MONKEY TO MAN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1576, 21 October 1912, Page 4

MONKEY TO MAN.

"A MILLION YEARS. OR SO." HOW THE APE-MAN LIVED. Basing his remarks on the theory of evolution, Professor Elliot Smith, of Manchester University, in his presidential address to the Anthropological Section of the British Association, traced in detail (he pedigree of Man and the gradual emergence of human traits from the habits of an ape-like ancestor. Professor Elliot Smith said there seemed to be ninple evidence available now for drawing up the pedigree of man as far back as "a million years or so." The steady development of the brain must give the fundamental reason for "Man's ascent." from the ape. Taking for granted the genealogical line which he, in agreement with .many zoologists, believed to be a close approximation to the real line of descent, he proposed to attempt to find an explanation of how each of tho more significant advances was brought about in the course of Man's evolution. Moreover a vast army of newly discovered facts were at our command. A small land-grabbing, insectivorous animal, whose sense uf smell was more serviceable than all its other senses, took to a life in the trops, becoming a squir-rel-like creature. This step marked tho birth of the Primates (the highest order of mammals, including Man, atjes, and monkeys) ami the definite branching off from the other mammals of the line of Man s ancestry. The result was (hat the guidance of the nnunnl's sense of smell lost much of its usefulness, and the other senses, particularly sight, became more hiehly developed. And the life in (he trees, which demanded great activity nnd agility, led to the cultivation of skilled movements of the limbs. The acquisition of this skill in movement led to a perfection of certain parts of the brain. Thus the squirrel-like creature gradually became transformed into an ape. Mechanism was evolved which reeulated the muscular actions and brought tho sum total of consciousness to bear on tho performance of r given nut. "Thus there were developed the germs of all tho psychical greatness which, in the million years or so that have followed, culminated in the human mind."

The gradual development of the brain resulted in the power to anticipate the conseqeunces of actions. The erect attitude became a regular attitude, and tho hands were free to be used for useful purposes, such as using weapons in the sliapo of sticks and stones. The realisation of his ability to defend himself on the ground "would naturally have led the intelligent upe to forsake the narrow life of the forest: and roam at large in search of more abundant. ,and attractive food and variety of scene." , ' Social habits were adopted as n nieans of protection, there being safety in numbers. The legs were developed, for without fleetness of foot there would have been no escape from threatened danger. The erect attitude became fixed, and these upright creatures emerged trom their ancestral forests in troops armed with sticks and stones, and with the rudiments of all the powers that enabled them to conquer the world. "Tho greater exposure, to danger which these more adventurous spirits encountered and the constant struggles these semi-human creatures must have had with definite enemies, no loss tiian with the forces of miturc, provided the factors which rapidly weeded out those unfitted for the new conditions, and by natural selection made real men of tho survivors. "The growth' in intelligence and in tho powers of discrimination no doubt ltd to the dawning of a definite aesthetic sense, wliich, operating through selection between the sexes, brought about, a gradual rofiupment of the features, added grace lo the general build of the body, and demolished the greater part of the. hairy covering." Differences in tho form ot malo and female arose which were not found in the apes.

The natural forces of selection madeone hand more apt to perform skilled movements than tho other. And when the ape-innn attained a sufficient inlelligence to wish to communicate with his Fellows, other ..than by- mere emutional cries and grimace's, such as all social groups of animals employed, tho more cunning right hand would play an importalit.part in gestures and signs. Then tho ape-man learned to employ a greater variety of .sounds than, his gorilla-like and other ancestors. In time the sounds deliberately emitted by his fellows became associated with different . meanings, and this became a new method of communication. "The. high development of the brain mechanism for discriminating speech played a great part in making man from an ape." The knowledge acquired by each individual become the property of the community owing to the power of speech, and was handed down to the children. "I should be inclined to look upon the orang, the chimpanzee, and the , gorilla not »s ancestral forms of man," said Professor Elliot Smith, "but as the more unenterprising members of man's family, who were not able to maintain the high level of brain development of the feeble-bodied human being, but saved themselves from extinction by the acquisition of great strength and a certain degree of specialisation of structure. The feebler man was able to overcome his enemies and maintain himself in the struggle for existence by his nimbleness of wit and ins superior adaptability to varying circumstances.