The Fundamentals - 1917: Vol.4

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The Fundamentals the hind limb of the ape becomes a big toe in man, which is a most important member for a being which would walk in an upright position, but a disadvantage to one who walks on all fours. The fore limbs of the ape are shortened into the arms of a man, thus adapting them to his upright position and to the various uses which are advantageous in that position. Furthermore, to make it possible to maintain the erect posi­ tion of man there has to be a special construction of the ball and socket joints in the hip bones and in the adjustment of all the vertebra of the back and neck. All these would be dis­ advantageous to an ape-like creature devoid of man’s in­ telligence. (d) Man’s intellectual capacity belongs to a different order from that of the lower animals. Naturalists do indeed classify men and apes together in the same genus anatom­ ically. But to denote the human species they add the word “sapiens.” That is, they must regard his intelligence as a specific characteristic. The lower animals do indeed have many common instincts with man, and in many cases their instincts are far superior to those of man. But in his reason­ ing powers man is apparently separated from the lower ani­ mals, one and all, by an impassable gulf. Romanes, after collecting the manifestations of intelligent reasoning from every known species of the lower animals, found that they only equalled, altogether, the intelligence of a child 15 months old. He could find no such boundless out­ look of intelligence in the lower animals as there is in man. As any one can see, it would be absurd to try to teach an ele­ phant geology, an eagle astronomy, or a dog theology. Yet there is no race of human beings but has capacity to com­ prehend these sciences. Again, man is sometimes, and not improperly, defined as a “tool using animal.” No animal ever uses, much less makes, a tool. But the lowest races of men show great ingenuity in making tools, while even the rudest flint implement bears

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