The evolution of man and his mind.
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| The evolution of man and his mind. |
A history and discussion of the evolution and relation of the mind and body of man and animals.
Excerpt
You will sometimes hear old folks express a wish for a return of the "good old days" of their youth. This disposition of old people to regard recent times as inferior to remote periods is recorded as universal and as a senile characteristic as far back as we can go in history.
A little reflection shows that modern times are better than the ancient. Recently there were no electric or gas lights, no electric cars or telephones, horses pulled the streetcars. There were no typewriters, bicycles or automobiles, no ice machines, no modern battleships when wooden "men-of-war" moved with sails.
When the nineteenth century opened there. were no steam cars or steamships. Candles dimly lighted houses and churches that were poorly heated in winter; there were no postage stamps, steel pens, friction matches, sewing machines, photographs, city sewerage, hard coal fires, and machinery of all sorts was very simple, while fruits, vegetables or meats were not canned.
But the nineteenth century was progressive beyond preceding times, and progress is one of the forms of evolution, the evidence of which are all about us. Today in the world's history we have telegraphs, railways, steamships. Voyages at sea are now made in a few days where formerly sailing vessels used many weeks to go the same distance. We have the daily newspaper and engravings so cheap as to be within the means of the poor.
Some contents of the book:
CHAPTER I—Earliest Man.
Successive glances are taken at the conditions of our immediate and re- mote and then still remoter ancestry until we reach savages in the ice ages. Frankland's theory of a hot primeval sea and Le Conte's critical periods in the course of the earth's development afford some of the bases upon which
are gradually built up the earliest races of men, those of the stone age, the dwarfs, the Turanians, Africans, Malays, etc. The non-Aryans and
pre-Aryans. The bronze and iron ages, the hunting, pastoral, and farming
stages of race progress. The separate origin of the different races, their migrations and subsequent intermixture; early civilization in America be- ing regarded as indigenous.
CHAPTER 11.—The Aryans.
The primitive Himalaya range, the "Roof of the World," from which
flows the Oxus river along which was located the legendary Aryan paradise whence the Aryan settlers were driven by floods, droughts, savages
arid sand storms, migrating as Celts, Greek-Romans, Teutons and Slavs, from whom came the present German, French, English, Irish, Russian and
Scandinavian peoples, as well as the Persians and high caste Hindoos. The growth, decline, and extinction of tribes and nations, with the rise of new social organizations under various names.
Successive glances are taken at the conditions of our immediate and re- mote and then still remoter ancestry until we reach savages in the ice ages. Frankland's theory of a hot primeval sea and Le Conte's critical periods in the course of the earth's development afford some of the bases upon which
are gradually built up the earliest races of men, those of the stone age, the dwarfs, the Turanians, Africans, Malays, etc. The non-Aryans and
pre-Aryans. The bronze and iron ages, the hunting, pastoral, and farming
stages of race progress. The separate origin of the different races, their migrations and subsequent intermixture; early civilization in America be- ing regarded as indigenous.
CHAPTER 11.—The Aryans.
The primitive Himalaya range, the "Roof of the World," from which
flows the Oxus river along which was located the legendary Aryan paradise whence the Aryan settlers were driven by floods, droughts, savages
arid sand storms, migrating as Celts, Greek-Romans, Teutons and Slavs, from whom came the present German, French, English, Irish, Russian and
Scandinavian peoples, as well as the Persians and high caste Hindoos. The growth, decline, and extinction of tribes and nations, with the rise of new social organizations under various names.
CHAPTER III.—The Semites.
Babylonian civilization ten thousand years ago, Hilprecht's excavations
in the Mesopotamian valley, royal and mercantile libraries being unearthed and translated which were written ages before the days of Abraham. The
Hebrews, Assyrians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians and what Europe owes to them. The Aryan barbarians deriving their alphabet, numerals, and rudiments of arts and sciences from the Semites.
in the Mesopotamian valley, royal and mercantile libraries being unearthed and translated which were written ages before the days of Abraham. The
Hebrews, Assyrians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians and what Europe owes to them. The Aryan barbarians deriving their alphabet, numerals, and rudiments of arts and sciences from the Semites.
CHAPTER IV.—Middle Ages.
The behavior of a wilderness full of apes compared with the gluttony,
rapacity and cruelty of the classical periods. The slow evolution of ideas while Rome was "governed" by rulers who were often insane, knaves, and fools. A survey of the period from Commodus to Constantine during which soldiers elected and murdered emperors. The rise of Charlemagne and the Franks when Germanic civilization grew upon the ruins of Roman power. Monasteries good and bad, and schools and the growth of ideas of freedom in the Feudal periods and during the crusades. The escape of England through Magna Charta and the inheritance by America of Germanic
The behavior of a wilderness full of apes compared with the gluttony,
rapacity and cruelty of the classical periods. The slow evolution of ideas while Rome was "governed" by rulers who were often insane, knaves, and fools. A survey of the period from Commodus to Constantine during which soldiers elected and murdered emperors. The rise of Charlemagne and the Franks when Germanic civilization grew upon the ruins of Roman power. Monasteries good and bad, and schools and the growth of ideas of freedom in the Feudal periods and during the crusades. The escape of England through Magna Charta and the inheritance by America of Germanic
ideas of freedom was preserved in England through the barons finding it in their interests to join with the people against the king. French miseries, Joan of Arc, the Gabelle, the Bastille, etc. The loss by Germany through the Romish corruption of the ideas of freedom it gave origin to the world.
CHAPTER V.—Evolution.
Formation of plants and animals from the elements, development of the lowest animals into birds, apes, and men. Pithecanthropus, the missing
link found in Java. The American horse and other exterminated species. Birds with lizard ancestors; man-like-apes and ape-like-men. The various mountain centers of primitive races; capped with ice these ranges protruded from a hot sea. The natural and sexual selection which with labor division built up the present conditions about us.
link found in Java. The American horse and other exterminated species. Birds with lizard ancestors; man-like-apes and ape-like-men. The various mountain centers of primitive races; capped with ice these ranges protruded from a hot sea. The natural and sexual selection which with labor division built up the present conditions about us.
CHAPTER VI. - Heredity and Degeneracy.
Ancestral pride is not justified in going very far back. Racial peculiarities. Specialized animals with generalized ancestors. Effects of consanguine and early marriages. Aryan features in children. Chemistry of heredity. Royal and other degenerates.
Ancestral pride is not justified in going very far back. Racial peculiarities. Specialized animals with generalized ancestors. Effects of consanguine and early marriages. Aryan features in children. Chemistry of heredity. Royal and other degenerates.
CHAPTER VII.Superstition.
The superstitions of animals, children, and savages. Ceremonies of dogs and monkeys. The worship of animals by the ancients; the mythological folklore when analyzed affording accounts of early races. Superstitious beliefs and worship have a natural history, and cruelty has been
associated with religions from the earliest periods; the gradual culmination
of old religions in the modern ethical, and the slow improvement and
purification of extant ideas of omnipotence.
associated with religions from the earliest periods; the gradual culmination
of old religions in the modern ethical, and the slow improvement and
purification of extant ideas of omnipotence.
CHAPTER VIII Evolution of Language and Writing.
How birds, monkeys, and other animals talk and what they say. The development of music with other means of emotional expression. Speech arrangements from brain troubles. Dialects may grow into languages and if fittest to survive may be perpetuated though modified. Max Muller
on the origin of languages, and the few and simple Aryan roots from which
European languages evolved. Ideas independent of words. The early pictographic or sketch writings of savages, the hieroglyphs and other symbolic writings, the Babylonian, Egyptian and other character writing from which descended our alphabet and numerals, which are still imperfect; history of books and origin of family names. The speech center in the brain and its gradual development and association with other brain parts.
CHAPTER IX—Hunger and Love.
The derivation of the mating faculty from primitive hunger; relation of assimilation and propagation, the seasons and battles of mating, the courtship of birds, fishes, insects, and other animals, the universality of music in the courtship of man and animals. Chaperonage; woman as property in civilized countries and as a tyrant in some barbarous countries where each female is entitled to several husbands. The delusions of love, primary ancestral attraction, the chemistry and biology of love, natural and unnatural affections, perversions, inversions, and arrests of development of the propensity.
CHAPTER X. Acquisitiveness.
The origin of selfishness is traced - chemical sources as an unavoidable and necessary attribute of all life and of even the atoms from which life develops. Altruism being merely a higher developed and more rational
selfishness.
The origin of selfishness is traced - chemical sources as an unavoidable and necessary attribute of all life and of even the atoms from which life develops. Altruism being merely a higher developed and more rational
selfishness.
CHAPTER XI.—Development of the Mind.
Mental traits of the infant, youth, and adult in their relations to brain development.
Mental traits of the infant, youth, and adult in their relations to brain development.
CHAPTER Xll.—Evolution of the Brain
An account of the results of modern research in brain function by which has been disclosed that separate parts of the body are governed by special centers in the brain and that between the lowest animal and the highest may be traced a gradual development of brain parts and structure
in keeping with the increase in intelligence
in keeping with the increase in intelligence
Publication date: 1903
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