Part 56

WINDING THE SILK FROM THE COCOONS

The next process is to wind as much as possible off the cocoons into hanks. In Europe and in some Oriental towns this is done with improved machinery in factories called filatures. It is usually begun when the cocoons are fresh. Each operator has before her a basin of hot water, the temperature of which is regulated by a steam-pipe or a fire, and overhead is a reel turning slowly. After removing the outside flossy covering, the operator places the cocoons in the basin, with the result that the hot water softens the natural gum that is in the silk, and allows it to be wound off. The filaments are passed through several glass eyes, and crossed, and thus become glued together into a thread which is called “singles,” and when further prepared is known as “thrown silk.” The singles are reeled into large hanks being called a “moss,” and each bundle a “book.”

In this form, Asiatic silk is imported into Europe and the United States. The quantity of such silk obtained from one cocoon is very small--seldom up to a thousand yards, generally not more than five hundred yards. The remainder of the cocoon is either too flossy or too entangled to be wound. This waste portion forms the material from which spun silk is prepared. Five to six hundred cocoons weigh two pounds, and twenty pounds of cocoons yield two pounds of spun silk. The eggs of the silkworm were first brought to Europe by two Christian monks in 555 A. D., who took them in hollow sticks to Constantinople, whence the cultivation of the silkworm rapidly spread to other parts.

SCIENTIFIC TERMS CONCERNING ANIMALS

=Abdomen= (_ăb-dō´mĕn_).--In mammals, that portion of the body-cavity which is separated from the thorax or chest by the diaphragm. In insects the third or last portion.

=Ametabolic= (_ȧ-mĕt´a-bŏl´ĭk_).--Referring to insects and other animals which do not undergo a metamorphosis, or change of form.

=Amoeba= (_ȧ-mē´bȧ_).--One of the Protozoa that is continually changing its shape.

=Amorphous= (_ȧmŏr´fŭs_).--Without a definite figure; shapeless; especially applicable to sponges.

=Amphibia= (_ăm-fĭb´ĭ-ȧ_).--A class of vertebrates, breathing in water while young and in air when mature. The term amphibious is applied to fishes, molluscs, etc., that are capable of changing the nature of their respiration at will.

=Annelida= (_ăn-nĕl´ĭ-dȧ_).--Articulate animals whose bodies possess no jointed members, as the leech, and worm tribe.

=Annulate= (_ăn´ū̇-lā̇t_).--Animals whose bodies are composed of a series of ring-shaped divisions.

=Anthropoid= (ăn-thrō̇-poid).--The highest order of apes.

=Apterous= (_ăp´tĕr-ŭs_).--Destitute of wings.

=Arachnida= (_ȧ-răk´nĭ-dȧ_).--Articulate animals with legs, but without wings, including spiders, mites, scorpions, etc.

=Arthropoda= (_är-thrŏp´o-dȧ_).--Articulated animals with jointed feet, as crabs, insects, etc.

=Asexual= (_ȧ-sĕks´ū-al_).--A term applied to animals, as Aphis, in which the reproductive organs are imperfect, and the young are produced by budding.

=Auricle= (_a̱´rĭ-k´l_).--The cavity of the heart which receives the blood and transmits it to the ventricle.

=Bacteria= (_băk-tē´rĭ-ȧ_).--Microscopic vegetable organism, belonging to the class Algæ, usually in the form of a jointed, rod-like filament, and found in putrefying organic infusions. Bacteria are destitute of chlorophyll, and are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are very widely diffused in nature, and multiply with marvelous rapidity. Certain species are active agents in fermentation, while others appear to be the cause of certain infectious diseases.

=Batrachia= (_bȧ-trā´kĭ-ȧ_).--Applied to frogs, toads, and salamanders.

=Bimana= (_bĭm´ȧ-nȧ_).--Two-handed animals whose posterior extremities are used only to keep them in an erect position, and for the purpose of locomotion. They comprise the varieties of man.

=Blastoderm= (_blăs´tō-derm_).--The outer layer of the germ-cells of the embryo.

=Carapace= (_kăr´ȧ-pās_).--A sort of shell which protects and encloses the bodies of tortoises and some reptiles, etc.

=Carnivora= (_kär-nĭv´ō-rȧ_).--Group of mammals, including the lion, tiger, wolf, bear, seal, etc. They feed upon flesh, though some of them, as the bears, also eat vegetable food. The teeth are large and sharp, suitable for cutting flesh, and the jaws powerful.

=Carnivorous= (_kär-niv´ō-rus_).--Eating or feeding on flesh. The term is applied to animals which naturally seek flesh for food, as the tiger, dog, etc.

=Cephalopoda= (_sĕf-a-lŏp´ō-dȧ_).--The highest class of Molluscs.

=Cetacea= (_sē-tā´shē-ȧ_).--The whales.

=Chiroptera= (_ki-rŏp´te-rȧ_).--The bats.

=Chrysalis= (_krĭs´ȧ-lĭs_).--The pupa state of an insect.

=Coelenterata= (_sē-lĕ´te-rā´tȧ_).--The group of Invertebrates, comprising hydrozoa and actinozoa.

=Coleoptera= (_kol-e-op´ter-a_).--The beetles.

=Cilia= (_sĭl´ĭ-a_).--Hair-like organs of Infusoria. Microscopic filaments attached to cells, usually within the body, and moving usually rhythmically.

=Crustacea= (_krŭs-tā´shē-ȧ_).--Applied to lobsters, crabs, etc.

=Dipnoi= (_dĭp´nō-ī_ or _-noi_).--An order of fishes.

=Diptera= (_dĭp´tē-rā_).--Two-winged flies; an order of insects.

=Echinodermata= (_e-kī´nô-dẽr´mȧ-tȧ_).--Applied to the sea-urchin, a subdivision of animals.

=Edentata= (_ē´dĕn-tā´tȧ_).--Those animals having imperfect dental apparatus. Their digits, too, are generally sunk in large and crooked claws.

=Elasmobranchii= (_ē-lăs´mō-brănk-ē_).--The sharks and rays.

=Fauna= (_faw´nä_).--The native animals of a certain locality.

=Flagellum= (_flâ-jēl´lŭm_).--A whip. The appendage of some Protozoa.

=Foraminifera= (_fô-răm´ĭ-nĭf´e-rȧ_).--Animals with perforated shells.

=Ganoid= (_gā´noid_ or _găn´oid_).--Applied to a certain class of fish.

=Gasteropoda= (_găs´te-rŏp´ô-dȧ_).--A class of Molluscs. Some of them form shells, while others are destitute of them,--as the slug, snail, etc.

=Grallatores= (_grăl´lȧ-tō´rēz_).--Wading-birds.

=Hibernation= (_hī-bẽr-nā´shŭn_).--The state of animals that sleep throughout winter.

=Hymenoptera= (_hī-mē-nŏp´te-rȧ_).--An order of insects with two pairs of membraneous wings.

=Ichthyology= (_ĭk-thĭ-ŏl´ō-jy_).--The science of fishes, or that part of zoology which treats of fishes, their structure, habits, etc.

=Infusoria= (_ĭn´fû-sō´rĭ-ȧ_).--Minute animals that live in stagnant water. A class of Protozoa.

=Insectivora= (_ĭn´sĕk-tĭv´ô-rȧ_).--Insect-eaters. They comprise the shrew, mole, hedgehog, etc.

=Invertebrate= (_ĭn-vēr´te-brāt_).--Animals that have no vertebral column, or bones properly so called.

=Larva= (_lär´vȧ_).--The second stage of the insect, a caterpillar, grub, or maggot.

=Mandible= (_măn´dĭ-bl_).--The upper jaw of insects; the lower jaw of vertebrates.

=Marsupial= (_Mär-su´pĭ-al_).--An order of mammals that carry their young in a pouch, as the kangaroo.

=Mollusc= (_mŏl’lŭsk_).--Animals whose bodies are soft and pulpy.

=Monotremata= (_mon-ō-trē´ma-ta_).--An order of mammals having the intestine and the ducts of the urinary and genital organs open into a common orifice.

=Myriapoda= (_mĭr-ĭ-ŏp´ō-dȧ_).--A class of arthropoda. Articulate land animals having many legs, as the centipede.

=Natatores= (_nā´tȧ-tō´rēz_).--An order of birds that swim.

=Neuroptera= (_nū-rŏp´tĕ-rȧ_).--An order of insects with four membraneous wings, as dragon-flies.

=Nocturnal= (_nŏk-tûr´nal_).--Of the night. Nocturnal birds are birds that fly abroad during the night only.

=Notochord= (_nō´tō̇-kôrd_).--A primitive backbone.

=Omnivorous= (_ŏm-nĭv´ō-rŭs_).--Living on both vegetables and flesh.

=Orthoptera= (_ôr-thŏp´tē̇-rȧ_).--An order of straight-winged insects, as cockroaches, grasshoppers, etc.

=Oviparous= (_ō-vĭp´ȧ-rŭs_).--Applied to animals which produce eggs instead of living young.

=Ovipositor= (_ō´vĭ-pŏz´ĭ-tẽr_).--In insects an organ by which eggs are deposited in wood, etc.

=Pachydermata= (_păk´ĭ-dẽr-mȧ-tȧ_).--A group of hoofed mammals distinguished for the thickness of their skins, including the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, tapir, horse, and hog.

=Pelagic= (_pē-lăj´-ĭk_).--Living on the high seas, away from the coast; in mid-ocean.

=Polyp= (_pŏl´ĭp_).--Separate coral animals.

=Protoplasm= (_prō´tō̇-plāz’m_).--The albuminous, elementary matter forming cells and the body-substance of Protozoa.

=Protozoa= (_prō´tō-zō´ȧ_).--The lowest forms of animal life.

=Pupa= (_pū´pȧ_).--The third, or usually quiescent, chrysalis stage of insects.

=Paleontology= (_pā-lē-ŏn-tŏl´ŏ-gy_).--The science of ancient beings or creatures; applied to the science of the fossil remains of animals and plants now extinct.

=Quadrumana= (_kwŏd-rōō´mȧ-nȧ_).--Monkeys.

=Quadruped= (_kwŏd´ru-pĕd_).--Four-footed animals.

=Radiates= (_rā´dĭ-āts_).--Animals having a central mouth, around which the body forms a star-shaped figure.

=Ratitæ= (_rȧ-tī´tẽ_).--A division of birds with a keelless, raft or punt-like sternum.

=Rhizopoda= (_ri-zŏp´ō̇-dȧ_).--The root-footed Protozoa.

=Rodentia= (_rō-dĕn´shĭ-ȧ_).--An order of animals which gnaw.

=Rotifera= (_rō-tĭf´ẽ-rȧ_).--An order of crustacea with a pair of ciliated appendages in motion, resembling wheels.

=Ruminantia= (_roo-mĭ-nă´shĭ-ȧ_).--The cloven-footed quadrupeds. Those that chew the cud. They have cloven feet, want incisors, and have a stomach with four cavities.

=Taxidermy= (_tăks´ĭ-dĕr-my_).--The art of preparing and preserving specimens of animals.

=Teleostei= (_tē´lẽ-ŏs´te-ī_ or _tĕl´e_).--An order including most of the bony fishes.

=Thorax= (_thō´rāks_).--The chest of vertebrates, the middle portion of insects, etc.

=Ungulata= (_ŭn-gū-lā-tȧ_).--The order of hoofed mammals.

=Vertebra= (_vĕr´tē-brȧ_).--One of the bones of the spinal column.

=Vertebrates= (_vẽr´te-brāts_).--Animals provided with vertebræ. One of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom, comprising all animals that have a backbone composed of bony or cartilaginous vertebræ, together with those in which the backbone is represented by a simple undivided notochord.

=Viviparous= (_vi-vĭp´ȧ-rŭs_).--Applied to animals which bring forth their young alive.

=Zoophyte= (_zō´ō-fīt_).--Applied to the animals which resemble plants, such as the sea-anemones, sponges, etc.

BOOK OF RACES AND PEOPLES

HOW MAN DIFFERS FROM OTHER ANIMALS

MAN AND THE HUMAN FAMILY

MAN’S ORIGIN AND PRIMEVAL HOME

OLDEST EXTANT REMAINS OF THE HUMAN RACE

CHART OF MAN’S ADVANCEMENT THROUGH THE AGES:

(1) DAWN STONE AGE

(2) OLD STONE AGE

(3) NEW STONE AGE

(4) BRONZE AGE

(5) EARLY IRON AGE

(6) LATE IRON AGE

(7) AGE OF LETTERS

HOW THE RACES ARE CLASSIFIED

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL RACE CHARACTERISTICS

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE RACES

DICTIONARY OF THE HISTORICAL RACE GROUPS

COMPARATIVE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES AND PEOPLES

BOOK OF RACES AND PEOPLES

Man, though a member of the animal kingdom, is so superior and distinctive that he must be set entirely apart for special consideration. The branches of knowledge or science, concerning his nature, origin and development are of the highest importance to us because of their relation to our very selves as part of the great family of Mankind. Strictly speaking, there can be but one science of man--_Anthropology_--but the various parts of this _supreme_ science have received various district names. (1) Man as an _animal_ belongs to _Biology_ and _Zoology_; (2) his _structure_ and _functions_ belong to _Anatomy_ and _Physiology_; (3) his _mind_ falls under _Psychology_; (4) the facts and theories as to his _speech_ and _language_ come under _Philology_; (5) the study of the various _races_, their origin, physical and mental differences, migrations, and geographical distribution, falls under _Ethnology_; and (6) _human culture_, or civilization, which includes government, social institutions, customs and usages, traditions, folklore, religion, etc., belong to _Sociology_. In a certain sense, Anthropology also includes _History_, which is the record of the _doings_ of _civilized_ man in the order in which they occurred; but this branch of knowledge is so vast in itself that it is usually assigned a province of its own.

MAN AND THE HUMAN FAMILY

In the colorless language of science, man is classed under the order Primates (Lat., _primus_, first) and suborder Bimana (Lat., _bis_, twice; _manus_, a hand) which means a two-handed animal. Although the contrast between man and other animals is more distinct among the higher members of the human species, it may be traced in all. It is less of degree than of kind, and is rather intellectual and spiritual than physical.

In size man is dwarfed by numerous animals; in strength he is no match for some that do not attain his proportions. He is short-sighted compared to the eagle; deaf compared to the hare; and almost without the sense of smell compared to the wild dog or the vulture, who perceives the faintest scent borne to it upon the breeze.

HOW MAN DIFFERS FROM OTHER ANIMALS

In adult life man is unique in his erect posture, and in the freedom of his hands from any direct share in locomotion. His body is usually naked, his canine teeth are not longer than their neighbors, his thumbs are larger than those of monkeys, and his feet are distinguished by the horizontal sole which rests flatly on the ground. His face is notably more vertical than that of apes, lying below rather than in front of the forepart of the brain-case; the jaws, the orbits, and the ridges above them are relatively smaller; the nose-bones project more beyond the upper jaw; and the chin is more prominent than in other Primates.

BRAIN-POWER THE SUPREME DIFFERENCE

Probably the most important difference between man and other members of the same or any order, is the higher physical development of the brain. Not only is the size greater in proportion to the rest of the body, but it presents a more elaborate series of folds, or convolutions. When it is understood that the physical processes corresponding to the highest mental activities are located in the cortex, or rind of the brain, it is seen that the extent and number of the convolutions, by increasing the area of the cortex, must play a considerable part in determining the intellectual effectiveness of the animal.

In addition to mere size of brain, may be noted the adaptability of his hands to many uses, allowing a degree of skill impossible to other animals. The senses, too, are so nicely balanced and accurately adjusted as to enable him to obtain an intimate acquaintance with the properties of the world around him, in a manner that will contribute to his pleasure, and at the same time ensure his elevation and happiness. He possesses the gift of language by which to denote his wants; the colors of the earth and sea and sky gladden his eye; melody enchants his ear; the sweet odors of flowers delight his nostrils; the fruits of summer please his palate; the glorious sun and the spangled canopy of heaven entrance him--and all lead him to the contemplation of the Deity, of whose wondrous scheme he is himself the corner-stone.

When differences other than physical are considered, the superiority of man is so great as to incline many to the opinion that he is a separate creation on the ground of his mentality alone.

However great this superiority is, it does not appear that man possesses any faculty or fairly fundamental mental process which is not possessed in some degree by some lower animal or other. Memory, the powers of abstraction, and of reasoning are possessed by certain animals, if only in a very simple form.

He alone can produce fire; and this acquaintance with fire and the art of cooking has also frequently been regarded as the most distinctive characteristic of the human race. Clothing and decoration are also early peculiarities of man. Alone among animals, he covers himself with the skins of the beasts he has slain, and adorns himself with feathers, shells, teeth, and bones. Yet from these simple beginnings all the arts gradually developed.

MAN AND HIS DEAD

Man is one of the few animals to pay special attention to his dead. Funeral rites differ much from place to place, and form a special subject of anthropological study. Tumuli, pyramids, standing-stones, and other forms of funeral monument have each their history and implications. Especially does man almost everywhere believe in some sort of survival of the individual after death, and in the existence within himself of a soul or spirit which outlives its fleshly habitation. The origin of religion is largely connected with these ideas of a future life and a future world. Herbert Spencer traces it directly to the theory of hosts and ancestor-worship; Dr. Tylor, to what he calls animism, or the belief in souls universally pervading all natural objects.

Man alone also wilfully indulges in intoxicating, stupefying, or exciting substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, bhang, opium, hashish, etc.

THE GREAT QUESTION OF MAN’S ORIGIN

As to man’s origin, two main views may be said at present to contest the field. Has man sprung from a single or from several stocks? Do the races of men constitute so many members of _one_ family, or are they _four_ or more unrelated groups? One answer, formerly the accepted one, is based either upon the literal interpretation of Scripture or upon natural theology, and regards him as a distinct creation, separate from and superior to the remaining animals. The other, accepted by many competent authorities, regards him as descended from a hairy ancestor, more or less remotely allied to the anthropoid apes. This theory of his antecedents has been elaborated in profuse detail by Charles Darwin, whose _Descent of Man_ forms the great storehouse of information and speculation on the question. In the beginning, according to the evolutionary view, man was apparently homogeneous--a single species, speaking a single primitive rude tongue (largely eked out by signs and gesture-language), and not divided into distinct varieties. At an early period, however, the species broke up into several races, now inhabiting various parts of the world.

MAN’S PRIMEVAL HOME AND HIS EARLIEST KNOWN REMAINS

If man is therefore essentially one, he cannot have had more than one primeval home. This human cradle, as it may be called, has been located with some certainty in the Eastern Archipelago, and more particularly in the island of Java, where in 1892 Dr. Eugene Dubois brought to light the earliest known remains that can be described as distinctly human. From the Pliocene (late Tertiary) beds of the Trinil district he recovered some teeth, a skull, and a thigh-bone of a being whom he named the _Pithecanthropus erectus_, thereby indicating an “Ape-man that could walk.”

In this “first man,” as he has been designated, the erect position, shown by the perfectly human thigh-bone, implies a perfectly prehensile (grasping) hand, with opposable thumb, the chief instrument of human progress, while the cranial capacity suggests vocal organs sufficiently developed for the first rude utterances of articulate speech.

PROBABLY THE FIRST MIGRATIONS OF MAN

The Javanese man was thus already well equipped for his long migrations round the globe. Armed with stone, wooden, bone, and other weapons that lay at hand, and gifted with mental powers far beyond those of all other animals, he was assured of success from the first. He certainly had no knowledge of navigation; but that was not needed to cross inland seas, open waters, and broad estuaries which, indeed, did not exist in Pliocene and later times. The road was open across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar and South Africa by the now submerged Indo-African Continent. The Eastern Archipelago still formed part of the Asiatic mainland from which it is separated even now by shallow waters, in many places scarcely fifty fathoms deep. Eastwards the way was open to New Guinea, and thence across Torres Strait to Australia and thence to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean. In the northern hemisphere Europe could be reached from Africa by three routes, one across the Strait of Gibraltar, another between Tunis, Malta, Sicily and Italy, and a third from Cyrenaica across the Ægean to Greece, and the British Isles from Europe via the Strait of Dover and the shallow North Sea. Lastly, the New World was accessible both from Asia across Bering Strait, and from Europe through the Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland. Here were, therefore, sufficient land connections for early man to have gradually spread from his Javanese cradle to the uttermost confines of the habitable globe.

WHEN THE WORLD WAS FIRST PEOPLED

Much trustworthy evidence has been collected to show that the whole world had really been peopled during the period which roughly coincides with what is known in geology as the Ice Age; that is, when a large part of the northern and southern hemispheres was subject to invasions of thick-ribbed ice advancing successively from both poles. The migrations were most probably begun before the appearance of the first great ice-wave, then arrested and resumed alternately between the glacial intervals, and completed after the last glacial epoch, say, some two or three hundred thousand years ago.

At that time the various wandering groups had already made considerable progress both in physical and mental respects, as is seen in the Neanderthal skull, which is the oldest yet found in Europe, standing about midway between the Javanese ape-man and the present low races. All were still very much alike, presenting a sort of generalized human type which may be called Pleistocene man, a common undeveloped form, which did not begin to specialize--that is, to evolve the existing varieties until the several primitive groups had reached their respective homes as disclosed at the dawn of history.

EVIDENCES OF MAN’S ADVANCEMENT IN PREHISTORIC AGES

From human remains, weapons, tools and other vestiges of human activity, found in the more recent deposits on the earth’s surface, the presence of man in these far off ages is made increasingly certain. The Pleistocene or Quaternary epoch, as represented by these objects of primitive culture, ranged over a vast period of time which has been conveniently divided into two great epochs, the Paleolithic or Old Stone, and the Neolithic or New Stone Age, these being so named from the material chiefly used by primitive peoples in the manufacture of their weapons and other implements. The distinction between the two periods, which are not to be taken as chronological, since they overlap in many places, is based essentially on the different treatment of the material, which during the immeasurably longer Old Stone Age was at first merely chipped, flaked, or otherwise rudely fashioned, but in the New more carefully worked and polished.

MAN IN THE OLD STONE AGE