Credo of a biologist

Abstract

The legend of the Golden Age is so universal and ancient that it must have a base of truth. From the beginning of recorded time, men have be lieved in some form of Arcadia, a happy land where their ancestors led an Orphic life devoted to the enjoyment of natural pleasures and of ex ternal nature. In Works and Days, written almost 3,000 years ago, Hesiod evokes the Golden Age when "men feasted gaily, undarkened by sufferings ... and all good things were theirs." The name Arcadia might symbolize the pastoral scenery and semi tropical climate of the East African plateaux, where the human species probably emerged under environmental conditions that most people still find enjoyable. Arcadia could have been located also in one of many other regions that were occupied by man during prehistory and where abundance of game, nuts, and fruit assured him a life of plenty without much effort. As recently reported in the symposium devoted to "Man the Hunt er/'* there still exist a few archaic populations that derive adequate sus tenance by hunting small game and collecting wild plants. The bush