Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/494

 430 Fotir-footed Man:

at will, are not thought of as normal men, or even monkeys, but simply monstrosities, like the Skiapodes or any other histis naturae. The fragments of Diogenes of Enoanda (9, 10, William's ed. pp. \^ et seg.) confirm the general Epi- curean tradition.

The medical literature from Hippocrates to Galen may be classed as philosophical, on the authority of Galen himself, who wrote a tract with the object of proving that " the best physician is a philosopher." On the author of the books on Diet, Gomperz {Greek Thinkers, E.T., vol. i. p. 292) remarks that " no hint of the doctrine of evolution had crossed his mind." Hippocrates, as Professor Myres points out, is in the full current of Ionic rationalism ; but, though his treatise Trep\ 'Aepcou is of great interest to the anthropologist, his evolutionary ideas do not go beyond two doctrines, — (i) that man is influenced both in form and character by his climatic environment, and (2) that, as he believes, certain artificial or acquired characteristics can be transmitted. Galen {on rak tov a-w/uLarog Kpaa-eaiv, 8 et seg.) mentions Hippocrates' theory on environment with approval, quoting also Plato, Laws, 747 D, His own views on the origin of animals seem to have been un- decided ; but he draws a distinct line of demarcation between men and beasts, {e.g. Protrept, ch. i and 9).

To these negative considerations, (and, from the nature of the case, the argument must be mainly negative), at least one positive fact may be added. While no single passage can be quoted to suggest a Greek belief in four- footed man, a large number of passages deal with his upright position. Diogenes of ApoUonia explained man's superior intelligence by his erect carriage, which enabled him to breathe purer air, though, as Theophrastus remarked, this argument would make birds even more intelligent than man, {De sens., 48). In Xenophon {Mem., I., 4., 11) Socrates considers it a sign of Providence that man alone of animals is erect, and his hands also testify to