Page:American Journal of Psychology Volume 21.djvu/157

Rh it were a mere matter of imitation. Thus we must go to the early development of man for a key to the problem. Both striking and throwing involve mainly the racially old and fundamental muscles of the shoulder, arm and trunk. Both must have developed early in the life of man.

After our ancestors had descended from their arborial life and took their erect position on the ground they had the use of their upper limbs for purposes other than those of locomotion. This enabled them to devote their hands to use in their quest for food and also more directly for purposes of attack and defense. The life in the trees had already developed the hand to some extent, and now the use of the hand and arm were constantly brought to bear in the daily life of the individual. With the free use of the hand it is not surprising that in the course of time our ancestors should have come to hold a stick in their hands, and, by swinging it, strike it against the earth or some other solid object much as an infant would do under similar circumstances. As in the case of the infant this might have to be repeated a number of times before its full significance dawned upon the individual. If, as L,otze says, we instinctively project our sense of self to the end of whatever we handle, such as a stick or other object, it can readily be seen how this primitive being would come to have a sense of increased length of arm. The force and effectiveness of the blows which he could deliver would also be very evident to him. The advantage of the use of such a stick or club was almost incalculable to the user in the struggle for supremacy with animals and perhaps other persons of his or other tribes who had not yet learned the use of this weapon. It might even be compared to gunpowder as a means of conquest and civilization. It insured food with greater ease and therefore gave leisure to fight. This emboldened the tribe with this advantage, to enlarge its domain and seek new regions for food. This led to new dangers from wild beasts and other foes and so put the favored tribe to greater and greater tests, and thus weeded out those less gifted in the use of the new instrument of warfare and left those most skilled in its use. In this way through the process of selection and the survival of the fittest the good strikers remained and handed their inheritance to after generations. The ages that must have elapsed while even such a simple thing as the use of a stick or club evolved to a high degree of perfection, must have been long; thus this power could easily become a real means of selecting those who were best fitted by virtue of bone, muscle, and brain centres to survive, and of weeding out those not so well adapted to this means of offense and defense. Again, some genius of the tribe may have modified and