MEMORIES OF THE PAST.
Yes, this is all true—things impressed upon the mind stuff a million years are still with us to
trouble and worry many men and women.
Every intelligent person knows that we have reached our present physical condition and shape
through a long process of evolution from the four-footed stage of existence. It is stated by scientists
that we have over eighty rudimentary organs in our body which were of use to us at one time, but about as much use to us now as a cart whip is to an automobile. We cannot cast off these useless remnants — not in many generations.
It is necessary to get these facts clearly in the mind so that more important facts regarding the rem-
mants left in man's memory may be appreciated, then we shall cease to worry about most of them. These are fears, superstitions, and peculiar psychic disturbances which make life scarcely worth living, for certain persons. Many of these troubles have been treated as diseases of the mind and nervous system, when really they are nothing but remnants of normal acts and feelings produced under a totally different mode of existence.
Take, for instance, the fear of snakes. This is a fearful state of anxiety and horror in some persons. I have known it to cause a state of hysteria lasting for some time. Now, when our ancestors were living among trees and their foliage, they had to keep a vigilant outlook for snakes even in the trees, for these slimy foes could climb after their prey. They would lie in wait along the gnarled branches and suddenly shoot out their sinuous necks and heads and grab the unwary.This acute fear of snakes is one of the memories left us as a reminder of our past experience.
There are people who cannot stay in open spaces without feeling uncomfortable, and a few really unable to do so at all on account of a fear which they cannot explain. This state of the mind we call agoraphobia, and to overcome it one has only to know its origin. In fact, most all of these unaccountable fears can be conquered by a knowledge of their cause and origin. Drugs and other medical treatment in ordinary cases do harm— just face the facts and laugh at your old ape grandmother when you picture her running and shrieking from branch to branch to escape
the snake, or perhaps rushing to the covering of the forest from an open field where she was searching for ground nuts.
The farther away from the shelter of dark woods the greater was the danger of our ancestors, so that, in open places, they were always timid, and fearful. They could not escape their enemies, sabre-toothed tigers and other beasts by running upright; their agility was at its height when climbing and swinging from tree to tree.
So, you see, that this fear of open places comes directly down and is nothing to worry about.—"London Budget."
