MAN'S ANIMAL KINSHIP
The conception of man being descended from a monkey has been the subject of much wit and mirth.
Man's relation to anthropoid apes
The scientist is not concerned with this theory; he only claims that man is very closely related to certain monkey-like forms known as anthropoid apes. The proofs of this assertion are abundant and conclusive. In fact, anthropoid apes, such as gorillas, chimpanzees and orang-outangs, are much more closely related to man than they are to other kinds of monkeys. This relation is shown by very close resemblance between the anatomy of man and apes, especially as to the teeth and digestive organs. Other facts are now known, of which Darwin and early investigators were ignorant, which prove this relation in a much more striking manner.
Comparison of blood from man and apes
Late studies upon the growth of the embryo of anthropoid apes have shown that they were at certain periods almost indistinguishable from human embryos. Another proof, quite striking and interesting, is in the similarity of the parasites and dis-eases of men and apes. Scientists have, within the past few years, made a series of comparative investigations upon the blood and serum of men and apes, which have resulted in most remarkable discoveries. There are certain accurate tests known to the physiological chemist by which human blood may be distinguished from the blood of all other animals, but the blood of these man-like apes is an exception to this, and cannot be distinguished from human blood.
Difference in the development of man and apes
From these facts it is clear that the earlier types of men were creatures whose physical development and whose habits were not very different from those of apes. The development that has taken place since that time is truly very wonderful and has resulted in a widening gap between man and apes that today seems very great. The truth remains, however, that this gap is not so much one of anatomy and physiology as it is one of mentality and of external habits and material aids to living that have resulted from man's greatly developed mental faculties.
Power of speech a factor in man's evolution
Thus, when the mind of man reached the stage of development in which the use of articulate speech became possible, the evolution of intelligence proceeded at a very much more rapid pace than had been possible before. He could communicate his ideas to his fellow-creatures; concerted action became possible, and the faculty of reason, or the ability to think was multiplied by the number of beings who could communicate with each other.
The power of reason and the ability to communicate ideas resulted in the formation of those habits which distinguish man from other animals. When one primitive man learned the use of a club as a weapon, found how to use sharp-edged stones as cutting tools, or discovered the wonders and power of fire, he communicated his new-found knowledge to the other members of his tribe, with the result that new ideas became common property.
Man's bad habits have kept pace with his progress
This spreading of habits or customs took place very rapidly among men and was the source of the various changes which distinguished civilized life from savage life. But we must here point out that not only good habits were so spread, but bad ones as well. The origin and the use of opium and of alcohol, the injuries of fashionable dress and the economic wrongs of tyrannical government originated along with the birth of language, art, science, and all that uplifts and benefits mankind.
Clearly, then, that man is misinformed who defends a wrong by referring to its age and reasons that, if certain things were harmful, they would not have survived. To the young thinker the existence of harmful ideas and habits among mankind may at first seem inconsistent with the principles of the survival of the fittest, but this difficulty will disappear upon further investigation.
Factors that determine the survival of races
Since the beginning of recorded history many factors have helped to determine what kind of individuals and races should survive. War, economic wealth and poverty, intellectual beliefs, religions, and social institutions have all been potent factors in determining who should survive. With wealth and conquest came the opportunity to gratify tastes and passions of which the poor individuals of weaker races could not avail themselves.
Many habits and customs detrimental to life and health
Many of the habits and customs which man has developed are not necessary to life, and may be positively detrimental to health and longevity. They have been handed down from generation to generation, not because of their benefit to man, but in spite of their detriment.
Such condition of affairs would not be possible if man were not the dominant animal. Man's intellectual supremacy has given him power over the rest of nature, which has resulted in making his struggle for existence much less severe. His use of weapons and of artificial protection from natural destructive forces, as severe heat or cold, has made it possible for him to live and to produce offspring in spite of wrong habits and wrong methods of living, and the natural resistance of life.
Man's organs have a limited power of adaptation
A prevalent error that is due to an incomplete knowledge of the facts of evolution is the belief that organs readily change or adapt themselves to the habits or environment of the individual. This is not true to the extent that it is ordinarily believed. Each individual has a certain limited power of adaptation. He may develop his lungs to a greater breathing capacity, or train his hand for certain skilled work, but these particular acquired habits of the individual are not inherited.
Evolution of the race proceeds by the law of natural selection. Thus, if those who are born with great vigor and strong lungs are enabled to live where their weak-lunged neighbors will die, the result will be that their offspring, having greater lung capacity, will form a race with increased lung capacity. But the individual training of the lungs, or of the hand, or of any other organ of the body, will not of itself change the inherited tendency, or, to use a common term of the scientist, the germ-plasm of the race.
Organs and functions will change or become evolved by natural selections; that is, where it is a matter of life and death. But where the selective agencies depend upon other things, an organ may be used or abused for thousands of successive generations, and yet the natural inherited organ of the new-born child will be identical in development and function to that of the remote ancestor.
Acquired characteristics are not inherited
There are abundant proofs that so called "acquired characteristics" are not inherited. Were acquired characteristics inherited, Chinese women would be born with small feet and the babies of the Flathead Indians would inherit the flat head which has for generations been produced by binding a flat stone on the soft skull of the new-born infant.
In the light of this fact we may understand how it has been possible for man to live through the varying dietetic habits and customs that the constantly changing ideas and tastes of civilization have thrust upon his physical organism. Each individual has transmitted to his offspring the same type of digestive organs and functions that he himself inherited from his remote anthropoid ancestors.
Meaning of expression "natural" diet
Thus, such terms as "back to nature," "natural diet," etc., only mean to the food scientist the habits of life or the dietary which is most suited to the unperverted physical organism of man. They do not imply the meaning that is popularly given to the term, of casting aside all the habits and customs of civilized man, but only the adapting of these customs to the inherited physiological organism of man.
Indeed, science may actually improve upon primitive conditions, and still not be inconsistent with the requirements of the inherited physiological machine. No intelligent man will dispute the advantage of a house in a snowstorm. Yet the house is artificial. It is not "natural" in the sense that the term is commonly used.
Or, again, man has by the aid of civilization rendered it possible for us to use foods far removed from their source of production, or, by preservation, to have them at seasons of the year when nature does not provide them. These artificial results of civilization are good. They are a part of the story of evolution, the benefit of which no one can question.
Man's dietetic development
But the great majority of the dietetic "frills" of modern man are actually unsuited to his physiological make-up, and exceedingly harmful. They have been developed as have habits of drink or personal adornment and may be in direct antagonism to the ultimate well-being of the human race.
I have briefly reviewed the history of the evolution of man. The facts to be remembered are:
- That men are descended from earlier and more primitive types of beings and are governed by the same general laws of heredity and nutrition as are other forms of animals
- Man, being a distinct species of animal, has particular laws that apply only to him, and therefore we should be careful not to judge him too closely by facts regarding other forms of animal life
- Man has changed very materially in the few thousand years of his civilization, in his external habits and customs, but very little in his fundamental physiological processes; therefore we should be able to judge what will be best suited for his needs by studying the process of the development of his organs during the millions of years that preceded the historic period. This plane of life is best seen today in the case of savages unacquainted with fire, and in the case of anthropoid apes.
With this general survey of evolution, and a clear understanding of the principles involved, I trust the reader will consider the facts here presented in the unprejudicial spirit of the true scientist.