mc gee] THE TREND OF HUMAN PROGRESS 4°9
nothing; while the easily superadded idea of sequential develop- ment (which it is now sought to impress) may be likened to that of the progressive shaping of the horseshoe under successive blows, without which the heat and the sweat would avail nothing. It should be self-evident that motion involves progression, that there can be no dynamic action without sequence ; if this be clear, the tracing of human progress is easy ; if it be not clear, words are idle so far as the defining of human progress is concerned.
Recurring to the image of the breeze-rippled river, the volume of human experience of mankind may be likened to the lake-like
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body lying apparently inert save as troubled by the passing breeze of superficial opinion ; or it may be likened to the real river whose current is quickly detected by the worker who stems or sounds the stream beneath the wavelets, and who must sooner or later learn which way the current sets — whether it runs down toward St Louis or up toward St Paul. Returning from the simile to the fact, it is easy — indeed but the normal and spon- taneous action of the mind — to trace the trend of human develop- ment in terms of the human activities as now defined. True, the survey cannot be followed (save with the eye of faith) by those standing below the plane of dynamic interpretation — for. none can justly judge the direction of movement save those who realize the fact that movement exists; but the fact that it is made from this new-gained eminence in the realm of science gives the survey a degree of accuracy not hitherto obtainable.
Let the survey of the course of human development be essayed in terms of the activital classification recently adopted in our
law.
Somatology
The development of the somatikos, especially the osseous framework, was summarized by a master in the last presidential address before this Society. 1 This summary and other ethnic
1 " Primitive Man," by Frank Baker ; American Anthropologist \ vol. XI, 1898, pp. 357-366.
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