THE PRESENT
EVOLUTION OF MAN
BY
G. ARCHDALL REID
LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LD.
1896
[All rights reserved]
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CONTENTS
PART I — ORGANIC EVOLUTION................................................................................................... 4
PHYSICAL EVOLUTION......................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER I ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER II .................................................................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER III................................................................................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER IV................................................................................................................................................... 21
THE FACTORS OF EVOLUTION.......................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER I ..................................................................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER II .................................................................................................................................................... 33
CHAPTER III................................................................................................................................................... 41
CHAPTER IV................................................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER V.................................................................................................................................................... 55
MENTAL EVOLUTION.......................................................................................................... 61
CHAPTER I ..................................................................................................................................................... 61
CHAPTER II .................................................................................................................................................... 67
CHAPTER III................................................................................................................................................... 74
CHAPTER IV................................................................................................................................................... 79
CHAPTER V.................................................................................................................................................... 83
PART II — THE PRESENT EVOLUTION OF MAN...................................................................... 87
PHYSICAL EVOLUTION....................................................................................................... 87
CHAPTER I ..................................................................................................................................................... 87
CHAPTER II .................................................................................................................................................... 94
CHAPTER III................................................................................................................................................. 101
CHAPTER IV................................................................................................................................................. 108
CHAPTER V.................................................................................................................................................. 117
MENTAL EVOLUTION........................................................................................................ 132
CHAPTER I ................................................................................................................................................... 132
CHAPTER II .................................................................................................................................................. 143
CHAPTER III................................................................................................................................................. 149
CHAPTEE IV................................................................................................................................................. 154
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G. ARGHDALL REID
PART I
ORGANIC EVOLUTION
PHYSICAL EVOLUTION
CHAPTER I
"DURING the quarter of a century which has elapsed since Biology began to occupy itself again
with general problems, at least one main fact has been made clear by the united labours of numerous
men of science, viz. the fact that the theory of descent, the idea of development in the organic world, is
the only conception as to the origin of the latter which is scientifically tenable. It is not only that, in the
light of this theory, numerous facts receive for the first time a meaning and a significance; it is not that,
under its influence, all
the ascertained facts can be harmoniously grouped together; but in some
departments it has already yielded the highest results which can bo expected from any theory, it has
rendered possible the prediction of facts, not indeed with the absolute certainty of calculation, but with
a high degree of probability. It has been predicted that man, who in the adult state only possesses
twelve pairs of ribs, would bo found to have thirteen or fourteen in his embryonic state; it has been
predicted that, in this early period in his existence, he would possess the insignificant remnant of a very
small bone in his wrist, the socalled os centrale, which must have existed in the adult condition of his
extremely remote ancestors. Both predictions have been fulfilled, just as the planet Neptune was
discovered after its existence had been predicted from the disturbance induced in the orbit of Uranus.
"That existing species have not arisen independently, but have been derived from other and
mostly extinct species, and that on the whole this development has taken place in the direction of
greater complexity, may be maintained with the same degree of certainty as that with which astronomy
asserts that the earth moves round the sun; for a conclusion may be arrived at as safely by other
methods as by mathematical calculation.
"If I make this assertion so unhesitatingly I do not make it in the belief that I am bringing
forward anything new, nor because I think that any opposition will be encountered, but simply because
I wish to begin by pointing out the firm ground on winch we stand, before considering the numerous
problems which still remain unsolved.
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THE PRESENT EVOLUTION OF MAN
soon as we pass from the statement, The organic world has arisen by development, to the question, But
how has
"Such problems appear as soon as we pass from the facts of the case to their explanation; as
this been effected, by the action of what forces, by what means, and under what
circumstances?
"In attempting to answer these questions we are very far from dealing with certainties; and
opinions are still conflicting. But the answer lies in the domain of future investigation, that unknown
country which we have to explore.
"It is true that this country is not entirely unknown, and if I am not mistaken, Charles Darwin,
who in our time has been the first to revive the long dormant theory of descent, has already given a
sketch, which may well serve as a basis for the complete map of the domain; although perhaps many
details will be added, and many others taken away. In the principle of natural selection, Darwin has
indicated the route by whichwe must enter this unknown land." — WEISMASN.
"The continuity of the germ plasm, like Darwin's selection, is a fact not a theory." —
HAYCRAFT.
"'Struggle for existence,' as perhaps it was in Mr. Darwin's world of advancing beasts and
developing vegetables. But now the plan is so turned about by the arrival of man on the scene, and by
his civilization, that you cannot watch even Darwin and Huxley themselves without seeing that the
struggle that they and other good men wage is no struggle for existence but a struggle against mere
existence. The struggle for existence is brutal life; a struggle to do something more than exist is human
life — the mission of the human soul. What is the use of alcohol in such a struggle? The question is a
wide one. It might lead us to inquire what that is which men want to obtain beyond mere existence.
Watching some eminent teachers, you might suppose it to be a very detailed knowledge of the common
frog. But men are human because they look upwards and to the future, not downwards to the past. And
Darwin and Huxley, and even Haeckel, will in time learn that over-scrutinizing insufficient evidence
does not make it more complete." — MOXON.
Above I give three extracts — one from the writings of a very eminent naturalist, the second
from those of an eminent physiologist, and the third from those of a physician, also eminent. They
disclose a difference of opinion which is remarkable. Professor Weismann scarcely deigns to discuss
the theory of evolution, since, in his opinion, it must be considered as proved with as much certainty as
is the fact that the world moves round the sun, or as if it had been demonstrated mathematically; and he
adds, that we have now only to discuss the details, merely to fill in the minutiæ of the map, the outlines
of which Darwin has already sketched. Dr. Haycraft also thinks that the theory of evolution has passed
from the category of mere hypothesis into the category of that which must be accepted as proven fact.
But Dr. Moxon appears to think that, if a struggle for existence leading to evolution ever did occur, it
has now ceased so far at least as man is concerned, and the struggle has become one against mere
existence, whatever that may mean, and he adds — "Darwin, Huxley, and even Haeckel will in time
learn that over-scrutinizing insufficient evidence does not make it more complete."
His attitude is very characteristic of that of the vast majority of the general public, and
characteristic also of that of the majority of medical men, who, while observing the effects of disease
on man the individual, have signally failed to observe its effects on man the species. Had Dr. Moxon,
when he wrote his essay on alcoholism, which in its effects is a disease, occupied a wider outlook, had
he considered the species as well as the individual, he might perhaps have been led to conclusions
which are as true as they are surprising.
Taking into account this attitude of the general public, and in particular that of the mass of
medical men, to whom, if to any, this work should prove of interest, and considering also that a wide
audience must be appealed to if it is to have that amount of practical usefulness which the author hopes
for it, it seems needful, before proceeding with the main body of the work, to set forth as briefly and
clearly as possible certain biological data on which the argument is founded; especially as, so far as the
author is aware, they have never yet been explained in sufficiently simple terms to be comprehensible
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G. ARGHDALL REID
by the general reader; and more especially since, in his conception of the process of evolution, the
author diners somewhat from accepted views, or rather since in his opinion acknowledged authorities
have not recognized or have not laid sufficient stress on certain processes of evolution which appear to
him of the greatest importance. This book is therefore divisible into two parts: in the first the problem
of evolution in general is very briefly dealt with, but an attempt is made to penetrate somewhat deeper
in certain directions than has hitherto been done; in the second part, the conclusions arrived at in the
first are applied to the problem of man's present evolution, and an endeavour is made to show that this
evolution is proceeding in a direction hitherto altogether unsuspected.
To many, and, surprising as it may seem, even to some medical men, in spite of what ought to
be a scientific training, the theory of evolution means nothing more than the theory of the descent of
man from the monkey. In reality it means much more; it teaches that plant and animal types have not
persisted unchanged from the time life first became possible on the cooling surface of the globe, but
that all types known to us have arisen by a process of gradual evolution from pre-existing types, and
that this process of evolution has generally been in an upward direction from the low to the high, from
the small to the great, from the simple to the complex. Pushed to its logical conclusion the theory
teaches yet more; it teaches, as the only hypothesis scientifically tenable, that life originally arose by a
process of evolution from that which was non-living; that under conditions of which we are ignorant, of
moisture, or of heat, light, electricity, or other of the protean forms of energy, non-living chemical
compounds did in the beginning of life overpass the border space which divides the non-living from the
living, and become living beings.1 The lowest living beings, or
rather
those highest chemical
compounds which first display signs, however slight, of what is called life, if any such now exist on
earth, probably exist in masses so minute and so little differentiated from mere chemical compounds, as
to be beyond all devisable means of observation. Regarding them therefore there is no evidence to
offer, but as regards the evolution of higher life from lower life, the evidence is so vast and so decisive
that it is impossible to avoid coming to the conclusion that Darwin, Huxley, and even Haeckel did not
over-scrutinize insufficient evidence, but that Dr. Moxon under-scrutinized overwhelming evidence,
that, in fact, he adopted the device familiar to theologians and dear to them, of abusing evidence instead
of examining it.
But quite apart from all evidence that evolution has occurred, the conditions of life are such that
we may infer from them with mathematical certainty that it must have occurred. It is a matter of
common knowledge and experience (1) that in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms every
individual differs somewhat from every other individual, but that (2) while the offspring is never an
exact copy of the parent, there is yet a tendency for the peculiarities of the parent to reappear in the
offspring in a greater or lesser degree. Whence it is clear, if some individuals of a species possess a
peculiarity, such as a superior keenness of sight, or of hearing, or of scent, or a power of muscle, or a
capacity of resisting heat, or cold, or hunger, or thirst, or disease, &c., in a greater degree than that
possessed by the other members of the species, under conditions which render this peculiarity of
importance in the struggle for existence, that the individuals which possess the peculiarity in the greater
degree will be at an advantage, and will, on the whole, survive in greater numbers, and, consequently,
other things equal, have a more numerous offspring than those which possess the peculiarity in the
lesser degree. And further, since the offspring, while inheriting their parents' peculiarities, tend to vary
somewhat from them, there will, in the next generation, probably be some who have the peculiarity in a
greater degree than their parents, and others who have it in a lesser degree, when, if the conditions
remain the same, there will be such a new survival of the fit, and such a fresh elimination of the unfit,
as will leave the survivors in the third generation with the peculiarity developed, in however slight a
degree, more than it was developed in their grandparents; and it follows that this process, repeating
1 This is of course the theory of spontaneous generation, which is popularly supposed to be quite exploded. What is
exploded is that such highly organized beings as the infusorians arose spontaneously.
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