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
One vital defect in their whole plan of organization is evident. The
external skeleton is admirably suited to animals of small size, but
only to these. In larger animals living on land it would have to be
made so heavy as to be unwieldy and no longer economical. Their mode
of breathing also is fitted only for animals of small size having
an external skeleton. Whatever may be our explanation the fact
remains that insects are always small. This is in itself a
disadvantage. Very small animals cannot keep up a constant high
temperature unless the surrounding air is warm, for their radiating
surface is too large in comparison with their heat-producing mass.
At the first approach of even cool weather they become chilled and
sluggish, and must hibernate or die. They are conformed to but a
limited range of environment in temperature.
But small size is, as a rule, accompanied by an even greater
disadvantage. It seems to be almost always correlated with short
life. Why this is so, or how, we do not know. There are exceptions;
a crow lives as long as a man; or would, if allowed to. But, as a
rule, the length of an animal's days is roughly proportional to the
size of its body. And the insect is, as a rule, very short-lived. It
lives for a few days or weeks, or even months, but rarely outlasts
the year. It has time to learn but little by experience. The same
experience must be passed, the same emergency arise and be met, over
and over again during the lifetime of the same individual if the
animal is to learn thereby. And intelligence is based upon
experience. Hence insects can and do possess but a low grade of
intelligence. But instinct is in many cases habit fixed by heredity
and improved by selection. The rapid recurrence of successive
generations was exceedingly favorable to the development of
instincts, but very unfavorable to intelligence. Insects are
instinctive, the highest vertebrates intelligent. The future can
never belong to a tiny animal governed by instincts. Mollusks and
insects have both failed to reach the goal; another plan of
structure than theirs must be sought if the animal kingdom is to
have a future.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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