Man And His Ancestor: A Study In Evolution

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   MAN AND HIS ANCESTOR

   _A STUDY IN EVOLUTION_

   BY

   CHARLES MORRIS

   AUTHOR OF "CIVILIZATION: AN HISTORICAL REVIEW
   OF ITS ELEMENTS," "THE ARYAN RACE," ETC.

   New York

   THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

   LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.

   1900

   _All rights reserved_




   COPYRIGHT, 1900,
   BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

   Norwood Press
   J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith
   Norwood Mass. U.S.A.




PREFACE


It would be difficult to find any intelligent person in this age of the
world who has not some theory or opinion in regard to the origin of man,
and perhaps almost as difficult to find any such person who can give a
good and sufficient reason for the faith that is in him. This is
especially the case with those who look upon man as a product of
evolution, a natural outgrowth from the world of lower life, since here
simple faith or ancient authority is not sufficient, as in the creation
hypothesis, but scientific evidence and logical argument are necessary.
It is to enable this class of readers to test the quality and
sufficiency of their belief that this book has been prepared.

The question of the evolutionary origin of man has been by no means
neglected by recent authors, yet it has been dealt with chiefly as a
side issue in works of a more extended purpose, and largely in technical
language, simple to the scientist, but difficult to the general reader.
The only work that makes this subject its leading theme, Darwin's
"Descent of Man," adds to it a still longer treatise on "Sexual
Selection," so that the subject of man's evolutionary origin cannot be
said to have been yet dealt with for itself alone. Darwin's work,
moreover, is now nearly thirty years old, and to this extent antiquated,
while at best it cannot be considered as well suited for general
reading.

These considerations have given rise to the present work, in which an
effort has been made to present the subject of man's origin in a popular
manner, to dwell on the various significant facts that have been
discovered since Darwin's time, and to offer certain lines of evidence
never before presented in this connection, and which seem to add much
strength to the general argument.

The subject is one of such widespread interest as to make it probable
that a plain and brief presentation of it will be acceptable, both to
enable those who are evolutionists in principle to learn on what grounds
their acceptance of this phase of evolution stands, and to aid those who
are at sea on the whole subject of man's origin to reach some fixed
conclusion. For these purposes this little book has been set afloat,
with the hope that it may carry some doubters to solid land and teach
some believers the fundamental elements of their faith.




CONTENTS


   CHAPTER                                    PAGE

      I. EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION               1

     II. VESTIGES OF MAN'S ANCESTRY              5

    III. RELICS OF ANCIENT MAN                  21

     IV. FROM QUADRUPED TO BIPED                39

      V. THE FREEDOM OF THE ARMS                54

     VI. THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENCE        68

    VII. THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE                100

   VIII. HOW THE CHASM WAS BRIDGED             111

     IX. THE FIRST STAGE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION    130

      X. THE CONFLICT WITH NATURE              158

     XI. WARFARE AND CIVILIZATION              195

    XII. THE EVOLUTION OF MORALITY             206

   XIII. MAN'S RELATION TO THE SPIRITUAL       225




MAN AND HIS ANCESTOR

I

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION


In any consideration of the origin of man we are necessarily restricted
to two views: one, that he is the outcome of a development from the
lower animals; the other, that he came into existence through direct
creation. No third mode of origin can be conceived, and we may safely
confine ourselves to a review of these two claims. They are the
opposites of each other in every particular. The creation doctrine is as
old almost as thinking man; the evolutionary doctrine belongs in effect
to our own generation. The former is not open to evidence; the latter
depends solely upon evidence. The former is based on authority; the
latter on investigation. The doctrine of direct creation can merely be
asserted, it cannot be argued; the statement once made, there is nothing
more to be said; it is an _ipse dixit_ pure and simple. The doctrine of
evolution, on the contrary, founded as it must be on ascertained facts,
is fully open to argument, and depends for its acceptance on the
strength and validity of the evidence in its favor.

If the doctrine of the direct creation of man had been originally
presented in our own day, proof of the assertion would have been at once
demanded, and the only evidence admissible would have been that of
witnesses of the act of creation.