Can we suggest any
reasons why brain should be especially developed in the apes, and
more particularly still in the ancestors of man?
The Primate group generally is a race of tree-climbers. The
appearance of fruit on early Tertiary trees and the
multiplication of carnivores explain this. The Primate is, except
in a few robust cases, a particularly defenceless animal. When
its earliest ancestors came in contact with fruit and nut-bearing
trees, they developed climbing power and other means of defence
and offense were sacrificed. Keenness of scent and range of
hearing would now be of less moment, but sight would be
stimulated, especially when soft-footed climbing carnivores came
on the scene. There is, however, a much deeper significance in
the adoption of climbing, and we must borrow a page from the
modern physiology of the brain to understand it.
The stress laid in the modern education of young children on the
use of the hands is not merely due to a feeling that they should
handle objects as well as read about them. It is partly due to
the belief of many distinguished physiologists that the training
of the hands has a direct stimulating effect on the thought-
centres in the brain.
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