WHAT IS EVOLUTION?

If a resident of a city, who is not familiar with modern farm machinery, should see a grain-binder at work, he would be impressed with the skill and the ingenuity of man. In all probability he would think that the machine was the product of one inventive mind. In this, however, he would be mistaken. The reaper in its modern form is the result of gradual development or growth.

An example of evolution

The earliest method of gathering grain was pulling it up by the roots. Later, as cutting tools were invented, a rough knife was used to sever the stalks just above the ground. An improvement upon this method was the cycle; then came the scythe, then the cradle; and next came the mower which was operated by horse-power. From the mower was developed the self rake, which bunched the grain so that the hand-binders could work with greater facility. The next improvement was a self-binding machine. In the present machine we have all of these and many other improvements, which give greater speed with less waste of labor and time.

This development of the grain-binder is a process of evolution. In order to understand a machine so as to use it intelligently, or to make improvements upon it, it is necessary not only to know the machine as it actually is, but also to know the history of its development up to its present form.

To know man is to know evolution

The story of the evolution of a machine is, at best, but a crude illustration of the evolution of man. Nevertheless, the conclusion is the same. If we are to understand man, we must study not only his present physical and mental state, but also the history of his development. Yet those whose work is concerned directly with man—whether they be teachers, guiding the growth of the child; statesmen, formulating the laws and regulations by which men are to be controlled in their public actions; or physicians, who are supposed to instruct and to guide men in the care of their physical well-being—are often densely ignorant of the most rudimentary knowledge of the evolution of man as it is now known and understood by the leading scientists of the world.

Our entire system of education, our ideas of health and dis-ease, our social customs, the principles of our form of government; our ideas of right and wrong, of rewards and punishments, are all fundamentally concerned with the evolution of man, and when this knowledge is studied with as much application as are the ancient languages, we may expect to see humanity progress at a rate hitherto unknown.

Significance of the term "evolution"

The evolution of man has been very much misunderstood. The term "evolution" is a broad one. It may refer to the growth of the individual, or to the race. It may mean the development of strictly physical organs, or of mental habits, of social customs, or of material products of man's genius, as the great works of civilization in the form of recorded learning, and the wonderful products of man's building ingenuity as seen in modern cities.

The subject of the evolution of the human race may be grouped into three general kinds of development or growth:

  1. The development of the physical man
  2. The development of the mind
  3. The development of custom and of external civilization

Evolution in these three directions has taken place simultaneously. The mind and the body depend upon each other for their life and actions; while customs are merely the product of many minds working together and communicating their ideas to each other.

The human race is but the sum of the individuals composing it. We cannot consider the development of the individual without considering him in his relation to the race, neither can we understand the development of the race without understanding the growth of the individual.

Difference between inherited and acquired characteristics

One distinction too often overlooked by those who are not familiar with physiological science is the difference between actual physical inheritance and external customs. I wish to dwell at length upon this distinction, because a lack of understanding upon this point has been the source of many errors of judgment on the part of those who have been interested in the subject of physical training and food science.

At birth the individual inherits an organism with certain tendencies, both physical and mental, but this inheritance should not be confused with the physical habits which the child acquires by training from its parents and its associates. Thus, the child may inherit a brilliant mind, a weak stomach, or a sixth finger, but the child does not inherit a liking for broiled lobster, or a fondness for golf, or for driving an aeroplane. These are acquired and developed as habits, the same as the child would learn English or French, or would cultivate a fancy for parting his hair in the middle, or on the left side.