false impressions are made only through ignorance and superstition.

A more important consideration for our purpose, is how the several divisions of mankind came to be so unlike, and the causes that have contributed to these morphological distinctions.

The power of analogy to reveal the truth is often more reliable than direct testimony. Such is preeminently the case when we come to deal with great questions of past causes and effects. This very matter of the development of the several races could now be demonstrated by such abstract reasoning; but fortunately the anthropologist is ready with his direct and positive proofs, in the form of fossil remains, to verify the work of the philosopher.

As we have seen in the preceding chapter the human race was evolved or born in or near the island of Java, certainly within eight degrees of the equator, where luxuriant vegetation and aqueous animals furnished an abundant supply of food. This primitive Man, however like his simian ancestors, must have been very largely a vegetarian. But natural law had foreordained that the race should not always be confined to this tropical region of lassitude and plenty. The majority were contented, just as certain lower races still are, with a simple life of comparative idleness. We can imagine these rude ape-like men in the hot sunlight and under the great spreading palm trees along the waters edge contented with the daily gratification of the animal appetites-lacking incentive and stimulation to a higher mental plane. But in fulness of time they developed their restless, ambitious spirits, who longed to know more of nature and her wonders; willing to risk their lives and brave the hardships of colder, and apparently less favorable climes in order to gratify the yearnings of their more

active minds.

Thus of course, the adventuresome spirits who went out from among their fellows, seeking new environs and strange abodes, were drawn from the most active and enlightened stratum of this simple stock. He was the elect of his race; more capable of protecting himself against his many new dangers.

We also have good reasons for believing that this primitive Man was none too choice about the source of his food supply, and that a member of a hostile tribe, when slain or captured was eaten raw and relished. Nor is it likely that he would hesitate, when pressed by the pangs of hunger, to put the peaceful but weaker members of his own tribe to a similar use.

It is not easy to appreciate in our present state of development, with every mechanical need anticipated and abundantly supplied in every relation of life, with articles well-nigh perfect for the purposes intended, how difficult it was for this rude man to procure the simplest articles of utility and warfare. For instance if he had been furnished with a single mechanical aid to the power and effectiveness of his arm, such as the ordinary baseball bat, his ability to make war upon other tribes, and upon the fierce animals of primeval forests, would have been vastly augmented. In the absence of any such article his ingenuity suggested that the human femur, or thigh-bone, be made to serve the purpose, and it is believed that the use of thigh-bones was in these very early stages of human existence, at once, the most common and formidable weapon at the command of the race. When these wild tribes chanced to meet in the vast unbroken forests of the age a fierce contest generally ensued; for each human body meant a good supply of food and two additional implements of warfare.

Man must have been very far above his first an

cestors (Dubois's Javanese Man) before he was able to make stone hatchets, with which to hew out wooden clubs, and still more advanced when he became able to supply a sufficient number of stone implements for general utility in defensive and offensive warfare. But what we wish to illustrate is the fact that each of these stages of development raised the race in physical form by developing the levers of the body-bones, tendons, and muscles and by improving the shape of the hands and fingers; all of which implies a corresponding improvement in the power of thought through increased use of the entire nervous system which includes the brain.

When the race had once established itself in such latitudes as Central Asia and Europe its dietary necessities were greatly changed; more heat-producing animal food and less vegetable matter was necessary. Moreover, it no longer had the variety and abundance of fruits and vegetables that nature so lavishly furnished in its equatorial habitats. In great measure the substitution of flesh for vegetable matter had become necessary and the former could be had only by effort and ingenuity. It could have been no easy matter even in these early times-when the lower animals were much more abundant than at present for the various tribes of the primitive race to resist the cold, capture their food, and maintain themselves against hostile tribes as they penetrated deeper and deeper into the unknown wilds and frigid regions of both north and south.

We trust it has been made sufficiently clear then, that as primitive Man forced his way out from the equator his wits were continually whetted and sharpened by the very nature of his new condition. It should also be apparent that those who went out were, for reasons already mentioned, the select ele

ment mentally and physically.

These pilgrims, who braved all sorts of new dangers thus eliminating all but the fittest-established themselves in various and sundry localities, some more suitable for racial development than others, but all better than his torrid birthplace. Those who continued to dwell in hot climates underwent little change, and all succeeding generations perpetuated this simple life and many primitive race characteristics. This is the environment that has produced the Negro race. Very slight adaptational changes have occurred in this division of the race, thus he has remained much closer to the original stock than have the higher branches of the race.

On the other hand, the constant introduction of new factors into the conditions and changing environs of the adventuresome element, caused corresponding changes in the organism, until at last, under the influences that acted upon these various roving tribes, or nations, the several principal varieties of mankind became well established.

The somewhat arbitrary classification into four great primary divisions, according to their geographical location and state of development, is by no means perfect, but is extremely useful for purposes of study, and is perhaps as good as could be made.

Thus we have the Negro race (Ethiopian) which remained permanently in hot climates and varied but slightly from primitive types. The Amerind (American Indian), who is much higher than the Negro, but not endowed with sufficient capacity to develop a great civilization, though Montezuma and the old city of Mexico indicate that if left alone long enough, the Indian would have developed a much

more extensive civilization.

Next above the Indian stands the Mongol division (Yellow or Brown race). This division is strong in every sense, with a very great and extensive civilization, perhaps the most ancient of all. Any comparison of the Mongol with the Amerind would be odious, since the Orientals are a highly civilized, intellectual, and cultured people, exercising a very great influence in the international councils of the world. But in spite of all this the fact remains that the Caucasian division is pre-eminently and indisputably superior to them all. To mention his works and achievements is to sum up at least ninety per cent. of all important human accomplishments. Still we are told by many-notwithstanding these facts that the Negro is to be elevated and presently to take his place as the equal of any, including our American division of the Caucasian race. We cannot believe it. The very suggestion is preposter

ous.

Special adaptation to environment is seen then to have been the author of the four principal varieties or races of mankind.

In contemplating the relative merits and demerits of the Caucasian and Negro races, respectively, we must keep the great truth of causation ever before us, remembering that there is no truth in the antiquated superstition that all things were made for Man's pleasure and convenience, divinely ordained to fit his needs; but, conversely that Man is a mere by-product of natural law, and, consequently fitted by nature to his environs, of which he is simply part and parcel. In his present civilized condition, however, he is none too well fitted-for weaklings are artificially preserved, and natural laws are constant