Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) - Herbert Spencer (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📗
- Author: Herbert Spencer
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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
Part 2 Chapter 1 (Progress Its Law And Cause) Pg 66In 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
Part 2 Chapter 1 (Progress Its Law And Cause) Pg 67Exemplified. 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
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