The Beginning of Man and What Becomes of Him (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915. Excerpt: ... possibilities. Look at the Australian savage, the lowest and most ignorant human being on the face of the earth, who cannot count four in his own language, and then at an Edison who through his wonderful genius can make a wooden image talk and light the world with his magic touch. This condition of helplessness in the infant as civilization advances is not without its use, for as the babe becomes more helpless and longer in gaining its independence, the mother and father are increasing their affection and says Mr. Fiske, "family ties become stronger as the dependence of the babe relies on the care and parental guidance and affection." But the development of the mind, though not a part and parcel of the body, is more or less affected by the ills and disabilities of the earthly human machine, and organization. A progressive intellect must not be hampered by a disordered brain, and the development of the mind depends as much on the exercise of rational and studious thought as upon the exercise of the limbs and organic functions to live and thrive. I can hardly agree with Sir John Lubbock, that the infant's mind goes back and is similar in its crudeness and simplicity to the undeveloped mind of the pre-historic savage. No its mind partaking largely of the traits of its ancestors, it has been developing generation after generation, increasing in its growth from one stage to another. The germ of an increased and accumulating intelligence is there and is capable in due time of a higher development in proportion as its hereditary transmission is more or less highly developed in its predecessor. The mind possesses three functions, feeling, will or volition and thought or intellectuality, they are inseparable and must work in unity. Consciousness is an attribute o...