IN TWO MILLION YEARS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19529, 11 July 1925, Page 19

IN TWO MILLION YEARS.

DEVELOPMENT OP THE GLAND. A large head with a bulging brow supported on a body like a splinter of wood, with short arms and lege and perhaps hoofs instead of feet. This is the picture of the man and woman 2.000,000 years hence —ugly, weak, and clover—drawn by Professor Conrad Tharaldsen. Professor of Zoology, in the North-Western University, Chicago, U.S.A The man of the future will, says the professor. bo largely the result of gland control. Professor Tharaldaon, who has gained considerable fame since his appointment six years ago, declares, says the Capo Argus, that we have already started on this road. Many professors have attempted to look into the future, but none so far as he. There will, he thinks, bo little use for muscle in that dim period, and consequently there will be little muscle. “Wo are going towards that place which we shall never reach—Utopia,” he states. “ What we are doing is gradually fitting the individual to the environment. Every time there is a mating of germ cells there are 16,717,216 chances of variation, and it is tho useful variations that survive. In future glands also will have a greater function to perform. By regulating tho glands wo can produce children who will ho workers and have intellectual interests —in other words, wo can regulate reproduction. " Meantime,” continues Professor Tharaldsen, ’ man’s brain is growing, and the constant growth will demand a much larger skull, with a bulging brow The man of the future will probably have to wear glasses. Some of the physical assets will be lost with the increase in brain pow’or. We are getting near-sighted and losing our sense of email. Society, consequently, will be different in the generations to come. What tho future man is like may depend somewhat on the fads and fancies of the present. Mechanical devices arc fast doing away with the need for muscles, and the lack of use will cause the muscles to degenerate. Except for hardiness and the power to withstand disease, physical bulk means nothing nowadays.”