Ohio History Journal

GEOLOGY AS A FACTOR IN HUMAN

LIFE AND CHARACTER*

 

GERARD FOWKE

 

Human history is a by-product of geology. The

earliest men fished in the rivers and the seas, hunted in

the mountains and the forests. Shelter was as neces-

sary as food; and they had to live where they could find

protection from inclement weather. Where caves ex-

isted, they were utilized; where there was no such

natural refuge, an artificial one had to be provided. This

must be made of wood; at first, perhaps, only of brush

or leaves, later of bark, finally of timber.

Primitive man could not live permanently on the open

plains; he might go there to hunt, but in winter he must

return to rough or timbered country. This necessity

constrained him until he had learned the art of prepar-

ing the hides of animals in a way which would render

them sufficiently durable and resistant to be made into

tents. On the eastern hemisphere he next learned how

to domesticate a few of the animals around him, and be-

coming thus, to some extent, independent of natural re-

sources, he fared forth as a roving cattle raiser. When

he had learned how to convert raw ore into iron, he ad-

vanced from the status of a hunter and bushwhacker to

that of a warrior; when the flesh of animals and the

spontaneous products of the earth were no longer suffi-

cient for his sustenance he became a farmer; and when

he learned how to convert natural material into useful

 

* See note on page 85.

(52)

• 1
 

Geology In Human Life and Character  53

appliances and equipment, he reached the stage of man-

ufacturer and trader. At this juncture we have the be-

ginning of recorded history.

To learn what took place before that time we must

have recourse to the science of archaeology, the science

which enables us to arrive with more or less certainty

at a knowledge of the life of mankind in the distant

past. Slowly and painfully have investigators brought

together, piece by piece, fragment after fragment, the

scanty remains from tombs and caves, from the depths

of lakes, from ancient camps and villages, from deep

under ground, the tools and implements, the weapons

and ornaments of primitive men. From these objects

it has been possible to decipher much that before their

discovery was a sealed book. Much is now known con-

cerning those who lived upon the earth many thousands

of years before our time. We know something of their

occupations, their travels, how scattered tribes were

collected into larger bodies which for a time held to-

gether in a somewhat compact organization, then dis-

appeared like a bubble that has burst, but left an in-

fluence which changed the lives of those who followed

them. We know how dissensions from various causes,

how failure of food supply, led to the breaking apart of

these early communities; how one colony after another

branched off and formed new homes for themselves, as

bees swarm in the spring. As these colonies traveled,

seeking a home in which they could hope to remain un-

disturbed, they came into regions which differed more

or less from that in which they had formerly lived; and

when they settled, it became necessary for them to adapt

themselves to the new conditions. As a result of this

• 2
 

54       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

adaptation, the character of the people was modified in

accordance with their present surroundings.

From first to last, this process of development was

governed and controlled by the geological structure of

the regions in which man found himself placed or into

which he moved of his own volition. The process of

life with a satisfied, contented people or nation or race

usually moves uneventfully in accordance with methods

and customs which have been gradually worked out as

offering the most satisfactory solution of the various

problems relating to the comfort and well-being of the

community.

In the course of time, however, some exciting cause,

such as increasing population, failure of crops, or the

restless impulse which occasionally arises without any

apparent reason, culminates in one of those great pop-

ular movements which are almost like the movement of

the tides. Such movements bring to pass a readjust-

ment of tribal boundaries and by means of colonization

or victorious warfare produce a new nationality by

blending into one type peoples who had hitherto been

quite distinct. We study these migrations, in their par-

ticulars and details, so far as we can learn them, and

perhaps discover the immediate causes leading to them.

But as a rule we overlook altogether the mental in-

fluences which are behind so many of these great his-

toric events and which usually require many generations

or centuries for their full development.

In general it will be found that in a region where

fertile soil, equable temperature, copious rainfall, and

abundant natural products, ensure the maximum of

supply with the minimum of effort, the inhabitants are

• 3
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   55

indolent, feeble, pleasure-loving, effeminate, easily over-

come by more vigorous people who covet their territory

or their possessions. Under opposite conditions, where

the land yields a niggardly response to efforts at cul-

tivation, the struggle for existence dwarfs the intellects

and souls of those so unfortunate as to have their home

amid such inhospitable surroundings. Just as a man

who lives alone, who does not mingle with his neighbors,

who does not travel or study, will inevitably grow dull

and stupid, so those nations which shut themselves in

from the rest of the world will never make any advance-

ment. It is necessary that men and nations alike should

absorb new ideas; should find out what other people are

doing; should try to utilize for their own benefit the dis-

coveries which others have made. The mingling and

mixing of racial traits, of ideas and beliefs, which result

in the creation of new methods of living and of new

lines of thought, are a requisite to advancement. Who-

ever does not progress, goes back; Nature never stands

still.

On coasts and along rivers the mind had no higher

stimulus than the invention, the hand no better occupa-

tion than the completion, of contrivances for capturing

the fish and other water food upon which he mostly sub-

sisted; while in his home life the ingenuity of an in-

dividual had no higher play than in the procurement of

the few objects that were required for clothing, or in

the preparation of the food which he devoured in the

crevices and holes where he found a retreat from the

cold and the darkness.

In those regions where the upheaval of the earth's

crust has formed mountain ranges bordering on or sur-

• 4
 

56      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

rounded by rugged or broken country, or where the

character of the soil, which depends upon geological

structure, favors the growth of extensive forests, his

manner of living was of necessity very different. All

animate nature was in a state of perpetual warfare.

There was incessant strife of wits, on the part of flesh-

eating animals to capture their prey; and on the part of

the intended victim to circumvent the craft and acute-

ness of his relentless pursuer. Swiftness of foot; keen-

ness of vision; quick intelligence to perceive the slightest

point of advantage in either flight or pursuit--these

are the essentials which all animals in a state of nature

must possess in order to approach their limit of age.

With failing power comes instant doom: few wild ani-

mals except the largest die a natural death.

When the human being developed amid such sur-

roundings, it was as a part of the life already existing,

and he had to take his chances among the other animals.

He must have found conditions pretty hard at first; for

of all creatures, man entirely unprovided with artificial

aids is the most helpless. Most animals could escape

from him by flight, or hide where he could not discover

them; some could overcome him in combat; a few took

pleasure in feasting on him. His intelligence was not

superior, perhaps not equal, to that of the wolf or the

fox.

But he had one inestimable advantage. He had

hands with flexible fingers and an opposable thumb, so

that he could hold a club firmly or throw a stone ac-

curately; and when he had mastered the idea of a trap

or a weapon he could construct it. This ability at once

gave him the mastery of beasts and birds. But as these

• 5
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   57

would, in course of time, learn to avoid his snares, and

to ascertain the distance at which they would be safe

from his missiles, man must continually exercise his

brain to devise new methods of enticing them to his

traps or of enabling him to come within range of them.

Under the urging of such necessity, his mental power

increased. As game grew suspicious, he must become

more alert. As he weeded out the slower or weaker

animals, he must gain in strength and endurance to pur-

sue those which would not come within his reach. Long

vigils at the side of a spring or a trail, cultivated in him

habits of patience and fortitude. The necessity of not

only providing for his family and dependents, but of

protecting them from surrounding dangers against

which they could not defend themselves, made him more

daring, more resolute, more determined not to be over-

come nor to cease striving until he had attained the end

which he had in view.

The man who lives among barren cliffs or on wind-

swept heights, where vegetation is scanty, where ani-

mals are small and few in number, whose food is

brought almost to his door by waves and currents,

naturally develops into a very different sort of being

from the one whose range of activity carries him far

into gloomy forests or among towering mountains

where each day brings unforeseen contingencies and un-

expected difficulties which must be overcome.

Quite different from either is the man whom Nature

has assigned to great treeless plains which are uplifted

bottoms of seas or lakes, or which result from the level-

ing by erosion of land formerly more elevated or rug-

ged. Should there be sufficient rainfall to produce for-

• 6
 

58        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

age, herds and flocks are the means of existence. The

only energy required in their care is to drive them from

pasture to pasture as the grass is consumed, or to pre-

vent them from straying out of reach of recovery. In

this kind of life man soon becomes, in effect, "a brother

of the ox"; a point well set forth in a letter written by

Eric Bollman in 1796 and reproduced by Hulbert in his

Historic Highzways of America. After describing a

western pioneer with whom he had stopped, he says:--

I cannot abstain from believing that the manly effort which

must be put forth in the hunt, the boldness which it requires, the

keen observation which it encourages, the dexterity and activity

which are necessary to its success, act together more forcibly for

the development of the physical and mental strength than any

other occupation.

Agriculture and cattle-raising, in their beginning produce

careless customs and indolence; the mental faculties remain weak,

the ideas limited, and the imagination, without counterpoise, ex-

travagant. Therefore we admire the wisdom and penetration of

the North American Indian, his sublime eloquence and heroic

spirit in contrast to the Asiatic shepherd, from whom we receive

only simple Arabic fables. The man, of whatever color he may

be, is always that which the irresistible influence of his surround-

ings has formed him.

In other words, geological structure regulates the

life of all.

Beyond this point factors appear which induce pro-

found modifications in the earlier manner of existence.

When men live in communities they are less affected by

their geological environment and the climatic conditions

which are determined by it. They delve into the ground

and bring out substances which were unrevealed to their

primitive ancestors, and with these they build up a civili-

zation.

• 7
 

Geology In Human Life and Character       59

Until man is entering this last stage, he is concerned

only with the superficial aspect of geology; that branch

of it which we commonly know as Physical Geography.

This is merely the very outer surface, the covering so

to speak, of the entire science which we call Geology;

but in the childhood of the race it was the only portion

which bore any relation to the life of man. It is that

part of the science which relates to the distribution of

land and water; to the trend of ocean currents; to the

direction and force of the prevailing winds; to the char-

acter of soils, which result from decay of the under-

lying rocks; to the height and direction of mountain

ranges; to the inequalities of the land, whether flat

plains, rugged mountains, rolling hills, whether fertile

soil or barren sands; to the direction of rivers; to the

amount and quality of water supply. It is inevitable

that these features should exert a very great influence

on the disposition and character of both individuals and

nations.  We have just finished considering this fact

in a general way, applying it to people who are near

the headwaters in the stream of human life. But we

can be more specific, and show that such results have

been effected in particular instances. To quote from an

author whose name has escaped me:

Where natural scenery is picturesque, there is in the human

character something to correspond; impressions made on the

retina are really made on the soul, and the mind becomes what

it contemplates. A man is not only like what he sees, but he is

what he sees. The noble old Highlander has mountains in his

soul, whose towering peaks point heavenward; and lakes in his

bosom, whose glassy surfaces reflect the skies; and foaming

cataracts in his heart to beautify the mountain side and irrigate

the vale; and evergreen firs and mountain pines that show life

and verdure even under winter skies. On the other hand, the

• 8
 

60        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

wandering nomad has a desert in his heart, its dead level reflects

heat and hate; a sullen, barren, plain, -- no goodness, no beauty,

no dancing wave of joy, no gushing rivulet of love, no verdant

hope. And it is an interesting fact that those who live in coun-

tries where natural scenery inspires the soul, and where the neces-

sities of life bind to a permanent home, are always patriotic and

high-minded; and those who dwell in the desert are always

pusillanimous and groveling. Hearts must be filled with gen-

tleness and charity inspired by a diversified landscape which

stretches far and fades against the sky. Those who can look

from such a landscape to a background of everlasting mountains

must have their minds filled with noble aspirations. As they

look upon the glorious sunsets bathing the mountains in rose-

colored light, with the towering peaks ever pointing heavenward

and seeming to say, "behold the glory of the world beyond," how

their souls must be filled with pure thoughts and esthetic feeling.

, This writer has hit upon a great truth; but as too

often the case with one for whom a ray of light has

come, like a sunbeam shining through a rift in the

clouds, he makes the mistake of thinking that the light

which he sees is equally illuminating for all the rest of

the world. The acts of half-wild, half-savage natives

of Scotland a few centuries ago, make one a little skep-

tical regarding this nobility of the old Highlander's

soul. If this writer had said "Irishman" instead of

"Highlander," he would have come nearer to making

the soul he describes a harmonious adjunct to the beau-

tiful country in which it is occasionally found. "Es-

thetic feeling" the Highlander often has in good meas-

ure; but his proverbial energy and thrift result in no

small degree from living in a country whose geology

compels him to make the most of a blade of grass. The

mountaineer, in Scotland or elsewhere, all too fre-

quently reflects in his soul only the hard, rugged, sterile

aspect of the peaks; and desert dwellers are anything but

"pusillanimous and groveling," as the Crusaders dis-

• 9
 

Geology In Human Life and Character          61

covered to their cost; fickle and mercenary would con-

vey the meaning better.

Others have observed this effect of environment

upon character.

James Freeman Clarke, in Ten Great Religions, says:

The great tide of human life flowing westward from Cen-

tral Asia was divided into currents by the Caspian and Black

Seas, and by the lofty range of mountains which, under the name

of the Caucasus, Carpathian Mountains, and Alps, extends in an

almost unbroken line from the western coast of the Caspian to

the northern limits of Germany. The Teutonic races, Germans,

Saxons, Franks, and Northmen, were thus determined to the

north, and spread themselves along the coast and peninsulas

of the Northern Mediterranean [meaning the Baltic Sea]. The

other branch of the great Indo-European variety was distributed

through Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Southern France, Italy and

Spain. Each of these vast European families, stimulated to

mental and moral activity by its proximity to water [meaning

coast lines] developed its own peculiar forms of national char-

acter. Who can fail to see the hand of Providence in the adapta-

tion of races to the countries they are to inhabit?

Perhaps "influence of geology" is a more intelligible

explanation than "hand of Providence."

Another author, whose name was carelessly omitted

from the citation, gives us these observations:

Despite decimation and an almost unlimited intermingling

of foreign elements--Goths, Venetians, Lombards, French, Ger-

mans, Ottomans, Albanians, Vlachs--the Greek remains the

same in physical features, manner of life and occupation, and

personal characteristics and tastes.

In every age the Balkan Peninsula is a maelstrom of races,

peoples, languages, religions, and of all conceivable ambitions and

passions, dashing and breaking themselves upon one another.

No other equal area in Europe presents equal variety of

contour and surface and natural resources and, in consequence,

such diversity of person and occupation among its inhabitants.

The Italians are a most composite people. Nowhere else in

Europe have so many foreign elements fused with the native

• 10
 

62        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

element to produce a modern nation. While swinging between

despotism and anarchy, Italy evolved the most beautiful of

modern languages, a rich and varied literature, and the loftiest

expression of art.

The Bavarians are racially the most composite people of

Germany, being descended from Germanized Slavs, earlier Celtic

settlers, and Teutonic Marcomanni and Quadi. They inhabit an

immense amphitheater, about 220 miles long and 110 miles broad,

surrounded by lofty mountains.  No other territory of equal

size in Germany is enclosed by natural boundaries so distinct;

consequently the Bavarians have developed a character of their

own.

The French have the most distinct personality of any people

of Europe. This is partly due to the complexity of their origin

and to the unique situation of the country which they inhabit.

They are the product, through centuries of development, of the

basic element, the Celt, early permeated by the civilization of the

Greco-Latin and later supplemented by the Teuton. France is a

territorial belt connecting central and southwestern Europe. Sit-

uated between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, its rivers

flow into both. Hence it becomes the natural thoroughfare of

commerce and ideas.

The Scandinavian, who was the Norseman, or Norman, was

the most independent and venturesome of all the early makers of

modern Europe. Through the vast expanse of land and ocean,

from Russia and the Black Sea to remote Iceland and Greenland,

there was no region which his passion for discovery and con-

quest did not attempt.

The Scots were a Celtic Irish People. They found the Picts

in possession of Scotland, and joined with them in harassing

the English. To the aid of the latter came the Norse, and the

Picts and Scots were crowded to the northward into the moun-

tains, while the Norse occupied the coasts and pushed toward the

interior. The Scots absorbed the Picts, but the division of the

Highlands and Lowlands and the sharp distinction between the

Lowland and the Highland people even yet, has profoundly af-

fected the life of the country. Of different race and language,

the inhabitants of each section long regarded the other with con-

descension approaching disdain. Both are equally Scotch in pride

of ancestry and national feeling. Both in marked degree are of

composite racial stock, though in the Highlander the Celtic ele-

ment and in the Lowlander the English element predominates.

The Celtic element is the permanent fact in Irish character

and the controlling fact in Irish history. None the less, it is

• 11
 

Geology In Human Life and Character          63

 

true that few people are more composite than the Irish. Into

their structure are built the English, Scotch, Welsh, Danish, Nor-

wegian and French. Colonization, many times repeated, brought

in hosts of foreigners, and must, of necessity, have disturbed

the equilibrium of racial life. And yet, the Irishman has ab-

sorbed the blood of them all and appropriated the language of his

conquerors, remaining all the while a typical Celt--typical in

habit of mind, disposition, character, and to a great degree in

personal appearance.

Du Bois, in Timbuctoo the Mysterious, tells us that:

Arabs conquered Moors; and both conquered Spain, lived

there for three hundred years and developed its civilization.

Driven out, some of them reached the Niger around Timbuctoo,

where their degraded architecture and manner of living reflect

their new surroundings. Berbers lived in northern Africa from

prehistoric times. Carthage and Rome drove them into the

Sahara, where the conditions obliged them to become nomads,

different in all ways from their ancestors. They became like the

early Scythians. Hard life made them cruel and immoral like

the desert.

The quotations following are from In the Desert

by L. March Phillips:

Who lives in the desert lives in an enemy's land. He must

fight with nature for everything he possesses. His whole life is

a training in wariness, vigilance, courage, endurance; qualities

called forth by his surroundings, and indispensable to his ex-

istence.

The architecture bears witness to that vague, unsettled men-

tal condition in which the Arab lives.

When the sand has destroyed the oasis it has done all it

intended to do; it had no purpose in so doing. So, when the

Arab has destroyed the existing order of things, he is at the end

of his effort. He goes about other things.

Restless, constantly in motion as the sand of the desert is,

always everything remains almost entirely unchanged. The rest-

less sand, the Arab character, alike lack the principle of cohesion.

The strength and the weakness of the Arab are alike dis-

played in the desert. Its influence stimulates his nerves and

starves his intellect. In his brilliant but temporary successes is

the stored-up force of the desert's nervous energy. In the col-

lapse of all he undertakes is the desert's fatal incoherence.

The sand is so weak that it is blown about by every breeze;

• 12
 

64        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

 

so strong that the cliffs and rocks of basalt yield to its attack.

And all this is as true of the Arab as of the sand.

In Arab and desert alike the same outward manner of im-

movable composure masks a secret excitability within, and the

immobility of the landscape is reflected in that iron self-control

which is the favorite Arab affectation.

With the Bedouins came the desert, symbol of chaos in na-

ture as they in society.

Arab raiment makes an indescribable mix and blend of rich

color. This color is deeper, richer, and stronger than ours. It

is different in kind. We have colored things; the East has color.

The desert stands for the principle of incoherence in nature.

The Arab stands for the same thing in society.

Incoherence is the Arab's mark in history.

The show of conquest, the swift march, the mighty appear-

ance of vigor and energy; and under it all no substantial basis,

no plan, no permanence, no stability; these are the traits common

to Arab civilization.

The Arab mind has the curious gift of turning everything

it touches from substance to shadow.

The stimulus that breathes in the desert air is addressed

to the nerves and senses, not to the mind. It makes you feel in-

tensely, but not think.

To be in the desert is to feel the influences which have

evolved the desert type. The scenery is scarcely diversified, show-

ing only one or two powerful traits. For many centuries the

Arabs have been exposed to these strong and simple influences.

The two deepest impressions one gleans from Arab life and

thought are a want of coherence in Arab society, a want of depth

in the Arab mind.

China was undisturbed for century after century,

because mountains and deserts barred out all but preda-

tory tribes which raided indiscriminately all nations

that held out to them hopes of plunder. Japan, safe in

her island isolation, has been a nation for twenty-five

centuries and evolved a civilization unlike any other.

Of northern Africa, only that portion which lies imme-

diately contiguous to the Mediterranean Sea has been

molested by invaders; the oceans on either side and the

great deserts stretching across it from east to west have

• 13
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   65

been more impregnable barriers than fleets and armies

could be. Northern Europe, on account of its bitter

climate and sterile soil, and its consequent lack of

wealth which would tempt freebooters, has also been

tolerably free from invasion. Bonaparte's disastrous

expedition to Moscow, when his army was practically

destroyed by the terrible rigors of a Russian winter,

is a good example of the safety which can be offered

to a country by natural conditions. Bonaparte might

have overcome any army the Russians could have mus-

tered against him; but the Arctic temperature which

literally froze his legions as they marched, was the sal-

vation of the Russian empire.

Asia Minor and southern Europe, on the other hand,

are open to incursions from every side; and so we find

from the beginnings of history, or even back into the

age of tradition, all this region has been a battle-ground.

Tribe after tribe, nation after nation, has swept over

the land, conquering those who preceded them, destroy-

ing the homes and the cities of the vanquished and

building up again after their own fashion, only to be

displaced in turn by later comers.

However, we can admit the truth of a statement or

of a discovery without endorsing all the conclusions

that may be drawn from either when modifying factors

are overlooked. We can appreciate the influence of soil,

climate, and topography upon the minds of races who

live long in any part of the earth, without attributing

to these agencies more than their proper share in the

work of shaping the destinies of the people. When we

attempt to trace the connection between the tempera-

Vol. XL-5.

• 14
 

66        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

ment or the beliefs of a community and the nature of

the country in which it is established, we must take into

consideration the mental qualities which had their be-

ginning in some other part of the world. It takes a

very long period of time to fully develop racial charac-

teristics; just as it takes a long time to alter them when

they are once fixed. Phillips (In the Desert) also says:

The Turks invaded Asia Minor from the northeast of Per-

sia. They are Tatars with characteristic wild Mongolian tem-

perament. Amalgamation with captives and purchased slaves has

modified their features and complexion, but has left their dis-

position unchanged.

The Turks have had in the last 400 years every opportunity

of progressing; yet intellectual barrenness and social instability

remain the outstanding traits of their civilization.

More virile and stubborn than the Arab, the Turk displays

the same well-known traits; the same sterility of mind, the same

reliance on physical force, the same indifference to the idea of

social order and stable government.

We see this among ourselves all the time; we think

of certain characteristics as belonging to certain nation-

alities, not only in their native home, but after they

have emigrated to other countries. A mention of some

peculiarity in the actions, or in the manner of living, of

a community settled originally from some certain part

of Europe, brings the reply, "Oh, well, you know, they

are of French descent"--or German, or Italian, or

whatever it may happen to be. What is meant is that

the peculiarities observed were perfectly natural in their

original home; but they will gradually disappear to be

replaced among their descendants by the customs of the

new home to which they are to belong in future. When

we thus explain the matter we are simply saying in ef-

fect that the Spaniard, or the Russian, or the Turk, or

• 15
 

Geology In Human Life and Character         67

whoever it is, slowly acquired, little by little, from his

original environment, the traits of mind and character

which make him what he is; and the very fact that

these have become ingrained and are now a part of

his mental and physical constitution is what makes it

so difficult for him to change them speedily when he

comes into a new environment. But he does thus change

in time; as witness Galton in Hereditary Genius:

By this steady riddance of the Bohemian spirit of our race,

the artisan part of our population is slowly becoming bred to its

duties, and the primary qualities of the typical modern British

workman are already the very opposite of the nomad. What

they are now, was well described as consisting of great bodily

strength, applied under the command of a steady, persevering

will, mental self-contentedness, impassibility to external irrelevant

impressions, which carries them through the continued repetition

of toilsome labor steady as time.

It is curious to remark how unimportant to modern civiliza-

tion has become the once famous and thoroughbred looking Nor-

man. The type of his features, which is, probably, in some de-

gree correlated with his peculiar form of adventurous disposition,

is no longer characteristic of our rulers, and is rarely found

among celebrities of the present day; it is more often met with

among the undistinguished members of highly-born families,

and especially among the less conspicuous officers of the army.

Modern leading men in all paths of eminence, as may easily be

seen in a collection of photographs, are of a coarser and more

robust breed; less excitable and dashing, but endowed with far

more ruggedness and real vigor.

 

We tacitly, though perhaps unconsciously, recog-

nize these facts when we say, for example, that certain

settlements of foreigners, whether in our cities or on

our western farms, are becoming Americanized. This

means that they are not only adopting our customs,

through imitation largely, but are falling into our ways

of thinking. In other words, they are adapting them-

• 16
 

68       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

selves to their surroundings; which is the same thing as

saying that the conditions of their new home, which are

dependent upon its surface geology, are moulding them

into a new type of humanity. This is clearly to be

observed in many parts of the world. For example, we

can scarcely imagine two peoples living as near together

as the French and Germans, whose national character-

istics differ more decidedly, whether in government,

art, literature, manufactures, commerce, or disposition;

yet France receives its name from a German tribe

which settled there somewhat more than a thousand

years ago. Similarly, we recognize a great difference

between the Germans and the Spaniards; though a con-

siderable portion of the population of Spain is descended

from German colonists. Many other instances could

be cited to show that, given time enough, transplanted

races will lose the characteristics which distinguish

them in their original home and take on those which

properly belong to the places where they settle. The

most that the alien race can do to affect the native race

with which it assimilates, is to import some religious

idea or economic principle which may fit in with the

customs and beliefs belonging to the country; and thus

bring about a modification of the older lines of thought.

Let us cite here a few examples which show the

influence of environment upon national character, as

well as upon manner of living, repeating to a slight ex-

tent the substance of some quotations already presented.

On the vast semi-arid plains of western and central

Asia in ages past, roving tribes of pastoral people wan-

dered at will, recognizing no authority but that of their

old men, the patriarchs, who by virtue of their age and

• 17
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   69

consequent experience were supposed to be wiser than

the others. Even this slight authority was exercised

mainly in the way of advice or instruction. Neither did

these people recognize any limitations of territory; they

went where they pleased, driving their flocks and herds

from place to place as the needs of the animals required.

When they encountered other tribes in their travels,

they either exterminated or amalgamated with them.

In this way was developed that wandering instinct and

that independence of action which led these old Aryans

to spread over much of the eastern hemisphere. Ac-

customed to having their own way, they had scant pa-

tience with any who resisted them. When at last com-

pelled by increasing numbers to break up into bands

which made their way into far countries, we find them

adapting their industries and their habits, their beliefs

and their ideas, to the conditions amid which they found

themselves.

The Hindoo, confronting physical difficulties which

mocked his efforts at control, came to believe that the

universe was filled with deities and devils, most of whom

took delight in tormenting him. So he evolved a system

of mystic religion, a fatalism, which teaches him that

nothing really matters because it will all have to be

gone through with again anyhow, repeated somewhere,

some time, and so, "what's the use?"

On the plateau of Iran of which Persia is now a

part; on the great plains of Assyria and Babylonia; in

the open region of Asia Minor; amid these sands and

arid deserts, where all Nature is mystery and silence,

where the blazing lights of heaven shine forth in the

clean pure air as in no other region of the earth, the

• 18
 

70       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

motions of the stars and the planets aroused in the

minds of those who had observation and imagination,

the desire to know something of them; and here was

the germ of astronomy, on which so much of our modern

life depends. The uniform motions of the constella-

tions, the annual return of stars to their exact places

in the heavens, impressed them with the thought that

here were manifested design and oversight by a power

beyond and above anything of which they had knowl-

edge; and consequently here was the birthplace of re-

ligions which, modified by the nations inheriting them,

have governed the souls of men from that day to this.

Had these peoples lived among mountains or for-

ests, their thoughts would have taken a different trend.

When the imagination was brought under control,

when it was realized that everything does not depend

on blind chance, the intellect was strengthened; and on

these plains arose a culture which carried the people

far along toward civilization. Art, architecture, and

literature, came into existence. This learning was car-

ried into Egypt where the fertile valley of the Nile,

bounded on either side by barren rocks and shifting

sands, is typical of the ruling and the working classes

of that region. The knowledge that came to them from

the East was added to and diversified; and the stu-

pendous ruins of Egypt are still among the wonders of

the world. The priests of Egypt taught the Greeks;

and the latter, carrying their wisdom to the most beau-

tiful region of the world, where every natural feature

combines to develop all that is noblest in the mind of

man, have set for all future ages the standard of

sculpture and architecture. The pure marble of the

• 19
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   71

peninsula made this possible. The Greek could scarcely

raise his eyes from the ground without beholding a

scene of such loveliness and majesty of mountain and

sea in combination, as spurred him to his utmost ef-

forts in anything which pertained to art or to eloquence.

The Russian character is largely the product of his

cheerless steppes or plains, with leaden skies and freez-

ing winds.

The Turk has never become assimilated with his

surroundings. Despite a favorable climate and a fer-

tile soil, he remains a fanatic and fatalist, from his

Asian religion; cruel as a tiger from the strain of ruth-

lessness derived from his savage Tatar ancestors, un-

weakened by admixture with milder races.

Other nations in "the boiling pot" of southeastern

Europe exemplify the motto of our own West Virginia,

"Mountaineers are always free"; that is, impatient of

control or discipline.

The Scandinavians of an early day were the great

sea-faring people, because the bays and fiords of their

coast offered innumerable harbors, the scanty soil of

their peninsula could not provide them with sufficient

food, while the ocean at their door was full of fish. So

the old Vikings surpassed all other men of their time

for hardihood and boldness of adventure; their spirit

was created and maintained by perpetual conflict with

the billows and tempests into which they were forced

by their scanty crops. Long before the French trap-

pers and fishermen had sought the shores and the wilds

of Canada; before the Spaniards had ravaged Mexico

and Peru in greedy quest of gold; before the Portu-

guese had rounded the tip of Africa in search of the

• 20
 

72       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

"wealth of Ind"; before Columbus was born;--the

Norsemen were driving their little vessels across stormy

seas in their desire to see what might lie beyond. The

effect of all this on their mind and soul is seen in their

unique mythology. A thousand years ago Danes, Nor-

wegians, and Swedes were a homogeneous people, under

one ruler, mingling freely with one another as if in a

limited, well-defined territory; now, owing to their dif-

fering environment, they are no longer the same. More-

over, Scotland, portions of Ireland, and parts of south-

ern England, were largely settled by the old Norse free-

booters; and Normandy, in France, derives its name

from a colony of that people who took possession of it.

It is the persistence of their old instinct which makes

the English and the French the adventurers and ex-

plorers of recent times; others follow where they have

opened the way. Yet, those who are now living in the

areas mentioned have developed into distinct types, and

if we are to judge the future by the past, they will con-

tinue to diverge until only the delving historian would

have reason to believe that there was ever any connec-

tion or association among them.

The plains of Germany have given rise to a dis-

tinct type; the uplands of France to another; the moun-

tains of Italy to a third; while the mountaineers of

Switzerland are still different. Yet the last are so re-

cently set apart from the three nations to which they

owe their origin that they have not yet developed a dis-

tinctive language for themselves.

The Italians, like the Greeks, show in their poetic,

artistic, and musical temperament, the effect of their

• 21
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   73

balmy air and beautiful scenery, which are due directly

to the topography.

England's coal and iron, and commanding sea posi-

tion, have long maintained her preeminence on the

ocean, but it was secured in the first place by the min-

gling of fighting, sea-faring, trading and commercially

inclined peoples who were fused into one nation by com-

ing together in a land in which all their qualities found

a congenial home. It was necessary that these should

be of one class or quality. Miscegenation is always dis-

astrous. It is only when the weaker peoples are ex-

cluded and the stronger blended with each other, that

new races are developed that are superior to any one

of those which entered into the composition. In this

way the progressive and prosperous nations have been

built up. The English, the Germans, the Scandinavians,

the French, the Italians are the results of such selec-

tion. To this union of temperaments which are derived

from the same primitive stock the United States is due.

On the other hand, those nations which held aloof

from others, which confined themselves to their own

boundaries and kept foreigners at a distance as long as

it was possible for them to do so, are precisely the ones

which were least progressive and least enterprising;

which paid tribute or submitted to pillage; whose preser-

vation was often due to envy and jealousy of stronger

nations which were held back from despoiling them

only by their fear of one another. China would have

been cut into provinces long ago were it not that no

country which covets her territory dares to incur the

wrath of other governments with similar desires. Had

not the United States said "Hands Off!" much of South

• 22
 

74      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

America and Central America would now be under con-

trol of Europe. Nearly all of Africa has gone into

possession of Powers, which bicker among themselves

as to what part each one shall be allowed to steal; and

if the continent were not protected by the climate and

by insects so destructive to whites, the outlying parts

would now be "settled up." The same influences which

have kept the natives of central Africa in a state of

savagery through all the centuries have been their sal-

vation from invaders.

In our own country, the effect of its geological

structure is quite apparent. For more than 150 years

settlements were confined to the Atlantic Coast Plain;

the frowning ranges of the Appalachians deterred all

but the most hardy and venturesome from attempting

to scale their forest-clad heights. The sole dependence

of the people was upon agriculture; when increasing

population demanded greater production, emigration

became imperative. The only relief was toward the

west. Where the mountains parted at the north, the

people of New York and New England, following up

the Mohawk Valley, spread over the northern portions

of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and thence westward and

northward to the Canadian boundary and the Rocky

Mountains. Farther south, the valleys of the Poto-

mac and the James afforded a pathway for the people

of eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and northern Vir-

ginia, who spread through the Cumberland and Shen-

andoah Valleys, or who, pressing onward by way of the

interlocking headwaters of these streams and the Ohio,

reached the Ohio valley at Redstone, the present site

of Brownsville, or at Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh, and

• 23
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   75

floated down the river to the Bluegrass land; and from

there to the westward and southward along streams or

over rolling lands which made their progress easy. Still

farther south, the people of lower Virginia and North

Carolina came through Cumberland Gap into the land

of Kentucky, or following the open glades of the great

central valley came to the Tennessee River, and thus

spread over the region from central Kentucky south-

ward. Below this, again, where the Appalachian ranges

sink into the plains of Georgia and Alabama, the people

who had settled on the lower Atlantic coast made their

way across the Gulf States as far as Arkansas. The

general tendency of colonizers was, as it has always

been, from central Asia westward, to follow the lines

of latitude as closely as possible. So we find in any

part of the western country that a majority of the

native-born inhabitants past middle age are descendants

of immigrants who came from States which lie east, or

nearly east, of those in which they settled. This gen-

eral statement, however, no longer holds good. The

facilities of present day travel, which allow a man to

go with comfort, in a day, to a place which his grand-

father could not have reached in a month under hard-

ships and privations of which the present generation

has no conception, are such that families from every

older commonwealth in the Union may now be found

in all the States west of the Mississippi River. Es-

pecially is this the case since manufacturing, mining,

cattle raising, lumbering, and other industries have pro-

vided occupation in areas where farming is not prac-

ticable.

This condition affords the strongest assurance of

• 24
 

76       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

our future welfare. If it be true that communities

stagnate, settle into a rut, make no effort to progress,

it is no less true that the mingling of men from widely

separated localities produces the opposite effect. The

interchange of ideas and opinions, the discussion of

public questions, do more to arouse men's minds, to

make them think, than can be accomplished by any other

agency.

Mountains, rivers, and seas will hereafter form the

natural boundaries of countries as they have done in

the past; but with the expansion of knowledge, with the

constantly increasing flow of travel in all directions,

these natural boundaries will no longer control the

routes of commerce and of conquest. Men will now go

where they like except as they are hindered by other

men. The nations which have heretofore been secure

in their isolation must take up their share of the work

which remains to be done; or they will have to give way

to others who will do it. Wherever the white man can

live, the white man will control unless the nations of

other hues take up the white man's burden. Physical

geography has made all men what they are; physical

geography has been the determining factor in the growth

of the world from savagery to its present state of par-

tial civilization; now, by thousands of years of progress,

man has learned to overcome difficulties by means of

which physical geography has hitherto hindered his ad-

vancement; and having learned how to utilize many of

the natural forces which have hampered his efforts, he

will continue to go forward and onward as he achieves

the ability to surmount other obstacles which still im-

pede him.

• 25
 

Geology In Human Life and Character    77

Even in general outward appearance men owe much

to geology. The physical structure of the mountaineer

is not like that of the man who belongs on dry, level

land; and both are different from the dweller in the

swampy regions. People who live on limestone soil are

heavier, though not always taller than those whose home

is in a sandstone country. In either army, during the

Civil War, soldiers from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mis-

souri were taller and heavier than those from other

States.

With our facilities for travel and our disposition

to utilize them, there is every reason to believe that the

inhabitants of the United States, as a whole, will never

form distinct types, such as exist in Europe; there will

be too much intermingling. Nevertheless, it is a fact

that in those portions of the country where the customs

of the people have always approached most closely to

the manner of life which was led by the aborigines, the

white man is taking on something of the Indian ex-

pression and character.

Dependent also upon soil and climate, which are

determined by geological structure, are the products

of the earth by which men must subsist; and the kind

and quality of food is a decisive factor in the forma-

tion of character.  Despite the popular superstition

that fish is a brain food, it is beyond question that those

who are compelled to live principally on fish are intel-

lectually feeble. Perhaps, however, cause and effect are

being reversed here; it may be that only a lazy or stupid

man would be willing to live on fish all the time. Tribes

or clans which subsist chiefly on meat are vigorous,

cruel, overbearing, adventurous, seldom attached to

• 26
 

78       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

their homes, ever ready to rove and wander, prone to

make incursions and to despoil those living beyond their

boundaries; not altogether because of the meat diet, but

on account of the methods by which they must secure

it. Those nationalities which accomplish things, which

undertake great enterprises, which manifest the indom-

itable perseverance that presses forward surmounting

all obstacles, are those which absorb indiscriminately

all edible and potable products of land and sea. It may

not sound poetic or esthetic, but it is a fact, that while

the dreamer or the thinker, by keeping his brain clear

with a meager diet may be able to plan and to point the

way, he can not achieve the results possible only to the

strong and daring. The work of subduing the forces of

Nature and turning them to the service of man, has

been accomplished by those who are hearty feeders and

drinkers with sound digestive organs. These are the

ones who have performed valorous deeds, have felled

the forests, banished the savages, exterminated the wild

beasts, made voyages in unknown waters, discovered

new lands to occupy, and thus prepared the road for

others to follow toward a higher plane of living. It is

among these that the old Norse blood finds its survival.

The Northmen ranked preeminent among adventurers

and explorers; and it is principally among their de-

scendants who have inherited their restless spirit that

we find the modern rovers and wanderers who have

opened the world to commerce and civilization. They

are the pioneers; others are colonizers.

As long as the needs of the earlier races were sup-

plied from natural resources they made no great prog-

ress beyond savagery. Permanent communities were

• 27
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   79

not established until the spontaneous products of the

earth no longer sufficed for the sustenance of a con-

stantly increasing population, and agriculture had con-

sequently to be taken up as a business instead of a make-

shift. Even then, in order to avoid constant spoliation,

such industry was confined to regions worthless to hunt-

ers or cattle raisers; to the lands of insufficient rainfall

and scanty vegetation. The great centers of earliest

cultivation were in localities where irrigation was neces-

sary; in Egypt, in Asia Minor, on the highlands of

Mexico and Peru. With the founding of such commu-

nities began the period of recorded history; and so we

return to our opening sentence, history is a by-product

of geology.

And not ancient history alone, but that of the pres-

ent time. Routes followed by colonies in search of new

homes; by armies which sought to despoil those whose

possessions they coveted; by traders and merchants who

pushed their commercial enterprises into new territory;

--all these lines were laid out by Nature in finishing the

earth. Caravans which carried goods across Asia and

Africa were compelled to follow lines which would lead

from spring to spring. The great highways had to

converge at mountain passes. Even today geology not

only fashions the people of any region, but determines

the lines of communication.  Navigators lay their

course to take advantage of ocean currents which fol-

low the routes fixed for them by the margins of con-

tinents.

All this may seem abstract and remote from our

present interest; so a single example will be cited to

• 28
 

80       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

show the importance of physical geology in connection

with history.

When the Puritans left England in 1620, it was

with the intention of settling in Virginia. They failed

to make allowance for the current of the Gulf Stream,

so they were carried to the northward and made their

landfall at Plymouth Rock instead of in the James

River.

Suppose they had reached Chesapeake Bay. The

sombre, soul-depressing theology of New England would

have been softened, the blue laws modified, the witch-

burning omitted, the hard dispositions ameliorated when

associated with the more genial nature of the Cavalier.

The easy-going, rather indolent, life of the southern

planter would have been toned and strengthened by the

austerity of the fanatic. As it turned out, the natural

propensities of the settlers of each colony were intensi-

fied by the geological conditions of the regions in which

they made their homes, and the whole course of Ameri-

can history has hinged largely upon this accident.

The endeavor has been to show that the general con-

siderations set forth above are applicable to all people,

at all times, in all parts of the world. The North Amer-

ican Indian is to be regarded in the same light as any

other primitive race.

Except in the extreme west, from the Columbia

River northward, he was not a fisherman in the sense

that he depended principally or even largely upon fish

for his subsistence. He was a successful fisherman, it

is true, when he lived near water, but his main reliance

was upon game and natural productions except in small

and scattered areas where temporary settlements were

• 29
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   81

formed. East of the Mississippi River these were for

the most part along streams where alluvial tracts yielded

good returns for his crude labor. Over nearly all this

part of the United States interminable forests sheltered

multitudes of wild beasts and birds which he snared

and hunted. But of all these animals there was none

which he could tame, except the wolf which he con-

verted into a sort of dog. Until the coming of the white

man there was not an animal of which he could make

use in any occupation, or which he could keep in herds;

consequently he could not become a stockman, as were

those in a similar stage of development on the plains of

Asia. Being unacquainted with iron, he was restricted

in his employment to those occupations in which he

could do all his work with stone or fire. With arduous

labor and infinite patience he could fell trees or clear

away brush; and in this way cleared up small tracts on

which he raised various grains and vegetables.

But his main food was flesh, and this must be had

from the forests. The animals which he hunted soon

learned to avoid his settlements, to retreat deeper into

the woodland. He found, in time, that others were

hunting over the same ground. As there was not

enough for all, one hunter or the other must seek new

fields or die in conflict. Thus arose the savage, blood-

thirsty spirit, the aptitude for warfare, the revengeful

spirit, which we, ignorantly, usually have in mind as

the Indian's principal characteristic.

As families increased in numbers, and united, and

grew into clans, the hunting life was no longer possible.

 

Vol. XL--6.

• 30
 

82       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

The amount of game was not sufficient to supply them

with food, and, agriculture became a necessity.

But it was only in exceptional situations that agri-

culture could be expanded into proportions beyond the

extent necessary for the requirements of a small village.

All work had to be done by hand with crude implements.

There being no plows, the ground had to be prepared

with sticks tipped with stone or bone. As there were

no iron tools in use for clearing ground or for culti-

vating crops, only a very limited amount of produce

could be secured by one person, no matter at what ex-

penditure of labor. The men were still compelled to go

in search of game, and to constantly increasing dis-

tances as they remained for years in any given locality.

They had no time to work crops, so this toil fell to the

women. The farther afield the men carried their ex-

cursions, the greater was the certainty of coming into

contact with men from other settlements, with whom

they must fight. Injuries to either side led to reprisals;

and in this way were engendered animosities which led

to perpetual enmity and never-ending conflict. Dis-

daining to work at tending crops, which had come to be

the "woman's work," the men, in the intervals when

game was not in season, turned their attention to the

pursuit of enemies. In the vast forests every man was

a foe who could not prove himself a friend. Thus was

kept alive and fanned into greater activity, the instinct

to destroy, which had its origin in the killing of ani-

mals, until the warrior's greatest claim to glory was

the number of scalps hanging in his wigwam. He must

exceed in shrewdness, skill, and endurance the men and

the animals which he had to slay in order to live. He

• 31
 

Geology In Human Life and Character   83

was free, independent, untrammeled, subject to no law

but his own will or the force of circumstances, and was

the natural foe of every man who did not belong to his

own clan.

Owing to this manner of life, which demanded men-

tal as well as physical activity, the Indian of the Central

United States became the intellectual equal, if not the

superior, of any race that ever existed in a like stage of

culture. If he had been of an inventive or mechanical

turn of mind, he would have built up in this country a

great nation. Let us go over again the causes which

prevented him from doing so. Some repetition will be

necessary.

Having no domestic animals, he must depend upon

wild game for his meat. He must have around him a

large extent of wilderness to ensure a supply of game;

consequently, he must have no neighbors. Unable to

clear off ground in any considerable tract, he must, as

a rule, exist in small communities. With no iron for

implements or weapons, he must exert the maximum

of labor to secure the minimum results. Throughout

his life he was the target for diseases, warfare, cold,

scarcity of food, which taxed his vitality to the utmost.

Under these conditions a large population, with its con-

sequent division of labor in which each could put all his

energies into that for which he was best fitted, was

impossible.

And yet, in spite of all this, the Indian in places

where natural advantages were in his favor, showed

what he was capable of accomplishing. The tribal or-

ganization of the Five Nations of New York compares

favorably with the beginnings of the Roman Empire.

• 32
 

84       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

The great works of the Natchez, of the builders of Ca-

hokia, of the Ohio Valley Mound Builders; the settled

life of the Creeks, Cherokees, and others; the so-called

conspiracies of Pontiac and Tecumseh;--all these show

what the Indian could have accomplished had circum-

stances been different.

But there are very few of such instances; his ad-

verse surroundings were too formidable for him to

overcome with the means at hand. Let it be again re-

peated, that without domestic animals which can be

bred in sufficient numbers to meet all demands for food

and for labor; and without a knowledge of working in

iron to the extent that it may be manufactured into all

needed tools, implements, and utensils;--without these

things no people can ever become civilized, can ever pass

very far beyond the line which separates savagery from

barbarism.

A seeming contradiction to this assertion is found in

Mexico, Central America, and Peru. The natives of

those countries had no knowledge of iron, and had do-

mesticated only a few animals, none of which were well

adapted for farming or for draft. Nevertheless, some

natives were far advanced as artists, artisans, and archi-

tects. The intricate patterns and delicate finish of

their gold work equals that of our jewelers; their carv-

ing in hard stones, the complicated forms of their pot-

tery, were not surpassed by any other early people; their

symbolism showed deep thought and high religious as-

piration. Without telescopes they had learned to calcu-

late the movements of the planets, and had constructed

an accurate calendar. Yet the mass of the people were

poor and ignorant, submitting servilely to the cruel op-

• 33
 

Geology In Human Life and Character           85 pression of a ruthless and relentless despotism, cowed by the harshness of their rulers and by their supersti- tious fear of the priesthood. Among, or just below, the ruling class was the ability to plan and to carry into execution the works they have left. It is at least a plausible supposition that those who controlled had an exotic origin, their ancestors having come at some time, in some manner, from an Oriental country, and by force of will and superior intellect achieving an ascendancy over the native people; as hap- pened in Egypt, India, and China. It is clear that in those countries mental qualities created and developed in one type of environment persisted for a long time when transferred to different surroundings. Possibly there was a similar phenomenon on this side of the Pacific. NOTE. As several articles along the same line have appeared in recent years, it is only fair to state that the substance of this paper was presented to the Missouri Historical Society in 1915; and an abstract of it was published in the Holmes anniversary volume (Washington, D. C.) in 1916.

• 34