Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📕

Is Becoming Equally Clear. That The   Oldest Known Sedimentary Rocks Have

Been Greatly Changed By Igneous Action, And That Still Older Ones Have

Been Totally Transformed By It, Is Becoming Undeniable. And The   Fact

That Sedimentary Strata Earlier Than Any We Know, Have Been Melted Up,

Being Admitted, It Must Also Be Admitted That We Cannot Say How Far Back

In Time This Destruction Of    Sedimentary Strata Has Been Going On. Thus

It Is Manifest That The   Title, _Palæozoic_, As Applied To The   Earliest

Known Fossiliferous Strata, Involves A _Petitio Principii_; And That,

For Aught We Know To The   Contrary, Only The   Last Few Chapters Of    The

Earth's Biological History May Have Come Down To Us. On Neither Side,

Therefore, Is The   Evidence Conclusive. Nevertheless We Cannot But Think

That, Scanty As They Are, The   Facts, Taken Altogether, Tend To Show Both

That The   More Heterogeneous Organisms Have Been Evolved In The   Later

Geologic Periods, And That Life In General Has Been More Heterogeneously

Manifested As Time Has Advanced. Let Us Cite, In Illustration, The   One

Case Of    The   _Vertebrata_. The   Earliest Known Vertebrate Remains Are

Those Of    Fishes; And Fishes Are The   Most Homogeneous Of    The   Vertebrata.

Later And More Heterogeneous Are Reptiles. Later Still, And More

Heterogeneous Still, Are Mammals And Birds. If It Be Said, As It May

Fairly Be Said, That The   Palæozoic Deposits, Not Being Estuary Deposits,

Are Not Likely To Contain The   Remains Of    Terrestrial Vertebrata, Which

May Nevertheless Have Existed At That Era, We Reply That We Are Merely

Pointing To The   Leading Facts, _Such As They Are_.

But To Avoid Any Such Criticism, Let Us Take The   Mammalian Subdivision

Only. The   Earliest Known Remains Of    Mammals Are Those Of    Small

Marsupials, Which Are The   Lowest Of    The   Mammalian Type; While,

Conversely, The   Highest Of    The   Mammalian Type--Man--Is The   Most Recent.

The Evidence That The   Vertebrate Fauna, As A Whole, Has Become More

Heterogeneous, Is Considerably Stronger. To The   Argument That The

Vertebrate Fauna Of    The   Palæozoic Period, Consisting, So Far As We Know,

Entirely Of    Fishes, Was Less Heterogeneous Than The   Modern Vertebrate

Fauna, Which Includes Reptiles, Birds, And Mammals, Of    Multitudinous

Genera, It May Be Replied, As Before, That Estuary Deposits Of    The

Palæozoic Period, Could We Find Them, Might Contain Other Orders Of

Vertebrata. But No Such Reply Can Be Made To The   Argument That Whereas

The Marine Vertebrata Of    The   Palæozoic Period Consisted Entirely Of

Cartilaginous Fishes, The   Marine Vertebrata Of    Later Periods Include

Numerous Genera Of    Osseous Fishes; And That, Therefore, The   Later Marine

Vertebrate Faunas Are More Heterogeneous Than The   Oldest Known One. Nor,

Again, Can Any Such Reply Be Made To The   Fact That There Are Far More

Numerous Orders And Genera Of    Mammalian Remains In The   Tertiary

Formations Than In The   Secondary Formations. Did We Wish Merely To Make

Out The   Best Case, We Might Dwell Upon The   Opinion Of    Dr. Carpenter, Who

Says That "The General Facts Of    Palæontology Appear To Sanction The

Belief, That _The Same Plan_ May Be Traced Out In What May Be Called

_The General Life Of    The   Globe_, As In _The Individual Life_ Of    Every

One Of    The   Forms Of    Organised Being Which Now People It." Or We Might

Quote, As Decisive, The   Judgment Of    Professor Owen, Who Holds That The

Earlier Examples Of    Each Group Of    Creatures Severally Departed Less

Widely From Archetypal Generality Than The   Later Ones--Were Severally

Less Unlike The   Fundamental Form Common To The   Group As A Whole; That Is

To Say--Constituted A Less Heterogeneous Group Of    Creatures; And Who

Further Upholds The   Doctrine Of    A Biological Progression. But In

Deference To An Authority For Whom We Have The   Highest Respect, Who

Considers That The   Evidence At Present Obtained Does Not Justify A

Verdict Either Way, We Are Content To Leave The   Question Open.

Whether An Advance From The   Homogeneous To The   Heterogeneous Is Or Is

Not Displayed In The   Biological History Of    The   Globe, It Is Clearly

Enough Displayed In The   Progress Of    The   Latest And Most Heterogeneous

Creature--Man. It Is Alike True That, During The   Period In Which The

Earth Has Been Peopled, The   Human Organism Has Grown More Heterogeneous

Among The   Civilised Divisions Of    The   Species; And That The   Species, As A

Whole, Has Been Growing More Heterogeneous In Virtue Of    The

Multiplication Of    Races And The   Differentiation Of    These Races From Each

Other.

In Proof Of    The   First Of    These Positions, We May Cite The   Fact That, In

The Relative Development Of    The   Limbs, The   Civilised Man Departs More

Widely From The   General Type Of    The   Placental Mammalia Than Do The   Lower

Human Races. While Often Possessing Well-Developed Body And Arms, The

Papuan Has Extremely Small Legs: Thus Reminding Us Of    The   Quadrumana, In

Which There Is No Great Contrast In Size Between The   Hind And Fore

Limbs. But In The   European, The   Greater Length And Massiveness Of    The

Legs Has Become Very Marked--The Fore And Hind Limbs Are Relatively More

Heterogeneous. Again, The   Greater Ratio Which The   Cranial Bones Bear To

The Facial Bones Illustrates The   Same Truth. Among The   Vertebrata In

General, Progress Is Marked By An Increasing Heterogeneity In The

Vertebral Column, And More Especially In The   Vertebræ Constituting The

Skull: The   Higher Forms Being Distinguished By The   Relatively Larger

Size Of    The   Bones Which Cover The   Brain, And The   Relatively Smaller Size

Of Those Which Form The   Jaw, Etc. Now, This Characteristic, Which Is

Stronger In Man Than In Any Other Creature, Is Stronger In The   European

Than In The   Savage. Moreover, Judging From The   Greater Extent And

Variety Of    Faculty He Exhibits, We May Infer That The   Civilised Man Has

Also A More Complex Or Heterogeneous Nervous System Than The   Uncivilised

Man: And Indeed The   Fact Is In Part Visible In The   Increased Ratio Which

His Cerebrum Bears To The   Subjacent Ganglia.

If Further Elucidation Be Needed, We May Find It In Every Nursery. The

Infant European Has Sundry Marked Points Of    Resemblance To The   Lower

Human Races; As In The   Flatness Of    The   Alæ Of    The   Nose, The   Depression

Of Its Bridge, The   Divergence And Forward Opening Of    The   Nostrils, The

Form Of    The   Lips, The   Absence Of    A Frontal Sinus, The   Width Between The

Eyes, The   Smallness Of    The   Legs. Now, As The   Development Process By

Which These Traits Are Turned Into Those Of    The   Adult European, Is A

Continuation Of    That Change From The   Homogeneous To The   Heterogeneous

Displayed During The   Previous Evolution Of    The   Embryo, Which Every

Physiologist Will Admit; It Follows That The   Parallel Developmental

Process By Which The   Like Traits Of    The   Barbarous Races Have Been Turned

Into Those Of    The   Civilised Races, Has Also Been A Continuation Of    The

Change From The   Homogeneous To The   Heterogeneous. The   Truth Of    The

Second Position--That Mankind, As A Whole, Have Become More

Heterogeneous--Is So Obvious As Scarcely To Need Illustration. Every

Work On Ethnology, By Its Divisions And Subdivisions Of    Races, Bears

Testimony To It. Even Were We To Admit The   Hypothesis That Mankind

Originated From Several Separate Stocks, It Would Still Remain True,

That As, From Each Of    These Stocks, There Have Sprung Many Now Widely

Different Tribes, Which Are Proved By Philological Evidence To Have Had

A Common Origin, The   Race As A Whole Is Far Less Homogeneous Than It

Once Was. Add To Which, That We Have, In The   Anglo-Americans, An Example

Of A New Variety Arising Within These Few Generations; And That, If We

May Trust To The   Description Of    Observers, We Are Likely Soon To Have

Another Such Example In Australia.

On Passing From Humanity Under Its Individual Form, To Humanity As

Socially Embodied, We Find The   General Law Still More Variously

Exemplified. The   Change From The   Homogeneous To The   Heterogeneous Is

Displayed Equally In The   Progress Of    Civilisation As A Whole, And In The

Progress Of    Every Tribe Or Nation; And Is Still Going On With Increasing

Rapidity. As We See In Existing Barbarous Tribes, Society In Its First

And Lowest Form Is A Homogeneous Aggregation Of    Individuals Having Like

Powers And Like Functions: The   Only Marked Difference Of    Function Being

That Which Accompanies Difference Of    Sex. Every Man Is Warrior, Hunter,

Fisherman, Tool-Maker, Builder; Every Woman Performs The   Same

Drudgeries; Every Family Is Self-Sufficing, And Save For Purposes Of

Aggression And Defence, Might As Well Live Apart From The   Rest. Very

Early, However, In The   Process Of    Social Evolution, We Find An Incipient

Differentiation Between The   Governing And The   Governed. Some Kind Of

Chieftainship Seems Coeval With The   First Advance From The   State Of

Separate Wandering Families To That Of    A Nomadic Tribe. The   Authority Of

The Strongest Makes Itself Felt Among A Body Of    Savages As In A Herd Of

Animals, Or A Posse Of    Schoolboys. At First, However, It Is Indefinite,

Uncertain; Is Shared By Others Of    Scarcely Inferior Power; And Is

Unaccompanied By Any Difference In Occupation Or Style Of    Living: The

First Ruler Kills His Own Game, Makes His Own Weapons, Builds His Own

Hut, And Economically Considered, Does Not Differ From Others Of    His

Tribe. Gradually, As The   Tribe Progresses, The   Contrast Between The

Governing And The   Governed Grows More Decided. Supreme Power Becomes

Hereditary In One Family; The   Head Of    That Family, Ceasing To Provide

For His Own Wants, Is Served By Others; And He Begins To Assume The   Sole

Office Of    Ruling.

At The   Same Time There Has Been Arising A Co-Ordinate Species Of

Government--That Of    Religion. As All Ancient Records And Traditions

Prove, The   Earliest Rulers Are Regarded As Divine Personages. The   Maxims

And Commands They Uttered During Their Lives Are Held Sacred After Their

Deaths, And Are Enforced By Their Divinely-Descended Successors; Who In

Their Turns Are Promoted To The   Pantheon Of    The   Race, There To Be

Worshipped And Propitiated Along With Their Predecessors: The   Most

Ancient Of    Whom Is The   Supreme God, And The   Rest Subordinate Gods. For A

Long Time These Connate Forms Of    Government--Civil And

Religious--Continue Closely Associated. For Many Generations The   King

Continues To Be The   Chief Priest, And The   Priesthood To Be Members Of

The Royal Race. For Many Ages Religious Law Continues To Contain More Or

Less Of    Civil Regulation, And Civil Law To Possess More Or Less Of

Religious Sanction; And Even Among The   Most Advanced Nations These Two

Controlling Agencies Are By No Means Completely Differentiated From Each

Other.

Having A Common Root With These, And Gradually Diverging From Them, We

Find Yet Another Controlling Agency--That Of    Manners Or Ceremonial

Usages. All Titles Of    Honour Are Originally The   Names Of    The   God-King;

Afterwards Of    God And The   King; Still Later Of    Persons Of    High Rank; And

Finally Come, Some Of    Them, To Be Used Between Man And Man. All Forms Of

Complimentary Address Were At First The   Expressions Of    Submission From

Prisoners To Their Conqueror, Or From Subjects To Their Ruler, Either

Human Or Divine--Expressions That Were Afterwards Used To Propitiate

Subordinate Authorities, And Slowly Descended Into Ordinary Intercourse.

All Modes Of    Salutation Were Once Obeisances Made Before The   Monarch And

Used In Worship Of    Him After His Death. Presently Others Of    The

God-Descended Race Were Similarly Saluted; And By Degrees Some Of    The

Salutations Have Become The   Due Of    All.[2] Thus, No Sooner Does The

Originally Homogeneous Social Mass Differentiate Into The   Governed And

The Governing Parts, Than This Last