The Whence and the Whither of Man: A Brief History of His Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; Being the Morse Lectures of 1895Tyler, John M. (John Mason)
Religion
The Whence and the Whither of Man: A Brief History of His Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; Being the Morse Lectures of 1895
Tyler, John M. (John Mason)
Evolution
Moreover, we have seen that the history of vertebrates is really the
history of the development of the cerebrum, forebrain or large
brain, as we call it in man. This is the seat in man of
consciousness, thought, and will. This portion as a distinct and new
lobe first appears in lowest vertebrates, increases steadily in size
from class to class, reaches its most rapid development by mammals,
and its culmination in man. During the tertiary period--the last of
the great geological periods--the brain in many groups of mammals
increased in size, both absolutely and relatively, eight to tenfold.
Dr. Holmes says, that the education of a child should begin a
century or two before its birth; man really began his mental
education at least as early as the appearance of vertebrate life.
But man is a mammal. This means that every organ is at its best. The
digestive system, while making but a small part of the weight of the
body, and built mainly on the old plan, is wonderfully perfect in
its microscopic details. The muscles are heavy and powerful,
arranged with the weight near the axis of the body, and replaced
near the ends of the appendages by light, tough sinews. The higher
mammal is this compact, light, and agile. The skeleton is strong,
and the levers of the appendages are fitted to give rapidity of
motion even at the expense of strength. And this again is possible
only because of the high development and strength of the muscles.
Moreover, the highest mammals are largely arboreal, and in
connection with this habit have changed the foreleg into an arm and
hand. The latter became the servant of the brain and gave the
possibility of using tools.
But increase in size and activity, and the expense of producing each
new individual, led to the adoption of placental development. And
the mammal is so complex, the road from the egg to the fully
developed young is so long, that a long period of gestation is
necessary. And even at birth the brain, especially of man, is
anything but complete. Hence the necessity of the mammalian habit of
suckling and caring for the young. And this feebleness and
dependence of the young had begun far below man to draw out maternal
tenderness and affection. And the mammalian mode of reproduction and
care of young led to a more marked difference and interdependence
between the sexes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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