Evolution / by Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson.

  • Patrick Geddes
Date:
[1911?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Evolution / by Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    half erect, of using sticks and stones, of building shelters, of living in families, of co¬ operating in bands, and of talking a good deal. The anthropoid apes are not social, but many monkeys are, and there can be little doubt that man was from the first distinctively social. “ Man did not make society; society made man.” The uncertainties as to man’s pedigree and antiquity are still great, and it is unde¬ niably difficult to discover the factors in his emergence and ascent. Therefore, while holding firmly to the general conclusion to which the facts all point, we do well to treat the problem with all reverence, especially when we reflect on the greatness of the result of this last great step in organic evolution. For “ What a piece of work is a man ! How noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable ! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god ! ” A chapter can merely hint at the great steps in evolution, and we must leave the reader to develop the subject. For this is certain that we cannot appreciate the fact of evolution, or form a sound judgment in regard to its factors, unless we think of the age-long process in some detail and recognize