4. As often as earth entered a new period of general mutation, the existing inds of plants and animals partly perished.

What causes gradually effected the improvement of the organisms?

Principally these two causes: inheritance and adaptation; also the transformtion of earth, the length of time which has elapsed from the beginning of ganic life unto the present age, the struggle for existence, etc.

What's the meaning of inheritance?

The essential qualities of all kinds of organisms are transmitted to their escendants, e. g., the bodily and mental qualities of the parents to their children, d grandchildren.

How is adaptation working?

It works by the change of diet and of the way of living, by habitude and ercise, by migration, etc.

How does Nature act in the struggle for life?

All animals and plants have enemies who endeavor to destroy them.

"In

e course of hundred thousands of years the strongest plants and animals vays vanquish the other ones."-Ch. Darwin. (29.) In this way new cies and sub-species gradually come into existence.

What is the doctrine of the gradual improvement of the organic world called? The doctrine of evolution or descent.

Who is the author of this doctrine?

Charles Darwin. Therefore it is sometimes also called Darwinism.

What observation suggested to Darwin the idea of his doctrine?

He noticed the proceeding of the gardeners, when they want to create new cies of plants and flowers: namely, they select one of them which they want propagate, and make use of it for propagation, secluding all the other cies. (30.)

How is the importance of the doctrine of evolution manifested?

t throws open a new path to the moral accomplishment of man, by teaching to return to nature. It ennobles family life by the knowledge of nature's laws. nitiates radical reforms in the education of youth, and in the social and politrelations of the people.

. Man-1st, Age, and 2nd, Origin of His Species. 3d, His Primitive State. 4th, Human Races.

In which earth-layers first occur remains of man?

the Tertiary layers. Since the time of forty years such remains (bones, ls, etc.) were found in several countries of Europe, also in North America Syria. They were mingled with the remains of extinct animal races, e. g., ne mammoth, with arrow-heads, battle-axes and hatchets. These tools are e from shells, whereby the jaws of the cavern-bear were used as instruments. e Mississippi valley also petrified human bones have been discovered, the Ɔf which are 40,000-50,000 years, as computed by American geologists,

What is the reason that man came into being later?

Nature's course of evolution. The farther earth's development advanced, the more its organic forms improved; therefore it is natural that man, the most perfect creature on earth, did not make his appearance Eut in a later period.

Is the opinion that the human race has existed only since 5,000 years ago, well founded?

No, because even earlier than 5,000 years A. C. Egypt, Babylon, Cashmere, China and Hindoostan were the seats of human civilization, and in the first of these countries the hieroglyphics were already used about 3,4c0 A. C. In that time in Egypt were built the pyramids, the palaces and the royal tombs of Thebes with their subterranean labyrinths, apartments and halls; besides, in India those gigantic temples, the roofs of which are supported by 1,000 columns, each thirty feet high. Such culture supposes that men long ago must have lived in those countries." (31.) (Cf. also % 7, 4.) "Before man began to exist, probably millions of years, and since at least 20,000, perhaps several hundred thousand have passed away." (32.)

2. What is the prevailing belief with regard to the origin of man?
That he has come forth grown up, and finished from the hand of the Creator.

What does the modern science teach us in this regard?

It has not yet definitely answered this question. Many most learned natural philosophers believe that man has developed from one of the higher animal classes, and that he is descended from a class which, in perfection, was next to him. (33.)

Almost in

From what reasons do they conclude that their belief is correct? From the evident resemblance of man to that class of animals. every modern text-book of zoology we can read: "Man (homo) constitutes the first order of mammals."

How can it be demonstrated that man is related to mammals?

He lives like

It can be seen that he is related to the mammals, nay, also to lower classes as they are, if he even cursorily only is compared with the animals them on grains, herbs, roots, fruits, quadrupeds, birds and fish. He breathes and digests like other animals. He begins also to exist in a cell; if he dies, his body is decomposed into the same inorganic ingredients, like the body of other animals. "The arm of man, the wing of the bird, and the fore feet of the mammals and amphibia have the equal number of bones, and the same position." (34.) “They are built after the same pattern. All bones of human skeleton can be compared with corresponding bones in a monkey, a bat, or a seal. The same comparison holds good with regard to his muscles, veins, nerves and intestines. Brain, the most important organ, follows the same law." "The construction of the human skull and limbs on same plan with that of other mammals, and a crowd of analogous facts—all point in plainest manner to conclusion that man is co-descended with other mammals of a common progeni

body. (37.) What may be That man can

like progenitors h What may be surpasses apes

?

The erect posit Have we any r

Not at all, for i lates. "Is the gl (not to say certain whose intelligenc fox, and by so mu vile, because a he

(39.)

Cor." (35) "The germs

of a turtle, a chicken, a dog, an ape, and of man, are most similar to each other." (36)

What is the cause of the conformity and of the disparity between man and nimal?

The conformity is the effect of inheritance; the disparity is the consequence -f adaptation.

To which species of mammals is man most similar?

To some species of apes of the old world (to the Orang, Shimpanzee, Gibbon nd Gorilla). They have, especially, 32 teeth, like man, and their noses are ivided into two nostrils by a narrow partition, like the human nose. Their rain resembles more the human than that of the inferior species of their own ass. Nevertheless, every bone of the apes differs more or less from the corsponding one of man, and in general no ape resembles man in all parts of the dy. (37.)

What may be inferred from this comparison?

That man cannot be a descendant of any species of apes still extant; his apee progenitors have long ago died away. (38.)

What may be the principal reasons for the superiority of mind by which man passes apes?

es.

The erect position of his body, and the considerable development of his brain. Have we any reason to be ashamed of our low descent, or to grieve at it? Not at all, for it is less ignoble than the descent from a clod, as the Bible re"Is the glorious poet, philosopher or artist degraded by the probability ot to say certainty) that he descends in last line of some naked, bestial savage, ose intelligence was just sufficient to make him a little more cunning than the , and by so much more dangerous than the tiger? Is the love of a mother e, because a hen, too, shows it, or fidelity base, because also dogs possess it ???

•).

On the contrary, what does the low descent of man demonstrate?

The excellence of his faculties.

And what may we hope for these?

That in the future he will yet rise to higher perfection.

0. Continued 3d, Man's Primitive State. Lake Villages4th, Human Races.

What does science teach us with regard to the primitive state of man? hat he by degrees has risen from his rude state to civilization.

what way is this assertion proved?

t, By historic testimonies; and 2nd, by the experience of our time. _rst arms and other tools, shaped in the primitive times of man, have been overed; they indicate different periods of age and culture. The oldest are e of stone; after these others follow, made of bronze (tin and copper) ·

lastly, iron ones. Therefore, three periods of age and culture are assumed a period of stone, bronze and iron. (39.)

In the lake-villages of the Swiss and other lakes; such are: hatchets, hammers, chisels, knives, saws; beside arrow-heads of horn and bones; also dried fruits, wheat grains, etc.

In what manner were the lake-villages built?

In places where the water of the lakes was seven feet deep, piles were driven into the ground, trunks of trees put over them, on these wooden huts raised, and joined by bridges or skiffs to the shore. Several of these villages probably comprised some hundred huts with one thousand and more inhabitants.

What could be the aim of such structures?

People would probably protect themselves therein against the attacks of wild beasts or predatory neighbors.

What business did the lake inhabitants manage?

Hunting, fishing, and raising grain and flax.

How was the grain prepared?

It was simply crushed by pressing, and bread baked of it on hot stone slabs.

What do the weavings, found in these villages, signify?

That their inhabitants were able to spin and weave.

evidently fabricated on the loom.

Part of the webs was

In what periods were the lacustrine villages built?

In the stone period, and in the commencement of the bronze period.

Are there yet now-a-days rude tribes of men found?

There are still tribes, almost as wild as brutes; they are naked, eat raw meals, worms, insects, nay, even human flesh; they dwell on trees, do not know the use of fire, use stone weapons, know only a few words, are not able to count ove

four, etc. But some tribes may have relapsed into their primitive rude condition, as can be conjectured from the regular construction of their language.

How does mankind rise to civilization?

Anyhow very slowly and by degrees.

Will it abide in the present degree of culture?

No, it will advance farther; to the iron age the age of reason and humanity will succeed.

4. Into how many species (races) do they class mankind, and which are their principal characteristics?

Usually there are assumed to be five races of man: the Caucasian (the white) with oval head and smooth hair, the Mongolian (the yellow) with smooth hair, the Ethiopian (the black) with crisp, wool-like hair, the Malayan (the brown), and the Indian (the red) race. Some naturalists assumess, others more than

five races; e. g., 8, 15 to 63.

Are the distinctions of race primitive, or have they originated in the course of time?

In this regard, too, the opinions of naturalists differ from each other.
What arguments do they allege for the primitive plurality of races?

The differences in the formation of their heads, in the quality of their hair, and in the color of the skin advocate their opinion; besides, the great diversity in the three principal branches of human language (the Indo-German, the Semetic and the Chinese).

But what view do the most naturalists of modern time follow?

ies

The opposite view; for those differences do not contain any firm characteristics, and can also be the sequences of exterior influences, e. g., of the climate. The races incline to each other. Further, the diversity of the species of other animals, e. g., of the dog, are much greater than those of the human race, though none believes that those species originally existed. (40.)

Is only the Caucasian race fitted for civilization?

No, for the experience of ancient and modern time teaches that by education individuals of other races also can reach a high degree of culture.

What races are dying away?

The races of the Indians, Hottentots, Australians, and Papuas.

Where is man's first home to be looked for?

It may have been in the Southern part of Asia, or according to another conjecture, in a Continent which has been submerged long ago, and where now the Indian Ocean is expanded.

§ 11. Human Body-Senses-Nerves-Brain-Human

Mind. (41.)

What are the fundamental elements of the human body?

Albumen and fibrous matter in the muscles, the former, generally, for the most