"ft.
* 8 Conservative.
having bcou descended Ffrom ape-like
ancestors. "The astonishment which
I felt on first seeing a party of Fueg-
ians on a wild and broken shore will
never be forgotten by me , for the re
flection at once rushed into my mind
snch were our ancestors. These
men were absolutely naked and be
daubed with paint , their long hair
was entangled , their mouths frothed
with excitement , and their expression
was wild , startled and distrustful.
They possessed hardly any arts , and
like wild animals , lived on what they
could catch. They had no government
and were merciless to everyone not of
their own small tribe. He who has
seen a savage in his native land , will
not feel much shame if forced to ac
knowledge that the blood of some
more humble creature flows in his
veins. For my own part , I would as
soon be descended from the heroic lit
tle monkey who braved his dreader !
enemy in order to save the life of his
keepers , or from that old baboon who ,
descending from a mountain , carried
away in triumph his young comrade
from a crowd of astonished dogs as
from a savage who delights to torture
his enemiesoffers up bloody sacrifices ,
practices infanticide without remorse ,
treats his wives like slaves , knows no
decency , and is haunted by the gross
est superstition. Man may be excused
for feeling some pride at having risen ,
though not through his own exer
tions , to the very summit of the or
ganic scale ; and the fact of his having
risen , instead of having been aborigin
ally placed there , may give him hope
of a still higher destiny in the dis
tant future. ' '
I now turn to the second part of the
problem of the evolution of man the
evolution of the races of mankind.
A very few words upon this subject
will bo sufficient. The origin of all
the races from a common stock is now
generally admitted , since the difficulty
regarding a sufficiency of time has
been removed , and the discovery of
striking proofs of the creat antiquity
of man. Darwin , however , considered
natural selection inadequate to explain
clearly the origin of the different
races ; and the full elaboration and
exposition of his theory of sexual
selection in the second part of the De
scent of Man was written with the
object of supplying the necessary ex
planation. Darwin's concluding ob
servation is , "I conclude that , of all
the causes which have led to the dif
ferences in external appearances be
tween the races of men , sexual selec
tion has been the most efficient. "
The third part of this problem is
social evolution. This subject was
not dealt with in detail by Mr. Dar
win , but it has boon very fully dis
cussed by Mr. Spencer. Just as the
Descent of Man was a necessary corol-
iary of'tho"Origin of Species , so , ovi-
dcntlywns Darwin convinced that the
gradual upward development of man-
find was a corollary of the animal
origin of man. Just as the develop
ment of the individual organism is
characterized by an increasing differ
entiation , and a corresponding greater
division of labor , so with the social
organism. And , generally , just as
the extent of this differentiation and
division of labor determines the rank
of the organism in the scale of life , so
with the social organism the more
complex it is , the greater the division
of labor within it , the higher does it
rank in the scale of what wo call
'civilization. " The social organism
may bo compared to the animal organ
ism , and must , like it , adapt itself to
its environment. All changes , 'or
variations , whicn make this adaption
more harmonious will lead to an ad
vance in the social organism , and the
principle of natural selection will ob
viously apply. Social evolution neces
sarily involves the adaption to the en
vironment. As long as the adaption
is imperfect , natural selection and sur
vival of the fittest will come into play ,
and an upward tendency what we
call "an advance in civilization"
will bo the result. This is on the as
sumption , of course , that the environ
ment undergoes no such radical cosmic
change as to bo directly inimical to
the existence of the species. We must ,
however , take into consideration all
the factors of the environment. The
so-called cosmic forces are now aided
by certain ethical forces , and the
struggle is transformed from the in
dividual to the community to snch an
extent that the selection is now be
tween aggregates of individuals instead
of between the individuals themselves.
But I cannot admit for one moment
that wo have succeeded in counter
acting the evolutionary process. In
deed , I am quite convinced that any
such exploit is beyond our power , oven
if it were in the interest of the race.
Social evolution , like the evolution of
the individual , is nothing more than a
process of adaption to the environ
ment. The more harmonious this cor
respondence , the more advanced is ( as
I have already mentioned ) tno evolu
tion in the sense of greater differen
tia tion and of greater division of
labor. The ideal would , I suppose ,
bo reached when the adjustment of
the social organism to its surroundings
was perfect. But the environment
must bo perpetually changing , and ,
while the adjustment of the commun
ity to the altered conditions might bo
almost immediate , yet there are
reasons , I think , why a perfect con
dition is beyond human realization.
However disappointing social prog
ress may at times appear to be , we
may rest assured that the main result
will always be an upward develop-
nout , provided our altruistic ambition
s satisfied by a reasonable modification
of the cosmic process. Ic is undesir
able in this article to make any de-
ailed reference to the litter failure
of our childlike efforts to annihilate
the law of the survival of the fittest ;
but I may say that if wo continue to
act upon the principle that the beuo-
Icial effects of education , training
and acquired habits are transmitted
111 short , if we insist , in spite of 'all
the evidence to the contrary , upon
postulating the Lamarckiau hypothesis
of the hereditary character of the re
sults of use and disuse then racial de
terioration , which is apparent to both
biologists and statisticians , will be
come very pronounced. Upon the
other hand , the human family may
aecome consciously and increasingly
master of its destiny , by rejecting the
seductive claims of conjecture , and
by recognizing the Darwinian princi
ple of selection as the only means of
preventing phyiscal and moral degen
eration. LAWRENCE IRWELL.
Buffalo , N. Y.
THE WRIGHT SITE.
[ WRITTEN FOR TUB CONSERVATIVE. ]
While the isolated < Indian village
sites thus far mentioned in connection
with the Nebraska State His
torical Society , and the de
partment of archaeology , thereof ,
have been interesting in a way , the
center of Nebraska archaeology , so far
developed , is to be found in the vicin
ity of Genoa , on the Loup river.
Not only is this the point whore the
early white settlers first came in con
tact with the Pawnee Indians to any
great extent , but in the immediate
vicinity of Genoa there was once a
great gathering of aborigines ; there
once existed the highest type of an
cient cultxiro shown anywhere in the
state.
Genoa is built at the junction of the
Beaver with the Lonp. Immediately
south of the Beaver is a high point of
bluff which divides the two streams.
About a mile from town and on the
point of this bluff is the "Wright
Site , " named for 0. R. Wright , who
owns the farm and runs an elevator
in Genoa.
This site covers an area of over
twenty acres , and seems to be the site
of a very ancient village , occupied
again in more recent times by another
more extensive village. Even an ap
proximate date cannot bo accurately de
termined at this time ; one thing wo
know , the Pawnees , who moved to
Genoa in 1858 , know nothing about it.
They insisted that they never lived
there , at first , but later they told
parties that they did live there ; one
young fellow , who was ra boy when
the Pawnees wore moved to Okla-
IA
