Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/754

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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

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The first period (I) is that which witnesses the specialization of the group of creatures (A) from which man sprang. It may be regarded as correspond- ing somewhat closely to the Tertiary period as formulated by geologists. We know not the exact number of closely related branches at that time, but it is held that the prospective human stem flourished and rose above the others. In the diagram the collateral branches B, C, D, E, are left undeveloped in

order that Homo (A) may have a clear field in order that we may illustrate more clearly the manner in which this group, according to our best interpretation, spread from its natal district and occupied the habitable world.

That the home of the human precursor was, at this stage of his development, restricted in area is assumed on reasonable grounds. The apes and monkeys of today, which are believed to correspond in grade of development to the human stock of the natal period, are not widely distributed, but occupy very restricted areas and such as are particularly suited to their arboreal habits and their rather delicate constitutions. There is no reason to believe that man at a corresponding stage was more hardy, more enterprising, or more widely scattered.

In the diagram, therefore, the stem A is made narrow below, widening upward, thus suggesting expansion of area with increase in numbers, energy, and intelligence. This expansion was, no doubt, very slow, and may or may not have extended to the farthest limits of the land area occupied, but it was prophetic of the greater expansions to be realized in period II. We cannot know in just what part of the world these events took place, just where the prehuman group was transmuted into the human. It may have been in Europe, Asia, Africa, Eurasia, Eurafrica, Lemuria, or America, but this does not matter here. We reach the conclusion that at or near the close of Tertiary time (period I) the change occurred and that upright, self-conscious man took his place permanently in the van of progress. We conceive further that,

DIAGRAM K. Showing origin of the genus Homo (A) in Tertiary time, separation into races through isolation in Post-Tertiary time (F, G, H, I), and theoretic blending of all forms in future time.