The Circle of Knowledge: A Classified, Simplified, Visualized Book of Answers

Chapter II: English and American Literature -- Outline Charts of English and (21)

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=Bee, Honey= (_Apis mellifica_).--Bees form a family of insects belonging to the same order as the wasps and ants. Many kinds of bees are social, that is to say, they live in communities. As in the case of ants, various sets of members have come to discharge special functions, and the result of this division of labor has been difference of form.

HOW A BEE HOUSEHOLD IS ORGANIZED

Thus the ordinary hive contains (1) a single queen-bee--the fertile female and mother of the next brood, (2) the males or drones, and (3) the vast majority of workers or imperfectly developed females, which only exceptionally become fertile. The working bees constitute essentially the bee community; they are recognized by their small size, reddish-brown color, and, above all, by the palettes and brushes with which the hind legs are furnished.

The males, or drones, are larger and more hairy than the working bees; they emit a buzzing sound, have no palettes, and no sting. The female, or queen, has a longer body than the workers, and the wings shorter in proportion. The only part she has to play is that of laying eggs, and so she has no palettes or brushes. Only one queen lives in each hive, of which she is perfect sovereign, all the workers submissively obeying her. The number of males is scarcely one-tenth that of the working bees, and they live only about three months.

WHAT THE SWARMING OF BEES MEANS

At a certain time of the year the queen leaves the hive, accompanied by the drones, and takes what is called her “nuptial flight” through the air. About forty-eight hours after her return to the hive she begins laying her eggs, at the rate of about two hundred a day. The eggs which are destined to develop into workers are first laid, then those which are to produce males, and lastly those which give birth to females. The eggs are not long in being hatched, and the larvæ, or caterpillars, which emerge from them are tended by the workers, and fed by them on a peculiar paste, which is apparently a preparation of pollen. In five or six days the larvæ pass into the condition of pupa, or chrysalis, and in about seven or eight days after this the perfect insect is hatched.

A pound weight of bees contain about five thousand individuals, and swarms are often found to weigh eight pounds, or even more. A populous hive will thus contain from forty to fifty thousand bees. In spring, however, the number is much smaller, amounting to only a few thousand.

THE STRUCTURE OF HONEY-BEES

Many of the points in the structure of the honey-bee fit it for the performance of its complex activities. Upon the head there are two large compound eyes, used for near vision, and three small simple eyes, by which objects at a distance can be perceived. There is a well-developed sense of color, and flowers which specially lay themselves out to attract bees are mostly of blue or purple hue. Bees have also a keen sense of smell, which not only attracts them to fragrant flowers, but also helps them to detect the presence of nectar.

THE BEE’S WONDERFUL MOUTH AND LEGS

The mouth-parts of the bee are highly specialized. The powerful first jaws are used in the construction of the comb, and for a great variety of other purposes, while the second and third jaws are drawn out into a long suctorial and licking apparatus. The basal part of this constitutes a tube through which nectar or other sweet fluids can be sucked up, while its terminal portion is a sort of tongue (_ligula_) that can be inserted into the recesses of flowers. This is worked up and down so as to bring nectar within the tubular part of the apparatus. The end of the tongue is expanded into a sort of lappet for licking, and the sharp blades of the second jaws can be used for piercing certain flowers, such as orchids, which contain sweet sap. When not in action, the suctorial parts of the mouth are folded up on the under side of the head, enabling the first jaws to work freely.

HOW THE COAT IS GATHERED FOR THE HONEY-COMBS

There are marked differences between the three pairs of legs of a worker-bee. The first are provided with combs, by which the delicate antennæ are cleaned, while the third are chiefly remarkable for peculiar pollen brushes on the feet, and a depression or “pollen basket” on the outer side of the shin. The hairy feet brush pollen into the baskets, and when of a dry nature a little honey is ejected from the mouth on to the grains, so as to stick them together. Another peculiarity of the third leg is the nature of the joint between shin and foot, which constitutes a sort of pincers useful in manipulating wax.

The wax of which the cells of the honeycomb are constructed is supposed to be secreted by an organ situated in the abdomen, or belly, of the bee; but, in addition to wax, another substance much resembling it, but not identical, called propolis, is elaborated from the juices of certain plants, and employed to line the inner surface of the hive. The cells are hexagonal in shape, that is, having six equal sides--the most economical form as regards space--and are of two kinds, namely, store-cells, which are filled with honey, as a reserve store of food, and cradle-cells, in which the eggs are deposited.

WHERE THE HONEY COMES FROM

The honey of various regions is flavored by the flowers predominant in the districts where it is gathered--heather, rosemary, lavender, orange-flowers, white clover, bass-wood, lime-tree. In Scotland it is not unusual to transport the hives in the flowering season to the neighborhood of heathery tracts. The honey most famous in the ancient world was that of Mt. Hybla in Sicily, and Mt. Hymettus in Attica. Supplies are imported into Britain from various quarters; but it is to the United States and Canada that we must turn for bee-farming on the largest scale, and California, especially southern California, is the paradise of beekeepers. Some bee-keepers have from two thousand to three thousand hives; and as much as seven hundred pounds of honey has been obtained from one hive. The most improved hives, honey-extractors, artificial combs, and comb-foundations are in general use.

=Silk-worm= (_Bombyx mori_) lives on the Mulberry, and is bred for the fibers of the cocoon. It originally came from southern Asia, but is now extensively cultivated in China, Japan and southern Europe for the purpose of obtaining its silk. The cultivation of the silkworm is dependent almost entirely on the supply of these leaves.

HOW THE SILK WORM GROWS AND FEEDS

On the low, moist, alluvial soils of the East, slips of this tree are planted in close and continuous lines, and six to eight weeks afterwards they are six feet high, and the leaf-crop allows of six to ten broods being produced in the course of six months. In Europe it is not unusual for more than one brood to be produced, and the female lays her eggs towards the end of the summer; but they do not hatch until the following spring, when the leaves appear. In Asia, during the season, the eggs hatch eight to ten days after laying. The caterpillar feeds persistently, and rapidly grows; at the end of a month it moults, and this happens four times in all before it starts to make its cocoon.

The female moth deposits in July three to five hundred eggs, from which the white caterpillars (a) emerge in the following spring, at the period when the white mulberry tree blooms, upon the leaves of which they feed. The caterpillars change their skins four times and are full grown in about a month. They now spin a cocoon (c), which is generally completed in three and a half days, and five days later they change into pupæ (b). The pupal stage lasts from fourteen to nineteen days. The cocoons furnish the silk, and the pupæ are generally killed on the tenth day by heat.]

HOW THE DELICATE SILK FILAMENT IS PRODUCED

The silk is produced from spinnerets, two apertures in the head, the two filaments joining as they appear to form a very strong thread from five hundred to one thousand yards long. This the caterpillar wraps round its body until it is completely covered, and then it passes into the chrysalis state. Unless the grey moth is wanted for egg-laying, the chrysalis is killed by putting the cocoon in a hot oven, for if allowed to appear it cuts through some of the more valuable parts of the silk.

WINDING THE SILK FROM THE COCOONS

The next process is to wind as much as possible off the cocoons into hanks. In Europe and in some Oriental towns this is done with improved machinery in factories called filatures. It is usually begun when the cocoons are fresh. Each operator has before her a basin of hot water, the temperature of which is regulated by a steam-pipe or a fire, and overhead is a reel turning slowly. After removing the outside flossy covering, the operator places the cocoons in the basin, with the result that the hot water softens the natural gum that is in the silk, and allows it to be wound off. The filaments are passed through several glass eyes, and crossed, and thus become glued together into a thread which is called “singles,” and when further prepared is known as “thrown silk.” The singles are reeled into large hanks being called a “moss,” and each bundle a “book.”

In this form, Asiatic silk is imported into Europe and the United States. The quantity of such silk obtained from one cocoon is very small--seldom up to a thousand yards, generally not more than five hundred yards. The remainder of the cocoon is either too flossy or too entangled to be wound. This waste portion forms the material from which spun silk is prepared. Five to six hundred cocoons weigh two pounds, and twenty pounds of cocoons yield two pounds of spun silk. The eggs of the silkworm were first brought to Europe by two Christian monks in 555 A. D., who took them in hollow sticks to Constantinople, whence the cultivation of the silkworm rapidly spread to other parts.

SCIENTIFIC TERMS CONCERNING ANIMALS

=Abdomen= (_ăb-dō´mĕn_).--In mammals, that portion of the body-cavity which is separated from the thorax or chest by the diaphragm. In insects the third or last portion.

=Ametabolic= (_ȧ-mĕt´a-bŏl´ĭk_).--Referring to insects and other animals which do not undergo a metamorphosis, or change of form.

=Amoeba= (_ȧ-mē´bȧ_).--One of the Protozoa that is continually changing its shape.

=Amorphous= (_ȧmŏr´fŭs_).--Without a definite figure; shapeless; especially applicable to sponges.

=Amphibia= (_ăm-fĭb´ĭ-ȧ_).--A class of vertebrates, breathing in water while young and in air when mature. The term amphibious is applied to fishes, molluscs, etc., that are capable of changing the nature of their respiration at will.

=Annelida= (_ăn-nĕl´ĭ-dȧ_).--Articulate animals whose bodies possess no jointed members, as the leech, and worm tribe.

=Annulate= (_ăn´ū̇-lā̇t_).--Animals whose bodies are composed of a series of ring-shaped divisions.

=Anthropoid= (ăn-thrō̇-poid).--The highest order of apes.

=Apterous= (_ăp´tĕr-ŭs_).--Destitute of wings.

=Arachnida= (_ȧ-răk´nĭ-dȧ_).--Articulate animals with legs, but without wings, including spiders, mites, scorpions, etc.

=Arthropoda= (_är-thrŏp´o-dȧ_).--Articulated animals with jointed feet, as crabs, insects, etc.

=Asexual= (_ȧ-sĕks´ū-al_).--A term applied to animals, as Aphis, in which the reproductive organs are imperfect, and the young are produced by budding.

=Auricle= (_a̱´rĭ-k´l_).--The cavity of the heart which receives the blood and transmits it to the ventricle.

=Bacteria= (_băk-tē´rĭ-ȧ_).--Microscopic vegetable organism, belonging to the class Algæ, usually in the form of a jointed, rod-like filament, and found in putrefying organic infusions. Bacteria are destitute of chlorophyll, and are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are very widely diffused in nature, and multiply with marvelous rapidity. Certain species are active agents in fermentation, while others appear to be the cause of certain infectious diseases.

=Batrachia= (_bȧ-trā´kĭ-ȧ_).--Applied to frogs, toads, and salamanders.

=Bimana= (_bĭm´ȧ-nȧ_).--Two-handed animals whose posterior extremities are used only to keep them in an erect position, and for the purpose of locomotion. They comprise the varieties of man.

=Blastoderm= (_blăs´tō-derm_).--The outer layer of the germ-cells of the embryo.

=Carapace= (_kăr´ȧ-pās_).--A sort of shell which protects and encloses the bodies of tortoises and some reptiles, etc.

=Carnivora= (_kär-nĭv´ō-rȧ_).--Group of mammals, including the lion, tiger, wolf, bear, seal, etc. They feed upon flesh, though some of them, as the bears, also eat vegetable food. The teeth are large and sharp, suitable for cutting flesh, and the jaws powerful.

=Carnivorous= (_kär-niv´ō-rus_).--Eating or feeding on flesh. The term is applied to animals which naturally seek flesh for food, as the tiger, dog, etc.

=Cephalopoda= (_sĕf-a-lŏp´ō-dȧ_).--The highest class of Molluscs.

=Cetacea= (_sē-tā´shē-ȧ_).--The whales.

=Chiroptera= (_ki-rŏp´te-rȧ_).--The bats.

=Chrysalis= (_krĭs´ȧ-lĭs_).--The pupa state of an insect.

=Coelenterata= (_sē-lĕ´te-rā´tȧ_).--The group of Invertebrates, comprising hydrozoa and actinozoa.

=Coleoptera= (_kol-e-op´ter-a_).--The beetles.

=Cilia= (_sĭl´ĭ-a_).--Hair-like organs of Infusoria. Microscopic filaments attached to cells, usually within the body, and moving usually rhythmically.

=Crustacea= (_krŭs-tā´shē-ȧ_).--Applied to lobsters, crabs, etc.

=Dipnoi= (_dĭp´nō-ī_ or _-noi_).--An order of fishes.

=Diptera= (_dĭp´tē-rā_).--Two-winged flies; an order of insects.

=Echinodermata= (_e-kī´nô-dẽr´mȧ-tȧ_).--Applied to the sea-urchin, a subdivision of animals.

=Edentata= (_ē´dĕn-tā´tȧ_).--Those animals having imperfect dental apparatus. Their digits, too, are generally sunk in large and crooked claws.

=Elasmobranchii= (_ē-lăs´mō-brănk-ē_).--The sharks and rays.

=Fauna= (_faw´nä_).--The native animals of a certain locality.

=Flagellum= (_flâ-jēl´lŭm_).--A whip. The appendage of some Protozoa.

=Foraminifera= (_fô-răm´ĭ-nĭf´e-rȧ_).--Animals with perforated shells.

=Ganoid= (_gā´noid_ or _găn´oid_).--Applied to a certain class of fish.

=Gasteropoda= (_găs´te-rŏp´ô-dȧ_).--A class of Molluscs. Some of them form shells, while others are destitute of them,--as the slug, snail, etc.

=Grallatores= (_grăl´lȧ-tō´rēz_).--Wading-birds.

=Hibernation= (_hī-bẽr-nā´shŭn_).--The state of animals that sleep throughout winter.

=Hymenoptera= (_hī-mē-nŏp´te-rȧ_).--An order of insects with two pairs of membraneous wings.

=Ichthyology= (_ĭk-thĭ-ŏl´ō-jy_).--The science of fishes, or that part of zoology which treats of fishes, their structure, habits, etc.

=Infusoria= (_ĭn´fû-sō´rĭ-ȧ_).--Minute animals that live in stagnant water. A class of Protozoa.

=Insectivora= (_ĭn´sĕk-tĭv´ô-rȧ_).--Insect-eaters. They comprise the shrew, mole, hedgehog, etc.

=Invertebrate= (_ĭn-vēr´te-brāt_).--Animals that have no vertebral column, or bones properly so called.

=Larva= (_lär´vȧ_).--The second stage of the insect, a caterpillar, grub, or maggot.

=Mandible= (_măn´dĭ-bl_).--The upper jaw of insects; the lower jaw of vertebrates.

=Marsupial= (_Mär-su´pĭ-al_).--An order of mammals that carry their young in a pouch, as the kangaroo.

=Mollusc= (_mŏl’lŭsk_).--Animals whose bodies are soft and pulpy.

=Monotremata= (_mon-ō-trē´ma-ta_).--An order of mammals having the intestine and the ducts of the urinary and genital organs open into a common orifice.

=Myriapoda= (_mĭr-ĭ-ŏp´ō-dȧ_).--A class of arthropoda. Articulate land animals having many legs, as the centipede.

=Natatores= (_nā´tȧ-tō´rēz_).--An order of birds that swim.

=Neuroptera= (_nū-rŏp´tĕ-rȧ_).--An order of insects with four membraneous wings, as dragon-flies.

=Nocturnal= (_nŏk-tûr´nal_).--Of the night. Nocturnal birds are birds that fly abroad during the night only.

=Notochord= (_nō´tō̇-kôrd_).--A primitive backbone.

=Omnivorous= (_ŏm-nĭv´ō-rŭs_).--Living on both vegetables and flesh.

=Orthoptera= (_ôr-thŏp´tē̇-rȧ_).--An order of straight-winged insects, as cockroaches, grasshoppers, etc.

=Oviparous= (_ō-vĭp´ȧ-rŭs_).--Applied to animals which produce eggs instead of living young.

=Ovipositor= (_ō´vĭ-pŏz´ĭ-tẽr_).--In insects an organ by which eggs are deposited in wood, etc.

=Pachydermata= (_păk´ĭ-dẽr-mȧ-tȧ_).--A group of hoofed mammals distinguished for the thickness of their skins, including the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, tapir, horse, and hog.

=Pelagic= (_pē-lăj´-ĭk_).--Living on the high seas, away from the coast; in mid-ocean.

=Polyp= (_pŏl´ĭp_).--Separate coral animals.

=Protoplasm= (_prō´tō̇-plāz’m_).--The albuminous, elementary matter forming cells and the body-substance of Protozoa.

=Protozoa= (_prō´tō-zō´ȧ_).--The lowest forms of animal life.

=Pupa= (_pū´pȧ_).--The third, or usually quiescent, chrysalis stage of insects.

=Paleontology= (_pā-lē-ŏn-tŏl´ŏ-gy_).--The science of ancient beings or creatures; applied to the science of the fossil remains of animals and plants now extinct.

=Quadrumana= (_kwŏd-rōō´mȧ-nȧ_).--Monkeys.

=Quadruped= (_kwŏd´ru-pĕd_).--Four-footed animals.

=Radiates= (_rā´dĭ-āts_).--Animals having a central mouth, around which the body forms a star-shaped figure.

=Ratitæ= (_rȧ-tī´tẽ_).--A division of birds with a keelless, raft or punt-like sternum.

=Rhizopoda= (_ri-zŏp´ō̇-dȧ_).--The root-footed Protozoa.

=Rodentia= (_rō-dĕn´shĭ-ȧ_).--An order of animals which gnaw.

=Rotifera= (_rō-tĭf´ẽ-rȧ_).--An order of crustacea with a pair of ciliated appendages in motion, resembling wheels.

=Ruminantia= (_roo-mĭ-nă´shĭ-ȧ_).--The cloven-footed quadrupeds. Those that chew the cud. They have cloven feet, want incisors, and have a stomach with four cavities.

=Taxidermy= (_tăks´ĭ-dĕr-my_).--The art of preparing and preserving specimens of animals.

=Teleostei= (_tē´lẽ-ŏs´te-ī_ or _tĕl´e_).--An order including most of the bony fishes.

=Thorax= (_thō´rāks_).--The chest of vertebrates, the middle portion of insects, etc.

=Ungulata= (_ŭn-gū-lā-tȧ_).--The order of hoofed mammals.

=Vertebra= (_vĕr´tē-brȧ_).--One of the bones of the spinal column.

=Vertebrates= (_vẽr´te-brāts_).--Animals provided with vertebræ. One of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom, comprising all animals that have a backbone composed of bony or cartilaginous vertebræ, together with those in which the backbone is represented by a simple undivided notochord.

=Viviparous= (_vi-vĭp´ȧ-rŭs_).--Applied to animals which bring forth their young alive.

=Zoophyte= (_zō´ō-fīt_).--Applied to the animals which resemble plants, such as the sea-anemones, sponges, etc.

BOOK OF RACES AND PEOPLES

HOW MAN DIFFERS FROM OTHER ANIMALS

MAN AND THE HUMAN FAMILY

MAN’S ORIGIN AND PRIMEVAL HOME

OLDEST EXTANT REMAINS OF THE HUMAN RACE

CHART OF MAN’S ADVANCEMENT THROUGH THE AGES:

(1) DAWN STONE AGE

(2) OLD STONE AGE

(3) NEW STONE AGE

(4) BRONZE AGE

(5) EARLY IRON AGE

(6) LATE IRON AGE

(7) AGE OF LETTERS

HOW THE RACES ARE CLASSIFIED

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL RACE CHARACTERISTICS

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE RACES

DICTIONARY OF THE HISTORICAL RACE GROUPS

COMPARATIVE CLASSIFICATION OF RACES AND PEOPLES

CHINESE

(Yellow)

JAPANESE

(Yellow)

SIAMESE

(Yellow)

BURMESE

(Yellow)

MAORI

(Brown)

SAMOAN

(Brown)

JAVANESE

(Brown)

SIBERIAN

(Yellow)

ARABIAN

(White)

EGYPTIAN

(White)

BERBER

(White)

NUBIAN

(Black)

INDIAN

(Red)

ESKIMO

(Red)

SUDANESE

(Black)

ZULU

(Black)]

BOOK OF RACES AND PEOPLES

Man, though a member of the animal kingdom, is so superior and
distinctive that he must be set entirely apart for special
consideration. The branches of knowledge or science, concerning his
nature, origin and development are of the highest importance to us
because of their relation to our very selves as part of the great
family of Mankind. Strictly speaking, there can be but one science
of man--_Anthropology_--but the various parts of this _supreme_
science have received various district names. (1) Man as an _animal_
belongs to _Biology_ and _Zoology_; (2) his _structure_ and
_functions_ belong to _Anatomy_ and _Physiology_; (3) his _mind_
falls under _Psychology_; (4) the facts and theories as to his
_speech_ and _language_ come under _Philology_; (5) the study of the
various _races_, their origin, physical and mental differences,
migrations, and geographical distribution, falls under _Ethnology_;
and (6) _human culture_, or civilization, which includes government,
social institutions, customs and usages, traditions, folklore,
religion, etc., belong to _Sociology_. In a certain sense,
Anthropology also includes _History_, which is the record of the
_doings_ of _civilized_ man in the order in which they occurred; but
this branch of knowledge is so vast in itself that it is usually
assigned a province of its own.

MAN AND THE HUMAN FAMILY

In the colorless language of science, man is classed under the order Primates (Lat., _primus_, first) and suborder Bimana (Lat., _bis_, twice; _manus_, a hand) which means a two-handed animal. Although the contrast between man and other animals is more distinct among the higher members of the human species, it may be traced in all. It is less of degree than of kind, and is rather intellectual and spiritual than physical.

In size man is dwarfed by numerous animals; in strength he is no match for some that do not attain his proportions. He is short-sighted compared to the eagle; deaf compared to the hare; and almost without the sense of smell compared to the wild dog or the vulture, who perceives the faintest scent borne to it upon the breeze.

HOW MAN DIFFERS FROM OTHER ANIMALS

In adult life man is unique in his erect posture, and in the freedom of his hands from any direct share in locomotion. His body is usually naked, his canine teeth are not longer than their neighbors, his thumbs are larger than those of monkeys, and his feet are distinguished by the horizontal sole which rests flatly on the ground. His face is notably more vertical than that of apes, lying below rather than in front of the forepart of the brain-case; the jaws, the orbits, and the ridges above them are relatively smaller; the nose-bones project more beyond the upper jaw; and the chin is more prominent than in other Primates.

BRAIN-POWER THE SUPREME DIFFERENCE

Probably the most important difference between man and other members of the same or any order, is the higher physical development of the brain. Not only is the size greater in proportion to the rest of the body, but it presents a more elaborate series of folds, or convolutions. When it is understood that the physical processes corresponding to the highest mental activities are located in the cortex, or rind of the brain, it is seen that the extent and number of the convolutions, by increasing the area of the cortex, must play a considerable part in determining the intellectual effectiveness of the animal.

In addition to mere size of brain, may be noted the adaptability of his hands to many uses, allowing a degree of skill impossible to other animals. The senses, too, are so nicely balanced and accurately adjusted as to enable him to obtain an intimate acquaintance with the properties of the world around him, in a manner that will contribute to his pleasure, and at the same time ensure his elevation and happiness. He possesses the gift of language by which to denote his wants; the colors of the earth and sea and sky gladden his eye; melody enchants his ear; the sweet odors of flowers delight his nostrils; the fruits of summer please his palate; the glorious sun and the spangled canopy of heaven entrance him--and all lead him to the contemplation of the Deity, of whose wondrous scheme he is himself the corner-stone.

When differences other than physical are considered, the superiority of man is so great as to incline many to the opinion that he is a separate creation on the ground of his mentality alone.

However great this superiority is, it does not appear that man possesses any faculty or fairly fundamental mental process which is not possessed in some degree by some lower animal or other. Memory, the powers of abstraction, and of reasoning are possessed by certain animals, if only in a very simple form.

He alone can produce fire; and this acquaintance with fire and the art of cooking has also frequently been regarded as the most distinctive characteristic of the human race. Clothing and decoration are also early peculiarities of man. Alone among animals, he covers himself with the skins of the beasts he has slain, and adorns himself with feathers, shells, teeth, and bones. Yet from these simple beginnings all the arts gradually developed.

MAN AND HIS DEAD

Man is one of the few animals to pay special attention to his dead. Funeral rites differ much from place to place, and form a special subject of anthropological study. Tumuli, pyramids, standing-stones, and other forms of funeral monument have each their history and implications. Especially does man almost everywhere believe in some sort of survival of the individual after death, and in the existence within himself of a soul or spirit which outlives its fleshly habitation. The origin of religion is largely connected with these ideas of a future life and a future world. Herbert Spencer traces it directly to the theory of hosts and ancestor-worship; Dr. Tylor, to what he calls animism, or the belief in souls universally pervading all natural objects.

Man alone also wilfully indulges in intoxicating, stupefying, or exciting substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, bhang, opium, hashish, etc.

THE GREAT QUESTION OF MAN’S ORIGIN

As to man’s origin, two main views may be said at present to contest the field. Has man sprung from a single or from several stocks? Do the races of men constitute so many members of _one_ family, or are they _four_ or more unrelated groups? One answer, formerly the accepted one, is based either upon the literal interpretation of Scripture or upon natural theology, and regards him as a distinct creation, separate from and superior to the remaining animals. The other, accepted by many competent authorities, regards him as descended from a hairy ancestor, more or less remotely allied to the anthropoid apes. This theory of his antecedents has been elaborated in profuse detail by Charles Darwin, whose _Descent of Man_ forms the great storehouse of information and speculation on the question. In the beginning, according to the evolutionary view, man was apparently homogeneous--a single species, speaking a single primitive rude tongue (largely eked out by signs and gesture-language), and not divided into distinct varieties. At an early period, however, the species broke up into several races, now inhabiting various parts of the world.

MAN’S PRIMEVAL HOME AND HIS EARLIEST KNOWN REMAINS

If man is therefore essentially one, he cannot have had more than one primeval home. This human cradle, as it may be called, has been located with some certainty in the Eastern Archipelago, and more particularly in the island of Java, where in 1892 Dr. Eugene Dubois brought to light the earliest known remains that can be described as distinctly human. From the Pliocene (late Tertiary) beds of the Trinil district he recovered some teeth, a skull, and a thigh-bone of a being whom he named the _Pithecanthropus erectus_, thereby indicating an “Ape-man that could walk.”

In this “first man,” as he has been designated, the erect position, shown by the perfectly human thigh-bone, implies a perfectly prehensile (grasping) hand, with opposable thumb, the chief instrument of human progress, while the cranial capacity suggests vocal organs sufficiently developed for the first rude utterances of articulate speech.

PROBABLY THE FIRST MIGRATIONS OF MAN

The Javanese man was thus already well equipped for his long migrations round the globe. Armed with stone, wooden, bone, and other weapons that lay at hand, and gifted with mental powers far beyond those of all other animals, he was assured of success from the first. He certainly had no knowledge of navigation; but that was not needed to cross inland seas, open waters, and broad estuaries which, indeed, did not exist in Pliocene and later times. The road was open across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar and South Africa by the now submerged Indo-African Continent. The Eastern Archipelago still formed part of the Asiatic mainland from which it is separated even now by shallow waters, in many places scarcely fifty fathoms deep. Eastwards the way was open to New Guinea, and thence across Torres Strait to Australia and thence to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean. In the northern hemisphere Europe could be reached from Africa by three routes, one across the Strait of Gibraltar, another between Tunis, Malta, Sicily and Italy, and a third from Cyrenaica across the Ægean to Greece, and the British Isles from Europe via the Strait of Dover and the shallow North Sea. Lastly, the New World was accessible both from Asia across Bering Strait, and from Europe through the Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland. Here were, therefore, sufficient land connections for early man to have gradually spread from his Javanese cradle to the uttermost confines of the habitable globe.

=APE-MAN OF JAVA= (_Pithecanthropus erectus_)

as restored from the remains found by Dr. Dubois in Java in 1892. It is estimated that he lived at least 500,000 years ago.

=PILTDOWN MAN=

of Sussex, England, whose antiquity is thought to be over 100,000 years. This restored model indicates a marked progress in type and intelligence.

=NEANDERTHAL MAN=

whose remains were found in central France. It is probably a type of a hunting race existent more than 25,000 years ago.

=CRO-MAGNON MAN=

skeletons of which type were found in the grotto of Cro-Magnon, Vézère valley, France, in 1868. Supposed antiquity, 12,000 years.]

WHEN THE WORLD WAS FIRST PEOPLED

Much trustworthy evidence has been collected to show that the whole world had really been peopled during the period which roughly coincides with what is known in geology as the Ice Age; that is, when a large part of the northern and southern hemispheres was subject to invasions of thick-ribbed ice advancing successively from both poles. The migrations were most probably begun before the appearance of the first great ice-wave, then arrested and resumed alternately between the glacial intervals, and completed after the last glacial epoch, say, some two or three hundred thousand years ago.

At that time the various wandering groups had already made considerable progress both in physical and mental respects, as is seen in the Neanderthal skull, which is the oldest yet found in Europe, standing about midway between the Javanese ape-man and the present low races. All were still very much alike, presenting a sort of generalized human type which may be called Pleistocene man, a common undeveloped form, which did not begin to specialize--that is, to evolve the existing varieties until the several primitive groups had reached their respective homes as disclosed at the dawn of history.

EVIDENCES OF MAN’S ADVANCEMENT IN PREHISTORIC AGES

From human remains, weapons, tools and other vestiges of human activity, found in the more recent deposits on the earth’s surface, the presence of man in these far off ages is made increasingly certain. The Pleistocene or Quaternary epoch, as represented by these objects of primitive culture, ranged over a vast period of time which has been conveniently divided into two great epochs, the Paleolithic or Old Stone, and the Neolithic or New Stone Age, these being so named from the material chiefly used by primitive peoples in the manufacture of their weapons and other implements. The distinction between the two periods, which are not to be taken as chronological, since they overlap in many places, is based essentially on the different treatment of the material, which during the immeasurably longer Old Stone Age was at first merely chipped, flaked, or otherwise rudely fashioned, but in the New more carefully worked and polished.

MAN IN THE OLD STONE AGE

Evidence is, however, that it is not always possible to draw any clear line between the Old and New Stone Ages. In one respect the former was towards its close even in advance of the latter, and quite a “Paleolithic School of Art” was developed during a long period of steady progress in the sheltered Vézère valley, of South France. Here were produced some of those remarkable stone, horn, and even ivory scrapers, gravers, harpoons, ornaments and statuettes with carvings on the round, and skilful etchings of seals, fishes, reindeer, harnessed horses, mammoths, snakes, and man himself, which also occur in other districts.

In Tunisia many implements lie under a thick bed of Pleistocene limestone deposited by a river which has since disappeared. The now absolutely lifeless Libyan plateau is strewn with innumerable worked flints, showing that early man inhabited this formerly fertile region before it was reduced by the slowly changing climate to a waste of sands. The same story of man’s great age is told by discoveries in Burma, India, North and especially South America, and now also in Great Britain.

MAN IN THE NEW STONE AGE

Outstanding features of the New Stone Age are the Swiss and other lake-dwellings, the Danish peat-beds with their varied contents, the shell-mounds occurring on the seaboard in many parts of the world.

In the more civilized regions, such as Egypt, Babylonia, parts of Asia Minor, and the Ægean lands, the Stone Ages were at an early date followed by a period vaguely designated as “prehistoric,” during which stone as the material of human implements was gradually replaced by the metals, first copper, then various copper alloys (arsenic, sulphur, nickel, cobalt, zinc, and especially tin) generally called bronze, lastly iron.

Thus were constituted the so-called Metal Ages, during which, however, overlappings were everywhere so frequent that in many localities it is quite impossible to draw any well-marked dividing lines between the successive metal periods. Indeed a direct transition from Stone to Iron may be suspected in some places, and in any case the pure copper period appears to have nowhere been of long duration except in America, where there was no iron and little bronze.

THE AGE OF LETTERS OR PICTOGRAPHS

Besides the metals, letters also, or at least pictorial writings such as the old rock carvings of Upper Egypt, were introduced in the Prehistoric Age, which comprises that transitional period dim memories of which lingered on far into historic times. It was an age of popular myths, folklore, demi-gods, heroes, traditions of real events, and even philosophic theories on man and his surroundings, which supplied ready to hand the copious materials afterwards worked up by the early poets, founders of new religions, and later lawgivers.

So also in China the early historians still remembered the still earlier “Age of the Three Rulers,” when people lived in caves, ate wild fruits and uncooked food, drank the blood of animals, and wore the skins of wild beasts (our Old Stone Age). Later they became less rude, learned to obtain fire by friction, and built themselves habitations of wood and foliage (our New Stone Age).

Of strictly historic times the most characteristic feature is the general use of letters, most fruitful of human inventions, since by its means everything worth preserving was perpetuated, and all useful knowledge thus tended to become accumulative. Writing systems, as we understand them, were not suddenly introduced, but gradually evolved from pictures representing things and ideas to conventional signs or symbols which first represent words, as in the Chinese script and our ciphers, and then articulate sounds, as in our alphabet. Between the two extremes--the pictograph and the letter--there are various intermediate forms, such as the rebus and the full syllable, and these transitional forms are largely preserved both in the Egyptian and Babylonian systems, which thus help to show how the pure phonetic symbols were finally reached. That was probably six thousand years ago, since we find various ancient scripts widely diffused over the Greek Archipelago (Crete, Cyprus, Asia Minor) in very early times. The hieroglyphic and cuneiform systems whence they originated were very much older, since the rock inscriptions of Upper Egypt are prior to all historic records, while the Mesopotamian city of Nippur already possessed half-pictorial, half-phonetic documents some six thousand years before the New Era.

=DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE THROUGH THE AGES=

This chart falls within the =Cenozoic= (_sē´no-zō´ik_), or “Recent life,” Period of the Earth and should be compared with it. Estimated Age of the Cenozoic Period, 3,000,000 years.

From the pictorial and plastic remains recovered from these two earliest seats of the higher cultures it is now placed beyond doubt that all the great divisions of the human family had at that time already been fully developed. Even in the New Stone Age, the present European type had been thoroughly established, as shown by the remains of the “Cro-Magnon Race,” so called from the cave of that name in Perigord, France, where the first specimens were discovered. In Egypt, where a well-developed social and political organization may be traced back to the seventh century B. C., Professor Petrie discovered in 1897 the portrait statue of a prince of the fifth dynasty (3700 B. C.) showing regular Caucasic features. Still older is the portrait of the Babylonian King Sargon (3800 B. C.), also with handsome features which might be either Semitic or even Aryan. Thus the Caucasic, that is, the highest human type, had already been not only evolved but spread over a wide area (Europe, Egypt, Mesopotamia) some thousands of years before the New Era. The other chief types (Mongol, Negro, and even Negrito) are also clearly portrayed on early Egyptian monuments, so that all the primary groups had already reached maturity probably before the close of the Old Stone Age.

But these primary groups did not remain stationary in their several original homes; on the contrary they have been subject to great and continual fluctuations throughout historic times. Armed with a general knowledge of letters and other cultural appliances, the higher races soon took a foremost place in the general progress of mankind, and gradually acquired a marked ascendency, not only over the less cultured peoples, but to a great extent over the forces of nature herself. With the development of navigation, and improved methods of locomotion, inland seas, barren wastes, and mountain ranges ceased to present insurmountable obstacles to their movements, which have never been completely arrested, and are still going on.

HOW THE RACES ARE CLASSIFIED

On the basis of bodily characteristics, including form, color and features, modern ethnologists have divided mankind into four primary groups, or families: the Caucasian, Mongolian (or Tartar), Negro and American; or, according to color, the _white_, _yellow_, _black_ and _red_ races. It must not be supposed that these types were sharply marked off from one another; indeed, there must have been a great range of varieties then, as now, due to the conditions under which man lived, as well as to actual race mixtures.

It is probable, however, that all these primary groups had reached definite characteristics before the close of the Stone Age.

The term Caucasian is taken from the mountain-range between the Black and Caspian seas, near which region the finest physical specimens of man have always been found. Mongolian is derived from the wandering races that inhabited the plateaus of central Asia. Negro is the Spanish word for “black.” American is applied to the red, or copper-colored, race found in this continent when it was discovered.

The sub-joined table brings into parallel columns the chief distinguishing characteristics of the races:

=PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CHARACTERS OF THE PRIMARY HUMAN GROUPS=

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE RACES OF MANKIND

DISTRIBUTION OF THE CAUCASIAN OR WHITE DIVISION OF MANKIND

ORIGINAL HOME.--North Africa between Sahara and the Mediterranean.

EARLY EXPANSION.--To Europe, the Eurasian Steppes between the Carpathians and the Pamir, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Iran, or Persia, India, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Polynesia.

LATER EXPANSIONS.--The Caucasian race has now spread, through colonization, over the whole world, but its proper region is Europe, western Asia, and the northern strip of Africa Nine-tenths of the people of Europe belong to the Caucasian family, the other tenth consisting of the Turks, the Magyars (in Hungary), the Finns, the Laplanders, and the tribe called Samoieds in the extreme northeast of European Russia. In Asia, the Caucasians include the Arabs, the Persians, the Afghans, and the Hindus. In Africa, the Caucasians are spread over the whole north, from the Mediterranean to the south of the Sahara Desert, and to the farthest border of Abyssinia as well as to the greater portion of South Africa. In North and South America three-fourths of the people are now Caucasian. In Australia and New Zealand the Caucasian colonists have almost extinguished the native races.

RELIGION.--The Caucasian race now supports various forms of Christianity in Europe, America, and their Colonies; Buddhism in India; Mohammedanism in Central Asia, Siberia, Turkey, Arabia, North Africa, Irania, India, Malaysia. Originally nature-worship was more pronounced than the cult of ancestor-worship. The Egyptians did not worship but embalmed the dead. The chief gods of the Semites were those of the sun and moon; and those of the Aryans were Dyaus, Indra, Zeus, Jupiter, Apollo, Saturn, etc., all personified elements of the upper regions which later became the basis of extensive systems of mythology. Later these forces were symbolized in wood or stone, which led to idolatry--that is, the worship of the image itself, which still persists among the uneducated in some parts of Christendom. The belief in magic, demons, witchcraft, omens, ghosts and allied superstitions was also very prevalent.

Out of the general polytheism were slowly evolved various shades of monotheism, whence arose the historical religions of the West, such as Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism, while crass polytheism persisted in the East--Brahmanism in India, degraded forms of Buddhism in Ceylon and elsewhere. Intermediate between monotheism and polytheism was the Persian religion, which refers light and all good to Ormuzd and his host of angels, night and all evil to Ahriman and his host of demons. Although already denounced by Isaiah, whose Jehovah is the one source of all things, this twofold principle no doubt found its way into the early Christian teachings.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MONGOLIC OR YELLOW DIVISION

ORIGINAL DOMAIN.--Probably the Tibetan tableland.

EARLY EXPANSION.--Mongolia, Siberia, China, Indo-China, Malaysia, Mesopotamia (?). The earlier Mongolians were extremely migratory, but the more settled tribes developed into the later Japanese, Chinese. Burmese, Siamese, and other peoples in the southeast and east of Asia; and the native tribes of the Siberian plains. The wandering tribes developed into the Turks, Magyars (Hungarians), Finns, Laplanders, and Samoeids, of Europe, and the Esquimaux of America.

RELIGION.--Animism in the widest sense is the dominant note of Mongolian religions. The worship of spirits extended both to the disembodied human soul (ancestor-worship, which is now perhaps the most prevalent form) and to the innumerable spirits, bad and good, which people earth, air, water, the celestial and underground regions. Although nominal Buddhists, the Chinese, Indo-Chinese, and Mongols live in terror of malevolent spirits, and the Annamese scrupulously observe “Roast-pig Day,” as they call their All-Souls Day, by littering the graves of the dead with scraps of victuals. Among the Siberians this spirit-cult takes the form of Shamanism, in which the Shaman (wizard or medicine man) is the “paid medium” of communication between his dupes and the invisible good or evil genii. In Tibet demonology still survives beneath the official Lamaism; the Eastern Siberians are Bear-worshipers; and the Polynesians have deified both the living and dead members of their dynasties.

The historical religions are largely a question of race, the Mongols proper, Manchus, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Indo-Chinese, and Tibetans being at least nominal Buddhists. The Turks, Tartars, and most Malays are Mohammedans; and the Finns, Lapps, and Magyars now Christians. Other so-called state religions--Confucianism and Taoism in China, Shintoism and Bushidoism in Japan are other ethical codes fostered and upheld for political purposes.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGRO, OR BLACK RACE

ORIGINAL DOMAIN.--The Eastern, or Oceanic, Section had its home in Malaysia, Andamans, Philippines, New Guinea, Melanesia, Australia, Tasmania; with no later expansion. The Western, or African, Section lived in Africa south of the Sahara.

LATER EXPANSION.--Subsequently the Africans spread, either voluntarily or were taken as slaves to Madagascar, north Africa, southern United States, West Indies, and Latin America.

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The Circle of Knowledge: A Classified, Simplified, Visualized Book of AnswersChapter II: English and American Literature -- Outline Charts of English and (21)

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