Chapter 23

When we take up science and philosophy, or knowledge as a whole, after religion, it may seem that we have reversed the proper sequence. There are many reasons for following this course, inasmuch as "knowledge" is the all-inclusive category of thought; our world is after all a world of individual consciousness and ideas. In dealing with religion, ethics, social organization, and human culture, we have been concerned with the evolution of so many departments of thought and action; and now we are to develop a final conception of evolution as a universal process in the progress of all knowledge.

Let us look back over the history of mathematics. The primitive human individual did not need to count. He dealt with things as he met them, and he disposed of them singly and individually. A squirrel does not count the nuts it gathers; it simply accumulates a store, and it perishes or survives according to its instinctive ability to do this. Just so was primitive man. The savage, when he organized the first formed tribes, learned to count the days of a journey and the numbers engaged on opposite sides in battle. He employed the "score" of his fingers and toes, and our use of this very word is a survival of such a primitive method of counting. The abacus of the Roman and Chinese extended the scope of simple mathematical operations as it employed more symbolic elements. With the development of Arabic notation capable of indefinite expansion, the science progressed rapidly, and in the course of long time it has become the higher calculus of to-day. The conceptions of geometry have likewise evolved until to-day mathematicians speak of configurated bodies in fourth and higher dimensions of space, which are beyond the powers of perception, even though in a sense they exist conceptually. The behavior of geometrical examples in one dimension leads to the characteristics of bodies in two dimensions. Upon these facts are constructed the laws of three-dimensional space which serve to carry mathematical thought to the remoter conceptual spaces of which we have spoken. It may seem that we are recording only one phase of mental evolution, but in fact we are dealing with a larger matter, namely, with the progressive evolution of knowledge in the Kantian category of number.

Natural science began with the savage's rough classification of the things with which he dealt in everyday life. As facts accumulated, lifeless objects were grouped apart from living organisms, and in time two great divisions of natural science took form. Physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, and the like describe the concrete world of matter and energy, while the biological sciences deal with the structure, development, interrelationships, and vital activities of animals and plants. Surely knowledge has evolved with the advance in all of these subjects from decade to decade and from year to year. And just as surely must evolution continue, for the world has not stopped developing, and therefore the great principles of science must undergo further changes, even though they are the best summaries that can be formulated at the present time.

Philosophy deals with general conceptions of the universe. When we look back through the ages we find men picturing the world as an aggregate of diverse and uncorrelated elements--earth, air, fire, and water. The synthesis of facts and the construction of general principles down through Bacon, Newton, and Schopenhauer to modern world conceptions results in the unification of all--"the choir of heaven and furniture of earth." The lineal descendant of the long line of ancestral philosophies is the monism which sees no difference between the living and lifeless worlds save that of varying combinations of ultimate elements which are conceived as uniform "mind-stuff" everywhere. Whether or not this universal conception of totality is true, remains for the future to show. For us the important truth is that here, as in all other departments of knowledge, evolution proves to be real.

* * * * *

In closing the present description of the basis, nature, and scope of the doctrine of evolution, I find great difficulty in choosing the right words for a concise statement of the larger values and results of this department of science. So much might be said, and yet it is not fitting for the investigator to preach unduly. The lessons of the doctrine must be brought home to each individual through personal conviction. But because I firmly believe in the truth of the statement made in the opening pages, namely, that science and its results are of practical human value, it is in a sense my duty as an advocate of evolution to make this plain.

The method of science is justified of its fruits. At the very beginning we learned how, and how only, sure knowledge can be obtained and how it differs from a belief which may or may not correspond with the truth. Based upon facts of smaller or larger groups, scientific laws are so many summaries of past experience, and they describe in concise conceptual shorthand the manifold happenings of nature. Their difference from belief inheres in their ability to serve as guides for everyday and future experience. This entire volume is a plea for the employment of common-sense as we look upon and interpret the world in which we have our places and in which we must play our rôles. Our search for truth will be rewarded in so far as we organize our common-sense observations into clear conceptions of the laws of nature's order.

The doctrine of evolution enjoins us to learn the rules of the great game of life which we must play, as science reveals them to us. It is well to remember that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but because evolution is true always and everywhere, an understanding of its workings in any department of thought and life clears the vision of other realms of knowledge and action. Perhaps the greatest lesson is at the same time the most practical one. It is that, however much we may concern ourselves with ultimate matters, our immediate duties are here and now, and we cannot escape them without giving up our right to a place in nature. We are taught by science that we live under the control of certain fundamental biological, social, and ethical laws; we might well wish that they were otherwise, but having recognized them we have no recourse save to obey them. Evolution as a complete doctrine commands every one to live a life of service as full as hereditary endowments and surrounding circumstances will permit. Thus we are taught that the immediate problems of life ought to concern us more than questions as to the ultimate nature of the universe and of existence.

Every one can find something worth while in the lessons of evolution, summarized in the foregoing statements. The atheist, who declines to personify the ultimate powers of the universe, may, nevertheless, find direction for his life in the principles brought to light by science. The agnostic, who doubts the validity of many conventional dicta that may not seem well grounded, can also find something to believe and to obey. Finally, the orthodox theist of whatever creed may discover cogent reasons for many of his beliefs like the Golden Rule previously accepted through convention; and he must surely welcome the fuller knowledge of their sound basis in the materials and results of comparative analytical study. To every one, then, science and evolution offer valuable principles of life, but great as their service has been, their tasks are not yet completed, and cannot be completed until the end of all knowledge and of time.

INDEX

Achatinellidæ, 103, 104.

Activities, instinctive and reflex, 203, 205, 208; of familiar animals, 208, 209; differ from instinct, 209, 210.

Adaptation, universal relation to environment, 15; principle of, 17; degenerate forms enlarge our conception of, 50; results of larval short cuts in development, 71; 109, 213.

Africa, fauna of, 103, 164, 165.

Agassiz, a believer in special creation, 98.

Ages, Palæozoic, 92; Mesozoic or Secondary, 93, 94; Cenozoic or Tertiary, 93; Coal or Carboniferous, 94.

Albumen, of egg, 60.

Alligators, a diverging branch of lizard, 45.

Amoeba, 21, 51, 69; comparative study of, 203, 205, 231, 247, 251, 254, 257, 258, 259, 265, 266.

Amphibia, frogs, salamanders, a lower class, 45, 62; order of evolution of, 63; evolved from fishes, 64; most primitive backboned animals, 92; 94, 157; embryos of, 171; 200.

Anatomy, of mind, 202.

Ant-bears, 42.

Anthropoidea, 160.

Anthropology, 177; methods and results of, 186; types of, 186, 187; comparative, of mind, 211.

Anthropometry, 177.

Ants, communities of, 125; mental life of, 207, 208; organizations of, 260, 263, 264.

Apes, 158; susceptible to training, 210; line from Amoeba, 231.

Appendix, vermiform, 168.

Apteryx, wingless bird of New Zealand, 44, 200.

Arachnida, 49.

Archæopteryx, a famous "link," 99.

Ares, 300.

Armadillo, 42.

"Arts of life," 226-230; dwellings of men, utensils, 227; history of clothing, 228; arts of pleasure, 228-230.

Atom, carbon, 22; nitrogen, 23; hydrogen, oxygen, 24; chemical, 25.

Atua, 301.

Azores, animals of, 103.

Bacteria, amazing production of, 123; relation of, 127.

Baldwin, 148.

Bandicoot, 42.

Barnacles, really crustacea, 50.

Bats, 41, 94.

"Beagle," 102, 117, 136.

Bear, 38, 39.

Bees, mental life of, 207, 208; nervous system of, 232, 256, 257; organizations of, 260, 261, 262; queen, workers, 262, 263.

Beetles, 67.

Bernier, 183.

Bertillon, 183.

Birds, 44; have they descended from gill-breathing ancestors? 61; evolution of, 63; primitive, 99; embryos of, 171, 200.

Blastula, 68.

Blumenbach, 183.

Bonnet, 70.

Borneo, 164.

Brachiopods, 95.

Brahma, 299, 304.

Brain, 215, 235-240.

Brontosaurus, 94.

Brown-Séquard, 148.

Buddha, 299.

Buffon, 114, 135.

Butterflies, 67, 206, 207, 259.

Carbohydrate, 23, 24.

Carbon, atom, 22; 25, 27.

Carnivora, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40; order of, 157.

Caterpillar, larva of, 259.

Cats, Manx, Angora, Persian, 37, 39; domesticated, 137; intelligence of, 208, 209.

Cattle, products of human selection, 137; resemblance, 157.

Cebidæ, true monkeys, 160, 161, 162.

Cells, 19, 20, 21; sex, 144; human, composition of, 156; of ectoderm and endoderm, 255, 256, 257, 258.

Celts, 218.

Cercopithecidæ, 160, 162.

Cerebrum, 215.

Cetacea, 40.

Chemical transformation, 17.

Chick, development of, 60, 61.

Chimpanzee, 163, 164, 195.

Chromatin, 143, 144.

Civilization, a product of evolution, 272.

Classes, 32.

Classification, 32.

Clifford, 238.

Coccyx, 168.

Communities, cell, 258; insect, 258, 260-264.

Comparative anatomy, 35, 37, 39; any form will disclose development, 57; amphibia evolved from fishes, 64; Law of Recapitulation, 66; insects arisen from wormlike ancestors, 67; larvæ of insects, 67; higher animals evolved from two-layered saccular ancestors, 68; 70, 71; supplements comparative embryology, 72; appearance of great classes of vertebrates, 94; proves order of evolution, 163.

Composition, chemical, 15.

Compounds, organic, 29.

Conger-eel, 123, 124, 127.

Consanguinity, essential likeness, 54.

Conscience, 287.

Consciousness, human, 234, 235.

Crabs, 48, 49, 66; hermit, 66.

Crustacea, lobsters, crabs, 48, 49; barnacles, 49, 50; 82.

Cuvier, 158, 78; a believer in special creation, 79.

Curve of error, 120.

Cyclones, 85.

Cyclostomes, 156.

Daphnia, 205.

Darwin, Charles, 80, 100, 102, 115, 116, 117; Origin of Species, 116, 124, 130, 132, 135; Erasmus, 135, 136, 138, 142, 143.

Deer, 42; fossil, of North America, 97, 98.

Development, 54; a natural process, 56.

De Vries, 145, 146; his mutation theory, 147, 148.

Dinosaurs, 94.

Distribution, geographical, 32.

Dogs, 38, 39; embryo of, 66; varied forms of, 137; pointer, sheep-dog, instincts of, 208; intelligence of, 208, 209.

Dubois, 173.

Ducksbill, or Ornithorhynchus, bottom of mammalian scale, 43.

Ducksworth, 184.

Eagle, 44.

Earthquake, 85.

Echidna, bottom of mammalian scale, 43.

Ectoderm, 255.

Egg, of common fowl, 60; of frog, 68; nuclei contains factors of development, 71; 144, 145; human, 231.

Eimer, 148.

Elements, chemical, 15.

Elephant, 41; place in zoölogical science, 95; 96, 97; age of, 124.

Embryo, of frog, 58; of chick, 60-62, 63, 64, 65; embryos of carnivora, rodents, hoofed animals alike in earlier development, 65; of cat, dog, rat, sheep, rabbit, squirrel, cattle, pig, 65; of skate, shark, hammerhead, 66; the human, 168, 170, 171; of birds, reptiles, amphibia, 171; human hemispheres of brain like adult cat or dog, 215.

Embryology, 32, 33, 34; of no form fully understood, 57; general principles of, 57-67; embryonic agreement, 65; of insects, 67; weight of facts of, 69; comparative, a distinct division of zoölogy, 70, 71; 76, 94, 100; evidence of, 170; of mind, 202, 214; in early stages of human, no nervous system present, 214; development of, 215.

English sparrow, 123, 127.

Environment, 111, 112; influences of, 126; determines mode of life of a race, 213.

Epoch, Glacial, 86; Silurian and Devonian, rich array of types, 93; Cenozoic, 96.

Erosion, 89.

Eskimo, picture-writing, 223.

Ethics, 281; biological, 283; natural, 284; evolution of, 285.

Ethnology, 177.

Evolution, the Doctrine of, 1; is it a science, 3; the conception of, 8; organic, 10-12; 31, 32; evidence of, 54, 95; of amphibia, 62; of birds, 63; of protozoa, 69; theory of, supported by palæontology, 76; cosmic, 84; biological evidence of, 91; three important elements of, 109; adaptation, variation and inheritance, 110; mechanical, 109; dynamics of, 109; second element of, 122; human, 150-196; 174; physical, of man, falls into two groups, 153; of human races, 176; racial, 177, 178; mental, 197-240; human faculty as a product of, 212; mental as real as physical, 214; of brain, 214-217; of art of writing, 223; method of mental, 231; social, 241; of societies of insects, 258; human, biological interpretation of, 267-274; of higher human life, 278-311; of ethics, 285; final conception of, 307-311.

Factors, primary, secondary, 110; three kinds, 111; congenital, 113.

Falls of St. Anthony, 86.

Fishes, lowest among common vertebrates, 46; trunk-fish, cow-fish, puff-fish, mouse-fish, flounder, 46; most primitive backboned animals, 92; 94; 157; embryos of, 171.

Fiske, 139.

Flies, may, 259.

Flounder, a variant of the fish theme, 66.

Fossilization, conditions of, 77-78.

Fossils, 73-105; remains of, 73; groups, 77; 78, 79; order of succession, 91; oldest rocks devoid of, 92; forms, 99.

Fowl, game cock, 138; pigeons, 138.

Frog, 45; eggs of, larva, development of, 58, 59, 60, 68.

Galapagos Islands, 102, 103, 104.

Galton, 142, 147; heredity of mental qualities, 232.

Gametes, 252.

Gastrula, 68.

Gemmules, 143.

Genera, 32.

Generation, spontaneous, 78.

Geographical distribution, 32.

Geological agencies, rain, rivers, glaciers, 88; construction, volcanoes, 88.

Geology, data of, 83, 84.

Germ, Bonnet's idea of, 70; cells, 144, 146; plasm, 145, 146.

Gibbon, 163.

Gills, 58, 62.

Gill-slits, bars, clefts, 61, 62, 64; in embryos of lizards, birds, mammals, 69; 171.

Giraffe, 133.

Glaciers, alterations made by, 87.

Goats, 157.

Gorilla, 163, 165, 195.

Grand Cañon of the Colorado, 85, 90.

Gravitation, 155.

Guinea-pigs, Brown-Séquard's, 148.

Gulick, 103.

Haeckel, 63, 71, 184.

Hæmoglobin, 22.

Hapalidæ, 160.

Harvey, 70.

Hawaiian Islands, 103; snails of, 104.

Heredity, 142; a real human process, 175; instinct determined by, 206; Anglo-Saxon, 213; of mental qualities, 232.

Heron, 44.

Hesperornis, 99.

Hippopotamus, 42.

Hominidæ, 160.

Homo sapiens, 183.

Hoofed animals, 95, 96, 97.

Hornets, communities of, larvæ of, 260.

Horse, 41, 42, 65; place of in zoölogical science, 95, 96; development of, 97; perfection of one type of, 136, 157; 167; intelligence of, 209.

House-fly, eggs of, 67.

Human faculty, 212; its three constituents, 212.

Huxley, 6, 26, 30, 63, 184.

Hydra, 50, 51, 52, 53, 68, 69; comparative study of, 204, 205, 206; 254; cells of, 255; 256, 257, 258, 261, 262, 263, 265, 266.

Hydrogen, 25, 27.

Hyracotherium, 96.

Ichthyornis, 99.

Ichthyosaurus, 94.

Indians, American, pictography of, 223, 224; of Brazil, 227; life of, 272.

Individual development, a résumé of history of species, 63.

Inertia, 155.

Infant, human, activities of, 216.

Ingestive structures, 17.

Inheritance, 110, 131; biological laws of, 142; paternal and maternal basis of, 144; 145; Mendelian phenomena of, 146; Galton's Law of, 147; laws of, in mental phenomena, 203; strength of, in mental traits, 232; physical, provides mechanism of intellect, 233.

Insects, butterflies, beetles, bees, grasshoppers, spiders, scorpions, 49; 66; eggs of common house-fly, 67; 82; nervous mechanism of, 205; communities of, 207, 258-260, 267; nervous system of, 256, 257.

Instinct, determined by heredity, 206; of higher animals, 208; differs from intelligence in degree, 210.

Intelligence, 203; in mental life of communal insects, 207.

Invertebrates, lower animals devoid of backbone, 47; structural plan, 48; branches of, 49; groups, two layer animals, 50; hydra, sea-anemones, soft-polyps, 50; more complicated, 68; palæontological materials, 82; evolution of lowest members, 92.

Jaguar, 101.

Jastrow, 294.

Java, 173.

Jellyfish, 81.

Jordan, David Starr, 123.

Kangaroo, 42.

Keane, 185.

Lamarck, 115, 133, 135.

Lampreys, 156.

Language, most important single possession of mankind, 218.

Laplace, 29.

Larvæ, of lobster, 66; of insects, 67; of ground wasp, 207; of caterpillar, 259; of wasps, 260.

Lavoisier, 29.

Law of Recapitulation, 66; stated by Von Baer and Haeckel, 71.

Lemurs, 158, 160, 161, 195.

Life, what is it? 27.

Limestone, 89, 90.

Links, 99.

Linnæus, 79, 158, 183.

Lions, 101; environment of, 112.

Lizard, nearest form to remote ancestor, 45.

Lobsters, 66; larvæ of, 66.

Lyell, 80, 107, 135, 136.

MacDougal, 148.

Madagascar, 161.

Mallock, 295.

Malthus, 136.

Mammalia, lower orders of, 42; their own mode of growing up, 64; embryos of, 64; 97; members of class differ, 157, 158; 200; order of mentality, 203.

Mammals, 40, 43, 157; embryo of, 171.

Mammoth, 97.

Marmosets, 161.

Marquesas, 103.

Marsupials, 104.

Mastodon, 97.

Mechanism, organic, 14; living, 110.

Melanesia, 103.

Mendel, Gregor, 145; his law, 146; 147, 148.

Mentality, human, 233.

Metazoa, 254.

Mice, 41, 134; field, 139.

Miller, 293.

Mind, anatomy of, 202; human, differs only in degree, 203; 210, 211; embryology of, 214; palæontology of, 217; and matter inseparable, 234-237.

Missing links, 77.

Moeritherium, a significant fossil, 97.

Molecule, protein, 22, 23, 24.

Mollusks, 81, 82; connecting widely separated ages, 95.

Monkeys, 158.

Morgan, Lloyd, 148.

Morphology, 32.

Moths, 67.

Müller, 293.

Mutation theory, 146.

Naegeli, 143, 148.

Natural Selection, doctrine of, 116, 117, 118; the struggle for existence, 124, 125; simply trial and error, 131; Darwin recognized it as incomplete, 142; germ-plasm theory supplements, 145.

Nebula, gaseous, 84.

Nervous systems, 201, 202, 205, 206, 211; of worker-bee, 232.

Niagara, 85, 86, 89.

Ontogeny, recapitulates phylogeny, 63.

Orang-outang, 163, 164.

Orders, 32.

Organic, 15; systems, 17; transformation, analogies of, 43, a real and natural process, 55, 56, 76; mechanism, alteration of, 55.

Organisms, living, 14; analysis of, 16; 17, 18, 19, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32; characteristic early stages, 55; are they adapted by circumstances? 109; environment, 111; physical heritage of, 113; variation of, 119; difference, 121; universal conflict of, 127; change, 130; human, 32, 156, 159, 165-171; nervous system of, 201; psychical characteristics of, 202; many-celled, 257.

Organs, 16, 17, 28; of human body, 156.

Origin of Species, 136, 149.

Origination of new parts, 109.

Osborn, 148.

Ostrich, 44.

Over production, 122-124, 129.

Owls, horned, of Arizona, 45; 139.

Palæontology, 32, 34, 73, 74, 76; evidence of, not complete, 80, 81; table of facts of, 91; 94; second division of evidence, 95; does it throw light on antiquity of man? 155; of mind, 202, 203, 217.

Paludina, 95.

Partulæ, 103.

Pearson, Karl, 6, 7, 142, 147; heredity of mental qualities, 232.

Penguin, a counterpart of the seal, 44.

Peoples, fusion of, 178, 179; Mexicans, 178, 181; Anglo-Saxon, 179; American, 179; Indians, 181, 183, 185, 191, 192; Patagonian, 180, 192; Polynesian, 181, 182, 187; Moor, 181; Zulu, 181, 183; Malay, 181, 183, 190; Mongolian, 181, 186-190; Papuan, 182; Negro, African, Ethiopian, 182, 183, 192-195; Caucasian, 182, 185-189, 195; Veddahs, 182, 188; European, 183; Asiatic, 183; Laplander, 183, 190; Scandinavian types, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Germans--north and south--186, 187; types of, 186-196; Persians, 186, eastern, 187; Afghans, Hindus, 186; Welsh, French, Swiss, 187; Russians, 187-190; Poles, Armenians, 187; Mediterranean type, Spaniard, Italian, Greek, Arab, 187; subordinate group, Semitic, Arab, Hebrew, 187; North African, Berber, Hamites, 187; relatives of the Mediterranean, Dravidas, Todas, Veddahs, Ainus, 188; Manchurian, Chukchi, Buryats, Yukaghir, 189; Finlander, Bulgar, Magyar, Korean, Japanese, Gurkhas, Burmans, Annams, Cochin Chinese, Tagals, Bisayans, Hovars, 190; Pueblos, Eskimos, Aztecs, Mayas, Caribs, 191; Yahgan, Alacaluf, 191; Papuan, Australian, 193; Negrito section, Adamans, Kalangs, Sakais Ætas, Bushmen, Hottentots, Akkas, 194.

Periods, Triassic, Jurassic, 94; Eocene, Miocene, 96.

Phenacodus, 96.

Phyla, 32.

Phylogeny, 63.

Pictography, 223-226; of Eskimos, of American Indians, 223, 224; of Asia, 224; of Egypt, 224, 225.

Pig, 42, 157.

Pithecanthropus, 174.

Plesiosaurus, 94.

Polynesia, 103, 104.

Pouched animals, kangaroo, opossums, 42.

Primates, name given by Linnæus, 158; eutheria, 158, 159; order of, 160; anthropoids, 161; arrangement of organs, 201.

Processes, psychological, of higher animals, 208, 209.

Prosimii, 160.

Proteins, 22, 23, 24.

Protoplasm, 22-30; the physical basis of life, 143; 144; human, 156; chemicals that make up, 156.

Protozoa, 52, 53, 68, 70; relations of, 126.

Protozoön, 251.

Psychology, comparative, 198; principle of, 199; descriptive, genetic, 202; terms of, 203; human, 210, 211.

Pseudopodia, 52.

Puma, 101.

Pupa, 259.

Pygmy, 195, 196, 227.

Rabbits, 41, 101; domesticated, 137; introduced into Australia, 140.

Races, human, age of, 178; divisions of, 183-195; character of: status, variations of, 180, 181; color, a criterion of racial relationship, 181, 184; hair, character of, as means of classification, 181, 182; cranium, shape of, as means of identification, nose, jaws, 182.

Racoon, 38.

Rats, 41, 134.

Reason, 203; in mental life of communal insects, 207.

Religions, 288; Christian, Hebrew, Buddhistic, Tangaroan, 289, 290; Mohammedan, 290, 298; Dervish, Mahdist, 293; linguistic basis of, 293, 294; of savagery, 294, 300, 301; barbarism, civilization, 294; elements of, 295; forms of Christianity, 296; sects, Judaism, 297, 298; Brahmanism, Buddhism, 298, 299; Polytheism, Roman, 300.

Reptiles, variations about a central theme, 45; lizard, typical, 46; 157; embryos of, 171; 200.

Retention of better invention, 109.

Rhinoceros, 41.