging grip was necessary. Long, sharp claws developed
in consequence of this requirement. The digits of the paw were short
and the palms well padded. The thumb also was short but not opposable.
As yet there was no squatting or half-sitting posture. The toes were
likewise short and clawed. The heel was lifted off the ground. The sole
was well padded and the great toe large. These four-footed animals
made only an imperfect adjustment to tree life. Their movements were
slow and their range of action correspondingly limited. The tree shrew
is a good living example of such animals, while certain fossils of
the Eocene belonging to this type have been described by Professors
Matthews and Gregory.
The second stage in developing transportation came with certain light,
lemur-like animals. They were still slow and cautious in getting
about and depended upon a clutch-like grip. This new kind of grasping
produced long digits like fingers. The toes were changed in the same
manner, so that the feet began to look more like hands. (Living
examples of this stage, _Loris_ and _Lemur potto_.)
The third stage was a more decisive advance since transportation
through the trees now combined the advantages of climbing and leaping.
Locomotion was swifter and more effective. A tendency to a partially
erect posture developed, and squatting or sitting up was tentatively
established. All of the fingers became much longer. Most of them had
finger nails, so that these animals at last possessed what might be
called a hand. Changes of the same type took place in the toes. The
thumb and the great toe became more powerful and both were opposable.
They could be brought in contact with each of the other fingers or
toes in turn. In these animals the hands were now well formed and the
feet looked much like hands. It is for these reasons that such animals
are called quadrumanous (four-handed). (Representative animals of this
stage, _Lepidolemur_ and _Notharctus_.)
The fourth stage was but a short step from leaping and climbing to
swinging from branch to branch or running along the branches. This
swinging by the hands is called brachiation. It had far-reaching
influences upon all subsequent stages. Such swinging naturally
lengthened and strengthened the arms. It produced a better grasping
grip around the branches and caused the fingers to grow longer. The
thumb did not participate in this increase of size. It actually was
reduced in strength and prominence. This is true in most of the New
World monkeys. In some of these, like the spider monkey, the thumb
has disappeared altogether. It should be remembered that most of
these animals had a prehensile tail which they used much like a
fifth hand. The foot also developed a grasping grip and looked if
anything even more like a hand than before. All of the South American
monkeys, besides their ability to swing from the limbs of trees, can
run along on the top of the branches in what is known as “pronograde”
locomotion. But their swinging propensity probably had the greatest
influence upon the final developments of transportation. It tended to
bring the body in a close approach to the upright position. Many of
the Old World monkeys sat in a semi-erect sitting posture, and from
their habit of squatting developed thick pads (ischial callosities)
over their buttocks. The leg became lengthened but was yet too much
flexed at the hip to permit of the most complete erect posture. This
stage is represented both by the New World and Old World monkeys, with
the exception of the baboons. These latter animals are an interesting
variation. They more or less deserted the old custom of living in the
trees. Their bodies and heads assumed many dog-like characters, and
they returned to a four-footed ground-living type of locomotion. In
consequence their limbs became shortened, as was also true of their
fingers and toes. All of these important changes took place in the
early part of the Oligocene (second period in the Age of Mammals,
probably 30,000,000 years ago).
The fifth stage occurred much later in this period when another
decisive advance was introduced. For one thing, the tail entirely
disappeared. The legs became more extended at the hip. Swinging from
branch to branch was the chief means of getting about. This produced
extremely long arms and hands, and because this swinging mode of
transportation was predominant it kept the trunk more and more in the
upright position. Such straightening up of the body introduced the most
positive influence toward standing erect up to this time. The legs
did not grow in proportion to the arms, and the feet retained a close
resemblance to hands. On the ground such animals as these could make
their way with considerable speed, standing upright and running much as
man runs. The only difference between this kind of gait and that of the
human was due to the great length of the arms and the poor feet.
This stage in the development of the upright posture is often seen in
motion pictures of those animals which portray this particular phase
of locomotive advance. These are the remarkable apes known as gibbons.
Those familiar with them in the zoölogical gardens, or in moving
pictures, will remember the peculiar way in which they run upright,
holding their long arms stretched out much like balancing poles. Thus
erect, they speed about in getting their food or playing with other
monkeys. Their upright gait is awkward but extremely interesting.
Once, however, they get into the trees their locomotion has all the
grace of a bird in flight. This gibbon stage of development was one
of extreme importance, since it gave the primates preceding man their
first chance to stand upon two feet and to run about in something
like human fashion. It is this stage that many authorities consider
indispensable in the final working out of the human erect posture
and human locomotion. Many students of this question also believe
that the upright posture could never have been attained unless animal
life had passed through that particular phase in the development of
transportation called brachiation. It seems certain that this stage
itself was dependent upon a preceding and extremely long period of life
in the trees.
The sixth stage developed early in the Miocene (third period of the
Age of Mammals, about 15,000,000 years ago). One of its chief factors
was a great increase in the body weight of the apes. This greater
weight caused the animals to come nearer to the ground, as is the
case of the chimpanzee and the gorilla. These animals actually spend
much time upon the ground. In consequence, it was necessary for them
to make certain transportation adjustments. Their locomotion in the
trees was still of the brachiating type--that is, they depended largely
upon their arms for swinging. The arms thus became long and powerful.
When the gorilla stands erect his hands hang below his knees. The legs
are relatively short, but the feet in consequence of living so much
on the ground look less like hands than in the lower apes. They have
well-recognized broad heels, but flat soles without much of an arch.
The lesser toes are human in appearance. They are much shortened and
have little resemblance to the fingers of a hand. The great toe is
shorter and only in a slight degree opposable. This is especially so in
the mountain gorilla, in which the great toe bears a striking likeness
to the same part in man. The flexion of the leg at the hip is somewhat
decreased and as a result the gorilla is able to stand upright in
almost human fashion. All of these changes appear, to a less degree,
in the chimpanzee also. Both gorilla and chimpanzee are able to stand
erect, to walk, and even run in this posture. Their gait, however, is
awkward. They are greatly hampered in their locomotion by the extreme
length of their arms. Usually in getting about on the ground they run
upon all fours, using their arms somewhat like crutches and coming
down at each step on the knuckles of the flexed hand. When aroused
or charging to the attack, the adult male gorilla usually stands
upright and beats its fists upon its chest, at the same time emitting
a terrifying growl. When it is necessary for the animal to make speed
in flight or for other purpose, it usually comes down upon all fours.
Arboreal locomotion in all of the three great apes still retains much
of the brachiating type. It thus requires the retention of the hands as
part of the locomotor apparatus. Tree life in the chimpanzee and the
gorilla, combined with partial use of the ground, did much to develop
the essentials of the erect posture. It did not, however, free the
hands to that extent which permitted their exclusive use for purposes
more constructive than transportation. However strong the inclination
toward life upon the ground may have been in the manlike apes, they
were committed long ago by their predecessors to a life in the trees.
This commitment still kept them true to their kind and to their simian
inheritance. If they were to be more than apes, it was necessary for
them to shed the stigma that tree life stamped upon them. This the
modern apes were never able to accomplish.
_The Parting of the Ways_
At length, however, in spite of many obstacles, the tendency toward
the erect posture found a new opening. It was the foot that led the
way to this great opportunity. It provided an efficient supporting
structure with a well-developed heel, a non-opposable great toe, and a
sole containing an effective longitudinal arch. Man could at last stand
upright and be secure upon a capable pair of feet. At some period late
in the Miocene two branches from the stock of those animals, which had
managed to get into something approaching the upright posture, parted
company. This was a critical juncture. Thenceforth one branch proceeded
one way and the other followed an entirely different course. The apes
accepted the trees as their lot. Man, because of his two human feet and
what they supported above them, acquired the earth and all it contains.
Thus with tree life a thing of the past, with a true ground-gripping
foot, with longer legs, with an actual erect posture, the hands were
finally liberated for the purposes of human success.
The development of the human foot, which must have been in progress
through vast periods of time, marks the decisive parting of the ways
between the apes and the races of men. It is doubtless true that the
specialization of the hand has been a potent influence affecting the
expansion of the brain and of brain power. The hand itself, however,
was ultimately dependent for its free and unhampered use upon the
development of the foot. This great factor was the forerunner of all
those elements in structural organization which finally brought about
the erect posture, which set the head upon the shoulders so that the
eyes might look forward and upward, and at length made it possible for
the eyes to guide the actions of the hands.
Step by step, the brain has kept pace with these progressive
alterations. Old and new parts of it alike bear the imprint of
adaptive change. The combinations determined by life in the trees and
by the development of four hands have been worked out through graded
stages, from the humblest of the monkey kind up to man. Beginning
with the lowly tarsius and lemurs, this advance may be traced through
intermediate phases to its ultimate goal in the human brain. Mongolia,
as many authorities agree, may have been the land that saw man’s
earliest beginnings. Whatever his homeland, a long period of tree life
was necessary to develop in his predecessors those specializations by
which he rose to his allotted position. It is in the tree-life part
of man’s history that we see the dawn of the primate brain; for it
was then there occurred the earliest exploits of that great order of
mammals, the primates, to which all the monkeys, the great apes, and
man belong.
CHAPTER VI
DAWN OF THE PRIMATE BRAIN
THE LOWEST OF THE MONKEY KIND
We are now approaching a critical period in the history of the brain.
It is a period that contains many incidents of the utmost importance.
Particularly noteworthy are the episodes which favoured the production
of human characteristics in the animal kingdom. These characteristics
showed many manlike tendencies that much later were to appear full
fledged in the human race. They were from the first limited to a
single, highly interesting order of mammals. And this seems especially
strange because from the beginning of the Age of Mammals (65,000,000
years ago) a great variety of new animals came into existence. The
fact that a single group out of all this vast number was picked out
to develop human resemblances must hold the secret of some potent
selective influence. Such an influence was definitely at work. Its
operations were slow but steady. Little by little it changed and
reshaped the structure of the body until at length there appeared a
race of animals so human in their organization that they might well
have been the forerunners of mankind.
It would be difficult to conceive the kind of modification in structure
that could produce the form of man from a horse, from a whale, or
even from a dog. But this difficulty becomes far less in the case of
the animals usually referred to as the monkey kind. In many features
of their structure these animals resemble men. Existing in a great
variety of forms, they manifest numerous modifications in the different
parts of their bodies and exhibit a wide range of behaviour in their
habits. Only a superficial acquaintance with them is necessary to
reveal their many progressive traits. But their progress, like all
other progress, had its humble beginnings. At first the apes were
very simple creatures. Their coming, however, marked the dawn of a
new day in animal life. We shall be interested to follow the advances
that occurred in their mental capacities as they slowly made their
progressive strides forward. We shall be particularly struck by those
changes which gradually led up to the development of a brain capable to
control all of the complex activities of human behaviour.
Naturally we may expect to find a simple controlling organ in the
lowest of the monkey kind. As we pass upward, however, into the higher
families of the apes, we shall not only observe a pronounced increase
in manlike tendencies but, as the great anthropoids at length become
human in miniature and then almost human, we shall recognize in these
animals a brain which very closely resembles that of man.
_Class Distinctions in the Monkey World_
In the ape world there are animals of high and low degree. Some are
so humble that it is hard to decide whether they actually belong to
the monkeys or not. With few exceptions they all prefer to live in the
jungles and tropical forests. We could not fail to be impressed by
the striking resemblance that many of them bear to man. Yet there are
such marked differences among them that they cannot all be regarded as
members of the same family. If we grouped them as we do human races,
we might most advantageously assign them to certain large classes
according to their nearness to man.
Monkeys of lowest degree include the lemurs, the tarsiers, and all of
the New World monkeys.
The intermediate monkeys in the next higher grade are those which live
in the Old World, with the exception of the three great manlike apes.
The higher anthropoids occupy the top rank and are the nearest to man
both in their appearance and in their habits.
These three ranks in apedom did not appear at the same time. One rank,
so to speak, successively developed from another. By a process of
selection and adjustment the higher forms arose from the lower. The
ranking great apes owe their superiority to many traits and characters
which they inherited from more humble forerunners and which they
improved by the process of progressive development. The lowest monkeys
likewise had their day of upward progress, during which they emerged
from some mammal still lower in the animal scale. These forerunners of
the earliest primates, the lemurs and tarsiers, had in all probability
been gradually specializing during the latter part of the Age of
Reptiles. Their ancestors came from that stock of mammal-like reptiles
which started from lowly beginnings and remained modestly in the
background during the reptilian period.
_The Lemurs_
In the endeavour to get some conception of these distant predecessors
of the monkeys and apes, it is believed that the tree shrews possess
those simple characters necessary for the proper starting point.
The shrew is an insect-eater and lives in the trees. It has many
specializations in its legs, in its head, and in its trunk. These
special adjustments might serve as the beginning of those important
changes in the body which later distinguished the monkey kind. In
the first place, the small size of the tree shrew was particularly
favourable for this purpose. Then, in the second place, its habit of
living in the trees foreshadowed advantages of great promise. Such an
epoch-making adjustment made its appearance when paws were replaced by
hands and when definite hand-like feet appeared. If an animal like the
tree shrew were the forerunner of the monkeys, it is not difficult to
appreciate how the lemurs arose from this stock. They and their kind
may be looked upon as the first chapter in the history of the ape world
and the ape brain. At present they live exclusively in Madagascar and
its small adjacent islands. They are not known in any other part of
the world, although fossils of them indicate that they were widespread
throughout the globe in earlier times. The reasons for their present
exclusiveness and their insular homes are not clear. Geologists claim
that the parts in which they live originally had land connection with
the continent thus permitting their wide dissemination. The later
disappearance of this connection accounts for their present isolation.
There is much in the appearance of the lemurs that distinguishes them
from the monkeys and apes. Their most distinctive feature, the head,
is much like that of a fox and is drawn out in a long pointed muzzle.
Many characters appear in lemurs not seen in monkeys. They have no
cheek pouches. Their tails, never prehensile, are usually furry. They
develop no gluteal pads, which many apes possess in consequence of
their squatting postures. It is in their hands that they resemble
monkeys most strikingly. They have fingers and toes with finger nails
and toe nails. The thumb and great toe are always well developed, but
the second or third digit is often greatly modified. They also have
mammary glands like the monkeys. In the female these glands assume
certain definitely human characters. The lemur is a little smaller than
the domestic cat. Its fur is thick and woolly. Its large and prominent
eyes are more widely separated than in monkeys. The ears are long and
have tufts of hair on their upper portions. The arms are not quite so
long as the legs. The tail is long and often bushy. Fleshy pads appear
on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, as well as upon the
palmar surface of the fingers. These enable the animal to grasp the
branch of a tree with great tenacity.
Little is known of the lemur’s habits in the wild state. It is not
strictly nocturnal, for some of these animals are known to seek their
food during the day. Often they travel about in troupes consisting of
many individuals. Most of them live in the forest. Their food consists
of fruits, insects, birds’ eggs, and birds themselves, which latter
they are most skillful in catching. During the heat of the day they
sleep with the head beneath the arm and the tail curled about the neck.
When walking they go upon the hands and feet, both when on the ground
and in the trees. The tail is used in the manner of a balancing or
steering organ. Sometimes they assume a semi-erect posture on the hind
legs, or sit in a half-crouching position. Both hands and feet are
employed primarily for climbing or running about on the ground.
The lemur has great ability in leaping from tree to tree. Its movements
are so rapid that it can only with difficulty be followed by the
eye. Hunters say that it is easier to kill a bird on the wing than a
lemur when leaping. If pursued and shot at it has a habit of dropping
suddenly from the topmost branches into the bushes, giving the hunter
the impression that he has succeeded in killing the animal. This
impression is soon dissipated upon seeing the lemur in another tree
at a considerable distance from the spot where it fell. When wild the
animals are said to subsist largely upon bananas. They also seem to be
fond of the brains of birds. After fracturing the bird’s skull with
their teeth, as they might puncture a nutshell, they suck the brain out
of the brain case. The lemur, however, does not eat the rest of the
bird. We may see from this description that this is an animal of great
agility. Not only does it possess much speed in its locomotion, but it
also manifests the utmost nicety in balancing and remarkable precision
in all movements.
_Tarsius_
Another of these lowest monkeys is a strange little animal called
tarsius, which has acquired a notable reputation. Several learned
authorities have singled it out as the standard bearer of human origin
from some lower mammal. The tarsius is about as large as a small
squirrel. Its appearance is peculiar because of its closely set bulging
eyes, its long tufted tail, its protruding ears, and the small circular
pads on the end of each finger and toe. Tarsiers have two curious
habits that attract attention at once. They can leap with astonishing
swiftness from tree to tree, often in pursuit of insects, and when they
turn their heads they seem at one instant to be looking forward and the
next directly backward. Their eyes, though very large and prominent,
do not seem to give them the best of eyesight. The animals can see
well at night, but during the day they appear to be almost stupid
because in the sunlight their vision is imperfect. Tarsius lives in
the jungle, usually in the low countries of the Malay Islands. During
the day it passes most of its time clinging in a vertical position to
the trunks of the smaller trees and underbrush. The way in which it
supports itself is interesting and peculiar. With its fingers and toes
it firmly grasps its slender support, at the same time pressing inward
with its long tail, which acts like a spring against the tree. If its
tail is pulled away from this support the tarsier at once tends to slip
backward. The tail, which has no grasping power, is used like a rudder
for balancing and steering when the animal is in motion.
In some respects tarsiers are quite human. They go about in pairs and
are not gregarious like most of the monkeys. Furthermore, they give
birth to but a single offspring at a time. After the breeding season
the female and her young find a home by themselves. There are no
indications that these animals build nests or even live in holes of
trees. The tarsier often falls asleep in its characteristic clinging
position, and the head then sinks downward much as that of an old
man asleep in his chair. Often the young tarsius will perch upon the
mother’s head while she is asleep, and in this position fall asleep
itself. The general behaviour of the animal is extremely stereotyped
and limited. It learns but little under training. In captivity it is
able to make but few new adjustments. During the day its enormous
bulging eyes give it an almost ridiculous appearance as it gropes
awkwardly for food. This no doubt is due to the fact that its eyes are
constructed for hunting at night and do not contain the specialization
essential to the sharpest kind of vision. On the ground tarsius leaps
like a frog but is very awkward. In the trees, however, it is extremely
agile, and is probably the quickest jumper of all mammals. While
grasping a small branch it can turn its head so as to look directly
backward and jump more quickly than the human eye can follow. It seems
to be looking in one direction and jumping in another. This is due
to the great rapidity with which it turns its head. In captivity it
is pugnacious and cannot be tamed. It performs its toilet much as a
cat does and thus keeps itself scrupulously clean. It is not known
to make vocal sounds indicating fear or anger. On rare occasions,
and particularly when young, it has been heard to squeak. The infant
tarsius clings to the hair of the mother’s chest like other young
monkeys. The eyes are open at birth, and many reactions appear at once
that are long delayed in such animals as the rat, cat, dog, and higher
apes.
_The Marmosets_
Another lowly monkey is the marmoset. It has less renown than tarsius
but is nevertheless an interesting animal. It is often carried
around in the pocket of its owner and fits conveniently inside of
the old-fashioned fur muff. The marmosets belong to the group of the
New World monkeys. They inhabit South America and Central America.
Their chief interest arises from the fact that they represent one of
those moments of faltering experienced by the monkeys in their upward
strivings. These little animals have an almost pathetic expression
and features that are in many ways quite human. Yet in spite of this
human-like appearance they indicate an actual backsliding in the
attempts at progress. This backsliding is most apparent in their
fingers and toes. In fact, the entire hand and foot have lost most of
their human resemblance. The finger nails are now replaced by sharp,
talon-like claws, and the toes are equipped in the same way. The
marmosets, both because of their diminutive size and the imperfections
in their hands and feet, are now looked upon as monkeys that show signs
of retrogression.
The marmoset is as large as a small squirrel and covered with a thick,
silky fur. It is naturally very timid but soon becomes friendly to
those with whom it is familiar in captivity. The female produces
two or three young at a birth and in this respect is unlike most of
the monkeys. The marmoset’s facial appearance and shape of head are
certainly more ape-like than the lemur’s. The eyes are set much closer
together, and are separated by a flat, narrow nose suggesting that
vision now depends on the simultaneous operation of both eyes. The
animal has a long, bushy tail. It lives in the tree tops or small
underbrush and climbs the trees in a manner similar to the squirrel.
Although it has a cat-like agility, it does not make the long and
daring leaps characteristic both of lemur and tarsius. It often loses
its grip on the branches and falls from a considerable height to
the ground. In captivity it shows little inclination to develop new
actions. It is not easily trained, and to teach it to do tricks of any
kind is most difficult. It lives upon worms, insects, and fruit. It is
known also to invade birds’ nests and suck the eggs. Very rarely does
it prey upon bird life and then only when it is able to overpower one
of the smaller birds or unprotected young.
_South American Howling Monkeys_
In this group of lower monkeys we encounter one with a highly
interesting personality, known as the “red howling monkey of South
America.” He is a real monkey, noisy and disagreeable, often attaining
the size of a fox-terrier. He always seems to be in an unpleasant
mood, showing his teeth and howling on the slightest provocation. In
spite of all this ill temper, he belongs to the progressive party
of the monkeys. There is not the slightest doubt that he has made
definite advances along the lines of progress. If we should question
this progress we would soon have our doubts set at rest when we saw
the astonishing manner in which he uses his tail like a fifth hand.
Even more convincing in this respect is the almost human appearance of
his hands. Not long ago a young woman visiting the ape house in the
zoölogical gardens was struck by these human similarities. She was
still more impressed when a large howling monkey thrust his long tail
through the bars and deftly tossed her hat into the air.
The howling monkeys enjoy this gift of a capable, grasping tail in
common with most of their fellows who live in South America. The
prehensile tail is especially well developed in the spider monkeys
and in the woolly monkeys. At its end this tail looks like a long,
tapering finger. It is a highly developed sense organ and gives the
monkey a new instrument for locomotion and for exploring. These monkeys
are able to swing themselves from the branches by their tails and thus
leave the hands and feet free for other purposes.
In addition to this highly efficient tail, the howlers have developed
a larynx and vocal cords with which they produce awe-inspiring sounds.
Their mournful howlings are often audible for miles around, and it
is supposed that they employ their cries as a means of defense to
intimidate their enemies. The howling monkeys possess a slightly
opposable thumb and well-developed fingers. While they are described as
being the most ferocious of the South American monkeys, they are also
credited with a low degree of intelligence. The face of this monkey is
naked with the exception of a heavy beard that hangs beneath the chin.
In captivity they are practically untamable and soon die. Their fur is
usually black, but in some cases is brown or reddish brown. They live
largely upon fruit, although like other South American monkeys they
feed upon caterpillars and insects.
_Measuring the Mentality of New World Monkeys_
Professor Thorndike, of Columbia University, has made careful studies
concerning the behaviour of several South American monkeys. He was
chiefly interested in the manner in which monkeys differ from other
animals in the mental capacities and methods of learning. In making his
tests he devised certain experiments which utilized boxes with pegs,
bolts, bars, and hooks. The object of these tests was to find out how
the animal learned to release itself from confinement, or gain access
to a goal containing food. Professor Thorndike concluded that these
monkeys did not learn by reasoning. They do, however, form more and a
greater variety of associations than other mammals. Their combinations
of this kind are remarkably slow and ineffectual in providing any new
behavioural accomplishment. Concerning the general mental development
of the South American monkeys, Dr. Thorndike believes that they
represent a certain advance from the generalized type of mammals
toward man. This is particularly true of their sense equipment and
their localized vision. All of this, he believes, is in reality an
advance due to the brain acting with increased delicacy and bringing
into line those activities which distinguish human mental faculty from
that of all other animals. Here, at length, among the lower monkeys is
well-attested proof of some progress toward the development of human
capacity.
_Monkey Behaviour_
The way in which these lower members of the monkey kind behave deserves
particular attention. It gives us the opportunity to observe certain
striking resemblances to our own human behaviour. This question
is one of primary importance. It acquires especial interest as we
compare the brains of the monkeys and apes one with another. As the
brain continues to improve from one stage to the next, we should be
on the lookout for new developments in behaviour. It might perhaps
be impossible to appreciate all of these minute changes among the
monkey kind. It is even somewhat questionable whether such an exact
comparison at the present time is necessary or possible. Yet there
are certain outstanding traits of conduct that may be easily traced
from stage to stage. One of the most important of these traits depends
upon the development of the tail from the time when it first acted as
a rudder-like organ for steering and balancing the animal until it
acquired all of its great facilities as a fifth hand. After this it
began to recede in importance and finally disappeared. The tail thus
created a special cycle of behaviour which had important bearing upon
the final outcome of man’s adjustment.
Another group of reactions centre upon the manner in which the hand
made its appearance, including the progressive changes in behaviour
when the monkeys first became four-handed. All of these changes
were dependent upon living in the trees and gradually found their
culmination in an animal that could stand upon two feet and use its
hands. Such usage as this foretold the beginning of human skill, of
human right-handedness, and of human speech.
Very important were the changes in behaviour that made their appearance
as the eyes worked more in harmony with each other. They produced a
kind of vision better able to guide the movements of the hand and
give more complete information concerning distance, direction,
and perspective. But far exceeding all other changes for getting a
better control over the surroundings were those progressive advances
introduced for making the fullest combinations of sense impressions.
These advances favoured the development of better powers for learning
and for profiting from experience. Progress in all of these particulars
concerning the behaviour of the monkeys may be clearly traced in
corresponding expansions in their brains.
_Brains of the Lower Monkeys_
In the brains of these four very simple members of the monkey kind
we may readily see the expansions that promoted development in the
governing organ. It will be apparent at a glance that progress followed
no direct or easy path. It met many rebuffs and obstacles. Often it
faltered and even stumbled. But struggling on it finally reached solid
ground and then went forward to real advances.
Placing the brains of the lemur, tarsius, marmoset, and howling monkey
side by side we may see how this progress began. To guide our way in
following this advance, certain signposts and milestones will prove
serviceable. Three of these landmarks are deep grooves or clefts. They
appear in the superbrain and indicate the places in which progress has
been particularly active. Around these grooves the outer covering of
the superbrain has been folded to make room for more brain cells. This
folding produces convolutions with the result that the more convoluted
a brain is, the more cells it has for the development of brain power.
Each of these three grooves has its own special meaning as a landmark:
1. The “Sylvian groove” is a fissure that runs between the department
for the sense of hearing, called the “temporal lobe,” and the
department for body and contact sense, called the “parietal lobe.”
2. The “central groove” is a fissure between the department for body
and contact senses and the department of supreme brain activity, called
the “frontal lobe.” This lobe of the brain is situated immediately
above the eyes and behind the bone of the forehead (frontal bone). A
small frontal lobe means a low brow with a correspondingly inferior
mentality. As this lobe of the brain increases from ape to man, the
forehead gradually becomes higher and more prominent.
3. The “ape groove” separates the occipital lobe in the back of the
head from the parietal lobe. In the occipital lobe is situated the
department for sight.
The three grooves form the boundary lines between the four chief
departments of the superbrain, each of which is known as a lobe;
namely, (1) the parietal lobe, department of body and contact senses;
(2) the temporal lobe, department of hearing; (3) the occipital lobe,
department of sight; and (4) the frontal lobe, department of the high
mental faculties like judgment and reason.
Further advances from this point will occupy our attention in tracing
the brain of the monkey kind upward. Two other landmarks in the
brain have special value. One of them is the bridge (pons) which
connects the larger brain (cerebral hemispheres) with the lesser
brain (cerebellum). This lesser brain acts as the chief muscle timer
and adjuster. It balances one muscle’s action to that of another and
adjusts the force of such action. All of our most exact movements,
whether in walking or writing or speaking, depend upon the little
brain. If it is injured or destroyed the movements of our hands and
feet, head and trunk, become shaky, unsteady, and very irregular. For
an animal to become highly skillful requires high development in the
little brain. The animal having the highest intelligence also possesses
the greatest capacity for skill in its actions. The size of the bridge
reflecting the degree of this skill is a good index of the intelligence
possessed by the animal.
The pyramid is another important indicator of progress. Like the
bridge, it is found on the base of the brain. It is called pyramid
because of its somewhat pyramidal shape. It acts as the main trunk
line for getting the orders of the superbrain out to the muscles.
It transmits, so to speak, the highest commands of the brain in
controlling the motor machinery. By means of it we act according to the
dictates of our wills. If both of these great pyramidal trunk lines
are interrupted, we become completely paralyzed. The pyramids conduct
the highest output of the brain’s activity and increase in direct
proportion as the animal’s behaviour becomes more and more complex.
The brains of low monkeys are of small size: lemur, 18 grams; tarsius,
6 grams; marmoset, 6.2 grams; and howling monkey, 24.5 grams.
Size and weight of brain, we must bear in mind, vary to a considerable
degree with the size of the body, so that certain other signs of
expansion in the brain are more impressive. These signs clearly
indicate that progress is under way as follows: First, the large
superbrain begins to cover over the lesser brain. In lemur this
extension backward has only just begun. It is only slightly more
marked than in many of the lower animals, like the cat and the dog.
In tarsius the large brain has extended backward over the lesser
brain to a considerably greater degree. This is an important change
because the tarsier has transferred much of its business of sight to a
new department in the occipital lobe of the superbrain. The marmoset
shows this transfer carried a little farther, for the large brain now
overhangs the lesser brain. The great advance shown in the howling
monkey reveals the way in which the superbrain has taken complete
control of the situation. It now covers over the lesser brain entirely.
All of this change in the superbrain has been mainly in the interest of
making a better department for sight, but the departments for the sense
of hearing and for body and contact senses have not been behindhand in
expanding in these lower monkeys.
Another pronounced sign of progress is the gradual change in the
position of the groove of Sylvius. In lemur it is almost vertical,
as in the cat, in the dog, and other lower mammals. The arrangement
of other smaller grooves around it is also similar to that in lower
animals. In the tarsius this groove is equally primitive. It is
beginning to tip backward a little in marmoset. Finally, in the howling
monkey this groove has become quite oblique, as it is in most of the
apes and man.
All of this change has occurred as a direct result of perfecting the
organization in the department of hearing. The more tilted the Sylvian
groove becomes, the better developed is the temporal lobe which carries
on the business of hearing. The tilting backward of this groove also
results from an increase in that part of the superbrain which lies
immediately about the groove. This is the parietal lobe, the department
of contact and body sense. It is in this department that the especially
important information concerning the movements in the hands and feet
is registered. Thus the tilting backward of the Sylvian groove plainly
tells the story of improvements in the departments of hearing and of
body and contact sense.
Still another sign of progress appears in the central groove, which
has an equally interesting history. In the lemur this groove is just
discernible as a faint dent. In position it resembles a corresponding
groove in animals like the cat and dog. Lemur in this respect suggests
that in its striving to part company with the lower animals, to break
away from ancient contacts, and to get on an independent new line of
its own, it has not been entirely successful. This central groove
shows where the chief department of the superbrain begins, that is,
the frontal lobe. In the lemur this department is poorly developed.
In tarsius it is impossible to find anything that looks like a central
groove. This animal’s brain is an example of some of that hesitation
which was encountered in the path of progress. The same faltering
is also seen in the brain of marmoset, which has no central groove
whatsoever. These little South American animals, it must be remembered,
are thought to be backsliders, and this particular defect in their
brain strongly supports that conclusion.
In the brain of the howling monkey we find the central groove now
well developed. The superbrain shows that it is at length pursuing
some definite policy of expansion in its most responsible department.
Emphasis in growth is now obviously given to the frontal lobe for
advancing the capacity to transact all higher mental faculties. In the
howling monkey this department may not have attained any high degree of
development, but its presence is undoubted, and from this relatively
simple beginning it is only a matter of further expansion to bring
into existence the most productive mechanism of the brain. The howling
monkey shows its superiority over all lower monkeys in another respect.
It has developed the ape groove, and by it the boundary between the
department of sight and the department for body and contact sense is
fully established.
Viewed as a whole, the brains of these four lower monkeys show distinct
progress in the interests of developing a more efficient superbrain.
Each of the sense departments has gradually become better defined in
its boundaries, and doubtless correspondingly better organized for
the administration of its duties. Rising supreme above them all there
finally appeared the controlling department of the chief executive
in the frontal lobe. We see this in its earliest stage in lemur. It
assumes still more importance in the howling monkey. The departments of
sight (occipital lobe), of hearing (temporal lobe), of body and contact
sense (parietal lobe), show the effects of steady improvement from
lemur up to the howling monkey. If there have been some hesitations,
even some slipping back in the organization of efficiency, it is
because some of these animals were rather uncertain disciples of
progress. They may have been, as is probably true of tarsius, too
close to the starting point where the real advances of the monkey kind
began; or perhaps, like the marmosets, they ran into early difficulties
along the upward climb. It seems probable that they were not able to
extricate themselves with credit from these hazards or to overcome
the obstacles that confronted them. For this reason their brain shows
some actual backwardness. With these exceptions, however, the evidence
of progress is undisputed. It seems sufficient to convince the most
sceptical. The purpose of the progress is also sufficiently plain. It
clearly appears to be that effort toward promoting organization in
the superbrain so that the offices of the supreme executive might be
established in the permanent quarters of the frontal lobe.
_Measurable Improvements_
Any doubts due to lack of measurable proofs may be easily overcome
by several comparative measurements of the bridge and the pyramid.
The size of these structures, both of which reveal the behavioural
capacities of animals, has been carefully estimated. Accordingly the
bridge has been assigned the following values: lemur, .055; tarsius,
.057; marmoset, .095; howling monkey, .103. Thus the bridge, called
by some authorities an index of intelligence, shows distinctly the
advances made among these simple monkeys.
Quite as striking are the figures for the pyramid, which indicate the
degree of voluntary control that the superbrain has over all actions:
lemur, .110; tarsius, .032; marmoset, .064; howling monkey, .137.
From these figures the howling monkey stands in advance of his monkey
associates in the index of his voluntary control. Doubtless much of
this advantage is due to the high degree of hand-like specialization
in this animal’s hands and feet. But the grasping tail of the howling
monkey should not be overlooked. If tarsius and the marmoset appear to
stand lower than the lemur, it is because one of them is a primitive
type of animal with a much restricted repertoire of reactions, and the
other, the marmoset, is a backslider less richly endowed in the more
effective motor capacities.
All of these features in the brain seem to coincide with progress
in the behaviour of the lower monkeys. They show the path which
progressive advance has pursued. In the beginning, emerging from those
strivings of lower mammals and with much of the mammalian heritage
handed down by them, the lemurs took the first step of the monkey kind
toward a new type of brain. There was prophecy in these early attempts
made by the lemur. In some degree at least they foretold what this new
kind of brain was to be. Obviously they had as their distant mark the
ultimate upbuilding of the superbrain until an adequate department for
the supreme executive of life was produced. If tarsius hesitated in
reaching out toward this objective, it was none the less travelling in
the right direction. The destination of this course was clearly visible
in the brain of the howling monkey and other similar monkeys of the
New World. In this manner the first primate steps toward a more highly
efficient type of brain were taken. The conditions of tree life both
incited and successfully urged them onward.
CHAPTER VII
ON THE WAY UPWARD
BRAINS OF THE OLD WORLD MONKEYS
We have seen that the first steps leading to improvements in the
primate brain were taken by certain humble creatures living in distant
parts of the earth, and by the great tribes of the New World monkeys
inhabiting South America and Central America. These steps did not lead
far along the path of progress. They were only a beginning, the first
harbingers of man’s arrival. Many lowly animals in the ape house at the
zoölogical gardens reveal numerous features suggestive of the human
being. Such features not only include their fingers, finger nails, toes
and toe nails, but even more their facial appearance. Many of these
monkeys look like diminutive old men. They snarl and show their teeth
when angry. Their way of indicating displeasure is almost human. They
make certain expressive gestures, like nodding or tilting of the head
to one side in a quizzical or even pathetic manner. They make plaintive
cries or sounds, in some cases almost like the notes of a bird, or they
scream out loudly in anger. All of these New World monkeys are notable
for one other reason. They do not make any of those humorous grimaces
that are so amusing in the Old World monkeys. These latter manifest a
certain drollness in their constantly changing facial expression.
The Old World monkeys include about three quarters of all living
species. They are embraced in one great family, but the members of this
family show many differences ranging from the huge dog-faced baboon to
the small bonnet monkey. Some of them are gentle and affectionate, some
are savage, pugnacious, and treacherous. This entire family is spread
out over the hot or semitropical regions of the world. Many of its
members live in the damp, tropical forests; others prefer rocky, almost
barren country, and a few seek their homes in temperate climates. Some
monkeys are found among the lower ranges of the Himalayas and may be
seen in the winters playing among the branches of snow-laden trees. Two
varieties seem to have a surprising endurance in really severe cold.
They inhabit the elevated regions of eastern Tibet.
In picturing to ourselves the characteristics of a monkey we are apt
to have the conception of an animal that can hold on and hang by its
tail. None of the Old World monkeys has this kind of tail. The greatest
number of them live in the trees, and the tail, while generally short
and stumpy, in some cases is decorative and almost plume-like. Most of
the Old World tribes are especially interesting and amusing because of
a large elastic pouch in each cheek. This pouch the monkey greedily
crams with food in his haste to get his meal into safe-keeping. When
the cheek pouches are filled both cheeks are bulged out and give the
animal somewhat the appearance of a gourmand embarrassed by a mouthful
of delicacies. Later on, at his leisure, the monkey chews and swallows
the food.
_Baboons_
By far the largest of the Old World monkeys are the baboons. They may
be recognized at once by three characteristics. The head and face look
much more like those of a dog than is true of other monkeys. They have
long and dangerous fangs in the upper and lower jaws. They go about,
like most four-legged animals, upon hands and feet which have much the
appearance of paws.
Further acquaintance with the baboon shows him to be a surly,
unmannerly, savage, and thoroughly undependable creature. All of his
tribes have fleshy pads over the buttocks, which in some cases are
large and brilliantly coloured. Some members of his clans, such as
the mandrill, have faces which look like gruesome masks or hideously
painted savages. The skin over the nose is a fiery red, while the
cheeks are swollen, ribbed, and of a vivid blue colour. A beard of
golden hue hangs beneath the chin in contrast to the dull olive drab
of the body. Protruding over the lips are savage canine teeth, long
and dagger-like. These baboons are about as large as a good-sized
dog. The colouring of the face adds considerably to the repulsive
unattractiveness of the animal. They run along on their hands and feet,
with their eyes directed downward, so that they are obliged to elevate
the large overhanging eyebrows in order to look upward and forward.
They go about with the palms of the hand and soles of the feet laid
flat upon the ground. The mother is often seen walking or scampering
around with a young baboon clinging to her back. Sometimes the mother
will sit up on top of a rock just like a human being. Her offspring
often perches on her neck after the fashion of a well-trained acrobat.
All of these monkeys are gregarious. They travel about in large
numbers. Often as many as a hundred individuals collect in one herd.
Because of their aggressive disposition, they are dangerous enemies,
especially when irritated or disturbed. Their long, sharply pointed,
canine teeth are capable of inflicting severe wounds. Although they
have no actual speech, they utter certain sounds that seem to be
thoroughly understood by all members of the herd. There is quite a
variety in these sounds. Some of them resemble barks, grunts, or
even screams. Often they make low and subdued murmurs with various
inflections, the meaning of which all the baboons seem to understand
immediately. Sometimes the slightest murmur from one of the members of
the herd will act as a signal or warning. This is particularly true
when the baboons are out on an expedition of pillage or mischief.
On such occasions they always station a lookout or outpost at some
favourable point from which the signal may be given upon the approach
of danger. The faintest murmur made by one of these lookouts will start
the marauding baboons scampering away to safety.
_Disposition of Baboons_
For the most part they live in rocky places near ravines, crags, or
hilly promontories where grass and trees are scanty. Their favourite
abodes are usually places surrounded by wide plains. This kind of home
enables them to lie in wait for the right moment to perpetrate some
thieving expedition upon a garden or field and at the same time to have
every opportunity of escape. They are much given to mischief of this
kind. Consequently they are feared and despised by the inhabitants of
the country which they infest. If attacked, they often turn upon their
pursuers and inflict serious wounds upon their assailants. Some baboons
prefer to live in the dense forest and climb readily about even in the
tallest trees. Those that live in more open country are very agile
in clambering among the rocks and are able to reach lofty heights or
positions of safety. The baboon eats a little of everything, although
its chief diet consists of roots, fruits, reptiles, and insects.
To procure their food they are continually searching, turning over
stones beneath which the desired food may be concealed. When young the
baboon is often quite gentle and affectionate, but with most of them
this disposition changes when they grow up. In captivity baboons are
surly and unfriendly. Even those born and reared in captivity are more
difficult to approach and teach than other apes. They are vindictive
and treacherous. Their disagreeable dispositions accord well with
their unpleasant and often repulsive facial expressions. Their savage
reactions and lack of intelligence have earned for them the reputation
of being the lowest of the Old World monkeys. Baboons seldom assume
the erect position for standing or walking. They do, however, sit upon
their haunches in a somewhat crouched position, but not so freely as
many other Old World monkeys. They all live in Africa, with a slight
extension into Arabia. It is well that these animals never grew to the
size of the great apes, for had they done so they certainly would have
been among the most dreaded and frightful creatures ever known on earth.
Dr. Ditmars, who has spent much time in observing monkeys, reports
many interesting studies and experiments concerning their behaviour.
Apparently the habit of throwing missiles when enraged is not uncommon
among baboons. Any angry monkey may in its rage grasp and hurl an
object such as a drinking pan, but there is usually no accuracy in
its aim or intention in its act other than an expression of irritated
feelings. None of the monkeys has ever been known to use a stick or a
club in attacking others or defending itself. Although the throwing
of missiles is almost unknown among monkeys, the baboon marks an
exception. As an instance, one day Dr. Ditmars found the visitors to
the ape house almost in a panic, due to the savage behaviour of a
big yellow baboon. A part of the cement had fallen out of the wall
of his cage and broken up into sharp pieces. These pieces the baboon
was hurling at the visitors through the bars in a most deliberately
offensive manner and with effective aim. The crowd in consequence had
retreated to various points of safety. Later a shovelful of coal was
placed in the cage of this same baboon. The pieces of coal he also used
as missiles, throwing them with calculating aim at the keeper and other
attendants. The baboon seems to have an excellent throwing arm, and
Dr. Ditmars credits him with good control and much speed. During this
experiment a baboon of a different species acted in precisely the same
way. In both of these animals their pitching capacity was demonstrated
without any previous practice or instruction, and from these
observations it would appear that baboons are natural-born pitchers.
_Macacus, the Indian Monkey_
Another one of the Old World monkeys, the macacus, shows a different
side of the picture. He is more friendly, more gentle, more full of
fun, and forever up to some sort of monkeyshines. Many of these monkeys
live in India. Mr. Kipling has described them in his famous “Road Song
of the Bandar-Log”:
Jabber it quickly and all together!
Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!
Now we are talking just like men.
Let’s pretend we are ... never mind,
_Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!_
These monkeys have their homes throughout the Indo-Malayan regions.
They extend northward into China and Japan and eastward into Tibet. The
macaques have a stout body and a proportionately large head. There is
considerable variation in the tail, which ranges from a long, sweeping,
plume-like appendage with a tuft at the tip, as in the lion macaque,
to a thick, stubby tail much like that of a dog which has been docked.
The pigtail monkey has a curled appendage. One of the macaques of
Japan has a mere stump, while the Barbary ape has no tail at all. The
macaques are the typical monkeys about which most of the favourite
stories concerning the ape kind have had their origin. Their enormous
cheek pouches, their facial grimaces, and the motion of their lips
make them unusually fascinating to watch. They are extremely noisy,
jabbering most of the time. They seem to have an extensive vocabulary
of sounds, consisting of shrill calls, grunts, low mutterings, barks,
chattering noises, and almost ear-splitting yells, which they emit
in moments of rage. They are playful and quarrelsome, and these two
phases of their behaviour pass without sharp line one into the other.
They never become involved in serious combats because they seldom
remain at one thing long enough to be effectual fighters. In their
quarters at feeding time they usually make a real pandemonium in their
frenzied efforts to stuff their cheek pouches as full as they can.
They have absolutely no consideration or courtesy on these occasions.
Their table manners are not only rough but actually ruthless, and the
most delicious morsels go to the strongest. The weak, the young, and
the female obtain what is left or go without. These monkeys are often
docile and affectionate. They make the most amusing kind of pets. No
animal is more mischievous or more destructive about a home where there
is anything within reach to break. Sometimes when they grow up they
develop the unpleasant tendency of being too strictly a one-man animal.
To protect their owner against an imaginary danger they will often
attack strangers or visitors.
_Behaviour of Macacus_
The head of the macaque is much less dog-shaped than that of the
baboon. The eyes are set closely together, and the animal sits on its
haunches a good deal of the time holding its head upright, so that
the eyes are directed forward. Its posture in sitting is quite human,
while its attentive gaze gives the impression that it is watching
intelligently all that is going on. Its nose is short and has a fairly
good nasal bridge. The lips are thin and the upper one is particularly
long. The hands and feet closely resemble human hands, except that the
palm is not so broad, the fingers are longer, and the thumb shorter.
In its movements the macaque is remarkably deft. It changes from one
position to another with surprising swiftness. These monkeys go about
in herds, often of considerable size. If captured young the animal is
easily trained and quickly learns many amusing tricks. It is full of
mischief and curiosity. Macacus monkeys frequently become a nuisance
in the neighbourhood of towns where they live in large numbers. When
full grown they are sometimes quite ill tempered and often savage even
to the extent of attacking the inhabitants without much provocation.
For the most part they live in cultivated tracts along the banks of
streams. They seem to seek rather than avoid the habitations of
man. They manifest little fear for their human neighbours and take
a real delight in molesting them by many annoying pranks. Sometimes
their attentions are vigorously resented and their human neighbours
turn upon them. Their behaviour on such occasions is like that of
tantalizing small boys who take an almost idiotic delight in the
vain efforts of their pursuers to overtake them, and continue their
aggravating antics in order to prolong the excitement of the futile
pursuit. If one happens to be captured, a number of them will turn
back to take the part of the unfortunate captive. In their native
haunts they are constantly on the move. Repose is totally foreign to
their daily programme. Scampering, swinging, chattering, screaming,
they go among the trees all day long. Either their actions are without
design, or else their purpose changes so rapidly and frequently that
their behaviour has the appearance of ceaseless motion. When together
they are very quarrelsome, constantly nagging or teasing each other,
but here, as in all of their activities, the object of their anger,
the victim of their jest, is as quickly shifted as their fleeting
attention. Having no fear of the water, they are able to swim for long
distances and greatly enjoy it. They feed upon spiders and many other
insects, besides fruits and berries. As compared with the baboon, they
show a greater mental alertness.
_Mental Tests_
Considerable psychological study has been made of the macaques,
particularly concerning their ability to learn and their mentality.
Dr. Kinnaman, who has made some of these studies, believes that they
have attained a higher level of intelligence than that ascribed to
the New World monkeys by Professor Thorndike. He thinks there is some
evidence that the macaques have powers of reasoning, although of a low
order. Dr. Hobhouse agrees with this view and adds that the macacus
monkey seems to be possessed of definite ideas. Professor Yerkes,
after a longer and more systematic study with experimental methods
better suited to the problem, agrees with Professor Thorndike that the
macacus may have a certain number of limited ideas. It is clear to him
also that there are extreme differences in the mentality of different
species of monkeys. The slow process which they display in the solution
of problems is quite surprising, in many instances being actually less
rapid than in some of the lower mammals.
One question is certain to arise at this point: How do the Old World
monkeys compare in mentality with lemur and tarsius and with the
monkeys of the New World? Perhaps the best answer to this question may
be obtained by watching the actions of these different animals in their
cages at the zoölogical gardens. Looking at a lemur as he jumps about
restlessly among the supports of his cage, it is quickly concluded that
this animal, not unlike a diminutive fox, is interesting only because
of his remarkable agility. Tarsius would probably not be found in
most zoölogical gardens because these animals do not survive long in
captivity. The marmosets would attract little more attention than the
lemurs, not only because of their small size, but also because of their
lack of interesting reactions. Howling monkeys, spider monkeys, and
woolly monkeys are more interesting because of the remarkable way in
which they use their tails like a fifth hand. Their facial expression
and their general behaviour, however, are somewhat monotonous.
The Old World monkeys, especially the macaques, hold the attention and
create a real interest. Here is to be seen a busy world of jabbering,
mischievous, tricky, athletic monkeys whose antics easily rival the
best of human clowning. There can be no doubt that these Old World
monkeys are on a higher mental plane than those of the New World.
The main fault to be found with them is that they never get anything
really done, except perhaps filling the pouches in their cheeks just
as full as they can. Even the grouchy baboons show some signs of
better mental powers than the South American monkeys. They have a
thoroughgoing hostility for their human contemporaries which they have
never changed, and their powers of organized banditry show a degree of
mental capacity that is foreign to the lower monkeys. This capacity we
should consider all the more noteworthy because the baboon manifests
a distinct tendency to lose some of the benefits derived from living
in the trees. It almost seems as though, to a certain extent, it had
retrograded. This retrogression appears in the fact that many of the
baboon’s characteristics are less ape-like and more dog-like than
other Old World monkeys and also because its hands and feet seem to
be specialized more in the direction of paws. Yet, in spite of this
backsliding on the part of the baboon, the monkeys of the Old World are
as a whole eminently more efficient in their actions and capacities
than any of the New World monkeys, the lemurs or tarsiers.
_Brains of the Old World Monkeys_
A question may arise concerning the relation in point of time which the
Old World monkeys bear to those of the New World. All of the evidence
supplied by fossils indicates that lemurs and tarsiers, as well as
the monkeys of South America and Central America, came into existence
long before those species which inhabit Africa and Asia. According to
most reliable records, the monkeys had their start some time early in
the Age of Mammals. It is correct, therefore, to look upon the Old
World monkeys as a later and higher stage of development in apedom.
This conclusion is borne out when we view the brains of the macaque
and the baboon. In this comparison we may be able to detect many signs
indicating improvements in the brain; in fact, all doubts may be set at
rest concerning the superiority of Old World monkeys.
If we look at the baboon’s brain we are impressed by the fact that it
has many more grooves and many more convolutions than the brain of the
South American monkey. The convolutions and the grooves of the brain
indicate the amount of cell space which the superbrain provides for
developing brain power. As between the baboon and the macaque, the
difference in this respect somewhat favours the former. This difference
is small and may perhaps be discounted by the fact that in macacus
the grooves have a slightly more advanced arrangement in consequence
of which certain departments of the superbrain show more progressive
tendencies than in the baboon. This is particularly true of the
department of hearing (temporal lobe) and the department of body and
contact senses (parietal lobe). Comparing the groove of Sylvius, whose
general angle furnishes such an important standard in rating a brain,
there is more of a backward tilting seen in this groove of the macaque
than in the baboon. Such an inclination is characteristic of higher
races. The central groove appears to be about on a par in both brains,
and the ape groove is likewise well developed both in the macaque and
the baboon. These three great boundary lines separate the four major
lobes of the superbrain. The department of sight in the occipital
lobe in macacus has no real advantage over the corresponding area in
the baboon. As already noted, the departments of hearing and of body
and contact sense are better organized and somewhat more expansive in
macacus than in baboon. But when we come to the preëminent part of
the superbrain, that portion in which the chief executive function is
located, namely, the frontal lobe, the baboon actually seems to have
some real advantage. Recalling the ugly disposition and ferocious
nature of this animal, we may question why he is superior in this
highest part of his brain to the lively and humorous little macaque.
It is unfortunate that we have not as yet any good psychological
studies of the baboon by which we may compare him with his more nimble
associates. Doubtless it is the disagreeable nature and uncompromising
aversion which the baboon has for mankind that make it so difficult to
estimate him psychologically. Yet there may be something of an enviable
consistency in the baboon’s aversion to man that implies a better type
of mental power than one might infer from the jabbering, ceaseless
activities of the macacus and all of the other bandar-logs. Some
explanation of this sort must at present suffice until we are possessed
of better standards for psychological comparison.
The two important structures on the base of the brain furnish a
definite idea of an animal’s rating. Accepting their evidence, it
appears at once that the bridge (_pons_) bears out our previous
observations concerning the powers of the superbrain. This evidence
gives the baboon a higher standing in intelligence than the macacus.
The value assigned to the bridge in the baboon is .164, while in the
macacus it is .150. This contrast gives an interesting corroborative
estimate of the superior mental powers of the baboon. From the figures
indicating the relative size of the pyramid, it would seem that the
macacus is somewhat more richly supplied in his variety of skillful
movements than the baboon. The figure in macacus is .147 and baboon
.143. While this is not a marked difference, it seems to indicate an
advantage probably derived from the more nimble and acrobatic actions
of the macacus. This animal has acquired a more highly efficient
mastery of tree life as compared with the more sluggish tendencies of
baboons, most of which prefer to live upon the ground and go about
like other four-legged animals. These contrasts between the Old World
monkeys are interesting for what they show in themselves. They give
rise to many questions which we would be glad to see answered by more
exact and extensive study. The reasons why the baboon or the macacus
should be endowed with superior qualities in one particular or another,
or why there should be corresponding improvements in the brain, are not
clear. There can be no doubt, however, that in the Old World monkeys as
a whole both behaviour and brain are in many respects superior to the
monkeys of the New World. We cannot fail to discern the special points
of this superiority in the brain. It seems impossible to avoid the
conclusion that when the Old World monkeys made their appearance they
definitely advanced the cause of progressive improvement and that from
this progress the brain profited as much as or even more than any other
part.
Turning back for a moment to the brains of the New World monkeys
and comparing them with those of the Old World group, we will find
sufficient evidence to convince us that the chief organ of the body was
surely on the way upward, and that the first humble steps taken by the
earliest members of monkey kind had been supplemented by further and
bold advances.
CHAPTER VIII
MANLIKE TENDENCIES
BRAINS OF GIBBON AND ORANG-OUTANG
There is little about the Old World monkeys, either in their mode
of life or in their appearance, to inspire respect or confidence.
The savage fierceness of the baboon, the mischievous nonsense of the
macaque, seem like flimsy foundations upon which to build a race
of intelligent human beings. When these animals first made their
appearance they were but vague foreshadowers of what mankind might
be. It is not alone their form and structure that interests us; their
actions, habits, and behaviour must be carefully studied at the same
time.
_The Anthropoid Gibbon_
Had the human eye been able to observe all that transpired in the early
days of the monkey kind, it would have been difficult to believe that
a race of men was in the making. It would have seemed incredible that
from these chattering, restless monkeys change and modification could
eventually bring forth that development necessary for the human form.
And yet in the course of time changes of this kind did bring into
existence an ape which bore a much closer resemblance to man. It was
then possible to foresee how, from this new kind of animal, certain
human features might be derived. This particular member of the ape
world is the gibbon. All of his tendencies make him somewhat shy and
inconspicuous. At the zoölogical gardens he is generally sitting high
up on a perch in his cage with his long arms folded over his head,
peering quietly about him. His fur is usually dark, although some
members of his family are quite light in colour. The most impressive
thing about the gibbon is the fact that he can stand up, walk, and run
upon two legs. This he does a little awkwardly, but not unlike a human
being. In a certain memorable moving picture, an unusually interesting
silvery gibbon nearly usurped the rôle of leading man. His marvellous
feats earned for him universal applause, and whenever he appeared he
was the centre of attention. Among its most stirring moments, this
picture shows a dramatic scene in which a great Indian elephant whose
young one has been captured demolishes the dwelling of the jungle
native who has trapped her offspring. Shortly after the native with his
wife and children has escaped to safety, the gibbon emerges cautiously
from the wreckage of the home. Through the darkness of the forest he
discerns the glistening eyes of a tiger that is about to spring upon
him. Realizing that retreat is cut off, he takes to flight. In escaping
he stands upright and runs like a man, screaming in his fright in a
thoroughly human manner. Fortunately for the gibbon, the branch of a
tree comes opportunely in his path, and then, with a single upward
bound, he is off like a bird through the trees to safety.
Gibbons are gentle, affectionate creatures. They are also timid and at
the first sign of danger hurry away through the forest as far up in
the trees as they can go. The gibbon’s body and head are relatively
small, being only a little larger than some of the smaller macaques.
The animal’s legs are short and it has no tail. A prominent feature is
the exceptional length of the forearm and of the fingers. The hand is
slender and longer than the foot. The female bears one young at a time,
which the mother carries under her body, the young one clinging to the
fur on her chest with hands and feet. This burden does not embarrass
her in the slightest as she swings her way from tree to tree through
the forest. She makes as good time in this transportation as the
unincumbered males.
In the wild state the gibbons never leave the jungle, and live for the
most part throughout southern Asia and the adjacent islands. A few of
them venture from the inland forests to the vicinity of the coast.
All of the gibbons are highly developed for life in the trees. This
specialization is important not only for the effects it has had upon
these apes but also for those developments in them which were to be of
subsequent and substantial advantage to the rise of man.
There are many different varieties of gibbons such as the white-handed
gibbon, the silvery gibbon, the white-cheeked gibbon, the slender
gibbon. The animal that we shall consider is the hoolock gibbon of
India. He gets his name from a peculiar sound or cry which he makes.
If it were at all possible to imitate this cry it might be expressed
as “hooloo! hooloo! hooloo!” Mr. Candler has studied this interesting
animal at close quarters, and his account of its habits is well worth
quoting:
The Hoolock swings along the thinnest part of a bough or to the
slender end of a bamboo, until it bends to its weight, then with
a swing and a sort of a kick-off he flies through the air seizing
another branch, and swinging along it with the accuracy of a
finished trapeze performer. I fancy he does very little walking in
the wild state, for I have never seen a wild Hoolock on the ground.
Moreover, they are only found in the dense jungle where the ground
is everywhere covered with tangled vegetation. The Hoolocks are
extremely shy and it is difficult to watch them as they are concealed
by leaves high up on the bamboo clumps or tops of forest trees. The
cry of the Hoolock is characteristic. It is a very pleasing note,
rising and falling in intensity, and reminding one somewhat of a
pack of beagles giving tongue on a scent, which is waxing and waning
in strength as a larger or smaller number of the band join in the
chorus. It is heard chiefly in the early morning, then through all
the heat of the day there is silence, but towards evening as the sun
sets you may hear it again.
One might almost think that their early morning cry was like a rising
bell, and their cry toward evening was their curfew.
_Manners of the Gibbon_
Gibbons live in fairly large communities. They are constantly on the
move. From what is known of their intelligence it seems probable that
their movements are guided by definite plans. They even seem to have
some simple sort of governmental system. Tea planters in India often
keep these gibbons as pets for years. They run about the compound
quite freely. At times they suddenly disappear and are gone for several
months. Eventually they return quite unconcerned, as if nothing had
occurred to interrupt their pleasant human associations. For the most
part the gibbon is sociable. After he has become acquainted he will
often sit on the arm of a person’s chair at breakfast. Whatever his
appetite, he will never reach out for food at the table, although his
long arms give him much advantage over his human host. Nor will he
ever snatch things off the table. His manners are above reproach and
he keeps himself scrupulously clean. As the day is drawing to a close
it is his habit to get ready for the night. At sunset he settles down
to sleep, safely seated in the fork of a tree, usually with his long
arms over his head. He is never boisterous, mischievous, or noisy.
Oftentimes he seems to be more in sympathy with children than with
grown-ups.
The diet of the gibbon includes a long list of foods, such as fruits,
leaves, and young shoots, spiders, birds’ eggs, insects, and young
birds. If captured young the gibbon is readily tamed. He is never sulky
or ill tempered and shows marked intelligence both in learning many
tricks and adjusting himself to the rules of the home.
The locomotion of these animals among the trees is totally different
from that of the monkeys. The latter climb about using both hands and
feet. Gibbons employ their arms almost exclusively, swinging from
branch to branch, with the legs tucked close to the body. This is such
an important change in the transportation methods of apedom that we
should give it particular attention in order to note what effects it
had produced upon the gibbons themselves. In the first place, swinging
from one limb to another by the hands greatly elongated the forearm and
the fingers. This kind of locomotion gives the gibbon the appearance of
taking tremendously long strides with his arms. The right hand, first
grasping a branch, permits the animal to swing twelve or more feet to
the next branch which is grasped by the left hand. In the next step the
forward stride is taken by the right hand. Thus the animal alternates
the right and left hand just as we alternate the right and left foot.
It is probably for this reason that the gibbons have been called “tree
walkers” (_Hylobates_).
The second effect produced by this kind of swinging locomotion, called
brachiation, is even more decisive in the final outcome. Transportation
such as this swinging by the hands drew the body more and more into the
upright position. It brought about many of those fundamental changes
which made it possible for the gibbon to stand upright, walk, and run
upon two legs. Compared with other animals of this class, the gibbon
is the most two-legged of all the apes. He walks rather quickly in
the erect posture. His gait is waddling, and if pursued he will make
every effort to reach some support by which he can swing himself to
safety. In walking he turns his leg and foot outward, which gives him
a bow-legged appearance, added to which the shortness of his legs
makes his movements in walking and running far less graceful than
these acts ultimately came to be in their highest exponent, man. Here
undoubtedly may be discerned important elements for the inception of
human locomotion. They appear in an animal which can stand, walk, and
run upright, and also possesses well-developed hands.
_Gibbon’s Resemblance to Man_
The gibbons are said sometimes to scoop up water in the hollow of the
hand in order to drink. At other times they stretch out their long arms
among the foliage and lick off the dew which adheres to their hair, in
this way quenching their thirst.
In view of these facts our estimate of the gibbon may credit him
with certain manlike traits. Yet his resemblance to human beings,
considering the animal as a whole, is at best sketchy and vague. Casual
observation of the gibbon does not bring any clear association with
the human being at once to mind. Only after watching him, after noting
the manner in which he gets about, after seeing him walk and run on
two legs, is it possible to recognize certain tendencies which point
in the human direction. It is for this reason that the gibbon is said
to represent a stage preceding the manlike apes. Some students of
this question class the gibbon with these anthropoid apes. It seems
better judgment, however, to consider him rather an animal showing
dispositions which serve as a starting point for the anthropoids.
These tendencies, as they are crystallized in the gibbon, represent an
introductory chapter in the history of all those animals which later
became notable because they walked more or less upright and had the
use of hands. Thus the gibbon is often spoken of as pro-anthropoid.
He himself is a modern animal. One of his venerable ancestors, very
much like himself, lived long ago--_Propliopithecus_ of the Oligocene.
The descendants of this ancient extinct ape with the long name,
whose fossil remains have been found in Egypt, followed two lines of
development. One line led up to the modern anthropoid apes and man, the
second to the modern gibbons. The first offshoot from this line gave
rise to a great ape which in many features looks much more like man
than does the gibbon. This is the orang-outang. He is one of the big
apes seen in the large primate cages of the zoölogical gardens. He may
be recognized by the brownish-yellow hair which covers his body, by his
face which bears a humorous caricatured resemblance to man, and by the
erect posture which he assumes much of the time. Although he climbs
about his cage and its supports like a skillful acrobat, this manlike
ape lacks the grace and agility of the gibbon. He is wild and shy, but
possesses enormous strength, which makes him more than a match for the
most able-bodied man.
_The Orang-Outang_
The orang lives in Borneo and Sumatra. He has not been found elsewhere
in the world. In his island home he enjoys a deserved reputation
because of his prodigious strength. When full grown he stands a little
over four feet in height. He has a heavy body, short thick neck,
receding forehead, thick lips, and a face uncovered by hair. His muzzle
protrudes to form a thick and heavy upper jaw, with a large mouth and
large teeth. In the full-grown male the cheek pouches become greatly
enlarged, so that they look like an old-fashioned ruff around the head.
This feature gives him a hideous and gruesome appearance. The arms are
long, reaching almost to the ankles when the orang stands upright.
The hands are long and narrow, the thumb is short, the fingers are
united by webs at their bases. The legs are short in comparison to
the length of the body and considerably bowed. The feet are long and
narrow. The great toe is short, but it can be used for grasping the
branches. Fleshy pads over the buttocks are present in the adult male,
but the orang has no tail. He is easily distinguished from the other
great apes by his bulging muzzle and his light yellowish-brown hair.
He seldom exceeds four feet two inches when standing upright, but his
outstretched arms together measure nearly eight feet from finger tip
to finger tip. Some specimens killed by hunters have been reported to
stand five feet three inches high.
Among the first accurate accounts of the orang-outang’s life is that
of Alfred Russell Wallace appearing in his famous book _The Malay
Archipelago_, from which the following description is an extract:
The orang has a wide distribution, inhabiting many districts along
the coast of the island [Borneo] where it appears chiefly confined
to the low swampy forests. It particularly affects a country which
is low and level with a few isolated mountains, on some of which
the Dyaks have settled and planted many fruit trees which are a
great attraction to the orang, as his most desirable food seems to
be unripe fruit. The habitual habitat of the animal is in the lofty
virgin forests, in which they can roam in every direction with as
much facility as the Indian on the prairie, passing from treetop to
treetop without being obliged to descend to the earth. The orang
makes his way leisurely through the forest, with remarkable ease.
He walks deliberately along the larger branches, in a semi-erect
attitude which his great length of arm and the shortness of his legs
causes him naturally to assume. But this proportion between his limbs
is increased by his walking on his knuckles and not on the palm of
his hand. He chooses those branches which intermingle with those
of an adjoining tree. In approaching these he stretches out his
long arms, seizing the neighboring bough with both hands and then
deliberately swings himself across to the next branch, on which he
walks along as before. He never jumps or springs nor even appears to
hurry himself, yet he manages to get along almost as quickly as a
person can run through the forest beneath. The long powerful arms are
of greatest use to the animal, as they enable him to climb easily the
highest trees, to seize fruit and young leaves from slender boughs
which will not bear his weight and to gather leaves and branches from
which to form his nest at night. When wounded he endeavors to make
a nest in which to remain quiet, and similarly at night prepares a
resting place in the tree to sleep. He likes this place low down in
the tree, not over 20 or 30 feet from the ground, probably because in
this position it is warm and less exposed to the wind.
The orang, it is said, makes a new nest for himself every night
or perhaps remakes an old one. In rainy weather the animal covers
himself with leaves or large ferns, and this may have led to the
belief that he actually builds huts in the trees. The animal does not
arise from his bed in the morning until the sun is well up and has
dried the dew upon the leaves. He seldom returns to the same tree two
days in succession.
They have no particular fear of man, and only retreat slowly after
a considerable period of scrutinizing inspection. They do not have
so much of the gregarious tendencies as do the other large apes. Two
full-grown animals are seldom seen together, but males and females
are sometimes accompanied by half-grown young ones. At other times
three or four young animals are seen together. Their food consists
almost exclusively of fruits, leaves, buds and young shoots. They
seem to prefer the unripe fruit, even when very sour or intensely
bitter, the red fleshy arillus being a particular favorite. The orang
rarely descends to the ground except when pressed by hunger, when
it seeks the succulent shoots at the riverside. In very dry weather
it also comes down from the trees in quest of water, of which it
generally finds sufficient in the hollow of the leaves. They have
been seen upon the ground playing together, at which times they
assume the erect posture and grasp each other with their arms.
Wallace believes that the orang seldom stands or walks erect unless
when using its hands to support itself by the branches overhead, or
when attacked. He also thinks that the representations of it walking
with a stick are quite imaginary. In its general demeanour the orang
would impress one as dull and apathetic. When seated among the branches
its back is bent, its head is bowed, and its long arms either reach
up to grasp a branch overhead or hang listlessly by its sides. Some
explorers have maintained that the animal builds huts for itself in the
trees. This is largely an exaggeration, but the orang has developed
an interesting technique for building itself a nest in the trees as
night approaches. Small branches are first laid crosswise to form a
framework, and over this a thick bed of leaves is placed. The orang is
quite fussy about the construction of its bedroom and takes good care
to cover itself up when the wind is chilly or the night stormy. Even in
captivity the animal is particular about the details of its bedchamber
and always manages to cover itself with straw or newspapers if it
happens to find them in the cage.
The orang has other constructive tendencies. He often manifests some
engineering skill in devising supports for himself in his cage. With
these he will amuse himself by the hour, climbing upon the support,
dropping to the floor, and repeating the entire performance time after
time in as many different ways as he can. In one instance a young male
orang found a long rope hanging from the roof of his cage. He clung to
the rope by his left hand and both feet. With his free right hand he
passed the end of the rope around the bars, turned it through a right
angle, and pulled it tight. In this way he made an interesting perch
for himself. If anyone detached the rope he at once replaced it and
thus remade his perch.
On the ground the orang is clumsy. He usually goes on all fours, and
his walking gait has been likened to that of a very old man bent down
by age, hobbling along with the aid of a cane. It is interesting to
note that in walking he goes on the outer borders of his feet. His
stride is short and shuffling. Even when hurrying he lopes along
rather than runs. Unlike the gibbons, the orang does not use his hand
as a drinking cup. His lower lip protrudes in a capacious trough for
collecting rain water. If given a pail of milk or water the orang lifts
the pail and pours the fluid into this trough and then swallows it.
When captured young the animals can be trained and taught to obey many
words of command. In time they get over their shyness and seem to like
human companionship. They are, however, easily frightened. Females when
pregnant separate themselves from the others and remain more or less in
seclusion until the young are born. The offspring grow slowly and, like
human infants, require the care of their mothers for a long time. When
the mother moves about the young one clings to the hair of her chest.
This is a marked characteristic of child care throughout the ape world.
_The Orang in Infancy_
Wallace recites an interesting experience which he had with a baby
orang whose mother was shot and killed by him in the forest the
preceding day. This experience is especially interesting because of
its many human resemblances. When Wallace stooped to pick up the
helpless infant orang that lay sprawling on its back, his long beard
was immediately seized by the grasping hands and feet of the youngster.
It was a long and painful ordeal to get away from this clinging infant.
The baby orang had but a single tooth, but soon its milk teeth began
to appear, much as in a human infant. The lack of milk on the island
made it difficult to feed the young ape. When a finger was placed in
its mouth it would suck with great vigour, drawing in its cheeks in
a vain effort to extract milk. After persevering for a long while it
would give up in disgust and start screaming, much as would a human
baby under similar circumstances. When handled or nursed it was always
quiet, but if laid down by itself it would invariably cry. It enjoyed
being rubbed after its morning bath and was quite happy while its hair
was being combed and brushed.
For the first few days it clung desperately by all four hands to
everything it could reach, and Wallace remarks that it was necessary
for him to be cautious in keeping his beard out of the way. He felt
that the infant ape was lonely and needed companionship, so a little
harelipped monkey of the macacus variety was obtained as a playmate. It
was curious to see the difference in the actions of these two animals,
the one an offspring of a humbler monkey, the other born of one of
the great manlike apes. The two young ones were about the same age.
The orang, just like a human baby, would lie upon its back helplessly
rolling from side to side, stretching out all four hands into the air
and striving to grasp something, although hardly able to guide its
fingers to any desired object. When dissatisfied it opened wide its
almost toothless mouth and expressed its discomfort in an infantile
scream. The little macacus monkey, on the other hand, was constantly
on the go, running and jumping about, examining everything in sight,
taking hold of objects with greatest precision, balancing itself on the
edge of its box and searching everywhere for food. There could scarcely
be a greater contrast. One could hardly escape the conclusion that in
the orang, as in man, a long period of slow growth is necessary for
its final development. The advantages of such growth are sufficiently
apparent and need no further comment.
_Psychological Tests_
The orang-outang has not yet been so extensively subjected to
psychological study as its more sociable fellow ape, the chimpanzee. It
is fortunate, however, that at least one of this species has come under
the critical observation of an astute student of animal behaviour,
Professor Robert M. Yerkes, of Yale University. In his notable
contribution on the mental life of monkeys and apes, Professor Yerkes
has described certain tests devised for estimating the intelligence of
lower animals, and applied to the partly grown orang known as “Julius.”
These tests were devised on what is known as the “multiple choice
basis.” Julius, after many unsuccessful efforts to solve his problems
by the method of trial and error, quite unexpectedly seemed to get the
idea of what was wanted. He suddenly responded to the test without a
single mistake. He seemed to solve his problem quite as if he knew what
it was all about. It took him a long time, but at last he showed that
he was capable of some kind of thinking. The curve of learning as it
was charted day by day from the actions of Julius indicated that if he
had been a human subject his mental process would possibly have been
described as rational. Professor Yerkes feels justified in concluding
from this evidence that the orang solves his problems ideationally.
In general, Julius appeared to be far superior to other monkeys in
his intelligence. His mental processes were slow, but the method of
learning by ideas seemed to replace the simpler way of trial and
error which is common throughout the monkey world. Julius persistently
endeavoured, and often vainly, to gain some insight into a situation.
Even though slow, he showed nevertheless that the brain had at length
attained the development necessary for the production of real ideas.
However questionable this attainment may be in the monkeys or in other
lower animals, there seems to be little doubt about its existence in
the orang.
_Brains of the Gibbon and Orang_
Upon reviewing the facts concerning the gibbon and the orang, we may
ask certain questions. For example, does the real progress which these
two members of the ape world show in their capacity to do things
manifest itself as a measurable difference in their brains? Would it
be possible to maintain that these were indeed the brains of more
capable and more intelligent animals than the monkeys? Certain features
about the brain of the gibbon and the orang are striking. In the first
place, the pattern of their convolutions is more complicated. The
orang especially has more grooves and convolutions upon the surface
of the superbrain. It is believed, and many facts sustain the belief,
that convolutions indicate in a general way the capacity of an animal
to develop brain power. In the gibbon the increase in convolutions
is not so pronounced as in the orang, although it is not difficult
to see that in this respect the gibbon’s brain is much improved when
compared with lower monkeys. Upon identifying the familiar landmarks,
it is obvious that the groove of Sylvius, the central groove, and
even the ape groove form more decisive boundaries and outline more
prominent lobes than in macaque or baboon. The superbrain departments
for sight (occipital lobe), for hearing (temporal lobe), for body
and contact senses (parietal lobe), are all more extensive. Each
lobe, by the presence in it of smaller secondary grooves which do not
appear in the lower monkeys, shows how its capacity has expanded. The
grooves of the brain, in their arrangement, number, and relations,
now begin to assume an appearance similar to that of the human brain.
Each sense department in the orang is well organized. Each has gained
in prominence, thus indicating how the senses of sight and hearing,
and body and contact senses, have increased their capacity. By means
of its amplified sensory combinations the superbrain was eventually
capable of producing intelligent reactions. The area in front of the
central groove manifests the chief improvement. This is the part of
the brain in contact with the frontal bone. It has made some advances
in the gibbon but is still more prominent in the orang. At this stage
it is possible to speak of a well-developed frontal lobe acting as the
headquarters of all higher mental functions. The large increase in the
size of the orang’s brain is in some degree proportional to the size of
the animal’s body. Many other factors have actuated this expansion and
will receive special consideration in a subsequent chapter.
If it were possible to reduce the difference in intelligence between
the orang and the gibbon to actual figures, the contrasts would be
marked. Certain estimations of this kind are significant. The bridge
(_pons Varolii_) on the base of the brain, which may be regarded as
an index of intelligence, has a value of .200 in the gibbon and .300
in the orang. The pyramid, indicating the degree of skill in movement
attained by the animal, as well as the degree of controlling itself by
the dictates of its will, also shows a considerable difference. This
difference is again in favour of the orang, whose pyramid is estimated
at .160, while that of the gibbon is .138.
Many other points indicating similar advantages held by the orang over
the gibbon might be cited. They have the same general meaning, namely,
that the orang possesses a better brain. In fact, all of the evidence
gathered from this animal reveals many manlike tendencies. Such
tendencies, both in brain and behaviour, first became notable in the
gibbon. At this stage they were not prominent features. They were, so
to speak, in a preparatory or pro-anthropoid phase. In the orang those
manlike tendencies foreshadowed by the gibbon became more definite and
better developed. They formed the foundations for new combinations out
of which was to emerge a still higher type of animal.
CHAPTER IX
HUMAN IN MINIATURE
THE BRAIN OF THE CHIMPANZEE
The chimpanzee has a well-established reputation for many sterling
qualities. He is a comedian of no mean talent, and often as a buoyant
fun maker earns a large salary. He is also famous as an acrobat.
Depending upon his species, the chimpanzee varies in height from four
feet to four feet five inches. As a class these apes are spread out
over more territory than any of the other great anthropoids. They live
in West and Central Equatorial Africa ranging from Gambia in the north
as far south as Angola. In colour they are black with thick hair over
the entire body, except the brow and face. In some species the scalp
is bare, as in the bald-headed chimpanzee. All varieties are powerful
but lightly built animals. They possess great strength and agility. In
spite of his relatively short stature, the chimpanzee is a dangerous
enemy even for the strongest man. His head is flattened in the region
of the forehead, which has a thick bony ridge above the eyes. The ridge
of the nose is flat. The mouth is large and the lips thick. The ears
are especially large and project upward almost as high as the vertex of
the head. The lower jaw protrudes considerably. The teeth in general
are large and formidable, the canines in particular being prominent.
The skin over the face is usually dark, but in some species it is
lighter than surrounding areas. This is particularly true in the region
of the mouth and nose. The body is short and the abdomen pendulous.
The legs are shorter than the arms. The foot is short with a great toe
that is thick and opposable. The other toes are united by a web near
the base. The arms are long, with finger tips reaching a considerable
distance below the knees when the animal stands erect. The hands are
broad, the thumb is short, and the fingers webbed near their bases, as
in the case of the toes. As is true of the other great anthropoids, the
chimpanzee has no tail. The female bears one young at a time, which she
carries when passing through the forest and along the ground in the
manner characteristic of other apes.
_Intelligence of the Chimpanzee_
Concerning the habits of the chimpanzee in its native state little
is known. Fortunately, many of these animals have been captured when
young. Some of them have become noted circus performers, or famous
moving-picture actors. A number of them have been studied from the
standpoint of their behaviour and psychology. One of the best records
of the chimpanzee comes to us as an echo of the Great War. It furnishes
another instance of German thoroughness and scientific enterprise.
Some years ago the Prussian Academy of Science established at Teneriffe
in the Canary Islands a special station equipped for the study of
the great manlike apes. It was here that Professor Köhler found
himself during the Great War and here he remained interned with nine
chimpanzees for two years. During this time he lived with these animals
largely shut off from the rest of the world by the naval blockade.
The report of his experience and studies is given in a delightful
narrative published both in English and German called _The Mentality
of Apes_. The following descriptions of the chimpanzee are taken from
Professor Köhler’s book. In this work his chief purpose was to test the
intelligence of the larger manlike apes. To this end it was necessary
to devise certain methods which he called “roundabout tests” because
they complicated ordinary situations in such a way as to require
intelligence on the part of the animal for their solution.
Early in the study one of the most quick-witted chimpanzees in the
collection was given the following problem: From the roof of the
animals’ playground a basket of bananas was suspended by means of a
string passed through an iron ring. The end of this string was tied
in a noose and placed over the limb of an old tree at a height of
nine feet from the ground. When all was ready, the chimpanzee called
“Sultan” was sent out into the playground. He, of course, was familiar
with this basket and associated it with feeding time. On entering the
enclosure Sultan saw the basket at once and then began to manifest
signs of agitation because, contrary to custom, he was all alone in the
open. He began at once to show his feelings in true chimpanzee style.
Jumping about he expressed his extreme disapproval at being alone by
making a thundering noise with his feet against the wall of the ape
house. It seemed as if he were calling upon the other chimpanzees to
come out and join him. He even tried to get in communication with the
other animals by climbing up and looking in at their windows. But
all of this was to no avail. Presently he appeared to take a renewed
interest in the bananas. He looked up at the basket, and having sized
up the situation made for the tree, climbed quickly to the noose,
pulled the string until the basket bumped against the roof, released
the string, pulled it a second time even more vigorously, until a
banana fell to the ground. Sultan then left the tree, but soon ascended
once more, now to pull violently upon the string until it broke and the
entire basket fell. Immediately he scampered down, took the basket, and
went off in a corner to eat the fruit. Thus Sultan, in a comparatively
brief time, solved this roundabout problem by obtaining the objective
in spite of the obstacles put in his way.
_The Chimpanzee’s Use of Implements_
Many experiments were made to see how much the chimpanzees make use
of implements, but in the main these experiments were not necessary.
The chimpanzee, as if by nature, handles many objects in his immediate
surroundings in a variety of ways. His powerful hands serve in a
most natural manner as a useful link between him and the world of
things outside. His feet, although far more than a second pair of
hands, may be used in emergencies when the human feet would be quite
useless. The jaws and teeth are also serviceable, and are employed as
among many African tribes and other primitive people. The handling
of everyday objects by the chimpanzee comes almost entirely in the
nature of play. Sometimes under the pressure of need it appears that
new knowledge acquired from using objects at play will be put to still
better use in gaining some desired objective. In the main, however,
what the chimpanzee may use in this way is without the slightest idea
of immediate gain and serves only to increase the joy of living.
Thus jumping with the aid of a stick or pole, invented by one of the
brightest chimpanzees, was imitated by all the others as a means of
entertainment. Later it was put to more practical use for obtaining
food which was suspended above them and out of reach. In order to get
this food it was necessary to resort to some means of lifting their
body toward the desired goal. In the end the jumping with a stick in
play was converted to a sort of pole vaulting by means of which the
chimpanzees all acquired a thoroughly businesslike method for getting
such food as was out of reach over their heads. These chimps also used
straws and twigs as we use spoons. At first this was more or less in
play during mealtime, especially after their first thirst had been
quenched. Then they liked to amuse themselves by dipping the water up
with a straw and sucking the straw. Once some red wine was poured into
the drinking water which they shared in common. At the first taste of
this new mixture they all paused for a moment and looked at each other;
then one of the chimpanzees began to spoon up this wonderful drink
with a straw, and all the others immediately followed his example. In
learning to use twigs and straws for spoons there was no possibility of
imitation. None of the chimpanzees had a chance of seeing a human being
use a knife or spoon while eating. The twig or stick was also employed
quite deftly in other ways, adding to its usefulness as a table utensil
some of the properties of a weapon for the chase. In the summer time a
species of ant infests the part of the Canary Islands where these great
apes were housed. These ants passed in a wide stream, moving along
over the beams, around a wire netting which encircled the playground.
The chimpanzee has a great liking for acid fruit, which he prefers to
all others. It is no doubt for this reason that he relishes the formic
acid in the ants. Usually upon seeing the ants the chimpanzee simply
rolled his tongue along a beam over which they were crawling and thus
gathered them in to himself. If the wire netting came between him and
this coveted delicacy, such a method of capture would not suffice. In
consequence, all of the chimpanzees soon learned to use sticks and
straws, which they thrust through the wire netting and held in this
position until covered by ants. The straws were then withdrawn, and
the insects promptly licked off and devoured. This method of capture
proved most satisfactory and entertaining. Their attention was entirely
absorbed in the process of overcoming the obstacle between them and
the delicate morsels which they craved.
_Strong Human Resemblances_
If a mouse, a lizard, or some small crawling animal entered the
playground, the chimpanzees at once became greatly excited. They
manifested all of the hunting interest apparent in the human species
under like circumstances. There was also evidence of fear and timidity
on these occasions, not, however, confined to the female alone. Even
the bolder chimpanzees that evinced the greatest hunting interest did
not give chase with any creditable show of courage. They manifested
caution and hesitation throughout the entire performance. Nearly
every movement on the part of the poor quarry was followed by nervous
gestures of the chimps. The largest ones hesitated to make a capture
by a sudden snatch with the naked hand. It was amusing and almost
laughable to see these powerful apes stretch out their hands with the
evident intention of catching the prey, with fingers all pointed in
anticipation, then suddenly, on the slightest movement of the mouse
or lizard, quickly withdraw the hand again. A firm grasp upon one of
these little wriggling animals appeared almost as impossible for the
chimpanzees as for many people. Despite the great excitement which the
presence of invaders occasioned, the little animals would often escape
because the chimpanzees lacked that last degree of daring necessary to
make a successful capture. Presently they learned to use sticks upon
the small intruders of their domain. With these weapons, if the victim
did not escape, they would at length dispatch it. This they did in no
spirit of cruelty but rather in sheer excitement of the chase.
Professor Köhler took great pains to observe the rapidity with which
the chimpanzees adjusted themselves when confronted by new conditions
for the first time in their lives. One of the most striking tests
of this kind was their introduction to the electric current. It was
decided to observe how the chimpanzees would act when they made the
acquaintance of this entirely new circumstance. For this purpose one
wire from an electric induction coil was attached to a metal basket
filled with bananas and suspended from the roof. The other wire from
the battery was made fast to a metal netting upon the ground beneath
the basket. In a short time all of the chimpanzees became intensely
interested in the fruit above their heads. They were particularly
eager to reach the bananas. To do so it was necessary for them to
stand upon the wire netting on the ground. At first one chimpanzee
approached cautiously. Having taken up his position with both feet
upon the wire netting, he reached slowly up to the metal basket.
This of course immediately made a connection which delivered an
electric current through his hand. The reaction of the chimpanzee was
astonishingly human. Immediately upon touching the basket he felt the
shock of the current and with a cry of dismay bounded off in great
surprise. His curiosity, however, was not yet satisfied. He still
had a hungry longing for the bananas. Everything about the situation
looked thoroughly familiar and innocent to him. He could see no reason
why the basket on this occasion should treat him so rudely or why he
experienced such an unpleasant sensation in trying to get his food as
he had done a hundred times before. Appetite and curiosity finally got
the upper hand, and stealing up cautiously he made a second attempt.
This time he was less hasty in grasping the basket and spent several
moments in hesitating attempts to touch it, drawing his hand back now
and again. At length, with a sudden grasp, he reached for the goal,
only to receive another shock. In apparent indignation he hopped away
in much the same manner as might any human being who had inadvertently
touched a hot stove. Nothing would do, however, but that all of the
chimpanzees in turn should follow the example of their leader and try
to get the bananas away from this strange thing that seemed to be
outwitting them. One after another they made their futile attempts
until it became a pathetic sight to see them sitting around in a
mournful ring, sometimes looking at their hands, sometimes shaking
them resentfully, and always gazing wistfully at the inaccessible
delicacies. Most of the chimpanzees during this test reacted in a
manner which might easily be called human. It was rather impressive to
observe that all of their reactions under these conditions were actual
counterparts of human behaviour.
_Chimpanzee Sports and Nest Making_
In handling other objects the chimpanzees showed a strong tendency to
develop new habits. After a time they did not confine themselves alone
to thrusting and hitting with sticks. They soon began to throw them
around. In moments when they were greatly pleased (and chimpanzees
have a joyful, buoyant nature) they showed their delight in a new way,
especially when very good food was being provided. On such occasions
one of them would seize another and shake him violently out of sheer
pleasure and approval. Under such provocation a large chimpanzee
developed the habit of taking a stick and flinging it forcefully
at some comrade in his vicinity. This frequently happened in play
also. One female, a remarkable athlete called “Chica,” developed the
amusing pastime of stealing up behind her companions as they sat
quietly at rest, and from fairly close quarters hurling a stick at
them. Immediately she would scurry off, apparently much delighted by
the discomfort that she had caused. From throwing sticks it was but a
short step to throwing handfuls of sand at one another, and finally
stones of varied size and weight. At first their aim was poor, but soon
throwing stones became a ruling passion among them, and some of them
became dangerously expert, especially the wily Chica. She practised so
continuously that she soon acquired great skill and an excellent aim.
From this pastime she appeared to derive much satisfaction, whether
hurling stones at her fellow apes or at her human associates. Both
ape and man acquired such a genuine respect for her ability in this
regard that whenever they found her in this mood they quickly retired
to safety and permitted the expert marksman to find her amusement on
less sensitive targets. All of these hurling activities, which were in
the nature of play, might for a few moments determine an exciting stone
battle. But the sharpshooting Chica was so obviously superior that the
fray was certain to be short lived.
Almost all of the chimpanzees made nests for themselves, even from the
earliest infancy onward. In these operations, as might be expected,
the full-grown chimpanzee made the best beds. It may not be altogether
clear why the adult female was the best chambermaid of all. Her
efforts in bed making did in fact show a precision in tidiness that
was unequalled by any of the others. Usually in the evening, as the
strenuous play of the day subsided, all of the apes began to gather
heaps of straw. In the centre of each heap a chimpanzee would sit
quietly and begin to twist the ends of the straw together. This work
continued all around the edge until a natural nest, not unlike that of
the stork, was formed. The younger animals in their nest making were
less exact. They seldom made so neat a turning down of the outer edges,
but on some occasions, when they apparently took more pains with their
handiwork, their movements during the preparation of the nest were
exactly like those of the older females. Nests were often made during
the day in pure fun, and many different materials, such as string,
grass, branches, rags, ropes, and even wire, were collected for this
purpose. It was quite evident that in their nest-making activities the
younger chimpanzees imitated the actions of the older ones.
_Clowning and Masquerade_
Objects of many kinds interested these apes. They seemed particularly
fond of carrying quite a variety of rubbish about on the body in one
way or another. Nearly every day some of the animals began walking
around the playground with a piece of rope, a bit of rag, a blade of
grass, or a twig upon the shoulders. Some of them if given a bit of
metal chain would put it proudly around their necks like a necklace.
Bushes and brambles were often carried in considerable quantities
spread out over the entire back. In these actions they affected a
manner that revealed tendencies familiar to human masquerading in
grotesque or fantastic costumes. One of the chimpanzees contracted the
habit of carrying around empty preserve cans by grasping the lid of the
can between his teeth. All of this occupation was done as diversion
or entertainment, from which the chimpanzees derived much visible
pleasure. The clowning actions of these apes clearly held the attention
of those not actively participating in the performances, and many of
them, like little children, attempted to imitate the antics of the
leader. When dressed up in these various ways the chimpanzees often
displayed an almost impish self-important audacity, strutting about
among their companions or advancing upon them in a menacing way. One
of the older females, attired for play, would trot around in a circle
with several of the smaller animals following closely at her heels.
Sometimes the entire company playing in this fashion would march around
in a circle, one behind the other. The largest animal would stamp its
foot at each step, as though beating time for the parade. The other
animals followed suit by an accentuation of the marching movements.
_Manufacture and Building_
Not only did the chimpanzees acquire many ways for employing objects
which they encountered, but some of them actually went one step
farther. They manifested a degree of ingenuity in constructing special
implements for themselves. The results of this constructive industry,
it must be admitted, were relatively simple. On the other hand, there
can be no doubt that the chimpanzee does manufacture instruments, in a
modest way, which help him to gain his ends. One of the most talented
apes learned to fit a small piece of bamboo into the cavity at the
end of a larger piece. In this way he built a long bamboo pole, which
was especially useful for procuring food hung above his head and out
of reach. All of the chimpanzees ultimately developed some degree of
constructive or engineering ability. They actually became builders on
a small scale. This ability grew out of their learning to use boxes
in order to reach objects over their heads. Using one box led to the
advantage of piling one box on top of another and thus constructing
a tower. They were not all equally expert as builders. As might be
expected, the more quick-witted and alert members of the group learned
how to build first, and this they did entirely of their own initiative.
After they had built a tower of this kind, the long bamboo stick came
in handy as a means to bring the suspended banana to the ground.
Here two modes of solving a problem were combined--that of building,
and that of using the long pole. Building operations soon became a
favourite pastime; yet in spite of the fact that they were given every
opportunity they never developed an efficient labour organization.
However helpful united efforts may have been toward their ultimate
aim, the chimpanzees failed to realize the advantages of a mutual aid
society. There was doubtless a reason for their lack of intelligence
in developing higher efficiency in this respect. Almost invariably
their building operations were dictated by a desire to obtain food
that was out of their reach. Among the chimpanzees this goal was in no
sense a mutual interest. It was a matter of the utmost selfish concern
to each chimpanzee. So whatever advantage there might have been in a
division of labour, there was never a thought of dividing the spoils.
When the chimpanzees gravely assembled in the presence of a basket of
food hung up over their heads, they gazed about for proper materials
to use as tools in reaching the desired goal. One would bring a pole;
another would drag up a box. These were put in position preparatory to
constructing a tower. The building would then begin in earnest. When
the first stages of construction were complete several of the animals
at the same time would show great impatience to clamber up. Each one
of them acted as if either he or she were the sole proprietor of the
structure. Often, too, the box already in position would be snatched
away by some competitive group in the building industry and dragged off
to be used in the construction of a rival tower. This would usually
result in a wrangle among the architects. In fact, the entire company
of builders might come to blows over this infringement of property
rights. After the subsidence of these Babel-like controversies the
building would be resumed and the structure would continue to grow
in height until it became an object of ever-increasing excitement to
the assembled workers, each manifesting a keen desire to mount it. In
consequence of this highly individualistic competition and due to their
restless efforts, the tower would sometimes tumble over and the result
of their labours be destroyed. Then it was necessary to begin all
over again. Usually in this renewed effort only the more diligent and
patient of the chimpanzees adhered to the original purpose. The others
became interested in more trivial occupations. Eventually the tower
was finished, and the more diligent as well as the more patient of the
toilers quietly mounted to the summit of the structure and, either
with or without the aid of the pole, obtained the coveted bananas.
Sometimes, however, just when the diligent one was ready to reap the
just reward of his efforts, some member of the group endowed with
unusual athletic prowess rushed up stealthily and with great speed to
the top of the tower and seized the prize before the rightful winner
had time to protest or retaliate. In all of this building enterprise
there is something so fundamentally human, so reminiscent of modern
methods, that it seems inaccurate to class these reactions too rigidly
in the category of ape behaviour.
_Emotions of the Chimpanzee_
The chimpanzee, according to Professor Köhler, has a range of
expression of emotion even greater than that of the average human
being. The chimp shows his feelings by his entire body, not merely
by his facial expressions. It is his custom to jump up and down both
in joyful anticipation and in anger or annoyance. In extreme despair
or disgust, which the animal shows on slight provocation, he has the
habit of flinging himself upon his back, rolling wildly to and fro,
swinging and waving his arms about his head in a frantic manner not,
on the whole, very different from the way in which some non-European
races manifest their disappointment and dejection. The chimpanzee is
not known to weep, nor does he laugh in quite the human sense of the
term. There is something approaching human laughter in his rhythmical
gasping and grunting when he is tickled. While quietly watching objects
that seem particularly pleasing (and his greatest delight comes from
observing little children) the face of the chimpanzee, especially
around the mouth, has an expression not unlike a human smile. When
perplexed or in doubt, he has a way of scratching the surface of his
body, especially the arms, breast, or upper portions of the thigh.
It has not been stated that during these moments of perplexity he
scratches the head, as is the common human custom. He conveys his
meaning not only of emotional distaste but also of definite desires.
The expression of his wishes is in large part shown by direct imitation
of the actions desired. Thus, when one chimp wishes to be accompanied
by another, he gives the latter a nudge and pulls him by the hand. If
one chimpanzee wishes to receive bananas from another, he imitates the
movement of snatching or grasping accompanied by pleading glances. The
summoning of another chimpanzee from a considerable distance is often
accompanied by a beckoning that is very human in character. Their many
actions in all instances are characteristic enough to be understood by
their comrades.
_Surgical Interests_
The chimpanzee is especially prone to pay close attention to the wounds
or injuries received by his fellows. The motive of this attention may
scarcely be called mutual aid. The removal of splinters from each
other’s hands and feet is a favourite clinical operation. In this
pursuit the chimpanzee employs methods usually in vogue among the human
laity. Two finger nails are pressed on either side of the splinter,
which is thus elevated until it may be caught and removed by the teeth.
Professor Köhler himself, once having suffered from such an accident,
ventured to allow one of the chimpanzees to remove the splinter from
his hand. On perceiving the condition, the chimpanzee’s face at once
assumed an expression of eager intensity, and his attention became
concentrated in preparation for his surgical efforts. He seized the
hand, examined the wound, forced out the splinter with two somewhat
powerful squeezes of his finger nails, and then closely examined the
hand to be satisfied that his work was well done.
_Morals Among Chimpanzees_
There is much of interest in the experiences of another distinguished
observer, Dr. Charles F. Sonntag, formerly Prosector of the Zoölogical
Society of London, who has called attention to the fact that the
chimpanzee is said to be filthy in its habits. He observed that many
of these animals in captivity do not manifest such traits, nor do they
show any tendency toward immoral behaviour as has been claimed. It
seems unfortunate even to imply that such a delinquency as immorality
exists among chimpanzees or, for that matter, any of the lower mammals.
But since the point has been raised, it may be well to recall that
morals are of human making. They are designed to modify, to restrain,
or to prevent the development of certain animal tendencies which are a
human heritage from the great animal kingdom. If the chimpanzee in any
of its actions tends to depart from the code of morality established by
man in one part of the world or another, this can be no reproach to
the ape, since man himself has not yet been completely successful in
building up a system of restrictive laws to protect himself from the
devastations of his own animal inheritance.
Professor Köhler, from his long studies of the chimpanzees, concluded
that these apes manifest intelligent behaviour of a general kind
familiar in human beings. Not all of their intelligent acts are similar
to human acts, but by means of well-chosen tests the character of
intelligent conduct can always be traced in the chimpanzee. These apes
differ among themselves just as much as people do, in their mentality
and intelligence. Some of them may be mentally deficient, just as
there are mentally deficient human beings. One remark of Professor
Köhler’s is a keen social criticism with a wide application to life
in general. He maintains that the tests designed for the chimpanzee
serve two purposes: First, they determine the intelligence of the
apes; and, second, they test the intelligence of the examiner. This is
eminently true in all intellectual contacts between human beings. It is
a fact that the chimpanzees stand out among all other animals in their
form, in their actions, and in their understanding. In these respects
they come much closer to the human standard than any other ape, with
the possible exception of the gorilla. All of these observations
agree well with the theory of evolution, and in particular with the
close relations existing between the growth of intelligence and the
development of the brain.
Many other chimpanzees have been studied from time to time. The
conclusions drawn from them have been closely similar to those already
cited. Romanes some years ago studied the trained chimpanzee, Sally,
which was famous for her high degree of intelligence. Under training
this animal acquired the ability to count. She could draw a number of
straws to six or seven, and upon request would indicate with straws
the exact number she had been instructed to show. This achievement,
in combination with many other extraordinary performances, reveals
certain striking likenesses to man, particularly as to the degree of
the chimpanzee’s power to learn.
_The Chimpanzee’s Social Traits_
Others besides Professor Köhler are willing to give the chimpanzee
credit for unusual good-fellowship. All admit that he is a most
friendly creature. Often an affectionate attachment exists between him
and his owner or keeper. He is never loath to indulge in his clowning
performances to please and entertain his human friends. His actions
on these occasions have doubtless been the models for the ludicrous
mimicry of olden times now generally referred to as “aping.” In many
of the army encampments in Africa, monkeys and apes have been the
much-prized pets of the officers. It was not uncommon to find among
these pets the highly sociable chimpanzee. Frequently the officers
manifested much zeal and interest in training their charges and felt
a real pride in exhibiting them. Sometimes on gala occasions these
simian pets occupied places at the table beside their owners. They
partook in most approved style both of food and of drink. Not a
few of them have shown a distinctly human characteristic in their
strong liking for intoxicating liquors. The chimpanzee has always had
a decided penchant in this direction. At mess dinners and on other
occasions he not only manifested a keen liking for good wines but took
his share with the rest. Often he, like his human companions, rose to
hilarious heights. Often, too, it was necessary to lead him off to
bed in such a deplorable condition that he would appear next morning
with a shaky hand on his brow and that sad expression which plainly
told the consequences of festive revelry. One of these chimpanzees had
a particular fondness for afternoon tea and would join the officers’
group at this time as a matter of course. His manners were altogether
agreeable. He acquired all of the airs essential to such occasions even
to certain banal chatterings.
_In Prophecy of the Human Brain_
If doubts should remain concerning the superior and almost manlike
capacities of the chimpanzee, these may be soon put at rest by
inspection of his brain. In this organ there are indications of the
means by which the chimpanzee has acquired his new and extensive
powers of learning, his greater understanding, his higher capacity for
adjustments to life, and his many reactions which are so nearly human.
Every sense department in the superbrain has shown pronounced
improvements. A survey of the chimpanzee’s brain shows it to be a
mechanism better organized for the purposes of efficient output than
that of other apes and monkeys. It is a larger brain. It also has a
greater richness in grooves and convolutions showing that its capacity
for developing brain power has been much increased. The groove of
Sylvius has been tipped backward in consequence of expansions in the
department of hearing and the department of body and contact senses.
In the department of hearing (the temporal lobe) the convolutions are
more complex than in any other lower apes or monkeys. In fact, the
entire pattern of coil arrangement in this part of the superbrain
is similar to that seen in man. It has, perhaps, a simpler design,
but the essential features of the pattern may all be identified. In
the department of sight the same principle of expansion has been at
work. The convolutions in the occipital lobe have increased both in
number and complexity of arrangement. There are more grooves and more
convolutions in this region than we have yet encountered. Such also is
the case in the department for body and contact senses (the parietal
lobe), in which the grooves and convolutions manifest an arrangement
identical to that of man. The lesser brain, lying as it does tucked
away beneath the occipital pole of the superbrain, also shows marked
increase in size, so that the subsidiary department essential to
postures of the limbs and body, and also to balance, has kept pace
with the superbrain. Appraised on the value of its great working
departments, a brain like this reveals the manner in which progressive
development has advanced.
The organization for transacting the functions of hearing has been
greatly improved, if we judge by the enlargement of the temporal lobe.
Furthermore, it appears that certain sub-departments for handling
these transactions have been established. They doubtless have to do
with a better filing system for auditory impressions and especially
for correlating the impressions of things heard with similar records
of things seen. This method of cross reference produces a better
understanding of all objects encountered in the surroundings. A
practical illustration may assist in visualizing the manner in which
such associations operate. If in their home life the chimpanzees
are suddenly startled by the report of a gun, which they have never
heard before, the entire family may be greatly perturbed by the
harsh and unfamiliar sound. The sound alone might be startling and
disagreeable, but the sound cross referenced by the sight of the
hunter and gun comes to mean peril. Instances of this kind might be
multiplied to show how essential to success in life this system of
cross reference is. In fact, it is the amplification of this system
that underlies our progress as individuals or as a race. The structural
signs of this progress are to be found in the region of the brain
that we have been discussing. We may recognize them in the increased
number of convolutions which provide for better development of brain
power. Equally pronounced are the advances that have taken place in
the organization of body and contact senses. This department lies
immediately above the Sylvian groove in the parietal lobe. It receives
all communications transmitted from the outside world by the sense
of touch and by the various movements of the body. The convolutions
in this region indicate a highly organized department which we might
expect in view of the remarkable performances of the chimpanzee.
Walking a tight rope, eating his food with a certain degree of good
manners, drilling to music, or driving an automobile, the chimpanzee
clearly demonstrates how expert he has become in the use of his hands
and feet. His cleverness depends upon his ability to sense the things
he touches and to appreciate the finest grades of motion made by his
arms and legs. In addition to this high degree of sensing in his hands,
he has also acquired greater capacity for appreciating movements and
postures of his entire body. Unless the chimpanzee had this expanded
department for body and touch senses, it would be impossible for him
to learn many of the performances which he does so skillfully. He also
would be unable to apply this skill under the direction of his masters
or according to the dictates of his own wishes. It is not difficult to
understand, therefore, why all the great departments of the senses have
increased so much in size in the chimpanzee. Obviously, by amplifying
and refining the raw materials received as sense impressions, the
output seen in the chimpanzee’s behaviour has been correspondingly
amplified and extended. The significance of growth in the parietal, the
occipital, and the temporal lobes in this light becomes clear.
One important detail in the superbrain of the chimpanzee we have not
yet considered. It will be recalled that the central groove is one
of the salient landmarks in the brain. Its outstanding importance
arises from the fact that it is the boundary line of the frontal
lobe. All of the territory lying in front of this groove represents
the last acquired department of the superbrain, the one having the
highest authority. It is here that all of the highest brain functions
are located. Judgment and reason are included in this list. But to
these should be added the ability to profit by experience in the
better guidance of life, the upbuilding of personality, and the
proper adjustment in all courses of action requiring initiative,
insight, restraint, and self-control; and, finally, recognition of
responsibility and appreciation of opportunity.
The frontal territory in the chimpanzee is more extensive than in the
orang or any other of the lower apes. It shows an additional amount of
convolution. The frontal coils for producing the brain power of this
highest department have attained a development not far below that of
man. The counterpart of each human convolution is present, the only
difference being that each individual convolution in the chimpanzee is
less complex than in man. These facts about the frontal lobe, which we
must regard as the permanent headquarters of the chief executive of
the superbrain, are in harmony with what Professor Köhler and other
students of animal psychology have told us about the chimpanzee’s
intelligence. Man’s frontal lobe is a highly complex facsimile of the
chimpanzee’s, just as human intelligence is a more complex development
of the higher mental powers.
These improvements in the superbrain are borne out by both the
bridge and the pyramid. The bridge, recognized as a reliable index
of intelligence, has the value of .400 in the chimpanzee, a rating
much above the orang or any of the lower apes already considered. The
pyramid also shows a corresponding increase, having a value of .172,
and thus indicating a greater development in skilled acts and in the
voluntary control over the actions of the body. These two structures
show that the superbrain has, in fact, become a more efficient governor
for the guidance of a larger, a more complex, and a more effective
machine. Every detail in the brain of chimpanzee clearly demonstrates
the marked advance that has been made in the steady upward climb. We
are able to identify all of the chief features characteristic of the
human brain.
CHAPTER X
ALMOST HUMAN
THE BRAIN OF THE GORILLA
The largest member of the ape world is the gorilla. There is much
dispute to-day concerning the place he occupies in relation to man,
and also as to what rating his intelligence deserves. Neither of these
questions can be settled at present. His case, in fact, requires much
more study than has yet been given to it. Recently the gorilla has
been befriended by several famous African explorers like the Bradleys
and the late Mr. Carl Akeley. They have given him a rather favourable
recommendation as an inoffensive and retiring animal. In spite of this
vindication, however, most persons who have any acquaintance with him
regard the gorilla as a dangerous, savage brute. Standing upright, he
is nearly as tall as the average man. Sometimes his height reaches six
feet, and often the adult male attains the great weight of nearly four
hundred pounds.
_A Superlative Fighting Machine_
The body of the gorilla is stout and large. His legs are short but
his arms are extremely long. When standing erect the tips of his
fingers reach to about the middle of the leg below the knee. His huge
and grizzly head, flat, broad nose, prominent muzzle, large mouth,
very large canine teeth, and protruding ears all give the animal a
terrifying appearance.
The manner in which he rises on his hind legs and makes the forest
reverberate with his roars when attacked is one reason why the gorilla
is considered the most savage of all beasts. His hands are large and
thickly covered with black hair on the back. The palms of the hands
have no hair. They possess many grooves and markings with strong human
resemblances. The thumb is somewhat short for the size of the hand,
but is thick and bears a broad nail. The animal’s body as well as the
head up to the brow line is covered with thick, black, shaggy hair. The
skull is massive and heavy. The eyes are surmounted by a heavy ridge
of bone, and a thick bony crest extends from the bridge of the nose to
the back of the skull along the middle of the head. All of these bony
structures provide the gorilla with a most effective fighting helmet.
The massive head, the short neck, the powerful arms, and the savage
teeth create the impression of a superlative fighting machine--a sort
of dreadnaught. But this machine has one inherent weakness. The feet
and legs are inadequate for a finished fighter. The gorilla is able
to assume the upright position and walks thus in an awkward manner,
using the arms in balancing. In the main, however, he goes on all
fours, especially when making speed through the underbrush or climbing
among the trees. He rises upon his hind legs largely for purposes of
inspection in order to make a survey of the surrounding territory.
Many species have been identified. They all live in Africa. One variety
inhabits the Gaboon in West Africa. It also extends into regions of
southern and northern Cameroon, near the border of the French Congo.
This variety of gorilla is especially adapted for forest life. Another
type, sometimes spoken of as the mountain gorilla, inhabits mountainous
localities in the Belgian Congo.
_The Gorilla’s Ancient Disrepute_
The gorilla has been long and unfavourably known to mankind. Ancient
rumour of him spread abroad many unsavoury reports about his savage
disposition. In the Fifth Century B. C. gorillas were first spoken of
as wild, hairy men living in Africa. The Carthaginian Admiral Hanno,
in his famous voyage to the Pillars of Hercules, appears to have been
the first white man to encounter them. He and his comrades unexpectedly
came upon a group of these wild people. All of the men fought so
savagely that they made their escape, but Hanno and his friends were
able to capture three of the women. These females were so ferocious
and unfriendly that it was necessary to kill them. Their skins were
preserved, taken to Carthage, and there placed in the Temple of Juno,
where they were held sacred until that city was destroyed.
The famous explorer, Paul Du Chaillu, in his _Explorations and
Adventures in Equatorial Africa_ describes the gorilla as gregarious.
He found them going about in companies of eight or ten. Sometimes the
older males become superannuated. Then they live solitary lives apart
from these small communities. When grown old they appear actually
grizzled with age, and the hair, which in youth is black, becomes
almost white. Du Chaillu was probably the first European to kill a
gorilla in its native forest. His description of their habits was
thought to be an exaggeration, but later information largely upholds
his opinion. He believed that the gorilla did not, as often claimed,
lurk in the trees just above the roadside in order to reach down with
his great arms and snatch up the unsuspecting passer-by. He discredited
the ancient story that these animals attack elephants and beat them
to death with sticks, and that they carry off native women to devour
them in the depths of the forest. He did not even believe that the
gorilla built itself houses or nests from twigs among the trees, or
that large bands of them made attacks upon men whose homes were in the
neighbourhood of the forest. Du Chaillu reported that the gorilla lives
in the loneliest portions of the dense African jungle. It is seldom
found in the same place two days in succession. It prefers deep wooded
valleys or rugged heights and roams about over a large area in search
of food. It consumes a large amount of food, such as pineapple leaves,
berries, wild sugar cane, and other vegetable matter. The animal sleeps
sitting on the ground with its back against the trunk of a tree, and
when full-grown seldom ascends high among the branches. The young sleep
in the trees, and possibly the females may occasionally do so.
_Like Some Monster of a Nightmare_
In spite of their reputation to the contrary, the gorillas are in
reality shy. The female will run to shelter at the first sound of
alarm, carrying her young one with her. The male, however, is less
hurried in his retreat. In fact, he seems to act upon the theory that
the best defense is an attack. He rises up on his hind legs for a
moment, showing his savage face among the underbrush. Then, glaring at
the intruder, he begins to beat his chest with his closed fists, at
the same time uttering a deep, terrifying roar. This sound begins at
first as several loud barks like those of a dog and then changes to a
deep-throated growl, which is emitted with redoubled force, causing
echoes in the forest like distant thunder. Du Chaillu said that the
horror of the animal’s appearance at this time is beyond description.
It seems like some monster of a nightmare, an indescribable piece of
hideousness.
In walking, the gorilla waddles from side to side as he proceeds upon
his hind legs. Meanwhile, in order to balance himself, he swings his
great arms at his sides, which makes him appear more determined and
awe-inspiring. When attacking, his features are distorted by hideous
wrinkles, and his lips are drawn back revealing long fangs in the
powerful jaws by which a human limb could easily be crushed.
The celebrated African explorer, Mr. Akeley, has pointed out that there
is no difficulty in shooting the gorilla. In fact, against modern
firearms this animal is as defenseless as a crippled woman. Such
hunting is thoroughly distasteful and seems to be an atrocity closely
akin to murder. It was due to Mr. Akeley’s efforts that the King of
Belgium recently set aside a large territory in the Congo as a gorilla
sanctuary, in which all hunting of this animal is prohibited. Here, in
the vicinity of the three extinct volcanoes, Mt. Keno, Mt. Karissimbi,
and Mt. Visake, Mr. Akeley hoped that a biological station might be
established for the further study of the gorilla’s behaviour. In this
sanctuary, now known as Albert National Park, he believed it would
be possible to gain a footing on close and intimate terms with this
gigantic ape. Mr. Akeley was convinced that the gorilla’s reputation
for ferocity was greatly exaggerated, and that the animal was actually
a timid and retiring beast. This new estimate of the gorilla’s
disposition gives encouragement to the expectation that in time this
fast-disappearing offshoot of the prehuman stock may furnish its full
testimony concerning the evolutionary process.
_Training the Young Gorilla_
In adult life the gorilla is untamable. If captured young, as much may
be done with it as with many other apes in captivity. The following
account of a gorilla’s life in civilization, given by Miss Alyse
Cunningham, of London, testifies to this fact. It is the story of the
young gorilla called “John Daniel the First.” The record was made by
Miss Cunningham herself. At first she had no fancy for this animal; in
fact, she felt rather a dislike for anything in the shape of a monkey
or an ape, but she soon became interested in the young gorilla and took
his education seriously in hand. The animal was presented to her by her
nephew, Major Penny, shortly after the end of the Great War. He was
much interested in apes and bought the gorilla with the idea of seeing
how much mentality it possessed and how much it could be developed.
John Daniel was captured when very young in the French Gaboon country
and came to England when he was about three years of age. Major Penny
first saw the young gorilla on exhibition, during the Christmas
holidays, in a large show window of a well-known shop in London. The
animal attracted much attention and large crowds gathered daily to
watch him. As a dry-goods advertisement he was a splendid investment,
but unfortunately at that time he was suffering from rickets. With
the severe changes of weather in the Christmas season he contracted
an attack of influenza. On this account his owners were compelled to
retire him from his advertising post and found themselves at their
wit’s end to know what to do with this sick infant gorilla. When he was
finally sold to Major Penny his original owners did not think he would
survive for very long. In this respect their calculations went astray.
Miss Cunningham took the sickly gorilla, nursed him as she would a
child, brought him through his influenza, and so successfully cared
for him that during the next three years he reached the weight of 112
pounds and the height of three feet four and a half inches. Meanwhile,
he acquired many of the habits and adjustments necessary to fit him as
an interesting if somewhat unusual member of the household.
_John Daniel the First_
We are indebted to Miss Cunningham for the excellent account of his
life, which indicates the extent to which this great ape may be
trained and educated. Little John, immediately after his recovery from
influenza, began to show some singularly childlike emotions. He was
gentle and affectionate in response to the tender care he received. But
he became too much attached to his new and kind friends. His devotion
in this respect created some difficult situations in the household.
If he were left by himself at night he would shriek from fear and
loneliness. Perhaps he remembered the long and cheerless nights when
he was a Christmas exhibit in the department store. In any event,
Miss Cunningham was forced to treat him just as she would any little
child. She coaxed and soothed and petted him until she had allayed his
fears. Then he would become quiet and fall asleep. But even this was
not sufficient. It soon became necessary to place her nephew’s bed
in the room adjoining the cage of the gorilla. Apparently he craved
companionship of some kind and at length became quite happy under this
new arrangement.
John soon began to grow and to put on weight. He gradually got over his
rickets. At first he was taught to be clean in his habits by a system
of rewards and punishments. At the end of six weeks he was thoroughly
housebroken. At this time he was taken out of his cage and allowed the
freedom of the house. Thereafter, John would always run upstairs to the
bathroom of his own accord. He would turn the knob of a door and took
pains to see that he always left it closed behind him. He showed strong
likes and dislikes in the matter of food. There was one feature that
always puzzled Miss Cunningham in this respect. Generally speaking,
John was not a thief. He manifested average honesty, but when it came
to food he much preferred to steal it than have it given to him. It
was difficult to understand the motive underlying this course of
action. There were some things about it that seemed to indicate a real
satisfaction derived from stealing, due, perhaps, to an outcropping of
his native cunning. Perhaps it was the consequence of a well-recognized
quality of natural aloofness characteristic of the gorilla in general
that made John Daniel averse to receiving favours from others. He would
always avoid any food that had been exposed to the air for long. He
was particularly fond of oranges and apples, but would never eat them
if they had been cut a few hours. John had what almost amounted to a
passion for eating roses. The more beautiful they were, the more he
seemed to like them, but nothing would induce him to eat faded roses.
Nuts he did not much care for, although at times he showed a liking for
walnuts. A cocoanut was always a problem to him. It was most amusing to
see how he went about this problem. He understood that it was necessary
to break the cocoanut. First he would throw it upon the floor, but
failing to break it this way he would finally bring it to one of the
members of the family with an appealing look for help. If given a
hammer he would use it viciously on the nut, but never effectively.
After several failures John would take the nut and the hammer to
someone, indicating what he wanted.
_John’s Social Behaviour_
John had a good understanding of tools, almost too good, in fact. In
consequence, hammers, chisels, and saws were kept in hiding, and if
John happened to find them he was apt to indulge in a somewhat ruthless
carpentry on the household furniture. From his babyhood, and while he
was growing up, he was always fond of people. He liked to have them
come to visit him at his home. Far from being timid and shy, he was
quite the reverse. Whenever there were visitors he always liked to show
off, just like a child. He would take the visitor by the hand and lead
him round and round the room. This amused John greatly, and if his
guest responded playfully all went well, but if there was any sign of
nervousness or fear John took an impish delight and would run by the
visitor, giving him a smack on the leg. Then, perching himself on a
chair, he would grin foolishly at his own mischief. This was the only
blemish on his company manners, and he always appeared a bit shamefaced
when rebuked for such misbehaviour. He did not, however, go the length
of making apologetic overtures to his offended visitor, but kept
himself aloof with an air of injured innocence.
Miss Cunningham had few misgivings about John when she had company in
the home. He was always very obedient to her and seemed to recognize
that her wishes were law. It hurt him apparently to be guilty of
any act which caused her displeasure, and while sometimes he would
perpetrate some mischief on the sly he would always be on his best
behaviour when he felt Miss Cunningham’s eye upon him. His table
manners were rather good. He always sat at the table, and when the
meal was ready would pull up his chair to the designated place. He
never cared for great quantities of food, and his actions at table
required little, if any, more reproval than did an ordinary child. He
was especially fond of drinking water from a tumbler. He always took
afternoon tea with the family. He had a particular liking for this
beverage and with it would eat a thin slice of bread with plenty of
jam. He also liked his demi-tasse of coffee after dinner. The family
estimate of him was generally high. He was regarded as the least greedy
of all the animals that had ever come under the observation of his
owners. He would never snatch for anything at the table, and he always
ate slowly. He was accustomed to drink large quantities of water,
which he got for himself whenever he wanted it by turning on the tap.
Strangely enough, he always turned off the water when he had finished
drinking.
_A Gorilla with a Sense of Humour_
John Daniel had a very good opinion of himself. He was quite well
poised and self-contained. Nothing seemed to ruffle him, and he could
amuse himself in simple ways by the hour. He seemed to believe that his
own estimate of himself was shared by others and appeared confident
that everyone was delighted to see him. Often he would stand on the
window sill and throw up the shade. In a short time a large crowd
would collect on the street below to watch this unusual sight at the
window. He enjoyed such publicity immensely and would stand watching
the people for a long time. Once in a while, if the crowd grew very
large, he would pull the shade down deliberately in their faces and run
away shrieking with laughter, in a way which seemed to indicate that
he was conscious of having perpetrated a huge joke upon his audience
outside. Of course, this entire reaction and the motives underlying it
are open to several interpretations. Skeptics will say that the version
here given endows the gorilla with attributes more human than he could
possibly possess. However that may be, those who actually observed
these performances were impressed by the fact that John Daniel did act
in a seemingly human manner.
_Fondness for Little Children_
John was especially attached to Miss Cunningham’s three-year-old
niece, who often came with her mother to stay at the house. They
would play together by the hour. The gorilla seemed to know just what
this little girl wanted him to do. If she cried for any reason, when
her mother came to pick her up, John would give the mother’s hand a
nip with his teeth or slap her with the full weight of his palm,
apparently thinking that she was the cause of the child’s grief. One
day Miss Cunningham was dressed for going out, and John Daniel wished
to sit on her lap to bid her good-bye. It chanced that her gown was a
light-coloured one, and she pushed him away, saying that she feared he
might soil her dress. Poor John was deeply distressed. At once he lay
down on the floor and cried like a baby for a moment. Then he looked
around the room, found a newspaper, laid it on Miss Cunningham’s lap,
and climbed up on it. This was the cleverest thing he had ever done.
Those who saw it said they would not have believed it had they not
themselves been present.
_Like a Child in Play_
John Daniel apparently could stand a good deal of cold weather. He
would often climb out on the roof when the thermometer was below the
freezing point. He did not seem to mind how cold it was so long as he
could come back into a warm room when he wanted to. Then he would go
directly to the fire, rub his chest, and sit down with his feet cocked
up on the fender. Exercise was necessary to keep him in good health,
and John got much of this by playing hide-and-seek with Major Penny.
In the morning before breakfast and in the evening before dinner the
Major would run up and down stairs, in and out of all the rooms. The
game appeared to delight the gorilla, who would giggle and laugh while
being chased. He never took any chances about going into a dark room,
however. Invariably he would make sure to turn on the light first.
It was his habit to retire each night at eight o’clock, and it was not
necessary to tell him to do so more than once. He had his own little
room adjoining that of Miss Cunningham’s nephew, in which he had a
spring bed of his own, with blankets and pillows. At night he would
get up out of bed by himself, go back to bed, and pull the blankets
up over himself quite neatly. One of John’s greatest pleasures was to
stand on the top rail at the foot of the bed and jump on the springs,
just like a little child. He was never taught any tricks, but simply
acquired knowledge by himself. In the summer time John was taken by
train to the family’s cottage in the country. He occupied his seat in
the railway coach like any other passenger, without so much as a chain
around his neck. When out of doors the broad fields and open country
seemed to terrify him, but he was singularly happy and contented in the
quiet garden or in the woods. He seemed to fear full-grown sheep, cows,
and horses, but colts, calves, and lambs attracted and amused him. It
seemed to those who cared for him that he recognized youth and was
sympathetically drawn to it.
_John Becomes Famous_
As the years passed he became more devotedly attached to the family.
If left alone he would make a great noise, shrieking and crying. This
tendency increased, so that after three years it was necessary to make
some other arrangement for him. Through a misunderstanding which his
owners have always regretted, John was sold to a circus. He was taken
across the Atlantic to New York. Here, after a month’s separation from
his devoted friends during which time he refused to take food and
showed every sign of real homesickness, he died in the tower of the old
Madison Square Garden, in April, 1921.
Many of the New York daily papers published a notice of this remarkable
ape’s death, telling how the gorilla, John Daniel, homesick and
disconsolate without those who had befriended him, died of a broken
heart. The skeleton and taxidermic preparation of this gorilla, who has
contributed so much to our knowledge and understanding of the great
apes, may be seen in the anthropoid collection in the American Museum
of Natural History, bearing the label “John Daniel.”
_A Gorilla at Afternoon Tea_
As an interesting sequel to this history of what appears to be the
first gorilla raised under the conditions of such intimate domestic
life, it may be added that Miss Cunningham secured another gorilla,
which she called “John Daniel the Second.” John Daniel the First was
a little over six years old when he died and was then less than half
grown. These two great apes resembled each other closely in their
emotional reactions and in their responses to training. Both were about
of the same age. John the Second was perhaps a less likable individual
and had a disposition more in keeping with the ancient reputation
of gorillas. Several years ago, while he was visiting in New York, a
number of scientists were invited to have afternoon tea with him at a
certain fashionable hotel. On this occasion the troglodyte host was
found seated in a comfortable chair. He displayed much gravity and
apparent enjoyment as he drank from a cup of tea. During the course of
conversation John the Second was for a moment not the actual centre
of attention. Suddenly he dashed across the room with unbelievable
swiftness and attacked one of his visitors with repeated rapid blows of
both fists in the neighbourhood of the solar plexus. Just as quickly
he hopped over the foot of the bed and from this point of vantage
watched the discomfiture of his guest. A moment later, when less
sharply watched, he hurled his full weight in most approved football
style against a distinguished professor of zoölogy, who, as a result,
was thrown from his chair. In the intervals between these presumably
playful diversions this powerful gorilla sat quietly. Yet, in spite
of his innocent demeanour, one was suspicious that he was casting
about for the next piece of mischief that he might perpetrate. There
was a degree of roughness and sudden strength in the playfulness of
this young gorilla that afforded some idea of the terrific power these
animals must possess when full grown.
The attractive prospect of a biological station in Africa, as
suggested by the late Carl E. Akeley, for the study of the gorilla is
inspiring. It should be possible under these circumstances for one
scientifically inclined to saunter into the jungle of a morning, call
to some particularly promising gorilla, and with the troglodyte spend
many profitable hours in biological study. If the full-grown gorilla,
however, is anything like John Daniel the Second, this studious
occupation might not prove so simple. Indeed, it seems probable that
only the most hardy of human adventurers will ever enjoy the privileges
of anything approaching a familiar acquaintance with these giant apes.
Such adventurers may live to report that the great brutes have acquired
no marked degree of gentleness even in their own gorilla sanctuary.
_The Art of Capturing Young Gorillas_
On a number of occasions young gorillas have been captured alive. Mr.
Ben Burbridge, using some clever tactics, has succeeded in capturing
several small gorillas. The approved style of such hunting is to lure
the young animal away from the older gorillas; then, grasping the
throat, force it to the ground until helpers arrive to slip a stout
bag over its head. On one occasion Mr. Burbridge succeeded in artfully
luring a gorilla from the rest of his family. He at once proceeded to
seize him in the usual manner. Immediately he realized that he had
caught a tartar. The young gorilla was much stronger than any man, and
grasping both of Mr. Burbridge’s hands he forced them into his savage
mouth. Nothing but iron nerve and quickness of wit would have saved a
man under these circumstances. Realizing his inability to overpower the
gorilla or free himself from its vise-like grip, Mr. Burbridge did the
only thing left for him to do. He thrust his hands down the animal’s
throat as far as they would go. Several natives finally succeeded in
overpowering and binding the young giant. The first burlap bag put
over his head he split asunder like a piece of gauze. At length he was
bound and carried off to camp. But this young monarch of the volcanic
mountain sides would not accept captivity. He was unapproachable and so
actively hostile that he soon died. Later, Mr. Burbridge succeeded in
capturing and bringing home to Florida a small female gorilla, weighing
sixty-five pounds, which he called “Congo the Second.”
_Professor Yerkes Studies “Congo the Second”_
We are extremely fortunate that this gorilla has been studied by
Professor Yerkes, who in a book recently published, called _The Mind
of a Gorilla_, has given us another of his brilliant works on animal
behaviour. This is a most readable account of Congo’s actions, and
those who wish further information will derive much pleasure from
Professor Yerkes’s story. All of his observations are illuminating and
helpful in understanding the brain of this great troglodyte.
The mountain gorilla, as Professor Yerkes points out, is built for
strength rather than speed. Congo, although still in her childhood,
and weighing only sixty-five pounds, was amazingly strong. She could
lift weights and overcome resistances that required the full strength
of a grown man. In her play with a young Airedale terrier she became
so rough that the dog finally avoided her. Her climbing among the
trees, about which she seemed eager, was scarcely any better than that
of an active small boy. It was easy to outrun her and throw her off
her balance. The tremendous strength of the gorilla must, therefore,
be looked upon as the real secret of his success in life. Without this
strength he probably would not have survived, since he has neither the
skill in climbing nor the speed upon the ground to escape his deadly
enemies. His deadliest foe is the leopard. This stealthy and powerful
cat often steals up to a gorilla family and snatches away the little
ones. The gorilla’s sole defense against the leopard is his gigantic
strength. If at present this great ape is threatened with extinction it
is because his natural enemies are increasing in number. Man with his
modern equipments must be listed among these hostile contemporaries.
For ages the struggle between the gorilla and his enemies in the jungle
has been going on relentlessly. The great ape has been able to maintain
that margin of superiority which permitted his kind to come down into
modern times.
Professor Yerkes devised a series of tests for determining the mental
capacity of the young gorilla, Congo the Second. These were arranged in
several groups such as the following:
1. The use of the stick as an implement.
2. The use of simple mechanisms showing adaptive ability.
3. The uses of boxes and piling boxes.
4. Tests for memory.
5. Observations of social relations.
6. Study of emotions and incentives to action.
_The Mind of a Gorilla_
In all, twenty-four tests were employed in the experiments to fathom
Congo’s mind. Among them were the stick used as an implement, a
buried jar of food, food suspended and made accessible by using the
stick, food suspended and made accessible by piling boxes one on top
of another, the use of hammer and nail in imitation of a man using
the same implements, the mirror test and the animal’s reaction to
the looking-glass. Professor Yerkes carried on his studies through
a number of weeks on two different occasions. The first series was
conducted in January, 1926, and the second series, largely repeating
the conditions of the first, in January, 1927. During this time the
little gorilla had grown and prospered. She had doubled her weight in
twelve months and she manifested many changes in her behaviour. In
the first place, she had become somewhat destructive, although when
she first came to Shady Nook in Florida this was not the case. Her
curiosity had increased as had also her powers of imitation and her
emotional expressions. She was much more self-reliant and likewise more
coöperative. She showed a very considerable improvement in her ability
to solve the problems of the several tests given to her. In using
the stick she manifested greater cleverness and adaptability, with
some indications of real insight into the situations that confronted
her. There were signs also that she had gained a greater degree of
adaptability in the use of simple mechanisms. These appliances in her
earlier tests baffled Congo, but upon repetition a year later she not
only gave evidence of memory concerning the tests but also had more
ability in solving the problems which she had previously failed to
master. She showed much improvement, particularly in piling boxes one
upon another. Certain memory tests, which were unsuccessful in January,
1926, were quite successfully performed in January, 1927. Heretofore,
no animal except man has been capable of correct response in these
particular memory tests. Congo’s success possibly demonstrates the
existence of a mechanism in the gorilla brain that is possessed by the
most highly organized animals only. It is this mechanism, doubtless,
which distinguishes man and the great apes from all other mammals.
Buried food tests also demonstrated an ability to remember after
intervals of one or two days. Congo’s emotions likewise had changed.
At first she appeared aloof, independent, and inexpressive. She still
remained reserved, and although playful she was highly self-controlled.
Her emotional expression by voice, face, and attitude was rare, and
seldom appeared in response to definite provocation. Her incentives
and motives seemed much more complex than in lower animals, like rats
and guinea pigs. Congo was moody, having her good days and bad days in
doing the tests. The inducements offered her to perform certain acts
did not have the same certainty that they have with lower animals. In
her social relations she was extremely simple. She apparently gained
an increased interest in those with whom she was familiar and also with
strangers. She enjoyed visitors and acted in a limited way to entertain
them. Seeing herself in the looking-glass, she had a marked interest
in her image. In the second series of tests her interest in the mirror
seemed more intelligent than the first. In sexual interest Congo showed
a marked development. At first she manifested nothing resembling
sex play, but in the course of the year this became evident in her
relations with her dog companions and other objects. Ultimately she had
a decided preference for the male dog.
_Mental Comparisons of the Great Manlike Apes_
Professor Yerkes’s comparison of the behaviour of the three great apes,
the orang, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla, is particularly interesting
and important. He carefully guards his statement by acknowledging that
these are rough comparisons based on the intimate study of only a few
individual apes. The physical differences between these anthropoids may
have a definite bearing upon their mental characters. The chimpanzee
is well but lightly built. The orang, in contrast, is loosely built,
with arms that seem much too long and liable to be in the way. The
gorilla is stocky, somewhat clumsy, but of impressively strong build.
The general disposition of these three apes varies somewhat according
to their physiques. The chimpanzee is sanguine, buoyant, alert, and
snappy. The orang-outang is melancholy and taciturn. The gorilla is
reserved and aloof almost to the point of manifesting a superiority
complex. In their attitude toward others and things in general this
same difference is observed. The chimpanzee is preëminently a leader
in playfulness and invention of ways to amuse himself. He is quick,
impulsive, energetic, and comical. He has much enthusiasm and optimism,
all of which makes him the showman’s prize. The orang is more slow
and cautious, with little impulsiveness and no show of optimism. He
seems more stable and dependable than the chimpanzee. He is certainly
more readily depressed and discouraged than his livelier cousin. The
gorilla is calm, reserved, cool, and calculating. His disposition
is quite the opposite of that of the chimpanzee. The terms sullen,
morose, ferocious, and unrelenting did not, however, apply to Congo,
who was placid, self-dependent, and usually superior to the incidents
of her artificial life in captivity. In curiosity the chimpanzee heads
the list. The orang is a close second. The gorilla may be stirred to
curiosity, but under such circumstances usually acts as though he
considered himself superior to such childish indulgence. The manner
and methods of learning in these three great apes are remarkably
interesting. In learning by imitation from man, the chimpanzee has
a long lead. The orang is not entirely unsuccessful in this matter,
but the gorilla, especially as typified by Congo, shows an actual
resistance to learning by imitation of man. The ability to acquire
new habits and adjustments to life by means of trial and error
shows that the great apes rank as follows: Chimpanzee first, orang
second, gorilla third. Learning by ideas, experience, insight, and
understanding seems to reverse this order and puts the gorilla at the
head of the list.
Professor Yerkes appears to think that, as compared with chimpanzees
and orangs of like age, Congo was remarkably slow in adapting herself
and was more limited in initiative, originality, and insight. He
concludes that the general tendency to rate the gorilla in a mentally
higher class than the chimpanzee or orang finds no support from his
study of Congo. He also believes that conclusions based on a single
specimen of this great ape are not sufficient to determine the mental
rating of the gorilla. This animal, like the chimpanzee and the orang,
indeed like man himself, has great individual variations in mental
development.
Such records as those of John Daniel, First and Second, made by
observers little trained in the technical methods of behavioural study,
must of course be accepted with some reservations. Viewed in the light
of Professor Yerkes’s studies on Congo, they do afford an illuminating
picture of the gorilla’s mental capacity, disposition, and ability to
learn. To say the least, in all of these qualifications the largest
of the great apes is strikingly human. Its brain, which weighs and
measures more than that of other apes, is in many respects nearer to
the brain of man. In the gorilla’s brain it is possible to discern
the process by which the progressive development of this organ has
made great strides. All of the landmarks of the superbrain are more
distinctly human in their arrangement and disposition than in the
chimpanzee or orang. If the chimpanzee’s brain is a human miniature,
the resemblance to man in gorilla has become still more striking. The
position of the Sylvian groove and of the ape groove marks the boundary
of the two great departments of sight and hearing. In the gorilla
both of these have increased the area for radiating brain power. The
convolutions in both of these regions bear a close resemblance to those
of the human brain. This similarity is likewise true in the department
for body and contact sense, where the convolutions have increased in
complexity as well as in relative size. The central groove forms the
boundary for a well-defined frontal lobe. If it were possible to make
a measurable contrast of this permanent headquarters for the higher
faculties in gorilla to that of chimpanzee, it seems fair to say that
the gorilla would show some slight advantage. This advantage may
account for the gorilla’s greater reserve, which in some ways indicates
a more mature attitude toward life, especially when compared to the
restless and more childlike behaviour of the chimpanzee.
_Secret of the Gorilla’s Survival_
Professor Yerkes would perhaps be unwilling on the strength of his
studies to admit any measurable degree of superiority on the part of
the gorilla’s mentality over the chimpanzee. Unquestionably this is a
proper point of view in the light of those great apes which have been
available for experiment and investigation. In the main, such gorillas
have been both too young and too few in number to permit any just
estimate of their real ability. One fact in their history does speak
forcibly in behalf of their mental superiority over all other apes. In
form and physique the gorilla occupies an intermediate position. He is
not well adapted for great successes living upon the ground. He is too
heavy to capitalize the full advantages of living in the trees. Added
to this is the fact that he is both slow and clumsy. His one physical
asset in the struggle for life is his gigantic strength. By means of
this advantage he has been able to meet all comers of the wild, to
contend with such deadly enemies as the leopards and other members
of the great cat family. He has eked out an existence in a territory
filled with all manner of hazards. Yet in spite of his handicaps he has
not only held his place in nature but he has kept his line a vital and
going concern with all the increasing odds against him. This success
in adjustment must depend upon something more than mere chance. We are
perhaps fair in assuming that added to his chief asset of brute-like
strength there have been certain superior mental qualities derived from
a superbrain and particularly from a frontal lobe which surpassed that
of all his animal competitors.
The index of his powers to adjust himself to a strenuous life is shown
by his bridge (_pons_). This gives him a rating of .480, which is
still higher than in the case of the chimpanzee. Most interesting in
this connection is the fact that the pyramid in the gorilla is .161,
which is considerably less than in the chimpanzee. The pyramid, as
will be recalled, indicates the degree of skill that an animal has in
controlling its voluntary movements; that is, in making its muscles act
in many and varied ways according to the dictates of the will. That the
agile, speedy, and acrobatic chimpanzee should surpass the clumsy and
slow-moving gorilla in this particular might be expected. In almost
every other detail of its development the brain of the gorilla is
nearer to man than is the brain of any other ape, great or small. Those
who have studied this question are fully convinced of the near approach
in brain structure which all three of the great manlike apes make to
the human brain. If any final estimation is justified at the present
time, the gorilla’s brain appears to be the most advanced of all the
apes and is, in fact, almost human.
CHAPTER XI
HUMAN AT LAST
THE BRAIN OF PREHISTORIC MAN
Those individual characteristics which distinguish the orang,
chimpanzee, and gorilla may be easily recognized. Yet, notwithstanding
their striking differences, these animals all belong to the same
family, called the _Simiidæ_. As a family this was and still remains
the highest in the ape world. All of the great apes manifest certain
pronounced manlike tendencies. Up to this point they were progressive,
but beyond it they did not go. They were not equipped to reach the
upper footholds or to gain the vast plateaus on the top of the world.
This last achievement remained for another, who, being freed from many
simian restrictions, had already outstripped the anthropoids.
_Human Superiority_
As a machine, this newcomer in the animal world was more effective than
any of his forerunners. His human superiority was not due to higher
speed, greater strength, or better staying powers. Many of his animal
competitors could far outdistance him, could easily overpower him,
could surpass him in endurance. He did, however, have an exceptional
advantage. He was able to combine these essential qualities with
many others in a variety of ways and thus gain an ultimate supremacy.
In the end it was better brain power that raised man above his lower
contemporaries and set him on his path toward human success. This new
power of his did not come all at once. It needed the steady effort of
ages to reach its present development. Compared with the existence
of other species, the human race is relatively young. In point of
geologic time so also is the human brain. Many students are agreed
that temporally and in other respects our brain has scarcely outgrown
its childhood. The brain power of to-day may require further ages of
development to attain its highest possibilities.
When man first appeared on earth he had much in common with the
great apes. Although not descended from them, he had inherited with
them many qualities from a common ancestor. It is now settled beyond
question that in earliest times the human brain possessed all of the
basic patterns and mechanisms still to be found in the gorilla, the
chimpanzee, and the orang. It had one fundamental advantage that
greatly improved its capacity for developing its power. Expansion was
the secret of this advantage. It was apparent in all parts of the
superbrain, but most prominent in the department of the highest mental
faculties, the frontal lobe. We may discern this great advance at a
glance by comparing the sloping, narrow foreheads of the great apes
with the high and prominent brow of man. The frontal lobe gradually
pushed forward over the eyes, and in consequence the forehead slowly
rose above them. It seems fair to say that as the brow grew higher
through successive stages the race gradually rose in humanity. We are
still much in the dark concerning the early phases of this slow rise
to power. Some of the stages, it is probable, we shall never know. On
the other hand, a large number of human fossils have been found during
the past century. From these it is possible to decipher what the human
brain must have been like at certain critical periods of man’s long
journey. The brain, like all other soft parts of the body, disappears
in time after death. How is it possible, therefore, to speak about the
brains of men long since dead, or of races long ago extinct?
_The Fossil Records of Man_
It is true that only the bones of ancient peoples remain to tell us
what they were like. Many of these bones have become fossilized by
impregnation with minerals and are, so to speak, turned into stone.
Thus they make an enduring record of man’s bony framework. From these
petrified bones we can read many things about the people of the past to
whom they belonged. We can measure their height, determine the manner
in which they held their bodies in walking, and estimate their muscular
strength. We may even rebuild their bodies about their skeletons by
using certain standard measurements and so gain a fair idea of what
these men must have looked like when alive. From the shape of the head
it is possible to decide whether the jaw was massive and protruding,
or of modern type; whether the cheek bones were heavy and prominent
or relatively inconspicuous; whether the forehead was low and receding
or high and broad; whether the nose was flattened or had a high nasal
bridge; whether the chin was weakly developed or large and firm;
whether the brain case was small, round, and narrow, or long, high
vaulted, and capacious.
_Brain Casts of Extinct Races of Men_
Many other characters of extinct races may be determined by means
of exact measurement. So much has already been accomplished in this
way that it is possible to reproduce a reasonable facsimile of races
that vanished long ago. It is possible also to reproduce a reasonable
likeness of their brains. Reproductions of this kind depend upon the
use of the fossil skulls as molds from which plaster of Paris casts
are made. Upon the inner surface of the skull the brain makes certain
definite impressions. It leaves grooves in the bone where great
arteries run. It shows deep indentations caused by the convolutions. It
contains other landmarks indicating the size and position of certain
prominent features in the brain. These casts do not show the brain
characters in all their sharp details because within the skull the
brain is covered by three layers of membranes and surrounded by a thin
jacket of fluid. In consequence, all of the prominent characters,
although easily recognized, are somewhat veiled. It is for this reason
that we are unable to detect every coil and groove in a brain cast
of a fossil skull. We may, however, discern many important features
and thus form an accurate estimate concerning the brain characters
of several prehistoric races of man. Many casts of this kind are now
available for study.
It is probable that a number of distinct species of prehistoric races
have passed away leaving no trace of themselves. Even the bones of
man’s body gradually crumble into dust unless, by some fortuitous
circumstance, they are slowly converted into stone through the
deposit of mineral salts. It seems likely that only a few of man’s
skeletal remains have been preserved for us in this manner. By far
the vast majority have gone the way of all flesh and most bones. The
few precious relics that we thus far have had the good fortune to
discover are treasured as rare possessions. They tell us in a somewhat
disconnected way of many ancient people who have lived long before our
times. Yet, however disconnected this story may be, however wide its
gaps, however serious its omissions, it would be improper to overlook
the fossil evidence of these early people. The fossilized relics must
be permitted to set forth the story which they have to tell while we
endeavour to keep our interpretations within the bounds imposed upon us
by the nature of the evidence.
_Brain of Java Ape Man_
The brain cast representing the most ancient race of men yet discovered
is that of the ape man of Java (_Pithecanthropus erectus_). Dr. Eugen
Du Bois, when he made his wonderful discovery in Java, found almost
the entire skull cap of this primitive man, who lived somewhere between
500,000 and 1,000,000 years ago. His brain was remarkably small. It was
not nearly so large as our modern brain or even as the brain of many
other prehistoric people. Its capacity was only 940 cubic centimetres.
This is small for a human brain, which ranges between 1000 to 1400
cubic centimetres. But if it is small for a man, it is much larger
than any ape brain. An interesting comparison as to the size of the
ape man’s brain is afforded when the brains of a large gorilla, of the
Java ape man, and of a modern man are placed side by side. At once the
differences are apparent. The brain we are now considering clearly
occupies an intermediate position between the gorilla and modern man.
The striking feature about the brain of the lowly ape man is the
great expansion which has taken place in the department and permanent
headquarters of the highest mental faculties--the frontal lobe.
Compared with the brain of the gorilla, there can be no dispute as to
the great advantages held by the ape man in this part of his brain. The
convolutions are plainly shown in this frontal area. In fact, these
coils are more prominent in this region than elsewhere. This fact does
not imply that the convolutions in the brain are supreme in the frontal
lobe of the ape man. If they seem less prominent in the other lobes
it is only because the frontal coils in all cases make more positive
impressions upon the skull. It is fortunate, though, that these coils
may be so clearly seen in that region of the superbrain which reveals
the development of the highest faculties. We should also bear in
mind that this department of the chief executive in the frontal lobe
is preëminently a human possession. A comparison with the gorilla’s
brain shows at once the great expansion which has occurred in the most
responsible portion of man’s superbrain. In consequence of such frontal
growth the human race distinguished itself in creation by acquiring all
that is implied in the title _Homo sapiens_ (man of wisdom).
Another decisive feature appears in this frontal region. The left
convolutions are slightly larger than those on the right side. In
all probability this difference in size indicates that a highly
characteristic human quality has already been introduced. In the ape
man the right hand already appears to have become the leader in all the
varied skillful performances of manual achievement.
_Speech_
In this early period it seems likely that man was using his hands
for constructive purposes. Of far more significance and bearing
more decisively upon the destiny of humanity is the appearance of a
well-marked coil in the lower portion of this frontal lobe on the left
side. In all living races of man this convolution is associated with
the control of spoken language. From this specialization it is apparent
that the ape man had acquired the powers of speech. Even if his frontal
lobe were small, it far surpassed that of any ape however highly
developed.
It is clear from these facts that the primitive ape man of Java had
risen to a plane far above the gorilla, although he was still much
below that of modern man. Visualized from his brain, this Java man must
have had increased powers of reasoning. He must have been capable of
making better adjustments to life than the gorilla or any of the great
manlike apes. He possessed the ability to build up a greater sphere of
experience and make some approach to human personality. His tendency
to right-handedness was a distinctly human character, around which are
built many of man’s most productive specializations. In all of his
qualities the Java man was much below his later human successors. It is
difficult to estimate how much skill he had acquired with his hands,
but it seems almost certain that he added one supreme advantage to the
motor equipment of animal life. HE HAD LEARNED TO SPEAK--to communicate
in verbal language. The animal machine had acquired a new means of
expressing itself. It was capable of developing a new output in the
production of which it became highly prolific.
Several theories have been advanced to explain the development of human
speech. One of these attributes the origin of language to gestures,
especially those made with the hands. Gestures indicating direction,
location, distance, size, shape, motion, number, and many other
specifications became associated with vocal expressions. These symbols
were the basis of language, which required special speech centres in
the brain for its control.
This means of communication laid the foundation of all human knowledge.
Doubtless the linguistic ability of the Javan ape man was extremely
crude, but he had taken a decisive step in a direction necessary to the
further development of mankind.
_More Effective Use of the Senses_
In the department of his body and contact senses the ape man’s brain
shows marked advances over the apes. The expansions here must be
regarded as particularly connected with the free use of the hands and
arms and the assumption of the erect posture. A much richer supply
of raw materials in the way of sense impressions from the legs and
arms, and from the body, generally speaking, made possible a more
effective turnover and output of nervous energy. During this time man
was learning many new uses for his hands in devising original means for
maintaining and advancing his footholds in life.
The departments of sight and hearing situated respectively in the
occipital and temporal lobes of the brain show that degree of expansion
which supplied greater human powers. Man could see, and understand
better what he saw. He could hear, and understand more fully what
he heard. He was capable of more effective appreciation of his
surroundings. If he obtained a better idea of the world through his
sense of sight, he put these more ample impressions to better use in
the visual direction of his actions and more especially in guiding the
work of his hands by his eyes.
If his sense of hearing likewise gave him better understanding of the
audible world about him, it was most important in that it contributed
to the upbuilding of his vocal speech. Sounds which he heard began to
have new meanings to him. From this it was but a step to translate such
sounds into spoken words with fixed meanings of their own.
In all of these particulars the brain of the ape man had made definite
advances. It was superior to all of its forerunners in the animal
kingdom. The fact that it had thus advanced brings to mind many
perplexing questions. Why had this great change taken place? What
causes had produced the marked extensions in the frontal lobes and in
all other lobes, sufficient at last to lift man up to a human level?
Attempts to answer such questions venture into the field of conjecture.
Many factors yet unknown may have been the real causes in producing
this remarkable change.
_The Human Hand and Foot_
One great difference between man and the manlike apes seems to be based
upon the character of the feet. Man had at length acquired two feet
upon which to stand upright and make his way. His erect posture had
caused many changes in his body, including the position of the head,
the relation of the eyes, and the length of his limbs. None of these
changes had more telling effect upon human destiny than the final
freeing of the hands for occupations other than locomotion. In this way
man acquired his most useful advantage--the hand. It became his chief
reliance, the basis of his constructive abilities, and the guide of
his analytical powers. It has been the achievement of his hands that
has carried man onward. Some authorities believe that brain development
was the chief factor in human progress. Such no doubt is the case,
but it was the hand that called upon the brain for its progressive
development.
Whatever other factors were at work, the hand was one of the most
potent influences in the rise of man. With the brain to direct its
action, to expand its usefulness, with the upright posture to give
free range to its executions, with speech to make its accomplishments
available to all, the hand became a master key, opening all the ways
leading through the vast domain of human behaviour. If the influences
which determined human emergence from the lower levels of animal life
might be catalogued as a working theory, they would perhaps appear in
the following order:
1. The development of the human foot upon which to establish the erect
posture.
2. The freeing of the hand in consequence of the erect posture for the
purposes of human success.
3. The expansions of sight and hearing for the better appreciation of
the world and the more effective guidance of action.
4. The development of speech.
5. The establishment of human personality and the development of higher
mental faculties. For the successful administration of these special
powers, a brain of at least human capacity was necessary.
_Brain of Piltdown Man_
When Mr. Dawson found the fossil remains of the Piltdown Dawn man he
brought to light another view of the human prehistoric brain. There
are many indications that the Piltdown men had made great strides in
their brain power. This is especially apparent in the frontal lobe.
The convolutions are prominent, especially that one upon the left side
which plainly indicates the power of speech. These early inhabitants
of England must have been more gifted than the humbler ape man. Such
at least is the evidence of the frontal lobe in which the department
of the highest mental faculties was much better developed. Similar
advances appear in the parietal regions, suggesting that the hands of
these Dawn men had acquired increased capacities as constructive agents
and sensory organs. The large expansion in the department of body and
contact senses plainly signifies great advantages gained in exploring
the world. Piltdown man must have understood the consistency, the
texture, and shape of the things he touched. The weight and mobility
of objects gave him information concerning their use. The advantages
of wood and stone for projectile and penetrating purposes, the utility
of sharp edges, the flexibility and tensile strength of various
tissues, like the bark of trees or climbing vines, all came to him
as revelations evoked by his new powers for sensing his world. These
revelations were of much service in other ways. The Dawn man could
utilize these sense impressions in directing new actions which helped
him to overcome obstacles or to gain greater security. He could now
combine stick and stone in a manner advantageous for his daily contacts
with life. There may be some question whether the earlier ape man of
Java had learned the secret of making implements for himself. With the
Dawn man of Piltdown the case is different. It seems most likely that
he had already established the industry of instrument making. Some
students of this question still hesitate to believe that the dawn flint
implements (eoliths) found in association with the Piltdown remains
were really the product of human hands. It is probable that the Dawn
man already possessed the great advantage of being right-handed. The
chipping of stone implements would make it necessary for him to hold
the flint in one hand and flake it skillfully with the other. The
departments of hearing and sight both show an expansion similar to that
in the other parts of the brain.
The Piltdown brain is superior to that of the Java ape man in all
particulars. It indicates the power of speech, the development of
right-handedness, and the establishment of higher mental faculties.
It also attests that the Dawn man had come a long distance from that
parting of the ways at which the human race separated from the great
apes.
_The Neanderthal Brain_
The time assigned to the Dawn man’s day on earth varies considerably
according to different estimates. The latest calculations place this
time at a little over a million years ago. By comparison, Piltdown
men were certainly more ancient than another race which dominated
Europe for long ages. This was the famous Neanderthal race. These early
and long extinct people migrated into Europe from the East. Their
scattered fossil remains found in many different parts tell the same
story of an unusually powerful race. In stature they were relatively
short, probably not averaging much more than five feet three inches
in height. Their arms were long and powerful, their necks thick and
extremely muscular. Their legs were heavy and slightly bent at the
knees. As a race they were distinguished by the shape of their heads
and the size of their brains. The Neanderthal had a low, retreating
forehead and a head that was peculiarly flat near the top. It seems
as if the head were especially constructed as part of an effective
fighting machine. Heavy ridges of bone surmounted the eyes much as is
the case in the gorilla. The head was set down well upon the shoulders.
The jaws were heavy, indicating that the teeth as well as other parts
of the body might be employed in combat. The nose was broad and flat
and the chin lacked prominence. All of these features must have given
the Neanderthal man a brutish appearance. The low beetling brow, the
flattened vault of the skull, the heavy jaw with receding chin, the
broad flat nose, all gave him a countenance not unlike that of the
great apes. Visualized from his fossil remains, the Neanderthal was a
savage-looking creature. He would have been a dangerous wayfarer for
the unwary to meet. He was probably so hideous in his appearance that
his presence gave offense to men of more refined sensibility. This
seems like a harsh judgment upon the Neanderthal. It is a low estimate
of him which his brain does not justify. As a matter of fact, the size
of the Neanderthal brain is somewhat greater than that of any modern
races. If size alone were the standard, such a brain would not indicate
a low degree of mental organization. But size alone is not a reliable
indicator of brain capacity. Unusually large brains are often inferior
in their brain power. It is said that the largest brain, both by weight
and measure, was that of a feeble-minded gardener at one time employed
in a large public garden in London. The volume of the Neanderthal
brain is not a convincing argument as to its efficiency. From other
indications, however, it is certain that this race had made definite
advances in human progress. They were skilled artisans and flint
workers. They had command of fire, which was employed in the upbuilding
of distinct industries. Far from being lowly, ape-like creatures, they
had many of the higher attributes of man.
The earliest discovery of these ancient people occurred in 1848 when
Lieutenant Flint found the first Neanderthal skull in an old quarry at
Gibraltar. The real meaning of this find, however, was not appreciated
until more than sixty years later.
One of the most important Neanderthal discoveries was made in the
valley of the Dordogne in southwestern France. In a cavern near the
little village of La Chapelle-aux-Saints, the abbés Bouyssonie and
Bardon (autumn, 1908) found the skeleton of a primitive man. The
body rested upon its back, with its head toward the west, its legs,
thighs, and forearms folded together. The head had been protected by
flat stones, and many skillfully worked flints of the Mousterian period
surrounded the body. There was every evidence of interment and burial
ceremony about the discovery which, it was finally decided, was the
skeleton of a middle-aged man belonging to the Neanderthal race. By
measurement it was found that the skeleton must have contained a brain
of large size, considerably larger than the average modern brain.
The brain cast of this prehistoric man gives us some clear idea of
Neanderthal brain power. In shape the brain is distinctly flat. The
arching in the region of the forehead, so prominent in modern races, is
absent. This part of the brain seems to sink inward as if the frontal
lobe had gone somewhat into eclipse, or had not yet made that decisive
expansion characteristic of later races of man. This condition,
however, corresponds exactly with the low retreating forehead of the
Neanderthal. When compared with the ape man of Java, or with the Dawn
man of Piltdown, the Neanderthal brain does, however, show expansion
in all of its major departments. The parietal, occipital, and temporal
lobes have all increased in size. This is true also of the frontal
lobe, but the ratio of expansion appears to be less here than in other
areas. It is in this department that the real flatness of the brain
is most pronounced. The convolutions in the frontal lobe fail to give
the superbrain those dominant characters which produce a high, wide
forehead in modern man. This apparent failure of the frontal lobe to
attain greater proportions must have had far-reaching influences upon
the life and destiny of these primitive Europeans.
All of the major departments of the brain show considerable expansion.
The entire brain of the Neanderthal gives evidence of progressive
development at the same time that it manifests many signs of deficiency
and incomplete realization along the higher lines of progress.
_Brain of Rhodesian Man_
Asia and Europe have produced evidence of prehistoric man. Until quite
recently Africa has been peculiarly silent in this regard. At length
even the Dark Continent has revealed signs showing that man of a
primitive type has gone a long way toward the south in his wanderings
over the earth. This important discovery was made in Rhodesia and first
publicly reported in 1921 by Mr. William L. Harris. The conditions of
this discovery were peculiar and significant. Actual remains of two
human skeletons were found at Broken Hill mine in northern Rhodesia.
Connected with this mine there was originally a natural cave about 120
feet long. This is known as the bone cave. It contained a vast number
of animal bones all impregnated with the salts of zinc and lead. At the
bottom of this cave the human remains were found. Like all of the other
bones, the human skeletons were incrusted by zinc and lead. The cave
itself seems to have been the ancient feasting place for hyenas, which
dragged thither their prey. There is some suspicion that these human
remains may have come to their last resting place in the cave of bones
in a similar manner. The cleft of the roof of the cave here is far in,
which suggests the possibility that the men or women whose bones were
found may have fallen into the cavern. Certain features of the skull,
however, have convinced eminent authorities that these individuals
belong to a very ancient prehistoric race. The face is far more brutal
than that of any other known human being, living or extinct. The
enormous eyebrow ridges resemble those of the gorilla, the nose is flat
and has that snout-like appearance suggesting a peculiarly significant
mark of the beast, known only in one other extinct member of the human
family, the Neanderthal man. Another remarkable feature of the head is
the great size of the palate and teeth. The brain case and the features
of the brain lend support to the view that this Rhodesian man was even
older and more primitive than Neanderthal man.
By all the signs of his frontal lobe the Rhodesian must have been a
humble sort of human. Nothing in this department of his brain suggests
any near approach to the attainments of modern man. The frontal lobe
bears many marks of ape-like characters. It indicates at the same
time a brain power which surpassed the limits of the great apes. It
was a brain fast carrying man upward to the broader plains of human
experience. The lot of the Rhodesian must have been precarious. He
was pitted against formidable animals of the African wilds. But,
judged by his frontal lobe, his brain had not left him destitute for
the exigencies of such competition. He doubtless possessed the power
of speech and the capacity for making human combinations. Compared
with lower mammals he had a more facile association of ideas and could
profit more effectively from experience. The evidence of his parietal,
temporal, and occipital lobes indicates definite progress in all
departments of sense perception. His brain was human though still in
the rough. Whatever position is finally assigned to this far-distant
cousin in our human family, he seems from his brain to have been a very
simple sort of human being, older perhaps and even more primitive than
any of the Neanderthal race.
_Changes in Human Race Extremely Slow_
It is impossible to give the exact dates for the appearance of the
different races of prehistoric men. At best, our ideas concerning their
antiquity must be approximate. Yet these fossils do not leave us in
doubt in one respect at least. We know and we may prove our knowledge
in many different ways that man has inhabited the globe through long
ages, whether we rate these ages as hundreds of thousands or millions
of years. Throughout these ages man has varied considerably. At first
he bore many close resemblances to lower forms of life. Slowly he
improved and manifested a progressive advance toward higher humanity.
We may be inclined to question this progressive change from one stage
to another largely because our own experience of life is limited to
such a short span of time. Within the memory of any man the changes in
his fellows seem inconsiderable. Mankind appears to have a dominating
fixity in appearance. It is only a little more than sixty generations
since the birth of Christ, and during this time the racial characters
of men have changed but little. The white man, the red man, the black
man, and the yellow man, are all much the same in the form of body, the
shape of head, the appearance of face, as they were sixty generations
ago. There is more than a striking figure of speech in the scriptural
definition that a thousand years are but as a day in the endless
expanse of time. Measured by such days as these, man has changed slowly
but surely. When we contemplate long days of this kind, each of a
thousand years, their accumulation in the existence of our race takes
on a new meaning. Estimate, for example, how far back ten days of this
time would take us. We should find ourselves in the life of the world
as it was ten thousand years ago, in that critical period when a vast
social and racial change was altering the colour and complexion of
human existence in Europe. The senile but still wonderful Cromagnon
race was then limping along to the last stage of its declining old
age and was about to disappear. The hardy and practical man of the
New Stone Age had already arrived and was fast becoming master of the
situation. The Cromagnon artist-hunter was passing the sceptre of human
control in Europe over to the hard-headed Neolithic business man.
Another fifty days (each of a thousand years) still further back and
we find again a momentous crisis. At that time the Neanderthal man was
passing. In spite of all his rugged vigour, his day on earth was done.
He had carried on existence successfully for seven or eight hundred
thousand years, but now the time of his extinction was at hand. These
seven or eight hundred thousand years would merely be seven or eight
hundred days, according to the new kind of timepiece by which we are
endeavouring to measure the duration of human progress.
_Cromagnons Replace the Neanderthals_
We may pause to seek some reason for the momentous change when the
Neanderthal appears to have bowed before the Cromagnon. The real secret
in the failure of the old race and the success of the new may be found
in the brain. It was the increased brain power of the Cromagnon which
produced the supremacy of this great race. It was this power which gave
Europe its first pioneers in art and, for all mankind, opened the doors
of creative imagination and appreciation of beauty in the world.
It would be particularly illuminating if a brain of the Cromagnon race
were available for study. These first artists occupied an exalted
position. They began their life in Europe about fifty thousand
years ago and carried on their industries for a period twenty times
longer than the duration of the Christian Era. At present there is
no Cromagnon brain cast available. We may, however, draw analogies
from certain of their human contemporaries, who lived in the middle
part of Europe during the Solutrean period. These were days when
Cromagnon art and industry were at their zenith, when the Old Stone
Age had attained its culminating stage and flourished in its fullest
development. The Solutrean contemporaries of the Cromagnons were
themselves a remarkable people. They are known as the “great mammoth
hunters of Prêdmost.” Their fossil remains have been found in Moravia.
Associated with them were the fossilized bones of nearly nine hundred
specimens of mammoths. In addition to these fossils of men and beasts
there were found many highly worked flints, including spear heads and
other stone implements, all having a pattern which belonged to the
Solutrean period. At Prêdmost, where this discovery was made, there
was a collective burial of fourteen human beings, with the remains of
six others. These great mammoth hunters must have been a large and
powerful race. Their prowess as trackers of great game was exceptional.
The character of their brain as revealed by the casts made from their
skulls places them at once on a plane higher than any of the earlier
races of man. In fact, it admits them to membership in the same race
to which we ourselves belong--that is, _Homo sapiens_. These intrepid
hunters, according to their fossil remains, closely resembled their
splendid contemporaries of western Europe, the Cromagnons. Of these
latter there is an ample record in consequence of which they will
always rank among the best representatives of the human species.
Their remarkable artistic contributions denote far more than the
executive mastery of art. They signalize that new spirit which had
been breathed into mankind, that devotion to the beautiful in life
which created an abiding enthusiasm in all of our race for its highest
ideals and loftiest purposes. From the first days of Cromagnon life
these tendencies were dominant. They were a people who delighted in the
lavish use of personal adornment. Coiffure was of particular interest
with the women and a highly developed personal achievement. Both the
men and the women seem to have been fond of using red and yellow ochre,
much as in modern times, to beautify the body. If certain Egyptian
ladies are credited with the invention of the lipstick and of rouge, it
is probable that they found their examples for such artistic practices
in these Cromagnon prototypes. Drawing, painting, and sculpture were
not the only creations of the Cromagnons in the realm of art. It seems
probable that they had invented some form of music. Their sketches of
dances and masks make it seem likely that to vocal expression they had
added certain artificial accessories in the shape of crude musical
instruments. One character in the artistic discrimination of these
artists and sculptors of the Old Stone Age is of unusual interest. It
shows a distinct partiality for portraying women of extreme corpulence.
Many of their statuettes have been discovered which, in spite of their
somewhat unsightly _embonpoint_, are called Venuses. The most famous
of these is the Venus of Willendorf. It was, however, in the carving
of animal forms that Cromagnon art attained its real heights. Many
living and extinct species of birds, mammals, and fish have thus been
immortalized. Back of all this varied artistic creation there must
have been a social organization of high order, for only a rich human
experience could provide the soil for such vivid and real beauty in art.
_The Mammoth Hunters of Prêdmost_
The brain of the great mammoth hunters of Prêdmost had a volume close
to the standards of modern men. It had lost those marks of inferiority
which stamp the brains of lower races. It had gained that refinement
of structure in the superbrain which proclaims the ascendant qualities
of humanity. The groove of Sylvius and the central groove show the
boundaries and the size of the several lobes of the brain, which
correspond closely to those of modern man. It is in the frontal lobe
that the most remarkable gains are apparent. The convolutions in this
region are prominent and well defined. That flatness so typical of
the Neanderthal brain has disappeared. These Prêdmost and Cromagnon
people were not a race of flatheads, such as were the Neanderthals.
The human forehead had become high and broad. It was no longer
ape-like and receding, but clearly indicated that the human brain had
developed sufficiently in its latest acquired and most highly organized
department to demonstrate that man at length was capable of real
humanity.
From the Java ape-man up to _Homo sapiens_ of modern times there has
been a slow but gradual increase in all of the important measurements
of the brain. There has been a gain in length, in breadth, and in
height. Much of this gain has taken place in the region of the frontal
lobe, and thus has expressed itself in expansion in the highest
department for developing brain power. The meaning of this pronounced
frontal expansion is evident in the progressive extensions of human
intelligence.
_Progress of the Human Family_
Judged by its brain power, the human family has clearly been
progressive. In this respect it differs from all other families in
the animal kingdom. In various parts of the world mankind has lagged
behind. Such is the case in the tropics, where the races of men are
still in a primitive stage. This is true also of many islands of the
sea, in the arctic regions, and in other remote and inaccessible places
of the earth. But given its full opportunity the human family has not
failed to go forward. The line of its progress may not be deemed wholly
satisfactory by the higher standards of enlightened criticism. Yet in
bending the forces of nature more and more to his will as well as to
his convenience, man has surely progressed. Where he has stood still,
where perhaps he has even fallen behind, is in the manifest lack of
control over his own nature. His curiosity has led him to inquire into
every phase and aspect of life upon the globe. But in all of these
inquiries he has given far too little thought to himself. Only within
recent years has he become deeply interested in the mechanisms of his
own behaviour. Least of all has he devoted time and thought to the
organ of his chief reliance, to the creator of his successes, to the
dictator of his future.
Since his earliest beginnings man has grown in humanity as his brain
expanded. Such a conclusion seems irresistible. If we place side by
side the brain casts of the ape man of Java, the Dawn man of Piltdown,
the Rhodesian, the Neanderthal, the Prêdmost, and the modern, we have
before us a demonstration of this progress more effective than words.
The regions in which the greatest development has occurred are
easily discerned. Marked additions have been made to the department
of sight in the occipital lobe, of hearing in the temporal lobe,
of body and contact sense in the parietal lobe. The mechanisms for
the amplification of sense perception and sense combination have
been manifoldly increased. But it is in the department of the chief
executive of life and experience that the most decisive advance has
occurred. This area of the frontal lobe, so poorly represented in man’s
nearest kin, the great manlike apes, shows exuberant growth, even in
the ape man of Java. Here its features correspond to those of modern
man in nearly every detail. Its only essential inferiority is its
relative smallness. Its special development of convolutions denotes the
acquisition of human speech and human reason.
_Progressive Development of the Human Brain_
Were we to select any single area in the superbrain as the department
supreme in mental organization, we should not neglect the claims of
the department for vision, for hearing, for body and contact sense.
Although each of these has progressively expanded, we would be much
more strongly inclined to favour that part of the superbrain which
has been active as the superlative sense combiner, which has served
to develop the fullest impressions of human existence, to accumulate
the widest ranges of experience, to direct most broadly the actions
of our behaviour. Traced through all of their intermediate stages
upward, it is these frontal regions which manifest the most conspicuous
development. The process of this long, progressive expansion in the
frontal lobe reaches back to the earliest periods of man’s existence.
It conveys an accurate impression of the manner in which the brain
has responded to the demands made upon it. The human brain may still
be considered to be in its early youth, in spite of the fact that
more than a million years of human striving lie behind it. This
great antiquity, this remarkable flexibility, have been largely
overlooked. By most of us the human brain is regarded as a finished
product. Its long, prehistoric record as we know it to-day does not
support this point of view. On the contrary, it makes it appear far
more probable that the brain of modern man is only some intermediate
stage in the ultimate development of the master organ of life. The
greatest possibilities for future progress lie in further expansion
of the frontal lobe. For this reason the brain of prehistoric man is
not merely an antiquarian relic, it is a sign from the long ages of
the past showing the road man has followed in his upward course. It
likewise conveys some suggestions concerning the future. For, if the
human brain began as a simple organ and gradually developed through
successive stages, there is reason to believe, if not to predict, that
it may develop still further.
CHAPTER XII
IMPLEMENTS OF HUMAN SUCCESS
HOW THE HAND, FOOT, AND BRAIN LED THE WAY TO HUMANITY
It is not sufficient to know that the brain began as a simple organ
and gradually became more complex. Sooner or later we must learn the
reasons why it made this progress. At present we are able to identify
some of the essential principles underlying brain development, yet with
few exceptions the exact causes are still obscure. We may feel certain,
however, that the progressive advances were due to the accumulation
of slight changes which, modifying brain structure ever so little,
ultimately made it more highly effective. Such changes in the different
parts of the body are the result of a complex interplay of influences
acting upon the animal as a whole. The brain has been particularly
responsive to this interplay. It has at the same time been thoroughly
conservative. Throughout all its wide range of variation it has
maintained its basic designs. If readjustment of the body to certain
conditions has resulted in the depreciation of a special part, such as
the eye, the structure of the brain shows corresponding depreciations.
The principle of compensation has also been at work. The power which
may be depreciated or lost in one department is, to some degree at
least, compensated for by others. An illustration of this compensatory
power is afforded by the mole. This animal lives a burrowing life
beneath the ground. Light rays do not reach it, and it therefore has no
need for vision. In consequence, its eyes do not develop the function
of sight. Its senses of touch and hearing, however, are greatly
amplified, and the structure of its brain gives evidence of this
compensatory readjustment.
Signs of the close relation between the brain and the parts which it
controls may be found in many organs of the body. In some instances
these signs are outspoken; in others they are less clear. It is much
easier to find evidence of this correlation in those parts which play
a conspicuous rôle in life. The arms and legs, the eyes and ears, are
particularly good examples. Modifications which have affected these
parts are distinctly reflected in the brain. If more brain power is
required for their better operation, more ample provision is made for
them in brain structure.
_Relation of One Part of Body to Another_
It is a debated question whether the brain or the external part of the
body takes the lead in progressive modifications. Some authorities
believe that all advances of this kind are dictated by development in
the brain. Others ascribe the determining influence to the external
part. For the present it seems wiser to consider these modifications as
simultaneous, as affecting the external part and the brain together.
Certain dangers arise from regarding the body as divided too strictly
into definite parts. Such a division has advantages for purposes
of description, but it may tend to obscure the important fact that
life is carried on by the body acting as a whole. In this light the
division between external part and the portion of the brain controlling
it establishes an artificial distinction. Viewed in the light of
purposeful life, one is of little use without the other. Both external
part and the portion of the brain controlling it establish a special
unit which, coöperating with all other special units, carry on the
process of living.
This view is known as the organismal conception of life. It estimates
the entire animal not as a collection of different parts but as a
combination which makes life possible. According to this conception the
external structure (arm, leg, eye, ear, etc.) and the portion of the
brain controlling it form an operating part of the whole. Modifications
in the one are reflected in the other. They cause mutual reactions.
When eyes are developed for different kinds of vision, corresponding
provisions are made for them in the brain. When legs are specialized
for various kinds of locomotion, brain structure adapts itself
accordingly.
It is important to realize what the eyes and the ears and the organ of
smell have contributed to the progressive advance of the brain. In all
of these organs there is a marked constancy and sameness among animals
possessing them. Structures presenting a greater variety of form might
have even greater pertinence. It therefore is a more leading question
to ask what relation the brain bears to the extremities, to the fore
and hind legs, to the hands and feet.
_History of the Hand and Foot_
There is a long history of progressive change back of the hand and
foot. In their development they emerged from more simple structures
connected with the ends of the limbs in certain four-legged animals.
Because they are attached to the limbs in this way, they have played
an important rôle in one of the chief activities of life--locomotion.
The fore and hind legs act as a series of levers. They are moved by
muscles and in this way make transportation possible. Consequently the
modifications in the ends of the limbs in response to special types of
locomotion have a most important bearing upon the life of the animal
and thus upon the brain.
In animals living upon land such parts of the limbs as touch the
ground are modified by many factors; thus the weight of the body, the
speed of movement, and the kind of locomotion would all exert their
modifying influence. Limbs of several different designs have thus been
produced. Heavy animals, like horses and cattle, which require speed
and endurance for long journeys, need hoofs. Still larger hoofs were
developed by heavier animals, like the elephant and rhinoceros. The paw
was the design utilized by animals like cats and dogs. Their bodies
were not so heavy as those of horses and cattle. They were capable of
great speed and needed sharp nails on their paws to hold the ground
in running and springing. These talon-like nails they also used for
defending themselves or in capturing their prey, as do the lion,
tiger, leopard, and bear. The paw is a more flexible implement than
the hoof. It provides a soft, elastic pad by means of which the animal
touches the ground. In animals like the seal, walrus, and sea lion the
flipper is the design utilized. Here the digits are connected by means
of a web. The wing is the specialization in such animals as the bat
whose transportation depends upon flight through the air.
_Locomotor Devices_
These various devices for moving the body about on the land, in the
water, or through the air have been developed by mammals. By such
contrivances they are enabled to subsist, each according to its own
mode of living. Some of them have returned to a life in the water.
The result of aquatic habits in mammals is extremely interesting. The
flippers of seals, walruses, and sea lions equip these animals to
swim with great ease and speed. They enable them to clamber about on
the rocky coast by the edge of the sea, or upon the ice fields of the
arctic regions. Because of its apparent limitations, such a life held
little prospect for developing the powers of higher intelligence. A
flipper is in no sense an efficient implement by means of which to
acquire a superior position in the world. The seals and all of their
kind, therefore, offer little promise of progress. They are capable
of astonishing proficiency in the control of their neck muscles and
movements of their heads, but this at best is a meagre advantage. They
are somewhat better off than another group of mammals which took to
the water, namely; porpoises and whales. Nothing in the equipment of
these animals could serve as efficient instruments by which to gain a
preëminent place in nature.
By developing wings in connection with their limbs the bats were also
excluded from the lines of higher progress. However effective they are
in flight, their wings could not be made to serve constructive purposes.
Animals with hoofs, such as horses and cattle, elephants and
rhinoceroses, acquired solid and reliable feet for withstanding the
heavy strain which their speed and weight imposed upon them. Hoofs,
however, are far from ideal as universal instruments. Although
sufficient for the work they have to do, they cannot be utilized for
purposes other than those of transportation except, in a certain minor
way, for offensive and defensive tactics. In these animals all of the
digits are either bound together in one large supporting pad, as in the
elephant, or are encased by a horny covering, as in cattle and deer.
In the modern horse but one digit persists, and this is surrounded
by a heavy, horny hoof. Such an implement would not require a highly
specialized endowment of brain power for its control.
The daily programme of these animals, limited largely to
transportation, calls for no constructive ability and no intentionally
destructive one. The hoofed animals possess no means for accumulating
or storing food in preparation against a day of need. They are forced
to move from place to place in order to find their browsing and
grazing lands. They cannot stand against great changes of climate or
season. They must flee before the advance of winter as well as from
their enemies. The hoof for this reason offered little promise for the
development of a more efficient kind of instrument. Such hoofed animals
as also possess a trunk developed an accessory organ of much value.
It is doubtless an important factor in the high specialization of the
elephant’s brain. Even this flexible instrument, however, has its
decided limitations.
All of these mammals, whether hoofed, flippered, or winged, have
failed to develop a brain of superior qualities. In no instance is it
an organ capable of a high degree of learning or intricate control of
life. The hoof of the horse, cattle, deer, elephant, rhinoceros, and
the like set the stamp of the wild upon these animals. This is the
keynote of their behaviour. Flipper and wing are equally indicative of
inferior qualifications in so far as efficiency and brain power are
concerned. There may be sufficient reasons for placing these mammals in
the same bracket with man in the great classes of the animal kingdom.
Their inferiorities are apparent, however, when their intelligence is
estimated by human standards. It is then clear how far below the human
level of brain power they are.
_The Paw in Relation to Hand and Foot_
In our search for animals capable of a greater range of adjustments
we will find another group with a much more promising locomotor
equipment. This group comprises those mammals possessing paws, such
as dogs, cats, bears, rats, squirrels, and the like. In itself the
paw is a most flexible implement susceptible to many modifications.
It possesses five distinct finger-like processes or digits, each of
which is capable of some degree of individual movement. The digits may
be spread out or drawn together; they may be folded or extended. In
every typical paw there are eighteen movable joints, each of which is
capable of some independent motion. Twenty-five muscles make more than
seventy separate movements possible. These figures afford some idea of
what a complex structure the paw is. Attached to the extremity of each
digit is a sharp claw-like nail, beneath which an enlargement in the
skin forms a prominent “tip pad.” Over each of these pads the skin is
arranged in ridges. The ridges roughen the surface and produce what is
called “friction skin.” The roughened skin and the claws at the end of
the digits give the animal better ground-gripping powers. In addition
to the tip pad, each typical paw has four enlargements where the
digits come together. These are the “palm” and “sole” pads. They are
likewise covered with ridged friction skin. The paw terminates in the
wrist or ankle, and at this junction there are two enlargements called
respectively the “wrist” and “ankle” pads. They are also covered with
friction skin.
This design of paw with its separate digits, its claw-like nails, and
its eleven pads affords an especially adaptable structure from which
to create many different kinds of useful implements. In the gnawing
animals, like the rats and squirrels, the paw is developed particularly
for running and climbing. The long sharp claws serve the purpose of
spurs which, as in the case of the squirrel, may be driven into the
bark of trees. All of the pads in the paw come in contact with the
surface over which the animal is moving, thus giving information
concerning its support and aiding its transportation.
In moles and burrowing animals the hind paw retains its usual features,
while the fore paw is converted into something resembling a shovel.
The paw becomes broad and flat, particularly in the moles, and there
is no suggestion of any of its pads. Since this specialization is
adapted principally for digging underground, little could be expected
in the way of high attainment for animals of this kind. Their burrowing
capacity is excellent, but this is the extent of their ability.
_Special Uses of the Paw_
In the meat-eating animals, like the dog and the cat, the individual
digits and the claws are somewhat shorter, but their most important
modification is the fusion of the paw pads and the reduction in the
first digit. This change is a specialization for their more springy
type of locomotion. Such animals run on the tips of the digits, using
especially the second, third, and fourth digits. The paw pads usually
fuse to form one or two which serve to increase the spring of the
animal. The fore limb of the rat may be accepted as the working model,
because it has all of the general features that make up a typical
paw. It provides for running, climbing, clinging, and clawing. When
compared with the paw of a mole, the modifications necessary for a good
digging implement are clearly seen. The pads are no longer needed and
might, as a matter of fact, be in the way. The digits are shorter and
the whole hand is broader and more scoop-like. The paw of the mole is
modified for the work it has to do and has lost many of the structures
necessary for ordinary locomotion over the ground. Long claws are no
longer essential for climbing or clinging, and the nails have been
converted into burrowing ground-breakers. The rabbit and the guinea
pig show changes in the fore paw necessary for rapid transportation
in a kind of jumping locomotion. They have lost the specializations
in the paw necessary for climbing. The nails and the digits are less
long and somewhat heavier. The squirrel, on the other hand, has a fore
paw specialized for climbing trees. This modification has emphasized
the length of the individual digit and particularly the length and
sharpness of the claws. Often the squirrel may be seen sitting upon its
haunches holding between its fore paws a nut, the shell of which it is
attempting to crack with its teeth. Such grasping power is not found
in the paws of animals specialized for running and jumping solely. The
squirrel’s modification of the front paw is extremely important. It
reveals how the animal’s life in the tree has lengthened the digits as
well as the nails. Some degree of power for grasping small objects has
come through this lengthening. The fore paw of a cat compared with
that of a dog illustrates other important specializations. Both of
these animals are strong runners. In running they travel along on the
tips of the digits. For this reason the tip pads and the friction skin
over them have become highly developed for ground-gripping purposes.
The paw pads and the wrist pads have tended to fuse in order to give an
elastic surface necessary for that springy gait determined by running
on the tips of the digits. The individual digits are somewhat longer in
the cat than in the dog. The claw-like nail of all the cat family is
one of their distinguishing features. By means of these claws they are
able to climb trees, which is a provision of great service in procuring
food. Dogs, on the other hand, have short digits, with thick, heavy
nails suited more as spikes in running but not adapted to climbing.
In many of the great cats, like the leopard, climbing trees is an
essential part of their hunting strategy. For this reason they require
long, sharp claws, which may also be used as weapons in attacking their
prey. The long claws of the bear likewise indicate a modification of
the fore paw in adjustment to the animal’s climbing propensities. The
great weight of the bear makes it necessary for it to have these long
spur-like claws in order to get a proper grip on the bark of a tree
when climbing.
_Transformation from Paw to Hand_
Illustrations of this kind might be multiplied to show that in all
animals having paws these implements have been modified in one way
or another to suit the kind of work they have to do. In the main,
this work is transportation. But there are many special problems in
the different kinds of transportation. There are also numerous other
adjustments to life that are capable of producing profound modification
in the paws. From such facts as these it must be clear that the paw has
been serviceable as the basis for developing instruments suited to many
special purposes. One prominent feature in the several modifications of
the fore paw is the effect which climbing has had upon the length of
the digits and upon the length of the claw-like nails. In the rat and
particularly in the squirrel these effects of climbing are especially
distinct. When climbing at length became a dominant factor in the life
and livelihood of the animal, certain still more decisive modifications
were produced in the paws. We may now endeavour to gain some idea
of that important transformation which occurred when certain groups
of animals took up more or less permanent life in the trees. These
mammals were representative of the monkey kind. They did not resort
to tree climbing as many others have done as an expedient in hunting
or in escaping from their enemies. The trees became their abodes.
Many changes were induced by this new adjustment to life, changes
which affected the muscles and bones and even the skin. During the
process of this adjustment certain ridges upon the skin in the palm of
the hand and sole of the foot began to show marked changes, probably
because they were in such immediate and constant contact with the
branches of the trees. In their basic designs these ridges which form
the friction skin may be traced back to the simplest of pawed animals.
Their successive modifications offer one of the most certain guides in
following the stages through which the hand emerged from the paw.
Each ridge upon the skin of the paw (_chiridium_) is an elevation
of the superficial layer which contains, at regular intervals, the
mouths of minute canals coming from sweat glands. In its simplest form
each sweat gland in regions of the skin not covered by hair (sole of
the foot and palm of the hand) consists of a mound-like elevation in
the centre of which is the mouth of a sweat duct. With the higher
development of the skin, numbers of these little mounds ran together in
rows thus forming the friction ridges. Depending upon the pressure and
the kind of contact made with the ground or other surface, the ridges
of the skin are arranged either in concentric circles, in ellipses, or
in parallel lines. They serve two useful purposes: First, they roughen
the surface so that it can grip the ground more effectively; second, by
the continuous secretion of fluid from the sweat glands, they keep the
skin soft, pliable, and sensitive. In this last particular, namely, the
sensitiveness of the skin, the ridges also serve in another capacity.
They provide proper locations for nerve endings, necessary to the sense
of touch in all of its various modifications. Thus the paws in the
more minute architecture of their skin pads and friction ridges afford
highly pliable and sensitive instruments by means of which different
kinds of mammals are able to adjust themselves in a great variety of
ways.
After many intermediate stages of transition the fore paw assumed
the appearance of a hand. Simultaneous with this change the hind paw
also began to manifest many hand-like characters. Potent factors were
at work determining this important transformation. Their influences
were decisive not alone because they changed the paw into a hand but
because they instituted equally profound changes in the structure of
the brain. Such modifications as these brought about many adjustments
to life destined to be the special determinants of human behaviour. One
of the first changes to occur in transforming a front paw into a hand
was the direct result of arboreal life. This modification consisted
of a decisive lengthening of the digits, particularly the second,
third, fourth, and fifth digits. In this way the fingers were formed.
The first digit which ultimately became the thumb did not lengthen to
the same degree as the other four. The chief influence in producing
this lengthening to form fingers arose from the need of a firm grasp
upon the branches. Its effects appear in the simplest monkeys, such
as tarsius. The small hand of this animal has four long fingers and
a diminutive thumb, all of which are well adapted to encircling and
grasping a cylindrical branch. Another important transitional feature
is the flattening in the ball of each digit. In tarsius each finger tip
has a disk-like appearance. This is an extreme development. It produces
what in effect is a suction pad on the tip of the finger not unlike
that observed in some of the frogs (_Hyladæ_). Such suction pads enable
the animal to strengthen its grasp upon the bark. The flattening of the
finger tips due to the pressure required in grasping the limb of a tree
produced a third great change. It caused a corresponding flattening of
the back of the finger tip and thus developed a broad, flat finger nail
to replace the sharp, claw-like nail of the cat, rat, and other similar
mammals.
_The Hand of Tarsius and Lemur_
The three changes observed in the most primitive of the monkey kind
(_Tarsius_) comprise the pronounced lengthening of the fingers, the
flattening of the finger tips, and the flattening of the finger
nails. These transformations are easily understood in connection with
the necessity of grasping cylindrical branches. In other words, a
prehensile hand came into existence as a result of living in the trees,
and a new kind of instrument made its appearance in relation with the
upper extremity. The need of a firm grasp on the branches was the
fundamental cause of this modification of the paw. It had far-reaching
effects because it created the facility to grasp many other objects and
thus struck the keynote of those further developments which ultimately
gave rise to the grasping hand of man.
All of the pads covered by friction skin which are characteristic
of lower mammals like the rat and the squirrel may be identified in
tarsius. The tip pads are somewhat changed to form the suction disks.
The palm pads, four in number, occupy their usual position in the angle
between the digits. The wrist pads, two in number, are well developed.
By means of these elastic cushions the animal makes its contacts with
the branches.
Transition from paw to hand is still more pronounced in the lemurs.
These animals in many ways stand lower in the scale than tarsius. In
them the lengthening of the digits to form real fingers, the marked
development of the thumb, the appearance of friction pads, and broad,
flat finger nails are all prominent. The index finger shows certain
variations in its development. In other respects these lowly members of
the monkey kind manifest definite progress in the change from paw to
hand.
_The Interesting Case of the Marmoset_
At this point it is interesting to consider the case of the marmosets.
Here the progress which the paw had made toward a more effective
structural instrument encountered a serious setback. The hand of
these little animals, in a general way, has much that resembles a
paw. Although it has long fingers and a prominent thumb, there is
an evident slipping backward. The claw-like finger nails suggest an
actual retrogression in the process of developing a hand. If the
marmosets were actual backsliders, other monkeys of the New World were
particularly progressive. They developed hands which are extremely
human in appearance. Their long, tapering fingers have broad, flat
nails. Their thumbs are fairly well formed. Their finger and palm
pads have characteristic appearances. This interesting group of South
American monkeys show in a most striking manner those changes which
life in the trees has brought about in the fore paw. Such modifications
are especially significant because of their influence upon the
behaviour of those animals which have taken up a permanent arboreal
life. They have also made a deep impression upon the structure of the
brain. The transition from a running, ground-living animal to the
simpler arboreal forms is foreshadowed in the lemur’s hand. In many
respects this transition stands just upon the border line. Its apparent
indecisiveness is recorded in the brain, for the lemur retains many of
the ancient brain features created by older ground-living habits. At
the same time, it indicates certain adventurous attempts to break away
from the earth and ascend into the trees. The grooves of the brain show
this new departure particularly well. They retain their strong family
resemblances inherited through long ages of four-legged ancestors. But
added to this they manifest a tendency to assume the characters which
in due course would lift their successors farther from the ground and
into a more erect posture.
_Appearance of the Hand-like Foot_
Up to this point attention has been centred upon the important changes
which attended the transition from paw to hand. Equally momentous
were the modifications in the hind paws which resulted in hand-like
feet. This transformation slowly altered the digits, the claw-like
nails, and the friction pads. It modified all of these parts in such
a way as to produce better limb-gripping instruments. A great change
in transportation had taken place. Running over the ground in easy,
secure fashion now gave place to the more hazardous method of climbing
among the branches of trees. A dependable grip was the prime need.
This capacity required long toes with which to encircle the branches,
a powerful sole, and a great toe with strong grasping power. The
four-legged animals that travel over the ground on various kinds of
paws support the weight of the body on two main arches of the foot. One
arch consists of an elastic span between the tip and the sole pads. The
other arch extends between the sole and ankle pads. Generally speaking,
those animals living on the ground first strike the surface at each
step on the tip pads of the four outer toes. As the full weight of
the body is accepted by the hind paw, the sole pads touch the ground.
Last and most lightly, the ankle pads in the region of the heels rest
on the supporting surface. In many running animals of this kind the
heel touches the ground infrequently. Their running and walking in
consequence have a springy quality that prepares them for a quick
bounding start at an instant’s notice.
_Strong Grasping Powers_
Animals like the rabbit and kangaroo possess hind legs that work
together, while the fore limbs are put forward first one and then the
other. The most effective type of transportation in animals possessing
paws has developed a gait in which the action of the hind leg of one
side follows the action of the fore leg of the opposite side. This
is the manner in which the dog runs. It is also true of all members
belonging to the great cat family. The hind paw is put down in the
footprint of the opposite fore paw. Apparently there is no deliberate
supervision of this action which seems to be wholly automatic in its
nature. To a great extent, however, this automatic regularity in the
hind legs ceased when the four-handed animals came into existence and
began to live in the trees. The problem then was a totally different
one. It was not necessary for these animals to be on their toes every
moment. They did not require the powerful spring formed by the two
arches in the sole of the foot. Their chief necessity was a foot that
would have the grasping powers of a strong hand. In this way they could
make sure of seizing the branches securely.
The first digit of the foot, which in most pawed animals often fails
to develop, became of greatest service to the monkeys. In most of them
the great toe offers an added means for securing a firm grasp. It may
be extended behind the branch while the other toes encircle it and all
working together produce a firm grip not unlike a wrench on a pipe.
The need of a long lever extending from the tip of the toes back to
the heel, essential to the springy gait of the ordinary pawed animal,
is not so strongly felt in arboreal life. In fact, a foot which is too
long may be an actual disadvantage, while one facilitating the best
kind of gripping power would necessarily require a shortening from toe
to heel. This was the change which took place in the early beginning of
tree life.
_Under Direction of the Eye_
It is difficult to appreciate all of the decisive modifications
throughout the body which the development of such hand-like structures
determined. Their influences operated in profound and subtle ways. They
caused a great change in body posture. The animal was now able to reach
for branches above its head. This was a long step in the direction of
standing upright. It modified the relation of the head which in most
four-legged animals is directed so that both the eyes and the nose
are turned toward the ground. Reaching upward to grasp branches and
drawing the body in this direction lifted the head. It has been shown
that this action of pushing the head backward and stretching the neck
causes the hind legs to straighten out automatically in exactly the
position necessary for standing erect. Such a beginning of the upright
posture also produced a change in the position of the internal organs
of the body as well as in the position of the eyes. These modifications
influenced the growth of the superbrain, which finally acquired that
appearance seen only in animals possessing hands. Coincident with these
modifying factors, still another important change was in process. In
all four-legged animals the paws, and more especially the hind paws,
operate out of sight of the eyes. The animal does not see their action.
The eye does not watch and supervise the movements of the paws step
by step, but allows them to shift more or less for themselves. With
the appearance of hands connected both with the fore and hind limbs,
this state of affairs ceased. Both the hand and the foot now came under
the critical supervision of the eye. The eye was able to hold in plain
view the performances of the hands and hand-like feet. It could see
and direct their movements. It could single them out individually or
watch them while they all worked together. It could even make critical
discriminations in each hand and in each foot. It could select a thumb
or a great toe, or each one of the other fingers and toes, and thus
guide its movements. This selective discrimination in the hands and
feet was an advantage never enjoyed by any of the pawed animals whose
habit it is to use all of the digits together. In this manner both hand
and foot profited by their new adjustments. As instruments they were
capable of a far wider range of application, although it was not alone
by this expansion in their utility that they became more effective.
They were better agents for sensing the world and possessed a more
ample sensory capacity which arose from their own multiplied movements.
_Threshold of a Great Change_
In the animal kingdom it would be difficult to find more provocative
influences than those which determined the transformation of paws into
four hands. Considered casually, the appearance of the quadrumanous
monkeys in all their varieties seems little more than the addition
of many interesting forms of life. This addition, however, had a far
greater significance. The four-handed stage of animal existence led to
the highest development of the brain. Without this stage the ultimate
advances in life, the supreme achievements in progress, would have been
impossible. Numerous factors contributed to the acquisition of hands
and hand-like feet, but no one of them was more potent in the final
outcome than the effects of tree-living. Almost every other combination
of habitat and adjustment had exerted its influence upon the form of
the mammalian body, yet in no other instance has there been achieved
a success comparable to the development of hands. Most mammals are
equipped with highly efficient eyes, keen ears, and a serviceable
sense of smell. These endowments have had opportunity to contribute to
the efficiency of life. But neither sight nor hearing nor smell was
sufficient of itself to determine those advantages capable of giving
the animal a supreme position. It was the hand which opened the door
to give the senses those opportunities never enjoyed before. It called
upon the brain for further expansions to direct new ranges of movement.
It required additional brain extensions for a greatly amplified sense
of touch in the fingers and palms, in the toes and soles of the feet.
It was the hand, in a word, that afforded an entirely new grasp upon
life and in the end created not only a new order of mammals but
almost a new kingdom of life. The transition from paws to the hands
of the quadrumana is the threshold of an epochal change. As the paw
was the basic pattern for the hand, the hand was the indispensable
stepping-stone to the development of man. This formula may perhaps seem
altogether too simple and graphic. It would be such, in fact, if many
of the important intermediate stages in the process of development were
overlooked. These stages may now be considered.
The consequences of the transition produced under the influence of
tree-living appear conspicuously in the lengthening of the digits
to form fingers, in the appearance of an opposable thumb, in the
acquisition of a grasping hand. All of these are definitely adaptive
changes. They are applied directly to meet the conditions of locomotion
through the trees. But if these modifications conferred upon the
animals many real advantages, they also introduced certain imposing
hazards to further progress. They were adequate for the mastery of
arboreal life, yet at the same time they permitted the forest to become
master of these four-handed animals. This is true in exactly the same
way that the sea imposes its laws upon aquatic mammals, the plains
dictate to the ungulates, and the air exerts its control over the bats.
_Possession of too Many Hands_
So far as the monkeys are concerned, an obstacle lies squarely across
the path of further progress. They are possessed of too many hands.
Hand and hand-like foot both serve the purposes of locomotion. Neither
the one nor the other is afforded those opportunities of exclusive use
which are essential to the highest development. This is true even
of most of the monkeys of the Old World, like the macaques. Their
locomotion requires the use of all four extremities. They run along
on the top of the branches, grasping firmly as they go. They leap
from one branch to another, employing all four hands in this mode of
transportation. As a result of these activities the hands are long
and slender, the fingers long and tapering, and the thumb short but
opposable. The foot has much the appearance of the hand.
One group of the ape world offers a striking departure from this
more general rule of development. This exception is particularly
interesting. It appears in the baboon and more especially those members
of their family which have taken up a life upon the ground. With the
baboons the resumption of terrestrial life came long before any of
the monkeys had made pronounced advances toward the erect posture. It
is for this reason that when these animals adopted habits of ground
life they readjusted themselves after the fashion of other four-legged
animals. They travel about much like the dog or cat, with their muzzles
directed to the earth. In fact, many of their features, both in head
and body, take on a definite canine appearance. A feature of special
significance is the manner in which their fore and hind limbs have
reacted to the influences of ground-living. The great lengthening in
the hands, fingers, feet, and toes, conspicuous in monkeys that live
in the trees, has actually been reversed in the baboon. It is still
proper to speak of hands and feet, but both hand and foot have shown
striking tendency to revert to paws. This specialization illustrates
a remarkable disgression in the development of the monkey kind. It
means, if it means anything at all, that the adaptations necessary
for carrying on life in the trees have withdrawn their influence
and permitted the habits of adjustment to the ground to modify the
character of the extremities. In four particulars the hand of the
baboon shows distinct tendencies to revert to a paw:
1. All of the fingers are shortened.
2. The thumb has been reduced if not to the state of a vestigial
tubercle as in the dog, at least until it has become extremely
rudimentary.
3. The nails have become much longer and more slender, as if they were
tending to form claws.
4. Both the tip pads and the palm pads have become more prominent, the
latter actually fusing to form a single palmar cushion.
In the foot similar tendencies toward a paw are present. The lesser
toes and the great toe are much shortened, and there is a distinct
fusion of the plantar pads. This reversion in the hands and feet of the
baboon shows clearly how readjustment occurred when the influences of
tree living were withdrawn. It also demonstrates the strong tendency
for the chirideal structures to assume the ancient patterns of the
paw in response to the habits of four-footed living upon the ground.
The baboons, therefore, cannot be considered in the direct line of
progress. They not only failed to advance the cause of developing
the hand but they did nothing to further the erect posture or the
progressive expansion of the brain. It was perhaps the large size of
their body that made it necessary for them to desert the tree and
seek more secure support upon the ground. This increase of body size,
however, came at an early period, long before the primates had begun to
feel those decisive influences which favoured standing erect.
_Brachiation and the Erect Posture_
Considerably later in geologic times another class of apes made its
appearance, which felt the full power of this determining influence.
These animals were the gibbons. They introduced a new type of
transportation. Their locomotion no longer depended upon running along
on the tops of the branches, or leaping from one support to the next.
They introduced the novel method of swinging by the hands. Reaching
for a branch over the head with the right hand, the gibbon swings
its body forward to grasp the next branch in advance with the left
hand. Swinging in this manner, step by step, first with the right
hand, then with the left, these animals walk through the trees. The
results of this arm-swinging locomotion (brachiation) are apparent
in the development of the hand. The fingers, tip pads, the palm, and
the palm pads are greatly elongated. Similar lengthening is also
apparent in the forearm. The acrobatic manœuvring requisite to such
locomotion has developed a high degree of skill in using the hands
and arms. It also requires a close coöperation between the movements
of the upper extremities, eyes, and head. The influence of these
several modifications has impressed itself upon the brain. But the most
decisive effect of the gibbon mode of locomotion is seen in the posture
of the body. The swinging by the hands well above the head produces an
almost constant erect posture. The muzzle no longer points, as in the
great majority of monkeys, toward the ground. It, as well as the eyes,
is now directed toward the horizon, and thus those factors which have
contributed most to an upstanding, forward-looking primate were first
introduced by the gibbon. The foot of these animals, while it retains
many features and markings of a hand, affords a fairly satisfactory
support for bipedal locomotion in the erect posture. Obviously the
effects of tree life are responsible for these changes in the gibbon.
All other monkeys up to this stage have been embarrassed by an
over-endowment of hands. But the gibbon, by over-emphasizing the upper
extremity, has to some degree nullified the importance of hand-like
feet. It has begun the solution of that perplexing problem which was
imposed upon the monkeys by their almost exclusive tree life and which
must be solved in order to provide for the manlike specializations
essential to bipedal locomotion.
In this gibbon level of the ape world such specializations began to
manifest themselves. From some gibbon-like progenitor, early in the
Age of Mammals, there arose a common stock capable of producing all of
the modern gibbons, the great anthropoid apes, and man himself. This
gibbon stage of development contained the potential material from which
to evolve the erect posture, bipedal locomotion, hands freed for the
purposes of the greatest utility, and a brain adequate to the needs of
the highest primates.
_A New Grasp on Life_
In the three great anthropoids, orang-outang, chimpanzee, and gorilla,
the hand is approaching more closely to the human pattern. In all three
the leading advance is due to the development of a more effective
opposable thumb. The result of this change has caused the disappearance
of the two wrist pads so characteristic of the mammalian paw and so
prominent in the great majority of monkeys. Power to oppose the thumb
against each one of the fingers separately has increased to a great
extent. The opponens muscle of the thumb has become more prominent
and caused the appearance of a conspicuous muscular swelling in the
palm of the hand, the thenar eminence. The palm muscles developed
in connection with the little finger have likewise occasioned the
appearance of the hypothenar eminence and at the same time the
disappearance of the second wrist pad. These developments, all clearly
seen in the anthropoid apes, and most prominent in the gorilla, reach
their greatest proportions in man. They are evidence not of the further
adaptation of the hand to locomotion but of its liberation for other
and more constructive purposes.
The effects of this advance in the hand from one primarily intended
to provide a firm grip upon the limbs of trees to one of almost
universal application are revealed by alterations in the palmar lines.
These lines are three in number, namely, the anterior, middle, and
posterior groove. In the gibbon they extend across the palm almost
parallel to each other. They are creases which represent the lines of
palmar flexion resulting from grasping cylindrical branches. In the
orang-outang these lines are still essentially parallel, indicating a
hand designed to grasp a cylinder. In the chimpanzee and gorilla the
palmar grooves begin to converge toward the space between the index
finger and thumb. In man this convergence is complete, due to the
development of the powerful hand muscle which permits the opposable
thumb to reach the other fingers. This progressive convergence of the
palmar lines indicates the development of a hand no longer intended
for the simple purpose of grasping a cylinder, but not constructed
to take firm hold upon a sphere. Figuratively this change in hand
from cylinder- to sphere-holding capacity is illustrative of actual
development in the intellectual grasping powers that became the
distinguishing feature of mankind.
_A Firm Foundation for Humanity_
Thus far we have been able to trace the stages by which the hand
developed in consequence of tree life. It is now necessary to follow
the modifications which terminated this arboreal domination and
consequently liberated the animal from the forest. This transition
determined an adjustment to life that was finally productive of the
most effective behaviour. The outcome of this modification was the
freeing of the hand for purposes other than locomotion. The immediate
agent that made such a result possible was the development of a foot
capable of supporting the upright posture. This foot, as it made its
appearance in man, passed through a long series of transitional phases.
It had its beginning in a definitely prehensile stage when in the
earliest of the monkey kind it was hand-like in its appearance. The
structure that was the forerunner of the human foot had the same bones,
the same muscles, the same ligaments. The only substantial difference
was in the form and arrangement of these parts. Even in such a minute
particular as the three contravehent muscles in the sole of the
monkey’s foot, which draw together the heads of the metatarsal bones,
the correspondence is complete. These muscles are present and active in
the gibbon. They are much diminished in the chimpanzee. In the orang
and the gorilla they are still further reduced and closely resemble
the atrophic fibrous strands found in man. A similar correspondence
involves the muscles which separate and draw the toes together (the
interossei). They are deeply situated in the plantar surface of the
foot in most monkeys. In the orang and gorilla they have exactly the
same position and relations as in man. The human embryo affords the
final connecting link, for in this stage of development the muscles
correspond to those of the lower monkeys.
The human foot is foreshadowed by that of the great anthropoids. It
is, in fact, the culminating stage in that series which had almost
reached the human goal in the orang, chimpanzee, and gorilla. The
plantar grooves in the feet of the anthropoid apes clearly indicate
the lines of flexion adapting the foot for purposes of grasping the
limbs of the trees. In passing from the gibbon to the orang and the
chimpanzee, with the slow development of semiterrestrial life, there
is a progressive disappearance of the plantar grooves. This change
illustrates the manner in which the foot became adapted to the purposes
of bipedal locomotion. Of all the great apes, the gorilla makes the
nearest approach to the human foot. The toes have become shorter and
have lost their finger-like resemblances. The great toe has become
larger and is partially assuming an axis in parallel with the other
toes. It has also migrated toward the end of the foot and, in older
adults, has lost much of its prehensile character. Another modification
is the gradual broadening of the heel and the appearance of the plantar
arch. All of these changes have been developed for the purposes of
bipedal locomotion and the erect posture. In consequence of these new
functions the simple grasping foot of the monkey is altered to serve as
a powerful stepping lever. In its simian form the foot is a Y-shaped
prehensile organ. The stem of the Y is represented by the long heel.
The two branches are formed by the great toe and the lesser digits
respectively. In the higher primates, such as the orang, chimpanzee,
and gorilla, the simple Y foot has undergone a striking change.
The sole of the foot, including the ball and the heel, has greatly
increased, while the toes or grasping elements have become shorter. In
gorilla this is particularly true of all the toes except the great
toe, which has not only become somewhat longer but now tends to be in
the main axis of the foot.
The most important features in the development of the foot are the
increase in the supporting surface of the heel and the appearance of
the plantar arch. In the lower monkeys the arch of the foot is double.
In the great apes, more especially in gorilla, the plantar arch is
single and corresponds practically to that of the human foot. The
sole pads have become fused to form the ball of the foot, while the
development of the heel has caused the disappearance of the ankle pads.
Whatever may have been the influences which caused certain members
of the prehuman stock to desert the trees and live upon the ground,
it is clear that one most important result of this change was the
formation of the human foot. This structure was a solid foundation
for the highest achievements of organic evolution. It ultimately
produced an animal capable of dominating the world. It was responsible
for all of the extensive changes incident to the erect posture--for
the rearrangement in the shape of the body, for the squaring of the
shoulders and the broadening of the pelvis, for readjustments in the
position of the heart and lungs, for new provisions in supporting the
abdominal organs, for a reordering in the relation of the eyes to
provide for binocular, stereoscopic vision, for the modifications in
the neck to suit the purposes of the most effective head movements,
for the freeing of the hands so that they might become constructive
agents, and, above all, for impressing upon brain structure the
effects of these many progressive advantages. If there could be any
doubt that the hand and the foot contributed in this decisive manner
to the development of the brain, we might test this supposition by a
pertinent question: What, for example, would the brain have been if
neither hand nor foot had made its appearance? It is clear to us what
limited advantages were acquired by animals equipped with hoofs or
paws or flippers or wings. The brain responded to the requirements of
these specialized organs. None the less, such response was always and
unmistakably the brain of an ungulate or of a meat-eater, of a flying
or of a swimming mammal. It was the brain of a creature of restricted
behaviour, as limited in the development of its intelligence as it
was in the amplitude of its adjustment to life. It was particularly
deficient in one great department which is the hallmark of all animals
possessing hands. Summarized as briefly as possible, it may be said
that what the brain owes to the hand and foot is the frontal lobe.
Through all the stages of progress, from the time when the monkeys
first began to live in the trees until their successors, through graded
intermediate phases, developed the hand and foot of man, this lobe has
been the outstanding feature of the brain.
It is perhaps unwise and also unwarranted to speak of the debt that one
organ owes to others, especially when the activities of all represent
a unified process. Brain, hand, and foot are in the strict sense a
single functional unit. Each is indispensable to the others. Yet it
may be assumed that it was the new opportunities for action provided by
the hand and foot which at length gave the brain its human capacities.
These ultimate instruments of man’s success amplified brain power and
increased its sphere of influence. The hand in particular was the
instigator, if not the originator, of human speech. Herbert Spencer,
in his essay on “The Philosophy of Style,” clearly points out the
fundamental relation of the hand to speech, in the following words: “To
say ‘leave the room,’ is less expressive than to point to the door.
Placing a finger on the lips is more forcible than whispering ‘Do not
speak.’ A beck of the hand is better than ‘Come here.’” As the creator
of indicative gesture the hand laid the foundations for the use of
symbols, which, when vocalized, became established as language. This
attainment was the most important single step in the ascent leading to
humanity.
CHAPTER XIII
ESTIMATES AND VALUES
ASSETS AND LIABILITIES OF THE HUMAN BRAIN
There is substantial evidence to prove that the brain passed through
many intermediate stages before it acquired sufficient power to enter
upon the latest stage of its progress. Wherever it has come down
into modern times, regardless of race or climate, it bears marked
similarities in its external appearance. In spite of this strong family
likeness, however, there are many individual variations. Some of these
variations are especially noteworthy. Certain of them are of utmost
importance because it is possible to discover in them the secret of
man’s highest achievements.
In the average human brain, as in these notable exceptions, the
principle of development remains unchanged. Expansion, the root and
base of this principle, has been most pronounced in the departments
capable of creating human supremacy. From order to order among the
mammals, increase in the size of the brain has been prominent.
Depending upon the specialization of the animal, this increase has
affected the area of vision, of hearing, of body sense, of taste, or
of smell. Only in the family of man has this expansion made itself
preëminent in the frontal region. Frontal growth is the dominant
character of man’s physical endowment. It seems reasonable, therefore,
to speak of the entire period of human existence as the Age of the
Frontal Lobe.
_The Frontal Lobe and the Expansion of Consciousness_
Selective development in the brain has had far-reaching effects. It
has provided for special adaptability. It has furnished one or more
of the senses with a particular degree of keenness. It has determined
the specific lines of reaction. These lines in all animal life express
themselves in three phases: (1) the approaching phase, (2) the avoiding
phase, and (3) the resting phase. In the vertebrates each phase depends
upon impulses which influence the nervous system, particularly the
brain. The approaching reactions embrace all efforts made by the animal
to reach out and acquire what it needs. In these reactions the hunger
impulse is the most primitive and the most important. It arises from
the necessity for food and depends upon stimuli from the entire body,
more especially from the gastro-intestinal tract. Another series of
approaching reactions takes origin in the herding impulse, which leads
to the gregarious association of animals of the same kind, such as
schools of fish, flocks of birds, herds of cattle. The stimuli for this
impulse come through the contact-receiving organs. Many approaching
reactions express the essential necessity of the muscles to contract,
as in activities without any other apparent objective. Still more
conspicuous are the approaching reactions caused by the mating
impulses which arise from sexual stimuli.
Impulses of each variety motivating these reactions of approach
ascend higher in consciousness, or acquire greater clarity, in direct
proportion to the brain capacity of the animal. Consciousness in fish
is of a relatively low grade. It becomes progressively more extensive
in amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, reaching its highest
development in the human cortex. The frontal lobe in man provides for
an incalculable expansion of these impulses in conscious clarity.
The avoiding reactions of animal life likewise depend upon fundamental
impulses whose essential stimuli arise from the hurt or painful
elements in sensation. All extremes of sensory stimulation may
contribute to impulses underlying the avoiding reactions. They form
the natural armament of protection upon which the animal depends in
adjusting itself to its surroundings. As in the case of the approaching
reactions, so the impulses necessary to avoidance are progressively
expanded through the vertebrates until they reach their highest clarity
in the human brain. The resting phase depends upon impulses derived
from the entire metabolism of the body.
These fundamental impulses which become clearer in consciousness
through the progressive stages of the animal kingdom tend to interact
in their correlations and determine combinations of great importance.
Avoiding impulses of a protective nature may combine with approaching
impulses to determine a reaction of attack in order to save the
animal from some threatening enemy. Thus a protective effort may be
a combination of an avoiding and an attacking attitude at the same
time, as when the mongoose, jumping backward in retreat from the
striking cobra, still maintains the pose of attack in the entire set
of its body. The resting phase may be employed as camouflage for an
avoiding reaction in what is commonly known as “playing ’possum,” or
it may be used as a decoy in preparation for aggressive activities of
attack, particularly as seen in the cat family. In man the range of
these combinations has attained the highest degree of development. The
frontal lobe furnishes an extensive equipment for this purpose. In
all modern races frontal capacity manifests but little difference. It
therefore seems clear that this common denominator of human success has
given man his power to hold his place in nature and to overcome the
difficulties which have beset his path.
_Caucasian Supremacy_
The greater apparent successes of the white race might presuppose a
greater degree of brain capacity and hence a better frontal lobe. But
the frontal superiority of the Caucasian peoples, if it exists, is at
best slight. The white man’s supremacy must, however, depend upon some
actual advantage. Although outnumbered two to one, he is to-day the
overlord of the world. Of the 1,700,000,000 human beings now living,
only 550,000,000 are Caucasians. The remaining 1,150,000,000 belong
to the yellow, black, and red races. In spite of this disparity, the
white man’s policies, his products, his projects, penetrate into every
angle of the earth whose climate, fertility, or hidden wealth may be
exploited by resources of the Caucasian brain.
Numerous facts indicate that in the white race there has been
an unusually large number of individuals with exceptional brain
development. Many Caucasians who have distinguished themselves
intellectually show conspicuous advantages in cerebral development,
especially in the richness of convolutions and fissures. The region of
the brain showing this richness particularly is the frontal lobe.
_Brains of Modern Races_
This lobe is much the same in all modern races of men. The Eskimo
brain, however, possesses frontal convolutions which are rather more
complex and tortuous than in the average whites (Hrdlicka). As a
whole, the brain of this northern race is heavier and larger than the
Caucasian. Its excess of weight over the average white man, according
to many observers, amounts to about 150 grams. The large Eskimo brain
is not out of proportion with the fact that these people are compelled
to contend with an exacting environment and require much ingenuity to
maintain themselves.
The brains of the aborigines in Andaman and Nicobar Islands weigh
somewhat less than the average white brain. The brain is broad and
short; the frontal lobes are a little less massive than in the
Caucasian. The fissures and convolutions are, if anything, slightly
less complex than in the white man, although the difference is not
striking (E. A. Spitzka).
The negro brain, for the most part, has the same outline as the
European brain (Tiedemann). The length and height of the hemispheres
do not differ visibly, and their breadth is only a little less. The
convolutions are large in the frontal regions and the sulci show a
greater degree of symmetry than is usually found in European brains.
Among the American Indians the average weight of the brain is somewhat
less than the Caucasian (H. B. Ferris). This is true both of the
North and South American Indian. On the other hand, the fissures and
convolutions, especially in the frontal region, correspond very closely
in complexity and dimension to those of the white man.
Examination of Mongolian brains shows that the average weight of the
Chinese brain is slightly less than that of the Caucasian (Kurz).
The Chinese brain is said to have a number of striking peculiarities
in which it differs from the brain of other races. One investigator
mentions thirty-three peculiarities of this kind, and yet when each
peculiarity is considered individually its prototype may be found in
an extensive group study of Caucasian brains. The frontal lobe is
richly convoluted and fissured. Kappers believes that the Chinese brain
retains a degree of infantilism, much of which is shown in the high
arching of the corpus callosum.
Accepting all of these differences in the several races of living men
as to weight, dimension, development of lobes, richness of convolutions
and fissures, and peculiarities in individual details, it becomes
clear that such differences as do exist are slight enough to be well
within the range of individual variation. In other words, when large
numbers of brains of the several races of modern men are compared,
the differences between them are almost certain to assume no great
importance. We may conclude that the Caucasian, Negroid, Mongolian, and
all other forms of the modern brain present a striking similarity in
their general appearance and characters.
_Brains of Distinguished Men_
When, however, we consider the brains of distinguished members
of the white race, we at once obtain the impression of striking
individual variations. The brains of many men of genius have been
carefully studied. Spitzka has collected the records of one hundred
such individuals to which he has added his own studies upon six
distinguished scientists. All tell the same story. These men, noted
as jurists, scientists, mathematicians, composers, dramatists,
physicians, journalists, statesmen, and historians, have with few
exceptions possessed brains which in weight exceed those of the rank
and file of the race. This is true of the brain of such outstanding
men as Beethoven, Cuvier, Turgenev, Daniel Webster, Lenin, Thackeray,
Joseph Leidy, William Pepper, Edward Cope, and many others. The brain
of the remarkable deaf, dumb, and blind girl, Laura Bridgman, has
been carefully studied by Dr. Donaldson. It is notable that in this
instance the frontal lobes, both in size and in the richness of the
convolutions and fissures, were well developed. It was in this region
that the brains of the distinguished contributors to human progress
already mentioned showed their greatest degree of expansion. Recently
reports on the brains of Sir William Osler, of Dr. G. Stanley Hall,
and of Dr. E. E. Southard have been published. In each of these
remarkable men the size of the brain and the unusual development of
the frontal lobe have been striking features. The brain of the great
German historian, Theodore Mommsen, was particularly notable because of
its frontal development, and so also was that of William Bunsen, the
scientist and discoverer.
In contrast to the massive brains of these other men of genius, there
has recently been brought to light the fact that the brain of a great
modern master of literature, Anatole France, was remarkably small,
weighing only 1017 grams. This weight is considerably below the average
for the white race (1300-1400 grams) and not much above the estimated
weight of _Pithecanthropus erectus_, the Java ape man. The difference
between the weight of Anatole France’s brain and that of the ape man is
77 grams, according to the estimated values. Sir Arthur Keith maintains
that in spite of this noted academician’s reputation, known the world
over for his writings as a novelist, philosopher, and savant, Anatole
France was actually an extremely primitive man. This position taken by
Keith would be difficult to support against the prevailing opinions
of the day. We should be more impressed by the degree of richness in
development of the frontal lobe and the complexity of its convolutions
and fissures than by the actual size of the brain. It would seem
most likely that a marked degree of frontal development has been the
decisive factor in the production of the exceptional brain. Most of the
great men who have left records in respect to their cerebral endowment
confirm Sir Arthur’s contention that a powerful brain is a large brain.
Individual variation may account for much, however, and a high grade
of frontal convolution, implying as it does a great cell richness
in a cortex, may make amends for many ounces of weight deficiency.
From the facts available it is clear that human greatness in the main
depends upon largeness of brain and extensive frontal development. The
possessors of such brains have been the leaders in the activities of
the white man, in every line of his progress, in every detail of his
success. They have been the Caucasian thinkers, the idealists, the
philosophers, the poets and artists; they have been the white man’s
pragmatists, his statesmen and builders of empire. They have also been
his spiritual pioneers, the founders of his religions and ethics. To
them has been given exceptional power of vision, with equally great
capacities for transforming what such vision revealed into benefits for
their race.
_Caucasian Leaders_
History gives them their proper places. Their dynamic personalities
have touched the earth and made it bring forth its seven wonders and
an increasing multitude of lesser wonders, each a marvel of human
ingenuity. As they touched the earth and made it produce, so they have
touched the hearts and imaginations of their fellow men until their
minds responded to new aspirations and nobler purposes, until the mark
of the beast was left farther in the distance and the ascendancy of
mankind became the most stirring theme of creation.
History also shows how these favoured elements of the race, under
the guidance of their leaders, have built brilliant civilizations,
compelling systems of religion, far-reaching codes of ethics. Nations
have risen, articulating the ideals of peoples scattered over vast
territories. Cities have come into existence filled with the treasures
of man’s imagination. The same aspiration shone through them all. It
was the spirit, the determination to reach out where man had never
reached before.
Whatever were his material successes, still more important was that
inner possession which came to man during his adventurous development
of civilization. However simple it may have been in the beginning, it
grew rapidly. This priceless possession was the human intellect. In
many tribes of men it manifested none of the expansion discernible
in the more progressive races. But with its fullest opportunity,
especially under the conditions of European environment, it developed
to the degree which created a new humanity. Man recognized his
interdependence with his fellow beings. His social qualities now began
to bear fruit in a new soil and in a more invigorating atmosphere. The
finer traits of his social nature grew abundantly. Broader conceptions
of responsibility to others, deeper understandings of sympathy, led to
new products of generosity and new vocations of social devotion. All of
the higher sentiments found easier means of expression. These were new
conceptions denied to lower animals and to the lower races of man.
Scarcely less substantial than the satisfaction derived from this deep
social sentiment was the gratification obtained from an appreciation of
the beauties of nature and from man’s own efforts to duplicate these
beauties in his art and literature. But his eyes have never contented
themselves with earthly attractiveness alone. When he had possessed the
earth he must still reach out in imagination to gain for himself the
assurance of kingdoms beyond his present state. In all his civilized
period and even long before man has peered acquisitively into the
unknown, to create for himself a future existence or the hope of such
existence. This yearning for another and an immortal life has been
the basis of his many religious beliefs. From this theme of religion
have grown the impulses for the best of human achievements. It has not
merely formed a halo about civilization, but has reached far inward to
exert control over almost every human relation. No influence has been a
greater force in the ennoblement of life. No creation of the brain has
been a more effective guide in directing human destiny. No incentive
has sustained human hope more consistently than the solace arising from
this deep source of faith.
_Age of the Frontal Lobe_
The frontal lobe, which has guaranteed such advantages to man,
brought him his spiritual understanding, his social attributes, and
his satisfactions from art and literature. It created the means
for him to gain a more adequate knowledge of the world in which he
lived and of the great cosmos of which his world is but a part. The
conquest of reality, the deeper appreciation of things as they are,
the broad expansion of his knowledge of all things in and about him,
have contributed deep satisfactions to human life. It is difficult
to estimate in this day the value of all the great contributions to
science. It is difficult also to state which product of man’s frontal
lobe, his social development, his religion, his art, his literature,
or his science, has meant most to the growth of that imposing figure
in which he now presents himself. No one of these elements may justly
deserve to be set above the others. Deprived of any of them, the
race might have been seriously impoverished; it might never have
attained that position which entitles it to be considered the supreme
achievement of creation. It is little wonder that the gods which man
set up for himself have been anthropomorphic, cast in his own image and
likeness.
In later days there were reasons for the Caucasian’s assurance, for
his self-reliance, for his faith in his own judgment and reason. Peace
and comity existed between the nations of the earth. Prosperity was
within their borders. Success and progress filled every walk of life.
Social order rested upon firm moral foundations. This was a human
establishment upon which to depend. But ultimately this record of the
white man, from the beginning of his civilized period down to the early
decades of the Twentieth Century, brings us to a fateful midsummer day,
the 1st of August, 1914.
_Old Sores and Liabilities_
Perhaps there are no good reasons for turning back to such old
sores. Can any conceivable advantage come of opening again those
vaults holding that which we would rather forget? With passing years
memory gradually relinquishes what should be the immortal lessons of
experience. The horror, the degradation, and all other outgrowths of
the protective mechanisms making for better judgment, for saner living,
for wiser avoidance, are soon forgotten. We look and see only the
whited sepulchre. The dissolution and disease, the lurking danger for
the future, are concealed. Yet these are our liabilities. If we drive
on blindly or with our eyes closed to them, such prosperity as we have
attained is destined to disintegrate.
It is the old formula over again that we see beginning to reproduce
itself on that fateful August afternoon. The expansive demand for
power, the will to dominate, the insatiable determination to possess,
are all disdainfully snapping their fingers in disregard of the rights
and peaceful pursuits of others. Sacred obligations are thrown to the
winds with the crackling of a scrap of paper. There are no obligations.
Lust, greed, and the dregs of human cruelty are seething in the
breasts of men turned animals, are ready to speak with the tongues of
every manner of ruthless torment. By armies men return to the filth
of the earth, living in the mire, breathing the stenches of their own
corruption, inhaling the gases of sadistic invention, meeting the flame
of an earthly purgatory, and inspired by the single indefatigable
impulse to kill. And for what purpose? None but the old one! To grasp,
to gain, to seize by force! There is no question of right or wrong. The
only question is right of possession. Both those who attack and those
who defend pray to the same God and pray the same prayer.
Here in our own days is the frontal lobe leading a great fraction
of the white race not merely into hell but to the brink of its own
undoing. If it failed in this leadership it was by the narrowest
margin. It has left us still gasping on the edge of the precipice into
whose depths we have gazed, wondering how long ere we see them again.
Courage, endurance, and heroic determination we say were the
compensating atonements for this madness, for this maniacal era of
wanton destruction. Nobility of purpose rang out in the defiance--“They
shall not pass!” Yet where was the nobility in that machine-made death
which swept regiment after regiment into oblivion by its withering
fire? Who now will claim the glory of 400,000 dead in less than a
lunar month, of 8,543,515 fighting men fallen in the early prime of
manhood in four years of war? Is this the chronicle for a great race to
glory in? It is rather the record of the white man at his lowest ebb,
dehumanized for a mere bauble of possession.
Thus, through four brief years, out of the unhallowed precincts of no
man’s land, the mark of the beast came back. The white man learned
that the cloak over his baser passions was a thin veneer. He learned,
or may have learned if there has yet been time to recover from the
overwhelming concussion, that he is not yet master of himself, that
the chief guide of his life may on slight provocation lead him not
rightly or well, but with unerring precision, into the pitfalls of
extermination.
_When the Pressure Comes_
We speak of loyalties and vocations of devotion. Where are these when
the pressure comes? Where are they when the man stands with his mob?
The greatest and best things in life at once take flight. There is not
even standing-room for them when hate and revenge are the passions of
the day. It is then that class stands against class. All that wealth
and culture and luxury have built through centuries finds no strength
against the ire galvanized by equal centuries of oppression. Those who
have suffered their silent agonies confront those who are about to die.
Such have been the tragedies of revolution. So it was in the French
Revolution, with its history of guillotine horrors. Such was the case
of Russia in revolt. Such it has always been wherever the privilege to
enjoy, concentrated for the benefit of the few, has worked disadvantage
to the many. Neither those who for the time enjoy, nor those who
are deprived, have sufficiently learned the lessons of moderation,
self-restraint, and control over the human spirit to hold in check the
baser impulses.
War, revolution, and other mass reactions in the interest of
readjusting man’s social conditions are not rare in our racial
experience. Since the beginning of historic times there have been
thousands of wars of greater or less magnitude. If, during the Roman
era, the gates in the temple of Janus stood open for centuries and
that great people were almost continuously at war without appreciable
cessation, we moderns would have no need for an energetic gatekeeper.
In one place or another, throughout the globe, we have been
continuously waging war or producing revolutions. Following the close
of the great World War, a little more than a decade ago, there have
been no less than sixteen wars, and seventy-five thousand men have died
as a result of warfare. Let those who philosophize in security call
war an activity essential to human progress. Those who know it through
suffering and loss will call it by its proper name. It is not, however,
in war alone that we may discern the results of our defective control
over human nature. We need turn but a few pages of history to encounter
many other sore spots. Among these blemishes are those arising from
a source which should have been our most unfailing, our deepest
consolation.
_Heresy and Retaliation_
The spiritual heritage bequeathed by the Great Galilean retained
its influence for little more than two centuries. Through the dark
Middle Ages Christianity wandered far from the path of its appointed
blessedness. To many it ceased altogether to be a blessing, and to
many others it became an actual curse, meaning for them torture,
imprisonment, starvation, humiliation, or death by burning at the
stake. There can be little wonder that heresies sprang up against the
inhuman conduct of the mediæval Church. Corruption, discrimination,
demoralization, abuse, and tyranny went unrebuked. The church
militant was infected by every sin that it was created to prevent.
Heresy was the reaction to such corruption, and the Inquisition
was the retaliation on the part of the Church to preserve itself
against heretical disintegration. The barbarous zeal which through
many centuries brought misery to mankind in the name of Christ has
been explained in several ways. Some have denounced it as mere
bloodthirstiness or lust of power. Some have traced it to the doctrine
of exclusive salvation. In order to understand it properly we must
comprehend the stage of civilization in which it flourished. The feudal
military spirit was everywhere dominant. Society relied more upon
force than upon persuasion. Industrial influences had not yet tempered
modes of thought and action. Throughout the Middle Ages men were
strangely pitiless in their dealings with each other. The wheel, the
cauldron of boiling oil, burning alive, burying alive, flaying alive,
and tearing apart with wild horses were the ordinary means by which
jurists endeavoured to deter crime. In England poisoners were boiled to
death as late as 1542 (Rouse and Margaret Davie). One woman, in 1726,
was burned at Tyburn. Minor crimes were dealt with with a harshness
unbelievable in this day, including such hideous procedures as
blinding, mutilation, tearing with hot pincers, breaking on the wheel,
and cutting out the tongue. People of all nations were accustomed to
this cruel savagery and accepted it in relation to crimes that were
thus punished. By popular detestation heresy was regarded not merely as
a sin but as the worst of all crimes. This belief was held with equal
tenacity both by the clergy and the laity. Under the influence of such
feelings the Church adopted the harshest measures and continued to grow
more cruel and more unchristian.
The Inquisition was not a local phenomenon. It became most intense in
Italy, where it gradually took shape. In time it spread into Germany,
into France, and into Spain. The Spanish Inquisition was employed for
the most part as a state institution to maintain the throne. It used
all of the ingenuity known to the ecclesiastical inquisitors and added
punishments of its own. The torture chamber, which at first was not
introduced as an inquisitorial instrument, soon established itself
as an indispensable accessory and flourished in many parts of Europe.
There was a furtiveness in the manner in which the Church doled out
these punishments. For the repentant heretic life imprisonment on
bread and water and in chains was not a criminal sentence; it was the
means of repentance and salvation for the unfortunate sinner. If the
heretic remained unrepentant the Church washed its hands of him as a
capital offender and turned him over to the secular authorities to be
burned at the stake. The dungeon in which the unfortunate victim was
imprisoned for life was a frightful chamber, damp, and infested by rats
and vermin. Confinement was solitary and various circumstances besides
pain and hunger were brought to bear upon the terrorized imagination
of the prisoner. These dungeons were often ingenious means of torture.
One in the Bastille at Paris had a floor which was conical and pointed
downward so that it was impossible to sit or lie in it. Another in
the Châtelet had a floor continually covered by water, compelling the
prisoner to stand erect. Persons convicted of heresy were also forced
to wear crosses of cloth, generally yellow, sewed upon their garments.
In this manner the symbol of Christian devotion was converted into a
badge of utmost shame. Confiscation was another penalty with frightful
effects. Upon arrest for heresy a man’s property was sequestrated,
and his family thrown into the street. After several centuries of
unremitting cruelty the Inquisition succeeded in suppressing the
various sects of heretics. For this advantage the Christian Church
paid an unnecessarily high price by gaining for itself a lasting stigma.
_Provocations of Circumstance and Time_
Such interludes as these in the course of man’s happiness and peace
may perhaps be regarded as unfortunate digressions from the scheme of
human behaviour. Their apology lies in the fact that they belong to
other times by contrast with which we have shown great improvement. We
are much changed for the better--so much changed that many of these
appalling episodes of history could not occur in this day. Reassurance
of this kind may comfort us, but it does not provide us with protection
against ourselves. For with due provocations of circumstance and
time there is no guarantee that we would not repeat or even amplify
the ghastly delinquencies of the past. The pride we feel in our
modern progress and prosperity elevates us to a plane of conscious
superiority. And yet this same pride experienced a sickening collapse
when no later than our own day and generation it was forced to witness
a phenomenon of eruptive brutality compared to which all former warfare
was insignificant. In spite of this recent experience we feel sure of
ourselves, confident in the great capacities which have made us men.
We possess this confidence, however unenlightened we may be concerning
the real power upon which we depend, especially as to its source, its
nature, its possibilities, and its proper management.
_Compounding the Essential Impulses of Life_
As no other members of the animal kingdom, we have compounded each
one of the essential impulses of life. Through our frontal mechanisms
we have raised these primitive drives to the most elevated planes of
consciousness. We have increased their clarity to the highest degree.
It was doubtless the introduction of symbols which first secured this
greater clarity. Later the development of spoken language established
the universal medium of exchange within the brain. Lower animals
evidently do not learn to speak. They only acquire the use of beast
cries by which to transmit warnings, sex invitations, or challenges to
combat. Such specific cries modified by the structural adjustments of
man may have been sufficient for the simple human language of earliest
times. There seems to be no actual barrier between the vocal activities
of birds, dogs, apes, and men except that superior mechanism of speech
provided by a progressively developing frontal lobe. From its first
introduction language was a societal phenomenon. All of its products
were likewise societal. If it raised man as an individual, its greatest
profits appeared in the elevation of the social order. Under this new
influence the primitive impulses of hunger, herding, mating, avoiding,
and the rest entered into complex combinations. In consequence, each
primordial drive was converted into a thriving industry in the interest
of further human satisfaction. Excessive growth in these industries
soon manifested many dangerous tendencies. New human expansions
developed out of the primitive impulse of hunger under the added
opportunities of the frontal lobe. Appetite and indulgence with their
tendencies toward excess came in conflict with sumptuary restrictions
and prohibitions. The effects of frontal expansion upon the herding
impulse contributed to the development of crime, to the creation of
mass phenomena under the influence of fear, hate, and hope, to the
epidemic spread of group manias and popular delusions such as were
the pilgrimages, crusades, and demonism of the Middle Ages, such
as was the extremity of ruthlessness manifested in the last great
war. The extension of the sex impulse through the mechanisms of the
frontal lobe is incalculable. From it have come crops of asceticism
and licentiousness, of poetry and sentimentality, of social order and
disorder, of philosophy and pure bunkum. The expansion of impulses
underlying the avoiding reactions has produced an unescapable blight
upon human life due to the extensive corticalization of fear. The fear
of bondage or slavery, of tyranny or cruelty, is no longer upon us.
A multitude of more subtle fears, engendered by modern civilization,
have produced our phobias, our irresistible compulsions, and our great
variety of somatic and psychic anxieties.
_Human Nature Has Not Changed_
The incentives of life have been magnified and multiplied upon the
screen of the frontal cortex. They have afforded man his powers of
judgment and reason, his greater capacities to enjoy existence, his
new aspirations of hope. They have supplied him with his broader
opportunities to order and adjust his life and with his stimulating
inspirations of learning. Each of these new capacities is conditioned
by the circumstance and fashion of a given age. There is no arguing
with such fashion. The _mores_ and the times, the customs and the
place, dominate the products of the frontal lobe and mold them in
constantly changing patterns. The fashion of yesterday is often
the laughing stock of to-day as that of to-day may be the jest of
to-morrow. These plastic patterns, which the frontal lobe produces
for the conduct of human affairs, have neither permanency nor assured
foundations. Great principles which we swear by now we know are wholly
transitory. While they last certain moral notions and devices are in
fashion, but these are conditioned by the times and customs. In such
facts as these may be recognized the variable quality of human wisdom.
Reason is likewise based upon conditioned reflexes which have grown out
of the _mores_ of the time and place. In this light, if man seems to
have come a long distance from his early beginning, the path measured
in units of real progress is surprisingly short. “Things happen,” says
Sumner, “which show us that human nature has not changed and that the
brute in each may awake at any time. It is all a question of time,
custom, and occasion and the individual is coerced to adopt the _mores_
as to these matters which are then and there current.”
Morals and manners, like speech, are societal adjustments. They are
highly conditioned reflexes acquired through generations of social
experience. Self-restraint, agreeability, and coöperation form the
basic currency of successful social intercourse. They are the artifacts
of group needs, the medium of exchange in all comfortable and safe
contacts between man and man. That these qualities are superficially
engrafted upon human nature is easily demonstrated. With adequate
provocation the individual discards restraint and reveals the grossest
traits of his aggressive reactions, the group is quickly resolved into
the lawless mob, and nations are easily excited to martial frenzy.
What benefits, therefore, will we obtain by further self-deceptions?
It is long overdue that we see through the thin fabric of traditional
delusions wherewith we have surrounded ourselves. It requires courage
to face the truth and an open mind to recognize it. But we cannot hope
to improve unless we see ourselves as we are, unless we appreciate our
inherent liabilities as well as our assets, unless, divested of angelic
or godlike disguises, we stand forth for our own inspection as human
animals occupying the foremost place among living things only by virtue
of the best brain thus far developed. Much that is animal within us
must remain unchanged despite our utmost strivings. All that is human
may be modified, enhanced, and brought to better fruition.
_Handicaps and Restraints_
Almost from its beginning the race has recognized its handicaps. It has
struggled in many ways against its own liabilities, especially those
due to increased brain power. By systems of philosophy the human spirit
has sought to show the reason and goal of life, has endeavoured to
envisage the most desirable pathway for existence.
Man has endeavoured to hold himself in check through religion, bowing
to the belief that for every human being there is some higher power
controlling destiny and for this reason entitled to obedient reverence
and worship. For his hour of need, however, philosophy and religion
offer no reprieve. The Great War comes, and assurances from these
sources of human reliance have no power to stay the catastrophe.
Man has experimented through societal organization, through the
formation of governments, through the establishment of laws, to
restrain the dangerous tendencies of his frontal lobe development. But
if his governments succeeded in utilizing effectively his efforts at
social order, they have also abused these efforts. In every societal
system there must be a ruling class. According to Professor Sumner,
no class can be trusted to rule society with due justice to all its
members. Whatever the sins of antiquity, modern society is ruled by
the middle class. It has to its credit the invention of institutions
securing civil liberty and the safety of person and property. Its
history is otherwise not satisfactory. It has demonstrated that in no
popular government could sufficient control be created to restrain the
abuses of special privilege, to avert the corruption of civic power
for graft, or to repress the selfish undertakings of cliques formed on
special interests for the purpose of public exploitation. When faced by
this test, all modern democratic states have failed. Plutocracy and the
unscrupulous powers of wealth are at the root of the financial scandal,
which is the blemish upon all modern parliamentary organizations. We
must recognize this defect not merely as a tendency of the times but as
a national disease. It spoils every institution and, extending from one
generation to the next, at length destroys in the masses the faculties
of ethical judgment.
_The Cult of Success_
By education man has likewise endeavoured to moderate the recognized
liabilities of his frontal lobe. But, like his customs, his education
has varied with the fashions of his time and place. With one brilliant
exception educational processes have too strictly been confined to
technological training, or to the inculcation of traditional cultures
or mediæval scholasticism. The ancient Greek alone dealt with his life
and its problems as we well might with ours. We are imitators and large
users of secondhand materials. He was an originator. His education was
an adventure of discovery, an absorbing search for the understanding
of what constituted the good life. Largely without traditions and upon
his own initiative he endeavoured to gain a critical attitude toward
all of his prejudices, to liberate himself from the dominance of herd
influence, and to adjust his conduct most intelligently for the welfare
of the state.
Modern education is especially in a state of confusion. It is almost
wholly devoid of any broader theme than that embraced in the purpose
to teach the individual the formulas necessary to make good. There
is little effort to inspire a larger point of view, to instill an
understanding of life’s values, an appreciation of its relations, and
of its truly human opportunities for intelligent living.
Philosophy, religion, societal order, government, and education have
failed to produce any entirely satisfactory solution of life. They have
scarcely recognized the existence of the frontal lobe, but, looking
beyond it to some intangible sources of power, they have neither
capitalized its assets nor reckoned with its liabilities. There is
probably a cause of long standing behind these several failures. For
centuries and ages the incentives of human efforts, even the best, have
laboured under a contaminating influence. This influence has touched
and tainted every aspect of life. During thousands of years men have
struggled to make good in Europe. The result has always been the same.
From time to time some section of the race has succeeded, later to
weaken, and in the end to succumb. In the past an invariable cycle of
rise, decline, and fall has dictated the course of life in Europe.
Such was the lot of the Neanderthals. Cromagnon and Neolithic men both
had their days of success and of disappearance. It was not different
with the Greeks or the Romans who rose and finally, under this spell
of Europe, passed into decline. In many respects the motive at work in
this destructive cycle seemed to act like some evil influence. It was
already well developed in the first trading exploits of the Phœnicians.
With them it began to migrate westward from harbour to harbour along
the Mediterranean. It implanted the germs of its spreading infection,
which came to be the dominant spirit of civilization--gold and a price
for everything. Nothing escaped the effects of this new standardization
of human enterprise. The pioneer Phœnicians carried this gold standard
of life far beyond the Pillars of Hercules to the shores of Britain
until it spread throughout Europe. The source of this influence
lies far back of these earlier civilizations. It had its origin
in those primitive days when Mousterian cave man tasted the first
drafts of power. The use of this power he justified by one standard
only--success. For three hundred thousand years the human brain
has been conditioned by this influence. Power increased, successes
multiplied, and the passion for possession became a frenzy. Thus it
was that those whom the gods would destroy they first made rich; and
thus also one civilization after another met its destruction. No other
solution can be worked out on this standard of existence. It will serve
to exploit nature, including human nature. It may bend the natural
forces one after another to man’s bidding. It may make him master
of the entire world except in one superlative detail--himself. In
proportion as it has been concentrated upon the conquest of the earth,
it has had little time for the mastery of the spirit. The old idea
is still at work with us to-day. We have found nothing new, nothing
better. We scarcely attempt to look. It is now our ruling passion. It
has been the contaminating influence which has for ages frustrated the
best human efforts.
Wealth, with the power to confer upon the greatest number the benefits
of true human satisfaction, is not to be condemned. Its acquisition
and proper distribution must be intelligently encouraged. Such wealth
is the just return on man’s efforts to make and maintain for himself
a wholesome place in nature. But riches, representing egocentric
aggrandizement and the upbuilding of special privilege for selfish
ends, are an open sore in all times and a most serious menace for the
future.
The ancient motive of possession is still the most powerful urge among
civilized peoples. It has exerted an increasingly evil influence upon
modern times. Its effects have been unfavourable because possession and
power depend upon the offensive and defensive mechanisms of aggression.
Such mechanisms are the progenitors of war. They promote the conflicts
of social rivalry between classes and incite the struggles for
competitive supremacy between nations. If the goal of such life is
success, the price of such success is strife. This is the standard
of existence which has prevailed for at least three hundred thousand
years. It seems irrevocable. Nothing visible in our modern world
suggests the cessation of its destroying influence. In the absence
of any present reassurance there is a strong probability that we are
following, to its bitter ends, a path long familiar to our race.
CHAPTER XIV
THE FINAL TEST OF THE BRAIN
WORLD COÖPERATION AND RECIVILIZATION
Our most vital issue is no longer a matter of national prosperity
alone. The success and therefore the happiness of the entire world are
at stake. This generation of ours has taught us what to expect from the
old forces of competitive wealth and nationalism. It is not difficult
to foresee the recurrence of one war after another. As Dr. Butler has
so forcibly said: “The world is just now standing at a crossroads.
It may take the path in one direction and so make agriculture,
industry, commerce, trade, finance, the fortunate means of uniting
the whole world, of increasing its prosperity and of buttressing its
peace; or it can take the opposite path and so turn the nations into
narrow-minded, unsympathetic, jealous, and quarrelling neighbours,
and prepare the way for another cataclysm which, if it should come,
would mark civilization’s end. What are we going to do about it? Where
shall our influence be thrown? Shall it be for a repetition of the
old stupidities, the old ignorances and the old antagonisms, or shall
it be for a new world order in which selfish competition shall be
supplanted by kindly and large-minded coöperation? That is in substance
the crucial question which at this moment awaits answer by leaders of
opinion in every land.”[1] There are many who believe that man in
his present exalted phase cannot stand the test. His modern days are
numbered just as surely as were those of his ancient glory. He has no
further reliance, no better assurance now than he had then. The fate
of civilization hangs in the balance; its chances in many respects
are unpromising. There are no guarantees for the future outside of
man himself. Although we have multiplied in number and compounded our
problems of life, the world in which we live is much the same as it has
been for hundreds of thousands of years. If man also remains unchanged
we may expect the same lot which befell other successful people in the
past.
[1] From “The New Center of Gravity,” an address delivered at the
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, L. I., on Sunday evening, September 1,
1929, by Nicholas Murray Butler.
And yet looking beneath the surface and into the depths of the organ
which has been the chief asset of our progress, we may discern
some promising possibilities. These are possibilities which if
developed might subordinate or overcome the ancient lures of power
and possession. They might even establish a new order of existence,
a new age of wisdom, with clearer ways of looking at life and better
methods for realizing its opportunities. We may have no desire to see
these possibilities. We may turn from them now as we have before. They
clearly exist, however, and chief among them is the possibility of a
better human brain, a brain with much more ample power by means of
which to create a better world.
Many facts support this possibility. We know from certain evidence that
man in his earliest period on earth possessed a brain much simpler than
that responsible for his modern successes. Such testimony is given by
the brain cast of the Java ape man. The entire cerebral structure in
this instance was in an intermediate phase of human development. It was
far in advance of the brain of the highest apes but much less developed
than the brain of modern men. In spite of its simplicity it gives
evidence of human progress. It had supplied the structural basis needed
for a crude type of humanity. It indicates that the powers of human
speech had been acquired and that the first steps in the upbuilding of
human intelligence had been taken.
Compared with this primitive race of extinct men, the Piltdown and
Rhodesian brain casts bear signs of definite progress. With the passage
of time brain power continued slowly to acquire new capacities.
Nothing makes this conclusion more certain than the facts revealed by
the Neanderthal casts. From them it is clear that the chief organ of
life which directed the successes of the Neanderthal race had assumed
many aspects of modern development. Most of this progress in the
brain during its gradual stages upward, through the ape man, the Dawn
man of Piltdown, the Rhodesian, and the Neanderthal, manifests its
highest degree of expansion in the frontal lobe. With the coming of the
Cromagnon race all of the cerebral requirements necessary to modern
man made their appearance. Thus through more than a million years the
brain has slowly improved. There has been a steady increase in the size
and richness of its convolutions.
In contrast with the lifetime of other families in the animal kingdom
the human race has scarcely passed out of its early youth. Our race
seems young as the ages of the earth are estimated, and our racial
youth justifies the belief that the modern brain represents some
intermediate phase of ultimate development. The facts of the distant
past point ahead to periods of further progress in the future.
Influences which have operated through vast intervals of time in slowly
advancing the brain from one stage to the next are doubtless still at
work. The impulses necessary to brain development had their beginning
in the fishes. They continued through reptilian and mammalian phases
and finally passed into the period of tree life wherein the foundations
of the human brain were laid. It is difficult to believe that this
impetus of progress which persisted for ages has at length ceased to
act.
The possibility of a better brain finds support in another fact of
great interest. An entirely new force favourable to progressive
development has made itself felt within the last century. Never before
has it exerted an influence upon the process of evolution. At present
it is difficult to estimate its full value as an element of progress.
This new force arises from the fact that men and women throughout
the world have recognized the existence of an evolutionary process.
In all places where the earnest search for truth is being made this
knowledge has become the dominant note. It cannot fail to lead to
new understandings and to add new quota of power to the organ of our
chief reliance. An adequate appreciation of the processes underlying
natural selection is certain to impart new and practical significance
to the survival of the fittest. The means which may subsequently be
employed to further such survival cannot be predicted. Whatever they
may be, if they justify themselves by advantageous results, they will
be applied with courage and intelligence. They may embrace measures of
extensive restriction and intensive selection to meet the conditions
of overcrowding in population, and of inequality in the emoluments of
life. The embarrassments of the laggard fractions of humanity would
thus be overcome.
Application of wise societal regulations having as their object the
better apportionment of opportunity and the greater accessibility of
human happiness might easily be conceived as the outgrowths of such
further extensions in knowledge. Obviously the questions concerning the
character of the means directed to these desirable ends cannot now be
discussed or foreseen. It is sufficient to indicate that whatever these
agencies may be, provided their results are calculated to contribute to
the betterment of mankind, they may be discovered and made practical.
This possibility presupposes the attainment of those advantages which
accrue from a better understanding of man as a participant in a still
active process of evolution.
If up to this time we have employed the full power of our intelligence,
if we have made the best use of the brain, there may be actual
doubts concerning further progress. Many reasons justify the belief,
however, that the human race has not yet utilized the brain to its
fullest capacity. Numerous facts support this view and make it
appear certain that we have developed but a small fraction of our
potential brain power. In exceptional cases of outstanding groups and
highly specialized individuals the brain may have yielded something
approaching its best product. Even in cases of unusual development
there are deficiencies and inequalities of development due to the
circumstances of training, to the introduction of adverse influences,
and to the universal lack of any generally acceptable goal of life.
A cross section of any community estimated by its high and its low
intellectual attainments indicates a striking unevenness in brain
development. It also reveals a low rating in the average intellectual
level. Averages of this kind obtained from nations or races disclose an
aggregate of brain power far below the grade of the brain’s potential
capacity. Instances of individual specializations make the fractional
development of the race still more evident. If, for example, Laura
Bridgman, deprived as she was of sight, hearing, taste, and smell, with
only a fifth of her brain areas accessible to satisfactory contacts
with the world, made an adjustment to life equal to the average of
such adjustments; if Helen Keller, almost equally deprived of sensory
impression, is rated by many as belonging to the class of genius; then
the rank and file of mankind uses but a small fraction of its potential
brain power. This fraction has been variously estimated at one fifth or
one half. It seems obvious that great advantages for the extension of
intelligence might arise from the utilization of the unemployed fifty
to eighty per cent. of human power. The large portion of the brain not
used by the majority of mankind introduces the disquieting thought
that the usual way of life is the easiest way. The intelligent way is
laborious and fraught with many trials incident to arduous application.
Brain capacity may be improved only by patient and continuous effort
and by an unremitting submission to diligent self-discipline. The
avoidance of these exactions has made the development of the brain a
slow process in man. It is the general disinclination to depart from
the path of least effort which has held human intelligence at its
average low levels. Many factors have contributed to this attitude.
Not the least among them is what may be called mixed survival. This
is a provision by which not only those thoroughly equipped but those
as thoroughly unfit are presumed to enjoy equal opportunity in the
advantages of life. The unfit depreciate the general average. Their
inclusion creates the level of mediocrity and retards the progress of
the fittest.
Another fact affords hope for the further development of the unused
fractions of human brain power. It is possible to demonstrate that
certain structural and chemical elements in the brain develop in
relation to the use made of them. This is particularly true of the
insulating substance surrounding nerve fibres. Such fibres serve the
purpose of impulse conduction. Simple and complex associations alike
depend upon them. It has been shown that the simplest of these fibre
connections come into use early in life while the most important
connections appear at later periods. In order to be effective the
connecting fibres must be insulated. The insulating material, a complex
chemical substance, makes its appearance in direct relation to the
different periods of mental development. This insulating substance is
least in amount at birth. It increases noticeably at the end of the
first year at about the time when speech is acquired. It shows marked
additions at the seventh, tenth, and twentieth years. Thereafter
it increases slowly up to the fortieth year. It also manifests the
interesting phenomenon of gradual decrease in the declining years
of the late decades of life. Apparently the mental development of
different life periods requires differing degrees of insulation in the
brain. The functional use of definite areas appears to bear a direct
relation to the degree of insulation. The more areas in use, the more
numerous are the insulated nerve fibres to facilitate proper operation.
The child uses and needs less than the youth, and, in the general
case, the youth less than the adult. The development of the brain thus
appears to be proportional to the use made of it. In this way human
intelligence may be gauged in terms of actual brain structure. In cases
of low intelligence the demands have been relatively small, and large
fractions of brain remain undeveloped because unused. Higher grades of
intelligence require more extensive development because the objectives
of their application are more complex and more exacting. They are the
response to the more extensive utilization of brain power.
The recognition of this relation between use and structural development
of the brain clearly points the way by which human intelligence may
be extended. This relation has long been understood as a biological
principle. It has been practically applied in the training of
muscular strength and endurance, in the sharpening of the senses,
in the cultivation of the voice. Its practical application to the
development of the brain as a whole has been much less assiduous. Both
in principle and practice this relation of use to structure indicates
possibilities for producing a better human brain. The unused fractions
may accordingly find opportunity for utilization.
Still another possibility for advancement arises from more adequate
systems of human training. The success with which the brain is used
depends in large part upon its conditioning. Such conditioning is
determined by many factors. In the broadest sense it includes the
influence of physical environment from the earliest moments of life,
the effects of societal habits and ideals both in the family and in
the group, the impress of formal education and educational forces, and
the direction imparted by differing degrees of satisfaction, health,
and disease. If, for example, the objective is accommodation to Arctic
life, the conditioning process differs in many details from that
necessary for adjustment to tropical existence. If the end sought is
success according to European standards, a totally different set of
conditionings is essential to this result. Civilized nations as well
as barbarous tribes may be trained through generations to the pursuits
and practices of warlike aggression. The results of such conditioning
were clearly demonstrated in the Great War. Ultimate adjustments are
thus strongly influenced by the group, the group outlook, the time,
and the place. For this reason every experience in and every contact
with existence assumes high value as a conditioning factor. The entire
span of life, from birth to death, becomes a period of active training
which may be consciously directed. The element of chief importance
in this conscious control is the recognition of the end to which the
training is directed. If the highest qualities of human happiness and
satisfaction are the objectives, every factor which contributes to
the conditioning must be carefully estimated and properly adjusted to
this end. Such certainly is not the objective under the modern cult of
success.
The earth, which we have made a bone of contention, might, to our
infinite advantage, become the sphere of human content. In order to
determine such a change it is necessary to reëstimate and readjust
every influence capable of conditioning the activities of the brain.
The recognition of the uninterrupted continuity in the conditioning
process and its specific requirements in relation to definite phases of
development is most essential. Influences of the physical environment
from the first moments after birth through all successive periods
demand extensive, renewed attention. In the formation of habits and
ideals, training in the home and in the group reaches down to the roots
of societal life. These phases of brain conditioning are now largely
matters of dogmatic tradition or confused instruction.
Our present cult of success dominates formal education. The profound,
far-reaching influence of this department of life is exerted through
the most effective agencies for adjustment and readjustment. Education
is charged with the responsibilities of devising the most beneficial
methods for conditioning the brain. It participates in deciding to what
ends such conditioning shall be directed and thus occupies a position
of supreme control over human behaviour. Its supervision embraces and
guides every period of life. Its disciplines have power to shape the
character of human intelligence. Its inspirations are the hope of the
future. Opportunities are even now at hand for it to overcome its
traditional resistances and to open new fields for human satisfaction
and contentment. Greater than the power of armies, more compelling than
the military force of the entire globe, is the peaceful sway which
education may exert in the satisfactory reshaping of existence.
There should be added to these possibilities of future progress the
fact that man, in spite of his blemishes, his delinquencies, and
failures, is an aspiring and plastic animal. He is not unwilling to
take the form of any mold in which he may be cast. He has been the
victim of many prejudicial molds--clay in the hands of circumstance.
Yet, whatever his form or deformities, he has always aspired to rise
above himself. His aspirations have been sublimated in the heroes he
has made to admire, in the gods he has selected for worship. Unlike
all other animals, he has had the gift of idealization, the power of
projecting far ahead of himself, beyond the limits of his recognized
imperfections, the ideals of what he hoped or craved to be. Even his
societal veneer, his morals, and his manners are products of his
aspirations. His idealizations of existence in poetry and art show how
tenaciously his vision has dwelt on higher things. Recognition of his
own futilities has made him aspire to a future life of purification and
redemption. Yet in this aspiring he manifests a lingering childhood,
which reveals his still plastic state. The hereafter which he has
designed for himself is based on an infantile system of rewards and
penalties. This eventual refuge is an acquisitive immortality born of
self-interest and bred in self-conceit. It bears the taint of ancient
and sordid motives of the race. It has none of the altruism of that
more noble and practical immortality through which earthly life strives
unselfishly to leave a worthy influence for the benefit of those who
later follow the path of human experience.
In the light of his possibilities man’s further progress seems assured.
Add to these possibilities his remarkable plasticity, his aspiring
spirit, his youthful racial development, and it appears inconceivable
that he should not advance. Science is constantly placing increased
power at his command. While disclosing to him his place in nature, it
is also revealing what still remains to be accomplished in the conquest
of himself.
Whatever fault may be found with the technique of human living,
the major complaint is directed against the persistence of the old
objectives. Ancient motives and standards are obstacles in the path
of progress. A less complex life is needed--one with new incentives
and different goals. Many are living and have lived this kind of
life. One among these, the Great Galilean, has made it exemplary. As
its influence comes down through the Christian centuries this life
brings increasing conviction that it is the best yet lived. One third
of the globe’s population professes to follow it. As followers they
are frustrated in their purpose by the persistence of more ancient
influences of the past. Yet it cannot be denied that any order of
humanity higher than the present one requires extensive modifications
in our purposes, our desires, our outlook on life, our manner of
self-expression. A long step in this direction will be taken when the
ancient password of the Old Stone Age--_get_, which for thousands of
years has been the mainspring of existence, is gradually subordinated
by the keynote of a New Golden Age--_give_. This solution of the
problem is likely to seem utopian. Long ago we were admonished to
try it. If we have failed we need not altogether despair. The human
brain has overcome other difficulties to which it has been applied.
With all of its possibilities for improvement, it may in time solve
the supremely difficult problem of human nature. Success such as this
depends upon the further development of science--especially that
comprehensive science which will deal with all of the principles
underlying the behaviour of man.
In all respects it is a task of gigantic proportions to build the world
anew--to readjust, to recivilize ourselves. At the same time it is the
greatest adventure ever conceived by man--to construct his final empire
of world coöperation wherein to know and to control himself. Should
this be deemed worth while, it must be paid for by the intelligent,
unremitting toil necessary to develop the full capacity of our chief
reliance--the human brain.
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page 8: original spelling of “Poriphara” retained.
Typos corrected: “in the dog.” to “in the dog,” (page 146); “pryamid”
to “pyramid” (page 166); “preeminent” to “preëminent” (page 272);
“sufficently” to “sufficiently” (page 316).
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been left unchanged.
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