Men 10,000 Years Hence

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 969, 12 May 1930, Page 8

Men 10,000 Years Hence

HOW THEY MAY LOOK (Written for THE SUKJ WHAT will men and women look like 10,000 years lienee? Opinions differ, but while most scientists will not commit themselves—and many are of the opinion that there will be no very noticeable differences—the sum impression received from an assemblage of expert opinion is that the human race will have grown taller: heads will be bigger, with faces more refined in feature : hair will be thin and silky; eyes deep set. with small mouths and jaws; the neck will be thicker to carry the extra weight of the head, and the general disposition will he high-strained and nervous.

According to Professor SperrinJolinson, head of the Biology Department, Auckland University College, there are two important factors which will affect the appearance of human beings 10,000 years hence. The first is the volume of the brain and the second the food that civilised man will eat. Referring to the second factor, he said, “This will involve changes in the muscular apparatus for chewing. The jaws have already grown progressively smaller from the time of primitive man to the present day. Eventually, unless there is some drastic change in the forms of food we eat, there will not be room for a normal set of teeth in the jaw. The wisdom tooth might not come up at all, or if it did it would probably never grow above the level of the gum and project as a proper tooth should.” Unless we change our type of food completely it is Professor SperrinJohnson’s opinion that teeth will continue to get worse. What is needed is a proportion of strong, hard, fibrous food that requires a great deal of chewing. "Since the Maoris have given up chewing fern root and have taken to civilised foods, their teeth have deteriorated,” he said. “On the other hand, since the Japanese included meat in their meals, about 20 years ago, there has been an appreciative in-

crease in the average height of their people. Also they do not suffer from dyspepsia as they used to do. “There have been suggestions from time to time,” said the Professor, "that all our food would be taken in tabloid form in the days to come. But what are the intestines for? If this type of food were really introduced the result would be a progressive degeneration of the intestinal organs and any degeneration tends to bring on disease.” According to a German scientist the skull will ultimately be thinner, higher and probably broader. The neck will have to be thicker in order to carry an enlarged head. Body height will be greater. Professor Sperrin-Johnson says that there has been an increase in body height since the middle ages, and that a pointed demonstration of this lies in th fact that most suits of armour handed down from history seem to have been made for short men. The eyes will be more deep set, if the German scientist's forecasts are correct. The nose will be prominent and rather narrow, the mouth still smaller and the hair thinner and more silky. As regards the difference between the sexes, it is expected that men and women will grow more alike: but that the change will be principally on the side of men. F.W.L.E.