Concerning the Rate of Man's Evolution¹

Abstract

BEFORE proceeding to discuss my subject—“The Rate of Man's Evolution”—it may be well to ask the question: Is evolution at work in England to-day? Are the Londoners of to-day taller than those of two, ten, or twenty centuries ago? Any one who sets out to answer this simple question is brought face to face with the difficulties which encompass the inquiries of the student of man's evolution. His difficulties are those of variability. The men and women we meet on the streets are of varying height; to strike a true average for the stature of Londoners we must measure hundreds of individuals in every district of this great city. Nor would our average for London hold for the men and women of Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, nor would the averages for these cities hold for their surrounding districts. To know the average stature of men and women now living in England entails the measurement of many thousand individuals.