Evolution In Man Research Articles

Data for the problem of evolution in man. II. A first study of the inheritance of longevity and the selective death-rate in man

1. According to Wallace and Weismann the duration of life in any organism is determined by natural selection. An organism lives so long as it is advantageous, not to itself, but to its species, that it should live.

Papers read to the Society, June 15, 1899

I. “A Comparison of Platinum and Gas Thermometers, including a Determination of the Boiling Point of Sulphur on the Nitrogen Scale: an Account of Experiments made in the Laboratory of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, at Sèvres.” By Dr. P. Chappuis and Dr. J. A. Harker. Communicated by the Kew Observatory Committee. II. “A Preliminary Note on the Morphology and Distribution of the Organism found in the Tsetse Fly Disease.” By H. G. Plimmer and J. Rose Bradford, F. R. S. III. “The Colour Sensations in Terms of Luminosity.” By Captain Abney, C.B., R.E., F. R. S. IV. “On the Orientation of Greek Temples, being the Results of some Observations taken in Greece and Sicily, in May, 1898.” By E. C. Penrose, F. R. S. V. “The Absorption of Rontgen Rays by Aqueous Solutions of Metallic Salts.” By Lord Blythswood and E. W. Marchant. Communicated by Lord Kelvin, F. R. S. VI. “On the Oxidation of Carbon at ordinary Temperatures by means of Atmospheric Oxygen with the Production of Electrical Energy.” By W. E. Case. Communicated by Sir William Preece, F. R. S. VII. “The Conductivity of Heat Insulators.” By C. G. Lamb and W. G. Wilson. Communicated by Professor Ewing, F. R. S. VIII. “On Simultaneous Partial Differential Equations and Systems of Pfaffians.” By A. C. Dixon. Communicated by Dr. J. W. L. Glaisher, F. R. S. IX. “On the Comparative Efficiency as Condensation Nuclei of Positively and Negatively charged Ions.” By C. T. R. Wilson. Communicated by the Meteorological Council. X. “Data for the Problem of Evolution in Man. II. A First Study of the Inheritance of Longevity and the Selective Death-rate in Man.” By Miss Mary Beeton and Professor Karl Pearson, F. R. S. XI. “Collimator Magnets and the Determination of the Earth’s Horizontal Magnetic Force.” By Dr. C. Chree, F. R. S. XII. “On the Resistance to Torsion of certain Forms of Shafting, with special Beference to the Effect of Iveyways.” By L. N. G. Filon. Communicated by Professor M. J. M. Hill, F. R. S. XIII. “On the Waters of the Salt Lake of Urmi.” By R. T. Gunther and J. J. Manley. Communicated by Sir John Murray, K.C.B., F. R. S. XIV. “On the Application of Fourier’s Double Integrals to Optical Problems.” By Charles Godfrey. Communicated by Professor J. J. Thomson, F. R. S. XV. “On Diselectrification produced by Magnetism. Preliminary Note.” By C. E. S. Phillips. Communicated by Sir William Crookes, F. R. S. XVI. “On the Orbit of the Part of the Leonid Stream which the Earth encountered on 1898, November 15.” By Dr. A. A. Rambaut. Communicated by Dr. G. J. Stoney, F. R. S. XVII. “On the Numerical Computation of the Functions G<sub>0</sub>(<italic>x</italic>), G<sub>1</sub>(<italic>x</italic>), and J<sub>n</sub>(<italic>x</italic> /<italic>i</italic>); and on the Boots of the Equation K<sub>n</sub>(<italic>x</italic>) = 0.” By W. Steadman Aldis. Communicated by Professor J. J. Thomson, F. R. S. XVIII. “Kesearches in Absolute Mercurial Thermometry.” By (the late) S. A. Sworn. Communicated by Professor H. B. Dixon, F. R. S.

Data for the problem of evolution in man. I. A first study of the variability and correlation of the hand

1. In a more purely theoretical discussion of the influence of natural selection on the variability and correlation of species, which one of the present writers hopes shortly to publish, a number of theorems are proved which it is desirable to illustrate numerical.

Publication announcement

I. Vapour-density of Bromine at High Temperatures. By E. P. Perman, D.Sc., and G. A. S. Atkinson, B.Sc. Communicated by Professor Ramsay, F. R. S. II. Polytremacis and the Ancestry of the Helioporidse. By J. W. Gregory, D.Sc. Communicated by Professor Lankester, F. R. S. III. Gold-Aluminium Alloys. By C. T. Heycock, F. R. S., and F. H. Neville, F. R. S. IV. On the Association of Attributes in Statistics, with examples from the Material of the Childhood Society, &c. By G. Udny Yule. Communicated by Professor Karl Pearson, F. R. S. V. Data for the Problem of Evolution in Man. III.—On the Magnitude of certain Co-efficients of Correlation in Man, &c. By Professor Karl Pearson, F. R. S.

Data for the problem of evolution in man. III.—On the mag­nitude of certain coefficients of correlation in man, &c

1. This paper contains a number of data bearing on the correlation of characters, &c., in man which have been worked out by my collaborators during the last few years, and several of which seem of considerable importance for problems relating to the. evolution of man.

Societies and Academies

LONDON. Royal Society, November 15.—“Data for the Problem of Evolution in Man. VI.—A First Study of the Correlation of the Human Skull,” by Alice Lee, D. Sc., with some assistance from Karl Pearson, F.R.S., University College, London.

“Data for the problem of evolution in man. A first study of the inheritance of longevity and the selective death-rate in man”

According to Wallace and Weisman the duration of life in any organism is determined by natural selection. An organism lives so long as it is advantageous, not to itself, but to its species, that it should live. But it would be impossible for natural selection to determine the fit duration of life, as it would be impossible for it to fix any other character, unless that character were inherited. Accordingly the hypothesis above referred to supposes that duration of life is an inherited character. So far as we are aware, however, neither of the above-mentioned naturalists, nor any other investigators, have published researches bearing on the problem of whether duration of life is or is not inherited. We are accustomed to hear of a particular man that “he comes of a long-lived family”, but the quantitative measure of the inheritance of life's duration does not yet seem to have been determined. This absence of investigation appears the more remarkable as a knowledge of the magnitude of inheritance in this respect would, we should conceive, be of primary commercial importance in the consideration of life insurance and of annuities. The biological interest of the problem, as we have already noticed, is very great.

Mental Evolution in Man and the Lower Animals (Continued)

Previous articleNext article FreeMental Evolution in Man and the Lower Animals (Continued)Alice BodingtonAlice Bodington Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 26, Number 307Jul., 1892 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/275557 Views: 32Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis, Daniel I. Bolnick, Christopher M. Moore, and Patricia L. Morse Trends and Transitions in 150 Years of The American Naturalist, The American Naturalist 196, no.66 (Oct 2020): 663–678.https://doi.org/10.1086/711418

Mental Evolution in Man and the Lower Animals

Mental Evolution in Man and the Lower Animals

Mental Evolution in Man, Origin of Human Faculty. By George John Romanes, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. Author of "Animal Intelligence," "Mental Evolution in Animals," D. Appleton & Co., New York: 1899

<i>Mental Evolution in Man, Origin of Human Faculty.</i> By George John Romanes, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. Author of "Animal Intelligence," "Mental Evolution in Animals," D. Appleton &amp; Co., New York: 1899

Mental Evolution in Man—Origin of Human Faculty. by George J. Romanes, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. Kegan Paul, and Trench . 1888.

Mental Evolution in Man—Origin of Human Faculty. by George J. Romanes, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. Kegan Paul, and Trench . 1888.

Mind in Man and Brute

THE subject with which Mr. Romanes deals in this volume is one which presents great, if not insuperable, difficulties. Whether or not there be a difference in kind—that is, in origin—between the mind of man and the mind of the brute, it is only in terms of the former that the latter can be interpreted. We can only reach minds other than our own by an ejective process of inference. Fully admitting that the evidence is amply sufficient to justify us in inferring the existence of mental processes in our dumb companions, the fact remains that there are enormous difficulties in getting at the nature of these mental processes. Our mental life is carried on in a rare atmosphere of self-conscious conceptual thought, And before we can put ourselves ejectively into the place of the brute, we have to divest ourselves of our conceptual habiliments; nay, more, we have—if current views be correct—to strip off the inner garment of our self-consciousness. Hence, some thinkers are driven to the extremity of agnosticism in this matter, and hold with Prof. Max Müller that, “according to the strict rules of positive philosophy, we have no right to assert or deny anything with reference to the so-called mind of animals.”This, no doubt, is going too far. But, seeing that mind in the animal world and in very young children has to be interpreted not only by, but also in terms of, human consciousness, it behoves the investigator to at least express his opinions with becoming modesty. I cannot say that Mr. Romanes's modesty is obtrusive. There is, indeed, a tone of “cocksureness”ill befitting the subject in hand, and painfully marring the dignity of a work the ability and earnestness of which are conspicuous. Mental Evolution in Man: Origin of Human Faculty. By G. J. Romanes (London: Ktigan Paul, Trench, and Co., 1888.)

4.—Psychological Retrospect

In a review of the many issues that have appeared since our last retrospect, it will not be possible to do much more than indicate the main topics of interest to our readers in the various numbers of “Mind.” No. XX. (October, 1880) was in reality a more than usually interesting one. Besides the conclusion of a curious but valuable series of papers on the cell-theory and the “Unity of the Organic Individual,” to which we have referred before, it contained also an elaborate essay on “æsthetic Evolution in Man,” from the prolific pen of Mr. Grant Allen. It is sufficient to say of this that the theory propounded is one of “apanthropinisation;” or, in more intelligible language, the widening out of associations of beauty concentrically from the assumed starting-point in the sexual selection of the most ornamented mate. There is an unimportant essay by W. Davidson on “Botanical Classification”—a subject which has yet to be philosophically treated—and a very important one on Kant, by Professor John Watson, of Canada. Among the Notes are some remarks by Mr. Bain on Mr. Galton's very interesting scheme of mental statistics (previously noticed here), a discussion of “Brute Reason,” and a noteworthy summary of the views lately stated with great clearness by Professor James, of Harvard, as to Muscular Sense and the feeling of effort, hitherto a subject for much loose theorising.