Whence Man?

Scientists do not like to be called from their laboratory, but ever and again they are. Last week, another scientist was called out. The Fundamentalist attack on the teaching of Organic Evolution, which has reached the stage of legislative action, called him forth. He came, not to debate--for there must be two sides to a debate--but to lay the facts which Science has discovered before the public, that the layman might judge for himself. The man who was called was Richard Swann Lull, alma matered by Rutgers College,* and now Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology (the science of extinct vertebrate organisms) at Yale University, one of the leaders in his field, Director of the great Peabody Museum to be opened in New Haven within a few days. He, a believer that "Man . . .like other forms of life, is not the result of instantaneous creation, but of an orderly and long-drawn-out evolution," that "Man comes of a very ancient lineage," which measures "the dignity of his attainment"--he, Professor Lull, is himself an example of the dignity of that attainment: a "fine physical specimen," over 6 ft. in height, sturdy, straight as an arrow, with regular features, a high arching forehead, a keen mind, soft spoken (although suffering, like Edison, from deafness), courteous, kindly, possessed of a sense of humor--all the attributes commonly thought of as the height of human attainment. At Rutgers he was the Homer Hazel/- of his day--a great shot putter, a sturdy footballer. He came forward and presented the public with an explanation** of what evolution is, its facts and theories and the religious attitudes with which it is compatible. He explained evolution, not Darwinism. Darwin was only one of those who have contributed to the doctrine of evolution -- although the most important one by reason of the evidence he gathered and the theories which he formulated to explain it. Charles Darwin's own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, had the conception in part. Some of Charles Darwin's theories of the causes of evolution have been discredited, but the evidences of evolution itself, the gradual elaboration of all living forms from simple unicellular life, have multiplied year by year. Evidences of Human Evolution. There are, according to Pofessor Lull, three kinds of evidence that man belongs in the great stream of evolution which produced all other kinds of animals: 1) Morphology (anatomy). Man is composed of protoplasm like all other plants and animals. He breathes as all higher animals do and eats much as they do. He is a vertebrate with the same number of limbs as other vertebrates. Bone for bone, his skeleton is like that of the typical mammal--and even reptile--types. His nervous system is similar--centring in a nerve canal leading up the spinal column to the brain. He has hair and warm blood like other animals. He produces young in the same way. He suffers from the same poisons as do the great apes, and from diseases similar to theirs. He is even preyed upon by similar lice and fleas. He differs in degree, to be sure, from other animals, but not in kind. And those animals set down as his nearest relatives are more and more nearly like him in these respects. Indeed, there is less anatomical difference between man and the higher apes than between the higher apes and the lowest monkeys. 2) Ontogeny (life history of the individual). In general, the life history of every individual animal is but an abbreviation of his racial history. This is true of man as of the rest of the animal kingdom. He begins with a single cell, which multiplies. In the fetus, he develops a cartilaginous spine, then a segmented back bone, an elongated body, a well-developed tail, five gill slits (two of which later become the Eustachian tubes) ; he resembles in turn a fish, an amphibian, a primitive reptile, a primitive mammal, an ape; he has dark soft hair covering the entire body except the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet until three weeks before birth. Occasionally, a child is born with the primitive tail still external (it not having atrophied and become internal as is usual). In such cases, when the child is glad, its tail sticks out straight; when the reverse, its tail goes down between its legs. There are from 70 to 180 details of the body which are atavistic, including the muscles which sometimes can move the ears, the muscles that make hair stand on end, the appendix (which in herbivorous animals is important in digestion), the pineal gland in the top of the head where the first amphibians had an eye (probably as a lookout when they" were half buried in the mud). 3) Paleontology (the fossil record). This is the least complete evidence in man's evolution--much less complete than in some other animals, such as the horse. But man's development has been rapid and recent compared to the millions of years it has taken other animals to advance. He lived mostly in forests, and fossils of forest life are always few. Human fossils have been found only in river beds (from drowning--infrequent), and in caves. Seven early types have been discovered: P:Pithecanthropus erectus* A skull cap, thigh bone and some teeth were found in Java. They are probably not less than 500,000 years old. Study indicates that the creature walked partially erect, had a brain volume about half way between man and the gorilla. The skull recently found at Taungs, South Africa, is reported as of this general type. P:Homo heidelbergensis. Two jaws found near Heidelberg are probably about 400,000 years old. They are apelike, with manlike teeth. P:Eoanthropus dawsoni; Fragments of two skulls, part of lower jaws and teeth were found near Piltdown, England. They are about 375,000 years old. They show a semi-human head, an apelike jaw. P:Homo Neanderthalensis. Many skeletons have been found in France, Spain and Germany from 40,000 to 25,000 years old. The individuals of that age were about 5 ft. tall, walked with stooping posture, had few tools, used their teeth for many purposes besides eating, buried their dead. P:Homo Rhodesiensis. Found buried in a cave in Rhodesia were a skull and other bones. The creature to whom they belonged was probably 6 ft. tall and walked erect. His age is dubious. Perhaps he was a primitive man who survived until a few thousand years ago./- P:CrO-Magnon,Man. Many complete specimens of this race have been found in European caves. It is the first regarded as homo sapiens. The males average 6 ft. 1 in., the females 5 ft. 5 in. They existed perhaps 25,000 years ago. They stood erect, had a brain as large as modern man's, high cheek bones --of an Asiatic type, apparently. They had a crude but effective art attesting to their high ability. P:Grimaldi Race. Found associated with the skeleton of a Cro-Magnon, near Menton, were the skeletons of a woman and child, negroid--perhaps invaders from Northern Africa. Evolution and Religion. If one accepts evolution as a fact (not a theory) --and Prof. Lull insists that all informed scientists do--what is the religious consequence? It means rejection of the doctrine of the Ark, of a literal seven days of creation, of a direct creation of man and the higher animals. It leaves fully open the possibility of believing in potential creation, of a Creator having ordered things so that this evolution would come about through the ages.

*New Rutgers University, situate at New Brunswick, N. J. /-"Hulking Homer" Hazel, Rutgers 1925, has twice been All-American fullback. **THE WAYS OF LIFE--Richard Swann Lull --Harper ($3.00). *Translated, "the ape-man who walks upright."